Here are some pictures of our recent Caribbean cruise on the Zaandam to the Panama Canal, by way of Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, the islands of Aruba and Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles, and following our partial transit of the canal, a stop in Costa Rica.  We left Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, October 12th and arrived in Half Moon Cay the following morning.  After leaving this small island, owned by the Holland America line, we spent the next two days sailing south, passing the eastern coast of Cuba near Guantanamo Bay, and the western coast of Haiti on the island of Hispaniola.  Both Cuba, and later Haiti, were montainous and visible. 

We arrived in Aruba on Saturday, the 15th.  Aruba, which is now independent of Holland, is a relatively small island, hilly and desert-like, but very pretty, containing many cacti and the divi-divi, a tree shaped by the prevailing wind, and unique to the island.  The following morning, we arrived in neighboring Curacao, a larger island, with some beautiful hilltop views of the port and surrounding beaches.  We took taxi tours of portions of both islands, which are only some 20 miles from Venezuela in South America.  Upon leaving Curacao, on the night of the 16th, we sailed along the coast of Venezuela and Colombia toward Central America and the Panama Canal. 

We entered the Canal on the 18th, passing through three locks which progressively raised the ship some 85 feet to the level of Gatun Lake, where we anchored for several hours before returning and docking briefly at the Caribbean port of Colon in Panama.  The Canal is fascinating, both in its history and engineering genius.  It took more than two decades to construct, and thousands of lives were lost, many to malaria and yellow fever.  The French started construction and after abandoning it, the Canal was competed by the U.S., who opened it in 1914.  The U.S. more recently turned it over to Panama, who now owns and operates it. 

From Panama, we headed up to Costa Rica, docking at Puerto Limon on the 19th.  We took a taxi ride around the vicinity of Puerto Limon.  Costa Rica is very lush with all kinds of tropical vegetation.  The country contains a popular rain forest that we did not see, but we did see the cruise ship port and the commercial port from the vantage of some hilly terrain.  We also stopped at a pretty beach (that was its name too, Playa Bonita).  Bananas and coffee are the main products of Costa Rica.  We drove by the Chiquita Banana facility. 

The next two days we were at sea.  We were supposed to pass between the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico and western Cuba, but Hurricane Wilma was headed toward the Yucatan, so the Captain wisely chose to go around the eastern side of Cuba.  We sailed along the northern coast of Cuba and headed north back to Fort Lauderdale, arriving on Saturday, the 22nd, one day before they closed the port, anticipating the arrival of Wilma.  It was a good cruise, but we were lucky to get back when we did.