An Urban Boychick Takes on the Outdoors: Costa Rica Part V

By this point in our trip we had gotten to know just about everyone on board our 62 passenger ship. It's interesting - there are always a few people who keep to themselves, but in general you meet just about everyone thanks to the close quarters, open seating dining, and shared outings. Most of the people are who you'd expect - active professionals with the scratch to pay for a somewhat high-end trip. But it was interesting to learn that the seven year old son of some fellow passengers had already visited fourteen countries (for the record, I'm at sixteen - seventeen if you count the Vatican). And there was the world-weary seventeen year old who expressed his dismay at the unimaginative "plating" of our dinners. Really. Valerie acquired an acolyte - one of the grandmothers on the trip (a woman from Westchester) found Valerie to be a total hoot, particularly her frank sex talk. I would like to blame this on excessive drinking (Valerie drank alcohol on this trip! Once or twice she even had two drinks in the same day!), but it's just Valerie.

Weds 1/2

Wednesday we set foot for the first time in Panama (and as I have documented before, you're not really in a country until you set foot ashore). We found ourselves at the tiny Granito de Oro islet where the activities of the day were kicking back with watersports (and morning yoga, of course!). Pretty much every prior day had been about scheduled activities - "Group 2, be on the back deck at 9:40 AM to board the skiffs to take you to your hike!". Granito, de Oro, on the other hand, offered a much more relaxed, do what you want to do experience. They brought a bunch of kayaks and paddleboards ashore and everyone who wanted had snorkling gear, so over the course of the day you could just choose to do whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, or choose to just sit on the beach and enjoy the sun and the sand.

As usual, we were not alone. Granito de Oro is a popular area within in Coiba National Park and there were lots of colorful little boats going to and fro, bringing people from the mainland. Interestingly, when I first sat down I was surprised to overhear the group next to me on the beach ... speaking Hebrew! Alas, they were packing up to leave and so I didn't get a chance to engage them, but I'm really getting the feeling that this part of the world is a popular Israeli expat and/or tourist destination.

Valerie and I started the day with snorkeling. Neither of us joined the expedition around the island and so we missed seeing sea turtles (waaahh!!). Instead we snorkeled over the coral reef that sits just off the island and saw lots of colorful fish and some eels.

Fish off the reef

Valerie snorkeling

We missed this by not signing up for the longer snorkel trip :(

Of course we had to all go back to the ship for lunch, which was Just Crazy. We went back to the ship, cleaned up and dried off, had a nice sit-down lunch in the dining room, changed back into our wet stuff, then took the skiff back to the beach. Really guys, a sandwich on the beach would have been fine.

After lunch we both knocked around on paddleboards. I persisted longer; Valerie switched to lounging in the warm water, chatting with fellow guests. Apparently I once again missed seeing a sea turtle as I was intent on paddling and missed one as it went by (another paddleboarder saw it).

Fun (though still a distant second to kayaking)

Valerie gamely tries paddleboarding

Valerie with J. J., one of the guides (and the only Panamanian on board) ... and someone photobombing

More of Valerie paddleboarding

I've always wondered just how hard paddleboard yoga is ... decided to try some asanas

The biggest surprise of the day was watching Valerie play frisbee with the teens. Now, just last summer Valerie bought an aerobie, which is like a Frisbee but with a lighter, ring shape, because Valerie said that she was uncomfortable catching something with the mass (and therefore the sting of the momentum when it hits your hand) of a Frisbee. But here she was, impressing the teens with her complex throws. Amazing.

Mad Frisbee

Also, you will notice how covered up we were. We are the king and queen of avoiding sunburn (in part because both of us burn so easily) and so both wore rather nineteenth century long-sleeved, long-legged swimming outfits. I made good use of a Buff that Teddy gave me to cover my head while snorkeling. I didn't feel self-conscious about how odd I looked with my little Buff bonnet because the crew, particularly the pangueros (the guys who piloted the skiffs), made extensive use of Buffs for sun protection. But my modest outfit would have paired well with bowler - or perhaps a Panama hat.

Me snorkeling

Valerie relaxing on the beach

Granito de Oro

Then it was back to the ship, where it was time for my massage. To show you how hard the staff on the ship work, the same crew member (Melissa, the Wellness Director) taught the sunrise yoga class, led the snorkeling group that Valerie and I were a part of, and served as my masseuse. It was like Melissa and my special day together.

Relaxed and refreshed from my massage, I went to happy hour where I enjoyed more Costa Rican beer thanks to Patience, our well-named bartender. In the evening there was an interesting talk about Panama given by J. J., one of the adventure guides who as the ship's only Panamanian was proud to represent her country.

One of our last sunsets at sea

Thurs 1/3

Today we began to get within the orbit of the Panama Canal and so our activities began to be structured around getting to the right place at the right time to get through the canal Friday night. The day was billed as a lazy day on the ship, with brunch at 1000 instead of the usual 0730 breakfast, and only one slow-paced activity (beach visit with short walks and open snorkeling) rather than the usual schedule of both morning and afternoon outings. Having gone to sleep super early, I woke up early as well (I’m just not good at sleeping in). I initially popped awake at about 0430 but through a combination of listening to podcasts and tossing and turning managed to doze/rest for about an hour and a half. While I was up and out of bed in time for yoga, I was taken with the lazy spirit of the day and skipped both the 0615 class and a special class given by Meghan, our activity director, at 0900 (which was billed as more challenging and super hot, being out in the tropical sun on the top deck - and which by all reports lived up to both). Instead I had early bird breakfast and coffee in the lounge, read my book and chatted with the other early risers as we cruised along the Panama coast. Our path near the coast afforded cell phone connectivity, so I made a quick check of email, headlines (“Trump turns Cabinet meeting into a whirl of insults, boasts and falsehoods”) and the stock market (down another 2%).

I usually eat light breakfasts and had by this point somewhat reached my fill of both big American (eggs, toast, potatoes) and Central American (eggs with rice and beans, tortillas and fried plantains) breakfasts and so ate lightly at brunch as the menu was a combination of both of the above, plus, of course, all the yummy breakfast pork I don’t eat - bacon, sausage gravy, and the like. Sitting around for hours had made me drowsy and so we actually rested a bit in the cabin before heading over to Iguana Island.

“Iguana Island?!”, you say. “Is it really an island full of iguanas!?!?!” Well yes, it is. Just like the monkeys and raccoons who greeted us at Curu, at Iguana Island the beach area was teeming with lizards. Oh, happy day! We immediately forgot anything else we had come over to do and focused on watching, photographing and posing with the little darlings. I’m sure the iguanas are used to being photographed, but probably not with the paparazzi-like intensity with which we attacked them. Only after the camera’s memory card was stuffed with lizard photos did we move on to other activities. I went for a walk on one of the island’s short hiking trails while Valerie sat with a cool drink and took in the view. Along the trail I learned that the island offers an interesting combination of fragile coral reefs and unexploded ordnance (UXO) left over from American WW II bombing practice. Why they used live bombs in practice is beyond me, but apparently they did and as recently as the 90’s a left-behind bomb detonated, blowing a big hole in the coral reef. Iguana Island is also home to perhaps the world's most disgusting outhouse - and I've seen some pretty bad ones.

Making new friends

Hello, little iguana!

Not even scratching the surface of our lizard pix

Five stars for the lizards, one star for the bathroom

Once we had had our fill of the heat we stuffed a couple of iguanas into my backpack to smuggle home (kidding!) and headed back to the boat, where we got cleaned up and relaxed in the lounge.

Last, I think I have this on the wrong day, but I'll place it here because I don't remember which day it was. One night at dinner they recognized all the people celebrating life events on the cruise - birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and so on. The elder couple of the group of eleven were celebrating their 60th anniversary, which is pretty amazing. Off by a factor of two, we're still not too shabby at 30 years.

Prematurely celebrating our 30th anniversary

Fri 1/4

Friday was all about positioning for our canal transit. We spent the early morning cruising towards Panama City - a day of relaxing on deck, reading, and beginning to pack our things. Once we reached the vicinity of Panama City (which is bigger and has more skyscrapers than I had expected - the results of collecting lots of big dollar canal fees!) we went ashore for a quick visit to the quaint town of San Pedro on Taboga Island. San Pedro was settled in the 16th century (it's always a surprise to be reminded how loing the Europeans were knocking around Central and South America before they turned their attentions northward) and is home to a church of the same name - said to be the second oldest church in the Americas. Paul Gaugin spent time here, and the town is said to be the place of conception (!) of Saint Rose of Lima. This latter fact will be of little interest to you unless you're a fan of saints and/or grew up in my old neighborhood in Brooklyn, where there is a St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church.

Anyway, we visited the church and strolled the town. I skipped the opportunity to do a strenuous hike up to Cerro de la Cruz, the highest point on the island. The weather was quite hot and once again I was skittish about strenuous exercise in the tropical heat.

San Pedro on Taboga Island

Chancel of San Pedro church

In San Pedro church

The bells are said to be original

Bell tower

The town, seen from the bell tower

Perro de Taboga

Here we are at the Taboga sign (yes, this is a tourist town)

After our visit to Taboga it was an afternoon of "hurry up and wait". We anchored off of Panama City, surrounded by other ships waiting to go through the canal, and waited for our turn. To kill time the ship offered distractions including a galley tour.