| Trip Journals
Royal Olympia
Cruises: Central America
A 12-night cruise with a partial transit of the Panama Canal
and port stops in off-the-beaten-path-destinations in Central
America including the primitive San Blas Islands of Panama,
Puerto Limon on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, little
Roatan off the coast of Honduras, and Belize. I was on a Royal
Olympia Cruises (the Greek line) ship, the Olympia Explorer.
The new ship is a real beauty. Sleek, modern and built for
speed, our average cruising speed was about 27 knots. Carrying
only 800-some passengers at full capacity, we enjoyed wonderful,
friendly, attentive and classy service from Greek and Romanian
staff thought our voyage. We did experience some rough seas
and a lot of ship movement during several nights and days,
but a few bonine tablets prevented any unpleasantness or,
heaven forbid, a missed meal.
Highlights of our Itinerary
Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, is a small
port on the wild and little-visited Caribbean side of the
country. With vast areas protected by national parks and wildlife
refuges, this area is a dream for eco-adventures. We disembarked
in a hard rain and were very happy to see our guide (we had
booked a private tour) standing just beyond the gangway holding
a sign with our name. Soon we were enjoying good Costa Rican
coffee at a charming “jungle lodge” perched above
the sea, enroute to Tortuguero, an area of
navigable canals and waterways known as the Amazon of Costa
Rica. We climbed into our little boat and headed out in the
rain down a green canal with rainforest towering on both sides—a
scene that reminded us of the African Queen. Richard was a
wonderful and charming guide, possessed with a remarkable
ability to spot wildlife. I can hardly describe the beauty
we experienced: the lush green rainforest, the river, the
rain, quaint little river outposts and so many kinds of exotic
and beautiful birds, howler monkeys carrying their babies
on their backs, sloths clinging to tall trees, a big green
iguana, giant blue morpho butterflies, spider monkeys leaping
from tree to tree, crocodiles in the water….when the
rain stopped and the sun came through, the forest became so
alive we really felt like the lucky observers of a strange
and amazing world.
Roatan, Islas Bahias (Bay Islands),
Honduras
The isle of Roatan, located about 30 miles off the north coast
of Honduras, is famous for the extensive living reef that
surrounds the island and makes it a mecca for divers. We fell
in love with this beautiful little island at first sight,
which was with our morning coffee on deck as the ship pulled
into a lovely small bay and alongside a new dock. Roatan has
not seen many cruise ships before ours. We walked off the
ship and soon hired a local driver, Tex, who loved his island
and was happy to show it to us for a reasonable price ($45
for the day). We decided to visit the most unique and wonderful
resort, Anthony’s Key Resort, a great
place to spend a week or longer diving, snorkeling, swimming
with dolphins or daydreaming in an overwater bungalow. The
dive operation and friendly staff at Anthony’s is world
class. We went out on a snorkeling boat and spent an enchanted
time with our dive guide among the reef fish and corals in
a gorgeous site, with morning sun streaming through the water
to illuminate the colors below the surface. Back with Tex
we visited the charming village of West Bay
where I found an internet café, then landed at a fine
beach where we spent some happy lazy hours, before returning
to the charms of our ship. We enjoyed a sunset departure on
deck with drinks in hand and a string band playing Greek music,
that somehow sounded just right.
Belize
Oh what a difficult choice: to spend a day on the great
Barrier Reef of Belize or to go inland in search
of ancient Mayan cities deep in the rainforest. I chose the
latter, and in spite of rain, was not disappointed. By motorcoach
we made our way through the narrow and lively streets of Belize
City, to cross the 75-mile width of the country, through ramshackle
villages and ranchlands, nearly to the border of Guatamala.
We left the bus to cross a raging river by a hand-powered
cable-operated ferry, to board minivans that brought us to
an amazing site: the ruins of the ancient (time of Christ)
Mayan city of Xunantunich with its magnificent
central pyramid. From the top of the temple/tomb on a clear
day we might have seen the ruins at Tikal only 50 miles away.
We also visited another Mayan site, and one I thought was
even more beautiful in its setting of tropical palms and green
meadows, and amazing structures only partly reclaimed from
the rainforest, a place called Cahal Pech,
Place of the Tick. My travel companion, however, chose to
spend her day snorkeling on the reef. A speedboat whisked
her from the ship to Goff’s Cay, an
uninhabited coral isle that offered what she and others claimed
to be the most fantastic snorkeling in the world. Another
popular shore excursion offered in this port was cave tubing
at Jaguar Paw Resort—that is, floating in inner tubes
through a series of underground caves, after a trek through
the jungle. Belize does not lack in opportunities for wild
adventures.
 San
Blas Islands. The San Blas Archipelago is made up of
366 small fragments of paradise strung out along the Caribbean
coast of Panama, and they are no ordinary islands. The inhabitants
of these islands are the Cuna Indians, who
have lived in isolation that they ferociously guarded from
foreign influence. It was an amazing sight to arrive from
our ship and be greeted by these people dressed in elaborate
colorful clothing and wearing beads and gold noserings and
necklaces and body paint. For sell was a dizzying array of
needlework molas, as well as photo opportunities
at a dollar a shot. These people still use coconuts for currency—but
our dollars were in high demand, and I spent mine with a little
friendly haggling and came home with beautiful pieces of needlework,
colorful renderings of birds, fish and reptiles.
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