Subject: Report #126 Transiting the Panama Canal May 5, 2016 Thursday Chance of rain & 95 degrees Part # 1 of 2 85 Pictures
Well, here we go once again……..transiting the Panama Canal with one exception. Once through to the Pacific Ocean, we will turn right and not left. Of course, the first transit was in early January, and today, it is May 5th, Cinco De Mayo. We have put on a lot of miles since January by going full circle around the world. As always, it almost seems like a dream since the time went by so quickly.
No doubt in our minds that today was going to be hot one, much hotter than back in January. If there was a chance of rain, we sure did not see any evidence of that early in the morning. By the time we got up, we had already begun our transit well after the pilots came onboard. We understand there may have been three Panamanian pilots…..two on the navigation deck and one in the stern. We also had a narrator, Antonio Grenald, who would comment all day on all outer decks as well as channel 41 on our room TV's.
At breakfast, Yitmo brought us each a Panama Roll he had personally gotten on the promenade deck. Glad he did, because by the time we went outside, they were long gone.
The actual transit times had been listed in the daily newsletter, but were exactly correct. But before we begin, here is a reminder of the info for the country of Panama. The area of Panama is 29,112 square miles, with the capital being Panama City. That happened to be on the itinerary on the world cruise….technically, Fuerte Amador. The capital of Panama is Panama City, and the population of the country is 3,360,474 Spanish-speaking citizens. Panama is famous for the "world's most famous short cut"…….the Panama Canal, a 50 mile waterway with locks that raise and lower ships from one coast to another. Sure saved a whole lot of time for the ships that used to sail around the dangerous tip of South America heading eastbound, and visa-versa.
When is the best time to visit here? From mid-December to mid-April, the drier season. A random fact? The Panama Canal makes almost 4 million dollars daily.
A must read for those who appreciate the details, is The Path Between the Seas, by David McCollough. This book contains excellent info and the complete story surrounding this huge undertaking. Never realized how complicated the true story behind the making of this canal was.
Only ships called "Panamax" will fit into the locks. These measurements are up to 965 feet long, and 106 feet wide. All ships weighing under 90,000 gross tons are allowed to sail through the canal. When the new sets of locks on both the Caribbean side and the Pacific side open, much larger vessels will be able to transit. The date for this grand opening is June 26th of this year. Wonder if this will really happen?
Once the Amsterdam went through the first set of locks at Gatun, we entered the Gatun Lake, sailing slowly for most of the morning. There was barely a breeze when we went to the bow to watch for a while. At this point, around 10:30am, most all of the guests had retreated to some shade and AC. So when we spotted what appeared to be a floating log, few people up on deck six forward payed attention when we pointed at this "log". Nope it was not a log, but an alligator. It had surfaced enough to spot the head, and there was no doubt when we saw the tail swish slowly. We did get a quick photo or two of the critter before he suddenly turned and dove out of sight. That was a first for us. Years ago, we did see an alligator on the shoreline near Colon, but never while in the lake area. Other animals frequently seen are the white-throated capuchin monkeys. We looked for them, but never saw any. The only other wildlife we saw were a few birds. Guess it was simply too hot.
We had a nice lunch in the dining room. One of us had the hamburger and fries, while the other tried the macaroni and cheese entrée. It was really good for a change. Probably full of calories, but you gotta try different things sometimes. The chocolate profiterole we each tried was really good, a small serving, but just right.
We continued watching the progress during the rest of the day, either on the bow, the lower promenade deck, the back of deck eight, and even from our room. By 1:15pm, the Amsterdam was nearing the Gaillard Cut on the way towards the Pedro Miguel Locks. We sailed under the new Centenniel Bridge, and eventually, the final set of locks at Miraflores. We were greeted by many Panamanians who love to cheer on the cruise ship folks.
Although it never did rain, the clouds covered the sun, and really helped to cool things off. Do you know how many people got toasted today?Lots……boy are they going to be sorry tonight. No matter how much we are warned, some folks don't pay attention to the details. Even with tons of sunblock, you cannot stay out all day, and not expect to get burned. Oh well, there will be a lot of room around the pools tomorrow. Folks will be too sunburnt to go outside.
The activities around the ship were kept to a minimum today. One event did take place at the aft pool, and that was a Panama Canal Crocodile Swim, or jump in the pool where a bucket of canal water was added. The signed-up guests were invite one-by-one to take the dip. One lady did a fine dive, while one big guy did a cannonball. They all got an achievement certificate.
Also at 10:30am and 3pm, fruit skewers were passed around the outside decks. There is something about extreme heat and ice-cold fruit chunks that make them taste even better. Our favorite waiters made at least two passes by us. Lemonade was also distributed. Much appreciated.
We stayed outside until almost 6pm, watching the very last of the sailing to the Pacific Ocean. The good news was it had cooled down a lot.
The rest of the afternoon, we down-loaded photos. By the way, we had problems all day with the internet. It was down for most of the day, and we also had problems bringing up the sign-in page. We tried all day to create new passwords to get our 100 minute complimentary package per person for the President's Club members. The internet system here has a memory, as they list every name we have used, making it difficult to navigate. Guess we have confused their system.
Dinnertime for us was in the Pinnacle Grill this evening. We ordered appetizers of crab cakes and shrimp cocktail. Only one of us had a Caesar salad, because our waitress did not get the order right. Both of us had the lamb chops, and both of us were happy with the choice. Dessert was the cheesecake and the berry tower with a scoop of macadamia nut ice cream. Great way to end a meal in here.
The show time featured Terry Davies, the Piano Man, with a tribute to the music of Billy Joel and Elton John. Way too tired to go, since the heat and humidity took its toll on us today.
A big help was setting the clocks back one hour again. One more hour to go, and we will be back on Pacific Time.
Looking forward to a day at sea tomorrow.
Bill & Mary Ann
We woke up to see the wall of the first lock
Gatun Locks
The pilots are onboard as we begin after 6am
Entrance to the canal
The first locks will raise the ship 85 feet to the level of Gatun Lake
Lock buildings
Two sets of gates open and close each time we enter and leave
Built in 1914
Heading towards Gatun Lake
Panama flag flies over the locks
Good time to be watching…..was not too hot yet
A tall lighthouse
Three sets of locks here
The process is slow
Slow, but steady
View of the Titan, crane that lifts the gates for maintenance
The tracks for the mules
A specialized crane
Lighthouse, lights, and communications towers
Workers
The Titan used to be called Herman, the German
Workers watching our transit
End of the line for the mules
The Titan
The air-conditioned locomotives now cost 2 million dollars each
Made by Mitsubishi
A dam at the lake
Coming into the final lock
The mules wait for us
It takes a total of 6 mules to center the ship
End of the lock
A dam
Gatun Lake
Full of ships
Hardly a breeze today
Clear waters means no big rain recently
Many wooded islets in the lake
The crowd at the bow thinned out
A certain tree turns yellow with blooms now
Proceeding very slowly across the lake
The water color was stunning today
You can guess it was hot out here
A good place to film from
Looking for wildlife
Saw few birds
One of the few birds we saw
A hawk of some type
But look what we spotted……….
Definitely a gator
He spooked when he spotted us
A great spot for sunning alligators
Kept an eye out for more alligators to no avail
Panama Canal Deck Sale – 8am to 1pm
Many nice items, but pricey
Molas made into bags
All handmade locally
Small purses
No design the same
This would have taken a long time to create
Continuing to cross the lake
Old tree stumps in the lake
One of many dredging barges
The Panama Canal Crocodile Swim at 11am
View from our room
The train will transport containers to and from both coasts
Bridge over the Chargres River
Manuel Noriega's prison compound
Grounds of the prison
Behind tall cyclone fences
Canal traffic
Work continues on the Culebra Cut
These tugboats cost up to 11 million dollars now
Viewing from the bow
Loading a boat
The Centennial Bridge
Culebra Cut – the narrowest part of the canal
Canal boat
Another tug
Color of the water changed from the flow of the Chagres River
Heading towards Pedro Miguel Locks
Passing vessel
Passing under the Centennial Bridge
Our favorite waiter, Anas, passing the fruit skewers
Panama City skyline starting to appear at Pedro Miguel
Canal boat
