Report # 125 Transiting the Panama Canal May 3, 2014 Saturday Chance of rain, 82 degrees

The new logo of the canal

We started our day with the treat of Panama Rolls, served to us in the dining room this morning. These were made with the traditional filling of custard and tangerines, the only way we really prefer them. A filling made with bean curd just did not cut it, although we are certain the crew members enjoyed them. We found a change in the breakfast amenities......no more little jam jars. We have the round packets of jams and jellies now.

Gatun  Lake

Today's transit through the canal started at 5am when the local pilot boarded the ship on the Caribbean side at the city of Colon. We were waking up sometime after we had entered the Gatun Locks at 6:30am. By the time we finished breakfast, we were sitting in Gatun Lake, awaiting our turn to begin the transit. It was so hot outside, and made worse by the fact there was no breeze. The humidity today was so heavy, you could have cut it with a knife, so to speak. Walking the promenade deck only made us sweat more, so we went down to the room to take care of emailing.

Small islet in Gatun Lake

Jungle along the canal

That was not so easy, because the system shut down for no reason at all around 10:30 am. That has been the biggest glitch in this new system so far. Your computer is not automatically shut off when this happens. No, the minutes keeping ticking away, even though you are not online. We sure hope this gets remedied soon.

Wanting to watch the transit, we went to the aft pool and set up our usual spot with our lounges. As we expected, many more lounges were set up on both sides of the pool. But they were empty. It was too hot for most folks to sit in this sun. You had to get in the pool often to cool off. 

So hot, the pool was well-used today

No fight for lounges in the sun today

More color on our ship

Egret

Vulture again

Vulture

Vulture

A canal bird

A Caspian tern

Frigate

Pelican fishing

Lock emptying

Egret landing

Will have to research his name

An egret

A brown pelican

A ringed kingfisher

Kingfisher in flight

Frigate

Frigate hunts for fish in the draining locks

Pelicans diving

Vulture

Vulture

Frigate

Pelican in flight

Land bird

Birds hunting

Caspian tern

Tern

Frigate on the hunt

A Pacific gull

Once the ship began moving, there was a breeze making it tolerable. Right behind us was the Coral Princess, the same ship in port yesterday. Wonder if we meet up in Costa Rica in a few days?

Here comes the Coral Princess

Another ship behind us

The ship reached the Pedro Miguel Locks before 1:30pm. A funny thing happened at this lock today. Coming into the lock, we saw their firehouse and truck involved in a test, we assume. 

Fireboat shooting water

Just for us

They had sprayed foam, which was a sudsy type of dishwashing liquid. It even smelled like dishwashing liquid. Anyway, it was picked up by the wind, and was floating in the air, giving the appearance that it was snowing. It did temporarily scare away the flocks of frigates, pelicans, and egrets that we had been watching all day.

Foaming the firehouse

Oops....

Looked like snow

By the time we went under the Centenniel Bridge, we noticed a change in the weather. There was a nice breeze blowing, and we soon discovered why. Looking on the horizon, we saw very dark skies, especially in the Panama City area. 

Centenniel Bridge

The newest of the two bridges

Ominous skies

Thunder, lightening, and rain is coming

Sky was getting darker

We are heading towards the rain

We could hear thunder in the distance, and knew we were going to get some rain. It started lightly but soon turned to heavy by the time we reached the locks at Miraflores. 

Rain

It sure felt good, but we were disappointed not to be able to wave to our dinner buddies, Bill & Marianne, who made us promise we would wave for the webcam on the Miraflores building. 

Miraflores locks

Pedro Miguel Locks

100 Year Anniversary

Pedro Miguel building

Leaving the lock

We did retreat to the promenade deck in hopes we could be seen from there. We did wear yellow clothing, so we do hope we were visible. One thing for sure was that we were quite visible to the many flies and bees coming from the wooded shoreline. Lucky we did not get stung.

Going under the Bridge of the Americas, we passed Balboa, Panama City, and Fuerte Amador as we headed out into the Pacific Ocean and on our way towards Costa Rica. 

Bridge of the Americas

The rain had stopped, even though we could still hear the rolling thunder over Panama City. Guess we are close to the start of the wet season. An indication that it has been dry, were the presence of brightly yellow blooming trees among the forested islands and hillsides flanking the canal. Our narrator today, Antonio Grenald, pointed these trees out, explaining that they only bloom once at year at the end of a long dry spell. They are called guayacan trees, unique because the blooms will last less than one week.

A guaycan tree blooming

A guayacan tree in full bloom

Another brilliant tree blooming

It was our lucky day to be here during this bloom period, because in all of our transits, and there have been over a dozen, these trees have always been deciduous or leafed out.

Instead of turning left out of the canal, like we did back in January, the Captain turned right, heading towards our next stop in Costa Rica. More times than not, we did a half day site-seeing in the Gulfo Dulce. But not on this cruise. In fact, Captain Fred has said in the past, that he does not prefer to go there, because we see only some trees and an occasional dolphin. And it is always hot and humid.

We ended our day with a delicious dinner in the Pinnacle Grill, by special invitation with the hotel manager and guest relations manager, Henk and Christel. We have had the pleasure of sailing with them on most all of the world cruises since 2008, when they joined the Amsterdam. The four of us discussed the world cruise in detail, especially the addition of our new head chef, Daniel, who we have found to be one of the best ever. It was interesting listening to both of them tell us how they have to cope with the different personalities on the ship during the grand voyage. Of course, on a world cruise, many of the guests are well-traveled, but also more demanding. As managers, they seem to be able to take this in stride, but admitted they are really enjoying this cruise, because the pressure is off. They now have the freedom to walk the decks without constant recognition, and being asked millions of questions. Sure, they miss some of the folks, as we do, but not all.

We asked about how many repeat passengers had sailed on this year's world cruise, and the answer was about 20%, or about 200 passengers. That is a very high rate of returnees, and reflects on the job they have done to keep them coming back. Not that he was bragging, but they are receiving some of the early returns on the guest surveys, and so far, they have some of the highest marks ever on a world cruise. They deserve bragging rights on this one. They stressed it was important for all of the guests to complete the online surveys, as they are only good for 10 days after the trip ended.

We found out some interesting facts concerning the Mariner Days onboard the ship from Durban to Cape Town. According to Henk, this affair was over two years in the planning. To gather the guests involved in the affair, this was the only suitable time frame they could utilize. It did not work for all of the guests, since many were on overland safaris, like us. Now according to the separate questionnaire that we filled out after the entourage all left, the guests were more in favor of this type of party, rather than disrupting the ship for several days while building structures for a one evening blast. Keeping that in mind, they are leaning towards providing the complimentary wine/beer/soda sailaway parties occassionally throughout the world voyage next year. And perhaps the new format of this Mariner Days will continue in the future. Sure sounds good to us.

Henk and Christel will be staying on this voyage until it ends in Seattle, then will have a very welcomed break to spend some vacation time at home in the Netherlands. They will be returning on the last couple of Alaska runs, and will be here for the final Grand Asia/South Pacific Voyage in the fall. We thanked them for the 2 1/2 hour dinner, where we got to share info about all of our families and interests off of the ships.

We were way too tired to go to the show, we know, another lame excuse. t The entertainer was Shirley Dominguez, a harpist, who was also playing at the end of the world cruise. Lucky for us, the clocks went back one hour this evening.......always a plus.

Passing car carrier vessel

A sailboat also transiting

Dredger

A dredger in operation

A tanker

Pontoons

Cargo ship

Big load to move

Another car carrier

Working the shoreline

Rivers that drain into the canal

Working tugboats

Much work being done

Largest crane to lift the gates of the locks for repair

Dredging the canal

Making it deeper and wider

Pedro Miguel

Green banks of the canal

Buoys at Pedro Miguel

Bridge over the largest river

Huge bulldozers work the canal expansion

Special home to Manuel Noriega......prison

Heading towards the locks

Landmovers

They have a long ways to go

More dredging

The Culebra Cut or Gaillard Cut

A narrow point of the canal

Erosion control

Double gates

Leaving the canal

Different type of tug

Work being done at the new Miraflores locks

Cargo ship

Work should be done by 2016

A "mule" keeps the ships centered in the locks

Serious equipment

Waiting for the lines to hook up

Gates closed, lock draining

Re-designing the future locks at Miraflores

Major project

Tiering the hillsides

Many years in the planning

Will this be completed by 2016?

We doubt it

Keeps the locals working however

Panamanian flag

A working mule in the lock

Every mule is air-conditioned

A crane

Coral Princess waits for us to leave the lock

Gates closed, water drained

Princess' turn

Water in the lock will fill to the same level as the ship

Coral Princess entering....tight fit

Gates closing

When the lock if full, the ship will enter

Cranes near Panama City

Workers camp

A working platform

Water and jungle everywhere

Tugboat dock

Power plant

Mules in a row

Tug helping us

Cranes

Building the new approach and new locks

Pontoons

Coming towards the end

Dam used for power supply, but not now

Canal workers

She is from our ship taking photos from the locks

Miraflores building

Well-wishers on land

Waving to us

Double gates of the lock

Mary Ann on the lower promenade deck...that is how close we are to the buildings

Mules with guide lines to ship

Track for the mules

Gates closed, water draining

Gates opening

Lighthouse

More cranes

Huge building

Shoreline buildings

More cranes

New construction

Close up

New locks taking shape

Even more cranes

Wonder if this work is a 24 hour job, 365 days a year?

Looks like water tanks

Leaving the site

Church, possibly Mormon

Looking towards Panama City

Cargo ship

Shoreline junk

Deepsea fishing boat

Panama City

The only mixed colors we saw today

Raining

Heading out of the canal

End of the peninsula

Fuerte Amador