R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 58

Southern Caribbean Cruising — Cartagena

Last Monday in photos from the bastion I showed you a pink dome in the distance. Today I shall reveal what that was. It’s the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria. We’ll just shorten that to Cartagena Cathedral, like everyone else does. Construction began in 1575 and was completed 37 years later. This beautifully ornate pink and yellow tower looks great from the front:

Cartagena Cathedral

But it is equally impressive from the south wall as well:

Cartagena Cathedral...

Fun Photo Friday — Southern Caribbean; Cartagena Favorites 1

Time for Part 1 of 2 Fun Photo Friday Cartagena favorites.

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)

Southern Caribbean Cruising — Cartagena; Touring Old Town

Taking aim and the new section of Cartagena

We still have much to see and do here in Cartagena, so I’ll be showing you the sights both this week and next. But I’m going to depart from the usual and just jump around, mixing and matching photos as the mood strikes me. It’ll almost be like two weeks of consecutive Fun Photo Fridays, only with more text among the photos. If you like this little experiment, or if you don’t, just let me know. Before we go traipsing around Cartagena, though, let’s ...

Southern Caribbean Cruising — Arriving Cartagena, Columbia

Cartagena, Columbia has a rather unique cruise terminal. Exiting the ship you enter Port Oasis, which in addition to the usual tourist shopping, also has an extensive zoo area called Park Cartagena. The emphasis was on local birds. For instance, peacocks roamed freely everywhere:

Male peacock struttin’ his stuff

A wide array of brightly colored parrots perched alongside the walkways:

The Parrots of the Caribbean

This big guy seemed to really enjoy his closeup:

“I’m ready for my ...

Fun Photo Friday — Southern Caribbean; Panama City favorites

We had a wonderful time experiencing Panama City despite the poverty. And I got a lot of really great Fun Photo Friday material, as you can see from today’s gallery/slide show:

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)

Southern Caribbean Cruising — Panama City; Metropolitan Cathedral and other sights

Manuel Espinsa Batista in Independence Plaza

Continuing east along Avenida A takes you right by some really interesting ruins. The remaining structure is of intricate detail and constructed of brick and stone. These are the remains of Iglesia y Convento de la Compañía de Jesús (Church and Convent of the Society of Jesus), a Jesuit church and convent erected in 1741 that subsequently fell victim to both fire and earthquake.

Iglesia y Convento de la Compañía de Jesús Iglesia y Convento de ...

Southern Caribbean Cruising — Panama City; Iglesia de San José

Walking the streets in Panama City

After our visit to the Agua Clara locks our tour continued to Panama City. Here we alighted from the bus in the Old Town near Plaza Herrera, which was our first photo stop on today’s foot tour. The city itself is replete with contradictions between wealth and poverty, with poverty winning out in sheer numbers. The area around Plaza Herrera trended far into the poverty category even if the plaza itself belied that observation.

Plaza Herrera

The plaza tak...

Fun Photo Friday — Southern Caribbean; Panama Canal Favorites

Agua Clara Visitors Center Gatún Lake Looking south: New Agua Clara locks (left); old Gatún Locks (right) Getting a Raise Rusty Anchor Dripping Water

Слава Україні! (Slava Ukraini!)

Southern Caribbean Cruising — Panama Canal; Agua Clara Locks at Work

The new locks being moved into place during construction

Today we continue with our exploration of the Agua Clara locks at the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal expansion. I’ll be paying particular attention to the action of the locks themselves, as they are quite a departure from the pivoting locks used in the original system. In this first photo you can see the locks retracting into their side bays:

Agua Clara locks starting to open

It’s not a fast process. Here are the same lock...

Southern Caribbean Cruising — Panama Canal; Agua Clara Locks

Agua Clara locks of the new Panama Canal extension

The sight you see above is of the third set of locks installed at the Panama Canal. This new series of locks were completed in 2016, supplementing the older lock system completed in 1914. Specifically, these are the Agua Clara locks, and they handle entrance from the Atlantic side of the canal. The impressive bridge in the background is the Puente Atlántico, or Atlantic Bridge. Below is a view from the Atlantic Bridge of the original Gatún l...