Aruba

Had a great day in Aruba.  We could see the whole town as we pulled in and then got on a bus to go to the beach.  What a fun, relaxing day we had!

 We cruised along beautiful beaches as we were pulling in.

 Views on the town.

 Quickly hit the water once we got to the beach.

 And found some nice lounge chairs in the shade.

 My personal server!

Unfortunately, today we're packing up and getting ready to get off tomorrow.  Will spend a few days in Nashville before heading home soon.  It's been a great trip and lots of fun!

Cartagena

First, here are a couple of pictures of the mules that helped us through the Canal since I didn't post a picture earlier.

 Their job was to stabilize us so that we didn't run into the side of the canal.  We had either 6 or 8 of them attached to us.  That's why the rowboat came out to catch the rope so that we could be attached.

Cartagena was a very interesting city.  I couldn't believe how big and modern parts of it were.  But, we spent our day in the old part of town and then up to the fort.  It was very hot; but a fun day.

Entrance into the walled city and Old Town

 Some of the narrow, beautiful streets.  The narrow streets were designed to keep the sun off the houses for most of the day since it's always hot here.

 A couple of strollers!

 Inquisition Palace

 One of the many pretty parks in the area.

 Sa Pedro Claver Church

 Las Bovedas Museum

 One of the fruit ladies just waiting to have her picture taken!

 Skyline of the newer part of the city.

 Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas (Fort of San Felipe)

 Views from the top of the fort

 Tunnels throughout

 Top of the fort

 Finally got a picture of our ship.

Back home again and it was such a hot day that we immediately jumped into the pool where we could sit and watch football on the big screen!  We definitely weren't alone.

Panama Canal

Had a great day cruising through the Panama Canal.  We were out on deck about 5:30 am along with many others ready for an exciting day.
We started the day going under the Bridge of the Americas.

 The first set of locks are the two Miraflores Locks.

 Lining up and waiting our turn to be raised up.  You can see the ship ahead that has already been raised some.

 Entering the first lock.

 Gates opening once the water level is the same as ours.

 Water entering the lock to raise us.  On the right is the lock house where the people control what's happening.

 Kolet watching us being raised up.

 On our way out of the second Miraflores lock.

 Lining up to enter the Pedro Miguel lock to raise us up more.  Currently we're in Miraflores Lake waiting.

 The arrow on the end of the dock shows us which side we need to be on.

 People come out in a rowboat to hand us the line.

 Entering the lock to be raised up.

 Can you see the mule that we're attached to?  I think that I have a better picture somewhere.  We are attached to either 6 or 8 mules that keep us centered in the lock since we only have about 6 inches on each side.

 Leaving the lock and going under Centennial Bridge and then into the lake.

 Gatun Lake.  One of the largest manmade lakes in the world.

 The last set of locks:  Gatun Locks where we will now be lowered back down to Caribbean Sea level.

 Again, the arrow shows us which way to go and all of the mules are lined up and ready to attach to us.

 See how much we have to drop?

 We moved to the back of the ship to watch the lock gates opening and closing.

 Out of the locks and on our way.