Sloths and monkeys and poison dart frogs…oh my!

In an attempt to continue globetrotting post-Olmsted, we looked into trips to Central America, but couldn't lock anything in because Sean was traveling often for work. Then the government shutdown happened, and two months worth of back-to-back TDYs were suddenly cancelled. I had an in.

Since Miami & Ft Lauderdale are big cruise ports, I started looking at last minute cruise deals, and found a great itinerary to a site we've always wanted to see, the Panama Canal. It didn't hurt that the other stops included Costa Rica, Curacao, Aruba and the Bahamas. So off we went!

I still can't believe that, not only did we see the Panama Canal and visit the locks from the shore, we actually experienced the locks ourselves--twice--when our ship passed through them! 

Incredibly, we also cruised right past the coasts of Cuba and Haiti, where tiny fishing boats dotted the waters. We moved at such a slow pace that I spent hours on the deck watching fisherman and folks on the shore through my zoom lens! Having a bird's eye view of such troubled nations was quite interesting.

I'm excited to share more of our trip with you, and I will, just as soon as I drag out all of our holiday decorations and get our Christmas tree up!