Gene & Lee's Panama Cruise
Princess Cruise - March 24 to April 4, 2011

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

March 24 - Travelling Day

March 25 - Boarding Day

March 26 - At Sea

March 27 - At Sea

March 28 - Oranjestad, Aruba

March 29 - Cartagena, Columbia

March 30 - Panama Canal, Panama

March 31 - Limon, Costa Rica

April 1 - At Sea

April 2 - Ocho Rios, Jamaica

April 3 - At Sea

April 4 - Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Monday, March 28th - Oranjestad, Aruba
Partly Cloudy - High 82 F (28 C)

The ship docked at Oranjestad at 7:00 am.  Everyone up at 7:30 for a shower and breakfast. At 9:30 we left the ship and met our Atlantis Submarine tour group in the cruise terminal. They rounded up all 48 of us at 10:00 to walk 50 yards across the pier to a waiting tender.  We were shuttled out to the submarine, about a 20 minute boat ride to the reef where it was waiting.

Sailboat at Aruba  The view from our stateroom balcony in Aruba  One of the many small craft that sailed by after we docked  A tug went by ...
... pulling our submarine!  We're hoping they're just trying to conserve power for the sub  The wharf area at Aruba  One of the condo developments around the harbour
Riding the tender out to board our submarine  Transfering over to the sub  That's our ship in the far distance
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The Atlantis Submarine was built in Vancouver in 1990 at a cost of 2 ½ million bucks.  It's 64 feet long, carries 48 passengers and three crew to a maximum rated depth of 150 feet. The sub is electric powered by 264 batteries. Once aboard we sat 24 along each side and had 26 two-foot diameter portholes to view thru.

The sail on the sub Atlantis  Lee waiting to board  The entry hatch to our submarine
Down the hatch!  Bob's not really sure yet about this whole submarine thing  Lee's liking it!
Looking down the inside length of the sub  Bob's settling in  Emmanuel, one of the crew and our guide
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The tour took about 55 minutes and descended to 133 feet. Narrated by our guide Emmanuel, there was lot's of coral, marine life and two wrecks to look at. When the tour ended, we got back onto the tender for the 20 minute ride back to the ship terminal. All in all, quite a good little expedition.

View through the porthole  View through the porthole  A view of a shipwreck  A view of a shipwreck
A view of a shipwreck  A view of a shipwreck  A view of a shipwreck  A view of a shipwreck
A view of a shipwreck  Enjoying a comfortable ride  132 feet down  View through the porthole
View through the porthole  View through the porthole
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We immediately boarded the Coral Princess and were underway by 12:35. Had a pizza lunch on deck 14 and a ringside seat as Aruba passed by.  Then it was on to the open sea for our 380 nautical mile run from Aruba to Cartagena. After lunch we retired to our staterooms for cocktails.  Also had dessert, which consisted of a mango Shelly scored from Soto in the dining room and the birthday cakes the girls had wrapped up from the previous night.

Back on the surface  Our ship, the Coral Princess  Our ship, the Coral Princess  Our ship, the Coral Princess
Showing off our 'Submariner Certificates'  Pizza for lunch
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Quiet afternoon on the verandas. Dressed for dinner at 5:15 then down to the dining room for our fourth dinner on board. Bob and I had the rack of veal. Lee and Shelly opted for the red snapper. Again a nice dinner with impeccable service. And as a bonus, our waiter Soto brought Shel another bowl of mango slices which we all shared as a dessert after our dessert.

A KLM flight arriving in Aruba  A view from our stateroom balcony in Aruba  A view of where we had docked and Hooiberg (the Haystack) to the right which is a 168 m high volcanic formation
A gannet pacing the ship  A gannet diving for dinner
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When dinner was finished we went back to our staterooms for another cocktail. At 9:15 Bob went down to the casino for a Texas Hold-Em tournament he'd signed up for. The rest of us wandered down to check out the action. Bob didn't win and neither did we. After an hour or so, back to the rooms for a nightcap and off to bed at 11:30.

  

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