The Traveling Widower

Tag: nature

  • Not Again, More Monkeys, and TSA at Houston

    A scenic beach view with clear blue water, kayaks on the sand, and people enjoying various activities. Palm trees frame the foreground, with mountains in the distance.

    March 24th, 2026

    I’ve been really pleased with the way things have gone on this trip so far, in terms of my health. I’ve been monitoring my BPM, taking my blood pressure daily, and trying my best not to stress out about anything. I did fine on the one hike early on that went up a five or six story circular staircase, and going up and down the stairs on the ship. Well, today did not start out too well. I started out OK, but then read an article about the 4 hours wait time to get through TSA at IAH. I’ve only got 2 hours between flights, and need to go through customs and TSA security again. I sent e-mail to the Lindblad travel agency, asking about switching to a flight the next day, and will probably go ahead with that. This morning I was scheduled to head over to a tropical island to hang on a beach and go kayaking. I was looking forward to that. I was sort of ready when I heard the call to board the Zodiacs to head to shore. Crap – I had to throw everything together in a hurry. I wound up at the end of the line, out of breath. And then the heart issue hit – dizzy, racing heart, palpitations. Double crap. I leaned against the wall, tried to relax, but much like the last time, it was not stopping. I was right next to my cabin, so I ducked in and sat down. What to do. I called for the ships doctor. She got there in a few minutes, checked my pulse which was going down, told me I definitely should not be snorkeling, and stayed with me for a bit. She said I should just relax, and go to the beach anyway. My BPM had creeped down below 100, and since I had already greased up with sunscreen, I figured what else could go wrong? Don’t answer that please.

    I made the right choice. The beach was beautiful, just a 5 minute Zodiac ride, and with lots of chairs in the shade. If nothing else, I figured I could just take a snooze. But, after resting for 20 minutes, I wandered over to an empty kayak, and pushed off for a slow paddle around the bay. 

    A scenic view of a calm beach with palm trees and clear water, taken from a kayak. Several people are kayaking in the background with boats and a sandy shore visible.

    There was not really that much to see – the water was clear, but other than some really small fish, there was nothing worth sticking the GoPro underwater. I paddled across the bay where a bunch of other folks were hanging out – there were a couple of crocodiles sunning on a rock – none of us were interested in getting a closer look. They can swim much faster than any of us could paddle. And in my current condition, I would have been slowest kayak. Chomp.

    After 30 minutes or so, I had enough sun, and figured it would be best to just rest. Something I’m not very good at. 

    This island, Coiba used to be a notorious prison, especially during the Noriega days – anyone sentenced here basically disappeared. After things settled down in Panama years later, they made this into a protected national park, which is part of a very large marine ecological zone. These islands are linked with the Galapagos and other Pacific Islands, for quite a few fish and mammals – Hammerhead sharks, Whale Sharks and Humpback Whales migrate through here. So, this beach also had a small, somewhat primitive museum / visitor center, and access to the islands is very limited and controlled. Not that I was planning to do any hiking on jungle trails, wearing kayak shoes. There are lots of birds, and mammals on the islands including Howler and Capuchin monkeys. One Capuchin decided to check out the beach, and made for a good photo op – I wish I had brought one of the Sony’s, but the Pixel 10 worked fine.

    A white-faced capuchin monkey climbing a green palm leaf against a clear blue sky.
    A monkey walking on a wooden railing, looking upwards with a curious expression, surrounded by greenery.
    A monkey climbing a palm tree, with green palm fronds in the background.
    A white-faced monkey standing on a wooden surface, surrounded by green foliage.

    There was also a large monitor lizard hanging around the museum, just asking for a selfie or two, and a friendly vulture stood in line waiting for the shower. 

    Close-up of a textured lizard head resting among green grass.
    A black vulture standing on green grass, showcasing its distinctive dark feathers and gray head.

    Eventually, a Zodiac came to ferry us back to the ship, where I planned to just hang out and relax the rest of the day. The next few days will be all about hiking, and learning a bit about local culture. Hopefully, my heart will behave itself for the remainder of the trip.

    One more photo – a moth settle outside one of the dining room windows. Made for an interesting composition.

    A white moth resting on a glass surface, with a blurred view of blue water and green hills in the background under a clear blue sky.

    Peace

  • Birds and Monkeys…and Keep Your Hands in the Boat!!

    A group of unusual, spiky insects clinging to a tree trunk in a natural setting.
    Bats!!! Really.

    March 22, 2026

    Remember all the time honored warnings your parents used to give you when you were young? “Don’t run with scissors or a knife in your hand”, “Don’t play in the street” or “Don’t talk to strangers”. Well, one of the warnings you get on cruises, when you go off on small boats for activities, is “Please keep your hands inside the boat”. Now I know why. I’ll fill you in on that in a bit.

    Today was the first full day of activity since boarding the ship. We passed into the canal the previous night, an experience I’ll cover in another post. This has been a very busy trip, and it has been hard to keep up with writing new posts. Lo siento. After passing through the locks, the ship passed into Gatun Lake, which was created during the development of the canals – at the time (early 1900’s), it was the largest man-made lake. It’s still huge – check out a map of Panama and you’ll see for yourself. The boat anchored in a quiet bay, which gave us most of the day to explore along the islands and rainforest national parks around us. In the morning, I opted for a visit/hike to the Soberania National Park, which is a haven for bird watchers. We had a 30 minute ride in Pangas (small boats) to get there, which was fast and fun – you get to pass huge LNG and container ships, making their transit through the lake portion of the canal. The lake is also a tourist attraction, so their are a lot of small boats buzzing around, and this particular morning, a bunch of dragon boat teams out practicing.

    A group of people paddling in a boat on a calm river with green trees lining the shore and a building in the background.
    Low-angle view of an industrial bridge with pipes running along the structure, reflecting in the water below, under a partly cloudy sky.
    A tall industrial structure reflecting in calm water, surrounded by greenery and a cloudy sky.
    A large cargo ship with colorful containers on deck navigates a calm body of water under a cloudy sky.
    Large cargo ship named Corvette sailing on water under a cloudy sky.

    There is of course history behind the big crane in one of the photos – it was purchased from Germany before WWII – it was built for maintaining U-Boats. It is sort of a museum piece, but they don’t know what to do with it. The railroad bridge we went under also has a lot of history – it crosses the main river which feeds the lake, and is part of the line which crosses coast-to-coast. When the water in the lake gets to high, even the Pangas can’t go underneath (unless everyone ducks).

    We headed to Gamboa, which for a long time was a thriving town when the US owned the canal, but is now a ghost town with just few businesses keeping the lights on. But it does get some tourist traffic for the rainforest park – birders, hikers and even some cyclists. Our groups were headed first to a large observation tower where you can climb 170 or steps to an observation deck above the forest canopy. Yeah, another spiral staircase, just like the Moaning Cavern. It was fun and a good test of my heart, but we did not see much in the way of wildlife. 

    View of a spiral staircase with a concrete surface and a surrounding mesh railing, leading downwards, surrounded by greenery.
    View from a platform overlooking a dense green forest, with wooden pathways visible below and a person walking on the path.
    A panoramic view of a lush green forest under a partly cloudy sky.

    After descending, I opted to return back to the other attraction for the morning – a hummingbird viewing station. Now that was more like it. There are quite a few species of hummers in the rainforest, but this time of year, fewer show up at the feeders since all the plants are flowering. Too much too earth. But, a bunch of them still buzz over to the visitor center for an easy meal. It was amazing to see so many hummingbirds dividing around the feeders – there are literally swarms of hummers flying around, and they had little button feeders if you wanted to have them feed out of your hand. Which of course I did. I had two hummers and about 6 wasps on my hand. I quickly abandoned that effort. I wasted a lot of shots on the feeders, but focused on the birds when they sat in the trees. I managed to capture some incredible images, probably better than what I got from the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum last year. The hummingbird pictured below is a White Necked Jacobin. There were two other species, but I did not get any good photos of them.

    A vibrant blue and green hummingbird perched on a slender branch against a blurred green background.
    A vibrant hummingbird perched on a twig, showcasing its shimmering blue and green feathers in a natural setting.
    A vibrant hummingbird perched on a branch, showcasing iridescent blue and green plumage.

    That was about it for the morning excursion (that word has new meaning of late…no bombs involved). I think we were all soggy from the humidity, but it was a really beautiful and enjoyable experience in the jungle.

    The afternoon off-ship activity was a bit easier on the body – boat rides around what are referred to as the Monkey Islands….for obvious reasons. There are large numbers of four different species of monkeys on the islands. Duh. The rain forests all over Panama and Central America have a variety of resident wildlife, including monkeys. When the river valley was flooded to create the Gatun Lake, all the peaks of high hills became islands, each with family groups of monkeys. There is lots to eat, so the monkeys stayed and the populations pretty much stay in their isolated world (although they do swim). 

    We went off on the Pangas again and just cruised close to shore, looking for movement in the trees. And there was a. Lot of that. The Mantled Howler Monkeys are the easiest to spot, and we found one family group that provided some good photo opportunities. We had seen (and heard them) in the morning – their sound was used to create the T-Rex roars in Jurassic Park. You can hear them from far away.

    Two monkeys resting on a tree branch surrounded by green leaves.

    The next ones we spotted were these cute little monkeys (Geoffrey’s Tamarin), right along the shore. Here’s the rest of the story I teased about. The naturalist invited me up to the bow of the boat, so I could photograph the little beasties better. As I moved in, I grabbed the side of the boat, not realizing that the driver was intending to just ram the boat into the trees. My hand became a bumper between the boat and a tree. Fortunately, I screamed (more like a very loud curse) and the driver backed off before my fingers were crushed. Not much damage done – it hurt a lot, but only my little finger was bruised, and a small amount of blood from a cut. I kept on taking photographs for the monkeys…..it was worth the pain. The naturalist was more upset than I was.

    A close-up of a monkey sitting on a tree branch, looking attentively to the side with a blurred green background.
    A close-up image of a monkey sitting on a tree branch, surrounded by green foliage.

    We kept on cruising after that, and spotted another species of monkeys (White-Throated Capuchin Monkey) a Snail Kite that posed for us, an Anhinga drying it’s wings, a small alligator and some incredible tiny bats (cover photo). 

    A close-up of a capuchin monkey sitting among green leaves and branches, with a contemplative expression.
    A Snail Kite decided to pose for us
    An Anhinga, drying it’s wings

    I spent an hour or two reviewing and curating a few of the photos – I could leave today and be very satisfied with the results. High hopes for the rest of the trip. And I’ll keep my hands in the boat from now on.

    Peace