Venture, Atlantic Migration & Panama Canal ex St Johns to Callao

Details

24 Night Cruise sailing from St Johns to Callao aboard Seabourn Venture.

24 Night Cruise sailing from St Johns to Callao aboard Seabourn Venture.

A unique expedition through lush Mesoamerica and the Panama Canal, across the Equator and following the Humboldt Current to South America’s teeming wildlife islands.

Highlights of this cruise:

St Johns, Newfoundland
Saint John's is the most easterly point in North America and closest point of land to Europe. Due to it strategic location, Saint John's has been vitally important for centuries to explorers, adventurers, merchants, soldiers, pirates, and all manner of seafarers, who provided the foundation for this thriving modern day city. Explore this, one of the oldest cities in North America, and a city unlike any other. This "City of Legends" is cradled in a harbor carved from granite, and surrounded by hills running down to the ocean. Quaint side streets of a thousand colors are home to friendly faces that wait to greet you.

St. Pierre et Miquelon
The tiny archipelago of St. Pierre et Miquelon is a territorial overseas collectivity of France, just 16 miles from the coast of Newfoundland, but nearly 2,400 miles from continental France. The islands were unoccupied when a Portuguese explorer stumbled on them in 1520. But by the time Jacques Cartier claimed them for France in 1536 they were already being visited by Basque and Breton fisherman exploiting the fertile fishing grounds of the Grand Banks. The intermittent dominion and tenuous but tenacious history of the islands is explained at L’Arche Museum in St. Pierre. Suffice it to say that the British and the French quarreled over and ceded control between themselves for centuries. However the population remains mostly descendants of Basque, Breton and Norman fishermen. They speak a metropolitan, rather than Canadian form of French, and their customs, foodways and personalities are firmly Gallic. Stroll the sloping streets, marveling at the vividly colored houses with bright, contrasting trim. The economy of the islands has traced the roller-coaster path of the fishing industry, with a healthy surge during the American era of Prohibition, when whisky and wine smuggling thrived. Lashed by the North Atlantic winds and chilled by the cold Labrador Current, the islands have a severe beauty enhanced by panoramic seascapes. The tiny island of Ile aux Marins is being rehabilitated into an open-air museum recalling the traditional life of the fishermen. Miquelon Island, and its conjoined sister Langlade were once separate by a channel, called the Mouth of Hell, which claimed over 600 shipwrecks before Nature closed the gap with a sand isthmus. Jaunty red-and-white lighthouses add photogenic accents. The official currency is the Euro, and though Canadian dollars are widely accepted, change is given in Euros. In the museum, a place of distinction is set aside for the only guillotine ever used in North America. It was imported from Martinique in 1889 to dispatch a murderer and then retired.

Forte de France
Fort-de-France, Martinique's capital, with its narrow streets and iron grill-worked balconies, brings to mind New Orleans or Nice. This distinctly French island is a full-fledged department of France, with members in parliament and the senate. Naturally, everyone speaks French, as well as a rapid-fire Creole. The island features a varied landscape, from quiet beaches to lush rain forest to imposing Mont Pelee. Not surprisingly, the shopping in Fort-de-France has a decidedly Gallic flair. Bienvenue to this bit of France in the Caribbean.

Bridgetown
Barbados has retained many of the trappings of its British colonial heritage. Judges and barristers wear proper robes and wigs, police don helmets styled after London bobbies and cricket remains a national passion. Barbados also has all the sporting appeal of the rest of the Caribbean, with pristine beaches, powerful surf and crystal clear waters. Brightly colored homes and hibiscus flowers mingle with mahogany trees and English churches dating back to the 17th century.

Manta
Manta is Ecuador's second largest port, north of Guayaquil which is the largest, and just south of the equator. With a population of approximately 140,000, Manta is a commercial center for fish and fruit, particularly bananas and plantains, which thrive in the tropical climate. However its beaches and quaint fishing villages have long attracted tourists. Shrimp, tuna and giant blue and striped marlin run in abundance in the waters off its coastal plain. Manta's culture is a vibrant patchwork of the heritage and traditions of the country's early Native American, Spanish and black African slave settlers.

Salaverry
Salaverry is the port city for Trujillo, the second largest city in Peru. Like Lima, Trujillo was founded by the Spanish conquistador Pizarro. Here you will find colonial mansions with fronts containing distinctive wrought-iron grillwork and pastel color paint. This area is also known for its numerous ancient archeological sites including the ancient Chimu capital of Chan Chan.

Callao
A 45-minute drive from the port city of Callao brings you to exciting Lima, the City of Kings. From its founding in 1535 until today, it remains one of the most important cities in all South America. The handsome old buildings from the earliest colonial days surrounding the Plaza de Armas contrast with the soaring modern towers rising in the newer sections of the city.