Panama City

Panama, not Florida in case anyone is getting confused.

We docked sometime in the middle of the night; I didn’t stay up for sail in. When I awoke this morning, we were docked along side the main pier with Coral Princess on the other side. I skipped the fitness center this morning in favor of a planned ramble on land.

As it turns out, the port is more than 5 km from town. You can get there by tour bus, taxi, Über etc, or you could hike but the sidewalks seem to disappear once you leave the controlled port area. I have been through the canal at least 4x before but have disembarked here only once – and that was well before the new terminal was built. As I vaguely remember it was off the ship, to a hotel, visited the MilleFiori Museum and left country the next day. But my memory from 15+ years ago could also be full of holes. Just saying.

Anyway – the terminal building is huge, shiny, echoing and without free wifi. I headed out along the sidewalk and out of the immediate terminal area to walk along the sea path next to Amador Bay. With an interesting set of signs in both Spanish & English, they detailed the history of the area, the defensive batteries, and the changes brought on by WWII and air support.

I wandered out to the main controlling gate. Watched the traffic for a while. Thought about it, and turned around to head back toward the ship. I don’t have a need for shopping. The humidity was punishing. I met a lovely couple from small town Wisconsin taking a break. They reported that the Coral Princess had departed from SF, picked up more passengers (including them) and was Fort Lauderdale bound. Their ship will then be making a return trip on its way to Alaska.

I was back on ship a bit under two hours after having left. I don’t want to head into the city enough to pay a taxi or hike back out to the entry for a ride share service. There is coffee here, I have my stitching. Since none of the tours offered something I found new and interesting, I will just hang out for the rest of the day