JAMAICA 1: GETTING THERE, PORT ROYAL, AND FORT CHARLES

 February 15, 2023

Many years ago my husband began doing research on his third great-grandfather, Captain George Cannon of the Isle of Man, who was a slave ship captain. One thing led to another, and soon he was deeply immersed in learning more about his ancestor's life and work. He posted some of his findings on his blog, and that created some fun connections with family members--known and previously unknown. 

Over the years we have made an effort to visit sites related to Captain Cannon, going first to his home in Peel, Isle of Man, in 2006. In 2014 we took a sobering trip to the Ghana coast where Captain Cannon picked up slaves. (See posts on Fort Amsterdam, Cape Coast Castle, Fort St. Anthony, Elmina Castle, and Fort William.)

For many years, Bob has wanted to visit the third point of the slave trade triangle, Jamaica. He had employed a researcher on the island to see what could be found, but he wanted to see the ports and shores with his own eyes. I had a long weekend in February with Lincoln's birthday and President's Day off, and it seemed like the time was right. 

In addition, during the Covid shutdown, Bob had been contacted by Chad Cannon, a distant cousin (I think a third cousin once removed?) who was also a descendant of Captain Cannon (Chad's great-great-grandfather was Bob's great-grandfather's brother), and Chad and his wife Sarah came out for a visit one weekend to get acquainted and discuss Bob and Chad's mutual roots. When Bob started planning this trip to Jamaica, he reached out to them to see if they might be interested in joining us. Sarah ended up not being able to get away from work, but Chad was a welcome addition to our trip.

So that's the background for our Jamaican Adventure.

Bob and I had a 1:00 AM flight out of LAX--brutal, but it meant we were able to spend a full day at work before driving to the airport, and that we would arrive at our destination in the morning.  It is our typical MO. 

The international terminal at LAX is a lot nicer than in used to be, and we usually plan to eat in the food court there when we arrive.

PANAMA: A DAY TRIP

 March 17, 2022

We are not ones to sit around the airport in a foreign country for hours on end waiting for our next flight. Our flight to Quito included an 8 hour 52 minute layover in Panama City, and that meant we had plenty of time for an excursion.

The four of us were met by our pre-arranged guide as we exited the airport at about 10:00 AM, and he drove for over an hour to a dock in a lake area that is part of the canal system. Honestly, I didn't think it wasn't the best way to start the day as we had already been sitting in LAX and then on the plane for hours and had eaten only a small breakfast on the plane since leaving LAX the night before. 

There was one highlight on the drive, however--a stop at a little convenience store where Geneil bought dim sum dumplings to share and we all got Cokes. The dumplings were divine, and the Coke/caffeine was much appreciated. Unfortunately, it would be the only food we bought all day until we returned to the airport, which was a significant negative for us as we were looking forward to eating in one of the restaurants recommended to us by a friend who lived for several years in Panama City.

Anyway, we boarded a boat like the one below that could have seated twelve or more passengers. It had a nice canopy for shade, and the temperature was very pleasant. 

The Panama Canal stretches 51 miles across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and creating a man-made division of North and South America. It was started in 1881 by France, but progress was halted by engineering issues and a high worker mortality rate. In 1904 (23 years later!) the United States started work on the canal and was able to finish construction in ten years. 

Part of the project was creating a huge artificial lake 85 feet above sea level that has been named Gatun Lake. This reduced the amount of excavation work needed.

Map from Wikipedia

ECUADOR (AND PANAMA): MARCH 2022

 March 16-17, 2022

Background:

Back in 2019, Bob began planning a trip for the members of his law firm and their spouses to the Galapagos Islands in March 2021. Bob booked a yacht that would hold eight couples. Five of the rooms would be taken by the attorneys and spouses, and we found three other couples to join us, including some close friends of ours, so that we could fill all the rooms. Then Covid-19 hit in March 2020, and after it became apparent that travel would not be possible in March 2021, the trip was postponed. 

Over the ensuing year, Bob's partners dropped out one-by-one for various reasons, as did our friends. However, Bob would not be deterred. We cast about among our other friends who enjoy travel and came up with two new couples, and one of those couples had friends who wanted to join us, making four couples total. For several months at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, we bounced back and forth as to whether or not we should commit to the trip, knowing that we stood the risk of losing a substantial downpayment. We had been badly burned in 2020 by our aborted trip to Argentina and another trip to Indonesia that we had fully booked. (Trip insurance, which we had, did not cover any of it.)