At sea Day 15.  Lunch of oxtail stew. Bones. Raspberry sherbert and coconut ice cream cone. Tomorrow we arrive in Panama City, and on day 17 transit the Panama Canal.  So we went to the Theater to watch a 56-minute documentary released in 1987:    A Man, A Plan A Canal, Panama , a Nova program. While the French started this all in the 1880's, they failed for being too early.  The technology and science were on the verge of being being developed. When President Teddy Roosevelt became president in 1901, he took on this effort as his main crusade. The  Panama Canal made the U.S. a world power . Certainly, it is in the  top ten of all construction projects , along with the Great Pyramids of Ghiza, Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, Taj Mahal, Hoover Dam and Eiffel Tower. The Story of the Panama Canal. What is it? 51-mile waterway in Panama connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Locks lift ships up to Gatun Lake, the  largest man-made lake, 85 feet above sea level. 52 million ga

On this Day 13 of our cruise on the Norwegian Encore from Seattle to Miami, I feature Guatemala and  Costa Rica.... no t Guat a mala and Costa Ric o .  Then, of course, on November 3, we remain on board and sail away to Southampton, UK. But before the topic of today, here is something from the morning  New York Times,  sharing the latest doings of Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican Party. Republican Campaign Meet the new Project 2025: The America First Policy Institute, a right-wing think tank,   is planning for a Trump win . It wants ultrasounds before all abortions, work requirements for Medicaid and federal workers who can be fired at will. Trump said   he would fire Jack Smith , the special counsel who indicted him over the Jan. 6 riot and classified documents, if he were elected again. His lawyers are also seeking to   dismiss the Jan. 6 case , arguing that Smith was illegally appointed. Trump has floated the idea of   replacing income taxes with tariffs , as was the case in the