Land visible sailing to Panama?

[VT Hokie Cruiser]

For any of you who have sailed the Southern Caribbean route from FLL to Panama and made stops en route at Aruba and Curacao, were you able to see Venezuela and/or Colombia from the ship when you were sailing to the west to the canal? I'm not sure how close the sailing route from the islands gets to the continent? Thanks.

[BillB48]

Not the times I have sailed in that area. While you are not terribly far from South America on that leg of the cruise, it was far enough over the horizon you could not see.

[Richard in Panama]

Ships will usually stay at least 12 miles off the islands and land so they can keep generating income of casinos, shops, etc. You won't be close enough to see anything, but you likely will see islands and land masses in the distance. If something is close enough to make out, like an island, etc., if the guys on the bridge are allowed (and it will not interrupt all the selling activities on board) they may point out the islands and give you some info. Regards, Richard

[paul929207]

Ships do not sail close enough for you to be able to see South America on the way to or from Panama.

[BillB48]

This probably in the too much information department, but it got me looking.
What you see here is the course of the ship I was on from Aruba to Cartagena. The closest pass to the main body of SA we sailed is off Punta Gallinas and Punta Chimare, Colombia.... a distance of somewhere around 20 miles. We passed it in the evening and it probably would have been too far to see land even if we had passed in the day. The light at Punta Gallinas may have been able to be seen, but I didn't.

[pilotdane]

And after Costa Concordia I think close to land drive by's to get a good view are a thing of the past.

[tropicbird]

On a recent HAL 10-night cruise we sailed fairly close to the Colombian coast. Saw the jagged mountains along the coast and had rather decent views of the dozens and dozens of tall buildings in Baranquilla, Colombia. We also saw how the water changed from deep blue to greenish due to a river that flowed into the ocean near Baranquilla, and then back to deep blue once we sailed farther west.

I don't think they always sail this far south, it depends on weather, currents, etc. but it was cool to see the mountains and the cities as we sailed along.

Venezuela is too flat to see from Aruba or Curacao, even though you are fairly close to shore.

[Northern Aurora]

We have done three full transits of the Panama Canal, and on one of them we could see (with binoculars) a lighthouse on the coast of Cuba. My husband is a bird-watcher and always travels with a good pair of binoculars. The cheap binoculars found in a cruise ship cabin wouldn't have the power.

[VT Hokie Cruiser]

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. Interesting stuff.