We were leaving for our vacation the next week, so we talked Kelly's parents into watching Dex and Mo until we returned for Christmas. The apartment was very empty without them, but we knew they were having a great time back in the midwest.
Before heading out on our vacation/belated honeymoon, we had almost two weeks in DC. Luckily, we were able to pass some of the time by going to watch the Monday Night Football game between the Redskins and Giants.
It was an awesome game that saw the Redskins win and keep their hopes alive to win the division. After the Monday night game, it was only a few more days of packing and getting ready before it was time to leave.
Our belated honeymoon started off with a 3am Super Shuttle ride to Dulles International Airport and then a flight to Miami. As we waited to get on the ship, we noticed we were under the median age of our fellow passengers by about 30 years. Nonetheless, we were excited to get going.
Our cabin was very serviceable and a great location on the ship.
We walked around a bit, enjoyed a great first dinner and sat on the deck as we pulled away from south Florida.
Of the 15 days, 7 were "at sea". We spent most of our at sea days sleeping in, laying by the pool and catching up on some reading.
The first port was Cartagena, Columbia. We spent most of the day walking around the Old Walled City
The 400-year-old stone walls encircling the city are surprisingly intact and stretch for more than two miles.
We walked west along the wide plaza on top of the wall; the Caribbean was on our right, and the lovingly restored medieval streets on the left.
We traversed many of the streets and visited the famed San Pedro Church before breaking for a soda to beat the oppressive heat.
We managed to walk almost the entire wall which led us to the Castle of San Felipe de Barajas.
We headed back to the ship on foot. While a little unsure of directions, we headed in the general vicinity of the port. After an hour of walking and viewing areas and neighborhoods of Cartagena that not "recommended" in the guidebook or by local police, we made it back safe and sound.
After two days at sea, we made it to Panama. We took an excursion to Kayak on the Gatun Lake to look at wildlife and learn more about the history of the Panama Canal.
Gatun Lake at one time was the largest man made lake in the world. It was damed up in order to connect the three sets of locks, creating the canal. It is a beautiful lake surrounded by lush rainforest.
We kayaked around a section of the lake and spotted several howler monkeys, a three toed sloth and a Jesus Christ Lizard.
Watch the JC Lizard "walk on water" in the video:
After the kayaks, we went to the Gatun Locks. We saw two ships go through the lock, which gave us a great perspective of what will happen when our ship goes through.
It takes 11 hours to get through the canal, which consists of three sets of locks and 80 miles of the Gatun Lake. It is a first come first serve (unless you pay a $30,000 appointment fee), which creates a long line of ships waiting to go through the canal. Some of the small ships can have a two week wait to go through.
We entered the Gatun Lock at 7:30am. Our ship is classified as a "panamamax" because it is the biggest ship allowed. The ship was so snug in the chamber that Kelly could stick her arm over the rail and touch the wall. There was three chambers that lifted us about 100 feet.
We entered the San Pedro Locks around 2:30pm. There were two chambers that lowered us about 100 feet. We traveled only a few miles before entering in the Miraflores lock which lowered us one chamber back to sea level. After leaving the final lock, we were sent out into the Pacific Ocean.
After leaving the canal, we were headed for our next port in Ecuador.
