Our Panama Canal Cruise

And look what we woke up to (it actually happened at 11:31AM) A full solar eclipse (they call it the ring of fire) right over where we were docked. It's the first one I've been lucky enough to see. Our cruise ship handed out those special glasses you need, and Sheryl and I just stood there for maybe 10 minutes watching the moon crescent over the sun, totally block the sun and then move on. If our day ended here, we would be totally happy. But wait, there is more. Heading to shore, we are. Even our little ship is too big to dock in Belize, so tender we did. Today's excursion was a drive through old Belize and a tour of the site Altun Ha. Now, we've toured a couple sites in Talum, we did one in Cozumel, but this blew the others away. I've only added a few photos, but suffice it to say that we are surrounded by pyramids, buildings, and stairs. Boy, do the Mayans love building stairs. In the centre is a playing field where the game of choice was Pitz. The game was simil...

 Our first port of call was Cozumel, Mexico, and our first excursion was a trip to the ruins of San Gervasio. By the way, I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that Viking includes one excursion at every port at no additional cost (there are other excursions at an additional cost, so there is always a selection). This site has a long history, starting around 100 BC and continuing until the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century. The place was dedicated to the Mayan goddess Ixchel (She of the rainbows). Many couples came here to have their wedding, as it was a good omen for a healthy marriage. Renewing our vows was an excellent place for a honeymoon its time, but not so much anymore. A wedding would only be a wedding with a wedding crasher. A short tour today (2 1/2 hours). In hindsight, we should have done a second one, but it was hot, and there were cool drinks back on board. So back we went. A quick shower, a cool drink and we're ready to .... relax.

 This is our Ship Well, a model of it. Eventually, we will get a better view of the ship's exterior when in our first port. Sheryl booked us on the Viking Mars, the newest of their ships launched in 2022. The ship only holds 930 guests and 465 crew. It is considered a small ship at 745 feet in length and a beam of 94 feet, but we still managed to get lost several times over these two days at sea. One of the many "WOWs" was the ship SPA. With Vikings Norwegian roots, you have to expect the best in cold, hot and relaxation, and we found it on deck 1. The ice bucket challenge is still doing well on the Viking Mars. But it gets even colder in the ice room, which has actual snow in it (it was too dark inside to get a picture but believe me, there is snow). To top it off, there is a steam room and shower with more nozzles than you can count, even if you use both hands. After you put your body through all this, there is a relaxing pool and jacuzzi. All this and more are included...

 We landed late last night in Fort Lauderdale, so we just went to our room and hit the sack. We woke up to realize the great view we had from our room overlooking one of the several canals surrounding our hotel. From our hotel to our ship, where we were whisked through security, registration and customs. And treated with the traditional glass of champagne (I got to drink both glasses). The rest of the day was spent settling into our suite and doing a quick tour of the ship. The next two days will be at sea and we will definitely be exploring the ship in more detail.

Thanks to COVID-19, it's been a while since our last cruise, but today is the day we start on our trip and knock off another bucket list adventure. Over the past few months, Sheryl has been working diligently on finding the perfect cruise that would have us visiting places we have yet to see and get us through the Panama Canal. My contribution was using all the points I've built up on credit cards over the past several years to allow us to travel in style (and for free). They say red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Lucky for us, we were flying, so we just sat back and enjoyed the morning sky.