Fuerte Amador, Panama
Ship: Swan Hellenic - SH Diana
Itinerary: 11-Night Puntarenas to Cartagena
This morning, SH Diana is docked at Fuerte Amador, the port for Panama City.
We gather on Deck 5 for the Small Boat Tour of Gatun Lake. This was an optional excursion for $169/pp. Swan Hellenic did offer an included Panama City Tour excursion.
By 8:15, guests are disembarking SH Diana. A motor coach is waiting for us on the pier to take us to Gamboa, where we will board our small boats.
The coach ride took a little more than an hour. Our first stop was a bathroom break at the Gamboa Resort before we head to the marina.
The marina is not far from the resort and we walk down a paved road to get to the marina.
There are three boats waiting for us at the marina, yet I think our group may have only filled two of the boats.
Everyone puts on the provided life vests and the way the boats are designed, everyone gets a “window” seat. The boats are covered on top to block sun and rain, but not on the sides, as we would soon learn.
Our first stop was to look at a mother crocodile looking over her baby crocs. They are almost impossible to see on the small rocks, but when they moved around, you could spot them.
Later in the tour, at another location, the guide reached down and grabbed a baby crocodile out of the water and passed it around for everyone to hold. Below, Rickee holds the baby croc.
At another location, we stop to look at a tree trunk where small fruit bats are just clinging to the tree.
During the tour, lunch boxes were provided with a chicken tortilla wrap, granola bar and apple juice box.
We did observe some monkeys in trees along the shore, but you have to have a really good camera and lens to get photos of those. And then, the rain began. We had been warned that there was a good chance of rain and were advised to bring rain coats. I did not even pack a rain coat for this trip, but Rickee did. I did have a cheap, plastic Pancho.
Unfortunately, we had already put on our life vests. Here’s a pro tip: DEFINITELY bring a rain coat, and put it on BEFORE you don your life vest. We tried holding the raincoat and pancho over us to block the rain, but the small rain quickly turned into a downpour and water was coming into the boat from all sides. We were SOAKED when we got off the boat.
The rain only lasted about 30 minutes at the end of the tour, but everyone, even those with raincoats, got soaked. Then it was back on the coach for the one-hour-plus ride back to SH Diana.
This was a good excursion and one we would recommend. A raincoat, and really waterproof pants, would make a huge difference in the experience.
The highlight of today was being invited to have dinner with Hotel Director, Nicolas Longin. Nicolas has a long and interesting history in the cruise industry, and we have even sailed with his wife, Vicki Van Tassel, when she was a Cruise Director for Silversea. We enjoyed a great meal and great conversation.
Tomorrow, we will be transiting the Panama Canal.
