"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report # 11 Transiting the Panama Canal & Fuerte Amador, Panama January 10, 2016 Sunday Part #1 Sunny & 91 degrees 65 Pictures

Sent: Monday, January 11, 2016 7:06:54 AM
Subject: FW: Report # 11 Transiting the Panama Canal & Fuerte Amador, Panama January 10, 2016 Sunday Part #1 Sunny & 91 degrees 65 Pictures

Report # 11 Transiting the Panama Canal & Fuerte Amador, Panama January 10, 2016 Sunday Part # 1 Sunny & 91 degrees 65 Pictures

The country of Panama is important for many things, but the most important aspect is the link from the east to the west via the Panama Canal. It is the world's most famous shortcut. And is also the source of a major employer for the citizens of Panama. The population is 3,360,474, with the capital at Panama City. The area consists of 29,112 square miles, and the language is Spanish.

The best time to visit is mid- December through mid-April during their dry season. You can watch the sunrise over the Pacific, then view the sunset over the Caribbean.

What's to eat: chicken and cilantro soup called sancocho, or a meat-filled yucca puff called carimanolas. And what about drinks? A sweet corn, cinnamon, vanilla & ice milk concoction called chicheme, or a sugarcane liquor served with milk called seco.

Interesting random fact: Panama Canal makes almost 4 million US dollars every day (2012)… probably more now.

We transited the 48 mile long canal today for the umpteenth time. We have lost count of our transits. It was built in 1904 and finished by 1914. A high price was paid not only money-wise, but in lives lost to malaria and yellow fever. Simply put, three locks raise ships 87 feet to Gatun Lake, then two locks lower the ships back to sea level. The locks are 100 feet wide, and 1000 feet in length. Major work is in progress to add more and larger locks to accommodate even bigger vessels in the future. We have had the privilege of seeing this progress over the years. We would estimate that it will be several more years before the work is complete.

We did have a local narrator today, but he was not very informative. In our opinion, Barbara H, our port lecturer, had done a much better job on past cruises. But now she is not allowed on the bridge to conduct the talk. Too bad.

In keeping with a tradition of "swimming" the Canal, there was a Panama Canal Crocodile Swim event taking place at the aft pool at 11am. The thought of plunging into the murky waters sounded gross, but they do actually add one glass of canal water to the pool, just to make it authentic. This event brought out the fun folks in the crowd, who took turns performing their own swan dive into the pool. Henk, our Hotel Director, was present, already visiting with us and Barbie, when the event began. He was pleasantly surprised to see how many folks turned out for this special swim. Of course, if you take the plunge, you receive an achievement certificate as your reward. Several years ago, we dipped our feet in the pool, but it did not earn us that award…..darn. You had to jump in fully, or no banana. Anyway, Henk has been more visible, and probably for two reasons. He can keep in touch with what's happening in our world, and also work on keeping his tan from their recent vacation stay in Curacao.

Although it was hot today, we have seen it worse. Most folks still had to be careful to avoid sun stroke. Even our tablemate, Paul, admitted he was feeling the heat later in the afternoon, and had to stay inside to cool down. Bonnie is still nursing her twisted knee, so she laid as low as she possibly could.

Too many things were happening this fine Sunday with football games…..the playoffs. Good excuse to come inside and cool off for some folks.

Actually, after we exited the final lock at Miraflores, it began to rain. Sure felt good. Instead of continuing in a southern direction, we dropped anchor and stayed off of the coast at Fuerte Amador, very close to Panama City. We will be here until 4pm tomorrow, and will have a chance to tour this area for a change. Four years ago, we took a tour out of the area to a hacienda. Back in 2003, we took the tour to the Embera Indian Village. So tendering into Fuerte Amador and staying in town will be new for us.

Dinnertime continued to be fun, as we all got to know each other better. Some of the cruise stories Barb has reminded us of simply have our new tablemates in disbelief mixed with laughter for two hours. And they have been able to share some insights into cruise life on different lines, far different from our HAL experiences.

We received our first set of "Captain signed" certificates for transiting the Panama Canal today. Bet we will see more of these………

Bill & Mary Ann

Looking out our window at the canal's wall