Wednesday, Dec. 10 2025 The Pearl Islands Who knows what evils lurk behind the "crew only" signs?! Mah-hah-hah-hah!   It’s a snappy blog title, right? In fact, none of this has been hell—but the photo I took of the Quest doing the Pacific side locks at night has such a hellish appeal that I was unable to resist.   The channel into the locks is illuminated with excellent lights; there’s a tall green light rod that the pilot aims the bow at until he gets some magic signal and s

Tuesday, December 9, 2025 Gatun Lake   Ferny palms (or palmy ferns) in the rain This morning I saw a crocodile heading for the ship. It was highly sneaky. Just drifting closer and closer. Everyone else thought it was a log, but I was not fooled. Not even when it came close enough to be eyed…   Definitely menacing Well. Maybe it was a log. Twig suggested that it might be a rare and endangered Panamanian plank, which was at least a kind effort on her part.   Today I have not se

Monday, Dec. 8, 2025 Gatun Lake, the Nat Geo Quest   Twig's rule: Everyone looks better with sunglasses on. Our father was an aeronautical engineer by training. I was raised to value the nerdness of the engineering world…and yet it’s just possible that I’ve not given engineering all the credit it is due…   …this realization brought to you by the fact that this entire ship was just lifted 85 feet into the air and deposited in a huge inland sea of a manmade lake. I’ve just been

Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025 Aboard the Orion, en route to Portobelo   Lexie took this photo of the full moon behind clouds. It annoys her that it looks so much like daylight, but I think this photo is excellent. All mine were too blurry since the camera said "stay still for two seconds," which only works if you aren't on a ship bounding over the waves... The “expedition” we’re on is the only Lindblad cruise that takes place entirely in Panama, so I’m not going to say that we’re goin

Sunday, Dec. 7 2025 Panama City From the overpass over Balboa Avenue to get to the excellent harbor walking trail. This place is BEAUTIFULLY tended! I have always suffered from the “I don’t sleep well the first night” in a new place—but the curse has been broken! I hit that hotel bed last night and stumbled down, down, down in to the deepest sleep. This was my world record of sleep since I got this iWatch (which rates my sleep like the Russian judge). Oh em gee, I woke up lik

Saturday, December 6, 2025 I write from the Copa airline flying me to Panama. My sister Twig is by my side. Across the aisle is my sister Lexie and her husband Scott. These are three of my favorite people in the world… …and now we have an immediate digression. Thirty-eight words in and already I’m distracted. That’s what happens when the Uber is coming at 5:15 in the morning so of course I woke up at 1:15 in the morning and lay there thinking about how horrible it was to be a

Nov. 1, 2024 (Friday!)   “It’s very nice to go travlin’, with just a toothbrush and comb. It’s very nice go go travlin', but it’s oh so...

Oct. 27 (Sunday)   Honestly, I thought I was a world-class money-spender. A classic spendthrift. But I am NOTHING compared to my sister....

Oct. 26, 2024 (Saturday)   This is the town of Murcheson, New Zealand—a real going concern. Population 513 since Twig, Harry, and I...

Oct. 25 (Friday)   I’ve discovered a commonality in what I think is stunningly beautiful: I really like steep mountains sloping down into...

Oct. 24 (Thursday)   The plan to separate 52 travelers from the NG Orion was only entertainingly complex if you’d had enough sleep the...

Oct. 23 (Wednesday)   I am WAY too tired to blog tonight, so let me sum up by saying: I must move to the South Island of New Zealand...

Oct 23 (Wednesday)—middle of the night   Perhaps you were aware that all those Lord of the Rings movies were filmed in New Zealand. That...

Oct. 22 (Tuesday)   Ain’t it always the way? Here’s the blurb from an exhibit in the Maori Museum at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds:   “When...

Oct. 21 (Monday)   A day at sea. This means…naps!   And lounging in the sun, reading and alternately watching for whales, which did not...

Oct. 20, 2024 (Sunday)   Go ahead—try to find Norfolk Island on a map. I'll wait. Good luck. I’ve spent most of the day on a rock in the...

Oct. 19 (Saturday)   I hosted a hootenanny in the South Pacific. Our “day at sea” featured some lectures in the morning, but the...

Oct. 18, Friday   There is NO WAY I saw sea snakes today. No way.   But…ew. What the hell ARE those things??! We arrived on Lifou in New...

Oct. 17 (Thursday. I have to write out the day of the week because that is my ONLY frame of reference. That and my phone alarm rang a few...

Oct. 16 (Wednesday) Here’s the local buzz: If you want to curse someone, you need one of the wizards from the Vanuatu black magic island...