Aruba was the next stop on our cruise. It is another Dutch settlement and the wharf is protected by a shallow reef of sandbar and small islands.
There was a small area of anchored boats near where the ship docked and this photo also shows part of the offshore reef.
Bill and I signed up for a “sail, snorkel, and swing” activity. We were transported by a well decorated bus to the dock where the schooner awaited us just offshore. We were transported out to the schooner on a small barge along with a group of about 20 people. The schooner upped anchor and we sailed off to the first snorkel spot.
The first snorkel spot was above a World War 2 German wreck. Bill took his first underwater photos there after having spent some time with the camera instructions ahead of time.
The second snorkel spot was over a sandy area that contained many rounded rocks. On the rocks grew several types of sea live.
After snorkeling we had a nice sail back, complete with drinks from an open bar onboard. We made one more stop for the “swing” part of the adventure. They had a halyard fixed with a handle and the passengers took turns swinging out over the water and dropping off. I gave it a shot and discovered that it takes quite strong arms to hang on for a long swing.
We returned to the ship via another highly decorated bus and showered before going to the restaurant for a late lunch.
We arrived off Willemstad, Curaçao in the late morning. There was another cruise ship docked at an outer dock but we passed thru into the inner harbor past the open floating bridge.
As we approached the city the pilot boat came out to drop off the pilot to guide us in. As the pilot boat approached we could see how rough the seas really were. The trade winds blow pretty steady from the east all year but in the winter they are much stronger.
Santa Marta was a coal exporting port and Willemstad appeared to be exporting oil. There were lots of stacks around and many had occasional flames out the top.
Willemstad is a Dutch city and the buildings and waterways reminded of our visit to the Netherlands several years ago. It has a very different look and feel than the rest of Latin America with its Spanish influence.
The old fort is just inside the harbor entrance. The buildings now seem to be used as government offices.
Even the church shows no Spanish influence even though it is constructed of concrete. The decoration and shape is Dutch.
One of the interesting sites in the city is the floating market. Small boats arrive each day with fresh produce and tie up to the wall to sell their products.
Our next stop on the cruise was Santa Marta, Columbia. We arrived early Tuesday morning after traveling overnight from Cartagena.
As we made landfall the sun was just coming up and we enjoyed a fairly nice sunrise. Bill and I went down for breakfast, after watching the docking from the open deck above the Windjammer Restaurant on the bow, before we went ashore to explore the small city. It is the oldest city in the Americas founded by the Spaniards. The city has many old Spanish style buildings, but many are in need of repair although we noted much restoration work in progress as we wondered the streets of the city.
At the port of Santa Marta our ship was tied up opposite a coal loading area. We watched trucks unloading coal, but while we were there no ship arrive to receive the coal. It was an interesting operation as the coal was dumped from the trucks by placing the truck on a ramp that tilted way up to dump the coal.
Upon leaving the ship, we walked off the dock into the nice small city beach. The beach is well used by the residents as it is currently summer vacation for the students. There is also an area where fish boats were hauled up on the beach waiting for another fishing trip.
The city has very narrow streets – as to be expected in a city developed before the automobile.
The market flows everywhere, almost blocking one of the streets to car traffic. In most of the Latin American cities that we have visited we see the market overflowing into the nearby streets with semi-permanent stands set up on the sidewalks.
In the Center of the Colonial area we encountered the Church, which in colonial times had been the center of life in the city. It had the usual plaza in front of it although it was not very large.
Near the waterfront were two major government buildings from times past. The white building is the old customs house and the yellow is the other government offices and is still in use today. The old customs house currently houses a small café.
Although the ship was not scheduled to sail until 2:30PM, we returned in time for a late lunch after seeing much of the town. Walking thru the entrance to the dock we passed thru an area of vendors stands hoping to make some last-minute sales to the tourists. The ship was quite crowded in the afternoon as most of the passengers were onboard enjoying the pools and food. We found a table in the shade on the pool-deck where we could people watch as we tried to read.
After an all night travel from Colón, Panamá we arrived in Cartagena, Columbia, late in the morning. After breakfast, Bill and I spent some time watching out to sea.
We noticed a couple of container ships, probably heading to the Panama Canal, and two sailboats. One of the boats was nearing the entrance to Cartagena.
The channel into the estuary around Cartagena is entered thru a narrow opening called Boca Chica, which was once guarded by old Spanish forts on either side of the entrance.
We entered the estuary and proceeded to the inner harbor, were we tied up near another large cruise ship in the container port.
In 1999 when we visited here on a container ship bound for Europe, we were tied up very near to our current spot. Having spent three days visiting all the historic sites in the old city on that earlier visit, we opted to rest today saving our energy for new ports. We did walk in to Club Nautico, where the cruising fleet meets here, hoping to see some of our cruising friends. We enjoyed beers at the small restaurant there before returning to the ship.
The ship Enchantment of the Seas is currently based in Colón, Panama. While other cruise ship lines stop in Colón, all the others originate in the US. Uniquely, this ship starts and ends in Colón and never stops at a US port. This allows people from Latin America to enjoy a luxury cruise without the difficulties of obtaining an entry Visa to the US. The ship’s crew came from 80 different countries; they all spoke English, most also spoke Spanish (and other languages as well). Well over 95% of the passengers spoke Spanish, although many spoke some English too. All of the nightly shows were presented in Spanish; not that that particularly mattered to us.
Frank and Shirley from WindSong drove us over to Colón from Panama City. On the way we drove over the Madden Dam that holds back the waters of Madden Lake that feeds Gatun Lake and the Panama Canal. We stopped and took some photos of the dam.
Here in Colón a new new cruise port is being developed - Colón 2000. The new cruise terminal has a small shopping area already and we stopped for lunch before heading over to the ship.
Bill and I dropped off our luggage at the drop off point and joined the long line waiting to accomplish our paperwork for leaving Panama and boarding the ship. Our cabin is an inside cabin; no balcony, no windows, but really quiet!
The ship has a nice pool deck, although the pools are all quite small. There are three of them and a water park area for the children. This photo shows only the pools near the bow of the ship. There is also an adults-only pool toward the stern. The ship has 6 hot tubs, which Bill and I used in the evenings.
The main dining room is quite formal, so Bill and I enjoyed most of our meals in the much-less-formal Windjammer Buffet restaurant – on deck 9 in the bow and with a great view. The food was also fabulous and we could pick and choose, going back as many times as we pleased. This restaurant is open most of the day from 7AM to 9:30PM with only a few hour closure after breakfast and again before dinner to clean-up and set-up anew.
Each evening, when we returned to our room the steward had made up the room, for the second time each day, and left us a towel folded into interesting shapes. Here is one of a monkey that greeted us on one evening.
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