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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.
1. Go watch the trailer for Closer, the Julia Roberts-Jude Law-Natalie Portman-Clive Owen film out now. It's mesmerizing. I can't decide whether to catch a matinee of Closer or Ocean's Twelve, and not much makes me reconsider George Clooney. The Suzanne Vega track playing through the trailer is equally delicious.
Also, Portman is on the list of Cool Short Women (with other favorites like Gillian Anderson and Maura Tierney). See what I mean? And here. Go, Natalie.
2. The baseball trades are flying fast and furious. I keep beaming one thought at Theo (the general manager of the Red Sox): sign Varitek. Please, for the love of our team, sign Varitek.
3. Pictures du jour:
click to enlarge
LEFT
Brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) take a break from fishing, Gulf of Panama
RIGHT
Laughing gull (Larus atricilla) hunting for food in shallow tides, Isla Coiba, Panama
click images for full size
LEFT:
Juvenile male black iguana (Ctenosaura similis) found strolling on the beach at Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica. As he grows, he will lose the spectacular bands of color and become a uniform dark gray. Black iguanas are about three feet long.
RIGHT:
Agouti (Dasyprocta aguti) spotted in the woods on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Agouti are rodents, much like twelve-to-fifteen-pound guinea pigs. They can live twelve to twenty years if not picked off by predators such as ocelots, harpy eagles, and humans (I'm told they taste very good).
click thumbnails for full size
Two images from the Panama Canal.
My monitor is inaccurate. Are these photos too dark? Too light? Just right? (The rowboat shot is meant to be mostly silhouette.) Feedback appreciated.