January 12th – In search of a Panama Hat in Ecuador

The unfashionable port of Manta didn't exactly present us with a stereotypical image of Ecuador. In a fairly scruffy modern urban environment, there were none of the colonial splendours that you can find in the capital Quito; while the dusty coastal landscapes on offer were no substitute for the spectacular snow-covered peaks of the Andes.

However, that doesn't mean that Manta is without its attractions. The main reason for coming here is that this area is the centre of manufacturing of the sadly-misnamed Panama Hat. Of course, most people would expect Panama Hats to be produced and invented in Panama, but Ecuador's makers of this iconic hat have found themselves on the wrong end of the worst piece of marketing in the history of headgear. Back in the 19^th century, when they began to be exported around the world, they were made here but shipped from Panama – so, when the supplier was asked, "where did you get that hat?", the answer came back "Panama", and the name stuck.

But, in spite of hats going gradually out of fashion since the Second World War, these "Ecuadorian Hats" are still made in this region, and can be picked up for at least half the price that we pay for them in Europe or the US. I did a tour that showed us the meticulous and laborious processes that go into hand-weaving a Panama – a good one can take up to three-months to make, which explains why their cost can run into the high hundreds of dollars. Of course, my meagre budget wouldn't stretch that high, so I lowered my sights onto less finely-woven models, and after much hard bargaining, I picked up a fetching number for $30 in Manta's market. 

Our tour also took us to the scruffy town of Chorillo to see the pre-industrial processes that still go into making string sacks out of cabuya plants – we were told that this was a dying industry, and looking at its rudimentary technology and labour-intensive processes, it's not surprising. Finally, we were taken to the Manta Cultural Museum which was not exactly stuffed with artefacts. I had forewarned the passengers that this was not going to be a highlight of their stay, but at least we solaced ourselves that it was the best museum in Manta (by virtue of being the only museum in Manta!).

For me, Manta's best feature is its long sweeping beach. It's buffeted by strong winds and pounded by big waves moving in from the Pacific, which gives it an elemental feel, but it makes for a great backdrop to the line of fish restaurants that cluster at one end. We were recommended one of these restaurants (which all looked fairly similar), and we had a delicious seafood lunch at Las Velas, washed down by large quantities of cheap beer. It was perfect.

As we sat here by the beach in Ecuador, it was amazing to think that only a week ago we'd been a world away in rainy London. It feels like our feet have barely touched the ground since then – this cruise is passing quickly.

January 9th – The Panama Canal

No matter how many times you've been through the Panama Canal, the crossing of this amazing feat of engineering is always a thrilling prospect. This has got to be the greatest of all the canal crossings – not just because of the amazing feats of engineering that it takes to get you through its mighty locks, but also for the wonderful nature that surrounds the canal, and the fascinating story of its construction against the odds.

We entered the canal at about 8am, and worked our way to the huge Gatun locks, which lifted us up 26.5 metres through three separate chambers that filled and emptied with millions of gallons of freshwater. Just over 100 years ago, the American engineers that built the canal came up with an ingeniously simple solution to raising huge ships (weighing in at up to 80,000 tons) up 80 feet above sea level. They didn't use any pumps – instead, relying purely on gravity and the tropical climate to provide enough water to keep things going.

The locks are simple immense, but when the ship is inside of them, they suddenly feel very small – we had quite a few feet clearance either side of us, but the Panamax container ships travelling through alongside us, totally filled these huge concrete boxes, with just two spare feet to play with. The powerful locomotives (called "mules") are there to keep you straight and guide you in and out of the locks, but at one point, one of the container ships got slightly out of line and noisily scraped along the edge of the lock in a huge puff of smoke. A 10-hour canal transit must be a tiring time for any captain, but for a cruise ship captain who wants to preserve his paintwork, with a shipload of passengers looking on, this must be a stressful piece of seamanship. 

Actually, an 80,000 ton ship is pretty small these days, so the Canal Authorities have invested about $5 billion in expanding the canals, and in building new locks that are over a third bigger. The chequered progress of this project only serves to put the achievements of the original canal construction into perspective. That original project cost about $10 billion in today's money (but included all the digging of the 48-mile long canal), and it was completed under budget and a year ahead of schedule. The construction of the new locks is already two years behind schedule and is way over budget. We were told that the revised completion date is scheduled for May 2016, but the person who was doing the narration over the ship's PA system didn't appear to be very convinced that they'd hit that deadline.

From the locks, we went up to Lake Gatun, once the largest artificial lake in the world (Lake Nasser and a lake in Montana are now bigger), before we criss-crossed our way through its tropical landscape of green islands, sharing our route with giant tankers and container ships that are part of the 13,000 ships a year that pass through. It was boiling hot by now, so we retreated to the air-conditioning whenever possible; but we had to come out as we passed through the Gaillard Pass, as we crossed the Continental Divide. It was a sobering thought to consider that mountains had literally been moved, and thousands of lives lost to create this pass through the sheer rock. 

Considering that all we were doing was standing and watching, it was strangely exhausting to witness, as we then made our way back down to sea level, passing under bridges and through more locks, to finally reach the Pacific, with the twinkling lights and skyscrapers of Panama City in the distance.

We saved 8,000 miles and 26 days of sailing by taking this short-cut through Panama – but just doing this transit has got to be one of the highlights of the World Cruise.

Ecuador here we come!

January 8th – Back to Nature in Puerto Limon

Today we arrived in one of the meccas of eco-tourism, Costa Rica – a place that's all about its natural sights and its dripping rainforests. Our port of call, sleepy Puerto Limon doesn't have many attractions to detain you for long, so this is a place where you need to get out of the city to explore the unspoilt nature that covers this undeveloped section of Caribbean coastline.

In a verdant territory that receives over 6 metres of rain a year, I had warned the passengers to expect at least some rain, but today we were incredibly lucky with the weather – it was hot and humid, but mainly blue skies and no rain. But, even if the rainforest didn't quite live up to its watery name, it did give us a glimpse into how much of this continent looked before the arrival of man. Actually, the rain-soaked conditions and steep mountains on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast prevented anyone from putting down strong roots here until the late 19^th century – something that's cleverly been turned into a positive, as the eco-tourism industry is now taking full advantage of the mainly unexploited terrain.

While Tracy did a boat trip along the serene waterways of the Tortuguero National Park, I joined a tour that took us up into the Veragua Rainforest, a dense green blanket of tall trees, enormous ferns, and moss-covered foliage. As you breathed in the moist air, it felt like you really couldn't get much fresher than this.

We visited the rainforest centre, which had exhibits on the frogs, insects, snakes, butterflies and reptiles that inhabit this super-fertile environment. It was just as well that we could see them in the displays, because when you were in the rainforest itself, most of them were so well camouflaged that they weren't visible to my untrained eye. However, you certainly knew that those frogs were there – the whole forest was buzzing with their noisy calls and croaks, and on the few occasions when they shut down their white noise background music, the quiet forest would echo with the exotic calls of the many birds that live in the canopy.

We caught the Rainforest Aerial Tram which took us on a slow glide through the canopy up and down the steep hillside, as we got a bird's eye view on this wonderful eco-system. On the way, we caught a few tantalising glimpses of Costa Rica's most iconic animal – the wonderfully inactive sloth. This charmingly ugly creature is so lazy that moss grows on its unkempt fur, and we were told that it only be bothered to come down from its tree-top perch once a week, just to defecate – what an exciting diary entry that must be for this couch potato of a beast!

Once we'd returned to the port, we had a chance for a quick look around Puerto Limon itself. The town had been built during the coffee and banana boom of the late 19^th century, when a new railway finally linked the coast with the rest of the country. The demise of the railway, the fall in banana prices, and an earthquake in 1991 have all combined to give the town a rather shabby appearance, but it's a cheerful and friendly place that had a relaxed Saturday afternoon atmosphere. There's not much to see here; but, with music blaring from the shops, smoke rising from the barbeques of the streetfood vendors, and people chilling out in the restaurants and bars, it was a pleasant place to have a quick stroll around.

Costa Rica's tourist board likes to promote the country with the slogan "Pura Vida" – Pure Life – and with landscapes and nature as pristine as this, I think they've encapsulated this beautiful country perfectly.

January 6th – The Two Faces of Key West

Key West is an island of contrasts. On the one hand, it's a place of free-spirited, alternative-thinking individuality; yet on the other it's an all-American place of totally mainstream tourism. Ironically, that individual character of the place has turned it into a mass-market attraction that occasionally appears to be sinking under the weight of tourism.

Whether these two sides of Key West are compatible, is open for debate; but it's possible to enjoy both elements (the totally conventional, and the wacky) at the same time. Duval Street's attractive clapperboard buildings may feature a plethora of tacky T-shirt shops whose tasteless slogans joyfully celebrate all the bodily functions, but they sit right next to interesting art galleries or historic landmarks. It's a place that you easily can love and be indifferent to at the same time.

In keeping with the schizophrenic character of the island, the weather here was crazily contrasting. In the morning, it was cold, grey and windy (I thought that I'd left all that behind in London!), yet in the afternoon it changed to typically Floridian hot and sunny weather. The cold version of Key West made me question why people flock to this over-crowded island, yet once the weather turned for the better, it was easy to understand why the sun-baked, lazy, tropical atmosphere has such an allure.

I joined a tour that celebrated a couple of Key West's more hedonistic products – cigars and rum. We first went to the Rodriguez Cigar Factory, where the incredibly enthusiastic owner talked us through the various elements of producing a good cigar (it's a lot more complicated than I'd ever have imagined). This family-run firm had fled Castro's Cuba in the 60s, and even though they were now hand-rolling Nicaraguan tobacco rather than Cuban leaves, it really reminded me of the time I'd spent in a cigar factory in Havana a few years ago. They got us to roll a couple of cigars ourselves from start to finish, and if I don't say it myself, I think that my own production looked pretty professional 

We then went on a tour of Key West's self-styled "First Legal Rum Factory" - a place whose name made it sound a lot older than it really was. But, even if it was only a couple of years old, this distillery was trying to put a new slant on rum production. The owner (who was wearing a beanie because the temperature had slipped below 25 degrees C!), was a trained chef, so was trying to use culinary methods rather than just stick to established distilling techniques. To be honest, as a rum philistine, I couldn't taste the difference, but the theory sounded great.

After the tour, Tracy and I just did some general wandering – we popped into a couple of Ernest Hemingway's old haunts, wondering whether he'd even recognise the island that he'd fallen in love with. Looking round the tourist trap that is Sloppy Joe's bar, you think he'd have run a mile. But, the bars were full with people listening to live music, knocking back margheritas, and having a great time.

We paid the obligatory visit to the "Southernmost Point of the USA" marker, and watched the 50-deep queue of tourists waiting to have their picture taken in front of it. You couldn't help but think that a place of free-thinking individualism shouldn't be about a production line of people unthinkingly waiting in line to all take exactly the same picture of themselves 

The weird thing as I write this, is that it sounds like I didn't like Key West – but that's not true. The place is beautiful, the architecture is wonderful, and the atmosphere is relaxed and fun-loving. Actually, what's wrong with a place being totally dedicated to having fun? The thing with Key West, is that there's a lot of ways to enjoy yourself here, you just have to choose which one.