thousands of words

LEFT: I can't find the registry for the Advance, but I believe she's what is known as a Panamax: a ship built to fit into the locks with no wasted space. Locks are 110 feet wide and 1000 feet long. For comparison, our little Sea Voyager is 175 feet long; an average cruise ship is 850-900 feet long. RIGHT: the Bijin shared locks with us through the Gatun Locks. The pilot on the Bijin let the Sea Voyager go in front so we could watch the lock operations, which was very kind of him. Muchas gracias!



LEFT: Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica. RIGHT: Granito del Oro, Isla Coiba National Park, Panama.



Watching the Ivory Arrow cruise by in the canal from the spectacular Barro Colorado Island, with howler monkeys roaring from the woods just behind me.

I miss Central America.