After many cruise vacations in Europe (mostly Mediterranean), we wanted to see what all the buzz over Adventure Travel was. Our favorite cruise line, Silversea, launched their new Expedition Cruise division a year ago so a vacation with Silversea Expeditions was an easy choice for us.Still, we had to decide what kind of adventure sounded good. After combing through the itineraries, we settled upon "The Jungles & Rain Forests" of Panama and Costa Rica. And, in retrospect, we made a perfect decision! The experience was spectacular!
In mid-October, we boarded the Silver Explorer in Colon, Panama for our passage through the Panama Canal from the Caribbean side to the Pacific side where we would spend the next 7 days venturing into the jungles, reefs and rain forests of Panama and Costa Rica. For our entire week, the ship would anchor offshore in small bays and we would go ashore ashore via Zodiacs.
Our first excursion was into the Darien Jungle... by far, the most exotic experience of our whole trip! Our Zodiacs took us far up the Chucunaque River to an Embera tribal village that is only visited by a handful of small expedition groups each year. Because this journey can only be made during high tide, we couldn’t venture out until mid-afternoon... which meant that our Zodiac ride back to the ship was after dark in a tropical downpour and fairly rough seas. We were soaked - but that seemed to be perfectly fitting for a tropical jungle adventure! (Being soaked isn’t so bad when it’s 83 degrees!) On this evening, we particularly enjoyed our cocktail hour and our gourmet dinner!
We spent the ensuing days hiking through various rain forests where we were treated to up-close views of dozens of species of tropical birds including the colorful Macaws and Toucans. We were particularly fascinated with the 3 species of monkeys that we encountered - Spider, Capuchin and Howler Monkeys.
The best part of traveling is to meet people who lead unbelievably different lives. In addition to visiting that remote tribal village, we spent a couple fascinating hours with a woman who runs an animal rescue facility deep within a Costa Rican rainforest. Adding to our visit, an injured sloth was brought in while we were there.
As mentioned above, elegant cocktail hours and gourmet dinners are especially enjoyable after being “hosed down” in the mud room upon returning to the ship from the day’s expedition! (I exaggerate - slightly!) Having enjoyed the luxury of traditional Silversea cruises in the past, we wondered how the ruggedness of exploration cruising would mesh with the elegance for which Silversea is known. No problem!!!! The two elements complimented one-another perfectly. Nice job, Silversea!
We’ll definitely do another expedition trip in the future.
Happy Traveling!
Dick
