Slideshow of Photos
We're at sea today as we approach the Panama Canal. Since we have nothing scheduled, we'll just see what the ship comes up with. The image above is a panorama of the entrance from the Pacific Ocean (left). There is a tremendous amount of information on the canal's Wiki site.
Many people are surprised to find out that the canal is NOT laid out in an east-west fashion. Its Atlantic entry is actually farther west than the Pacific entry.
It appeared we'd overslept, but then we remembered the clocks were set ahead in the night. D went off and cooked a little pastry in the cooking class. We checked in with the kids by internet. Susan has snow in Seattle.
We partook (is that a word?) of the twofer drinks at happy hour in the Crow's Nest. Then we took part in the Sip & Savor where they had a Brie/Walnut/RaspberryVinagrette savory and a matching Merlot. We got into a discussion with Ray, the sommelier, about Grgich and his role in making California wines notable world-wide.
About 2100 EDT the ship changed course to NE to continue the approach to the canal. By then, we'd had dinner in the dining room with a couple from Detroit who now live in Lancaster, PA. We chatted about the central market and Franklin & Marshall college and so forth. Tonight was a "Gala Night" (replacing the old Formal Nights). Some guys wore tuxes, others a jacket with no tie, quite a range of dress. D was spectacular and I was there in my blue blazer & gray slacks.
And now we'll settle in the cabin. Tomorrow we'll watch the operations of the canal.
Photos Link
Up at 0700 to watch the goings-on. Ships and boats everywhere. A small cruise ship and a freighter are ahead of us going to Miraflores Locks, and a huge LNG carrier going into the new channel and locks. He'll get ahead of us onto Gatun Lake since we have to go through the second set of locks (Pedro Miguel Locks) to get up to lake level.
At 1020 we exited Miraflores locks. A freighter going our way was using the east channel, so we used the west channel of the two since there were no ships coming down from the lake. It was interesting watching the little locomotives called "mules" tow the ship along through the two Miraflores locks. It was also interesting to watch the ship rise 27' in eight minutes.
At 1140 we exited Pedro Miguel locks at 85' above sea level and started to transit Gatun Lake on our way to the Atlantic.
After lunch in the Lido we took up our deck chairs and watched. Ten or more ships went the other direction including container ships, car-carriers, and bulk freighters. Finally the deck chairs got hard so we came inside to cool.
Serenissima of Kingstown (a tiny cruise ship) and the big LNG carrier were ahead of us. Approaching the Gatun locks at 1545, the Serenissima took the left locks, we took the right locks, and the LNG guy took the big locks.
We continued to observe from various viewpoints on board and took some pictures. Nothing in the jungle was notable, so no pictures were taken of it.
About 1800 we passed out of the Gatun Locks and 15 minutes later passed outside the breakwaters of Colon. Lots of ships anchored both inside and outside the breakwater.
We went to the Lido for a small dinner. As we came out of the Lido the ship did a bit of pitching, which caused the pool to act like a wave pool, sloshing water out of one end, then the other. The guy swimming in the pool was somewhat startled when he bottomed out. We're still doing a bit of rolling and pitching - nothing serious.
At 2200 we changed course to East to arrive in Cartegana around 1100 tomorrow. With the shore to the south and the wind from the north at 25 knots, the stabilizers are getting a workout. I'll sleep well.
