South American Tour: Balboa, Panama (1964-1965)

Monday, December 28, 1964 Enroute to Balboa

We were on our way to Balboa Canal Zone at 5:30 am, so I am told. Millie and I slept until 10. Lazy day, smooth sea. Saw lots of fish, porpoise, sail fish, tarpon. I swam in ship's pool this PM. The water from the sea was a delightful 75 degrees. We are in sight of land most of the time.

Tuesday, December 29, 1964 Enroute to Balboa

Slept late. Awoek with headache and upset stomach. Millie not feeling too good. Later we felt we had picked up a bug in the salad we ate for lunch at the Hilton in Acapulco. We have and will continue to refraing from drinking water or milk when off ship. Also to leave fresh vegetables and fruits alone. I thought perhaps the Hilton could control their products but apparently not. I slept most of the afternoon and ate little dinner.

Wednesday, December 30, 1964 Enroute to Balboa

Decided to get up for breakfast instead of sleeping. On our previous trip we had access to pantry and we could prepare toast and coffee. On this ship the pantry is locked. So we will probably get up in the future. We both feel ill and to make matters worse we had run into a gale making the sea rough. However, it did not pitch or rock as much as the Flying fish. We went back to bed after breakfast. Got up for a big lunch and went back to bed. Got up and dressed for cocktail and enjoyed a good dinner. The wind went down with the sun and the sea became smooth again. Everyone went on deck it was most delightful. Due in Balboa, Canal Zone Friday noon. Played Bingo in the lounge until ten, then had a gab-fest for the late go-to-bedders.

Thursday, December 31, 1964 Enroute to Balboa

Weather balmy, sea smooth, saw land on port side. Every once in a while. Captain gave cocktail party at 5 PM in lounge. Dinner at six. After dinner had more drinks in lounge Bea Finnerty was doing a solo dance in stocking feet on slippery tile floor when she slipped and fell on shoulder and a gash over right eye. Frantz, the Chief Steward patched her up. Then we slipped away to the officers mess to celebrate New Years Eve.

Friday, January 1, 1965 Balboa, Panama

Miraflores Locks

We opened the new day and the new year with parking the ship at 6 am out in the Bay of Panama - expecting to be there all day. However, a pilot came out and the ship was docked. We took taxi with Finnerty's, five other passengers another taxi. All of us were going to visit some noted park. On the way we saw a sign inviting visitors to see the Miraflores Locks on the Pacific side of Canal so we left the other five. On the side of the locks there is an observatory which overlooks the locks which is glass enclosed and covered, with a bilingual guide to talk about the operation and answer questions. We watched ships going in each direction thru the two locks at that point. We returned to Balboa Railroad station to take the train for the 48 mile ride across the continental seaside (271 Elv) and Isthmus to Cólon and Cristóbal. We walked about 12 blocks thru Cólon to Sea. Washington Hotel for lunch and discovered we were too late and too early for dinner. Took Taci back to yacht Club in Cristóbal where we had an excellent broiled lobster meal - $200 panama is the only country which does not have any paper money of its own. If they did it would be called Balboa, but they use Us paper money instead. Pretty smart as then no fluctuation. We took a taxi ride around the two towns and then back to RR station for return to Balboa at 6:30 (from coast to coast and return in an afternoon)

Train to Colon

Saturday, January 2, 1965 Balboa, Panama

Balboa

Posted time for sailing was 12 noon, so we hustled away by taxi for Panama City in Republic of Panama which is about 3 miles from Balboa. There are many excellent shops, drug stores/farmacias, and a number of camera stores. We made the rounds and taxied back to ship. It was still unloading. We had lunch and sailing time postponed to 2:30 PM. I walked about 1/2 mile to Balboa Post Office to mail film for processing. Al-tho the canal zone was in U.S. territory, U.S. Stamps are no good for postage, it must be Canal Zone Stamps - probably printed in Wash DC. When I returned found sailing time had been set back again. Millie and Finnerty's had gone into Panama City looking for me on the way but I had wandered off the beaten track to take some pictures. In late afternoon, we visited the United Fruit boat tethered on other side of our dock. The passengers were quite unhappy. They had inspected our ship in the morning and had seen passenger accommodations. They had no air conditioning, cabins were cramped, windows were port holes, and they were told while we were there that they would have to leave the ship to go to hotel and wait for another ship which would take them to Baltimore and pay their own expense from there. Originally they expected to return to New Orleans. We sailed at 6:15 pm. It was a beautiful balmy evening.