Day 4 – April 12, 2023 – Wednesday – Cartagena, Colombia

The crew eased the Eurodam quietly into port and had us tied up at 0600 before most normal people wake up.

We decided to NOT join the group to cruise around town for a few hours. Instead, we choose to stay closer to the ship and visit the welcome center nearby. We’d heard it had kind of a petting zoo with parrots and various other birds so decided to visit that. It was virtually at the end of the pier, before having to go through customs to officially enter the country. It didn’t dissapoint.

First off, there were flamingos.

A little further in was this peacock with a posse of some sort. They followed his everywhere.

When he spread his tail, I swear I heard a collective sigh from the wannabes.

This guy let me pet him for a bit, but I wasn’t gonna let him wrap his feet around any part of my body, They’re pretty scary.

A little further back in the facility, we found this guy living in an enclosure with a bunch of pigs. It was pretty sad and we figured the pigs beat him up every night, trying to get him to leave.

Apparently he likes the attention, and stayed. Even with his disability, we had to applaud his willingness to strut his stuff and show the world what he had.

Or, maybe it was one of these guys …

Around a couple more corners and we found the open air atrium. There’s no enclosure. These guys just live here, flying all over the place.

… except for this guy. We learned later that he’s a Hermit Parrot…

We caught the shuttle bus back to the ship and prepared to get underway.

We departed Cartagena at 1300 or so. Backed away from the pier and into the turning basin on the port side, then accelerated away at warp speed.

A plumber showed up to fix the shower that Diane broke yesterday. Yup. She ripped the holder for the shower wand right off the wall. In her defense, it wasn’t the first time it had been ripped off the wall.

We lounged on a chaise lounge on our veranda and watched Cartagena fade away.

Got a brief tutorial from the skipper about how we’re going to transit the Panama Canal tomorrow. We get in line at 0530 and began entering the locks at 0700. If we want to watch what’s going on it’s going to be an early morning. The distance between the entrance locks and the exit locks is about 45 miles. Rumor has it that we’ll be passing the Zandam which is coming from the west. That was the first cruise ship we were on.

Ate dinner with Tommy Lee (girl), Mike, and Helen. Tommy Lee is from Texas and Mike & Helen are from Vancouver Island. Lots of Canadians and Washingtonians on this trip.

Went to the Mainstage and got entertained by a pretty funny guy, Steve Soelberg.

Back in our room by 2030.

Ship is rocking and rolling a little bit. I think the reason is because the ship speed is increased. During dinner and most of the day, the speed is slowed to take it easy on the passengers. At night, they crank it up a couple of notches.