Day 75 Panama Canal

Day 75 – Panama Canal – Sunday 29/7/12

Weather – Sunny, then cloudy, with one almighty downpour. 28C – 28C

Sunrise – 6.09am

Sunset – 6.40pm

Time difference - minus 15 hours ex Sydney (one hour back last night)

Well, what a day that was....fair dinkum unbelievable.

When I looked at our itinerary the other day, I thought, well there is no more big ticket days now for the cruise, the rest from here should be fairly sedate. How wrong I was, today will definitely go down as one of the highlights of this epic holiday.

We were up and out the cabin by 5am, and top deck front and centre for our entry into the Panama Canal. It was still very dark, and would be for an hour, but the bright lights in the distance of the Gatun Locks inched closer to us. By daybreak the open decks, and we arrived at the entry to Gatun Locks on time. Sun Princess was assigned 'pole position' for our transit of the canal, so that gave us the Quinella, as you may recall we also led the convoy through the Suez Canal what seems like an eternity ago now.

The benefit of being leader is that we had a clear uninterrupted view ahead all day, and we would not be subject to delays that may be caused by issues on ships ahead of us. One downside of not having a ship in front of us is that we did not get to see the operation of a ship transit, and the lock workings before we transited, but we more than solved that issue, which we will come to. We were fortunate to have a guide sitting up in the bridge, who was very knowledgeable of the locks, and their operation, who provided narration over the PA system throughout the day.

As we approached the first of the Gatun Locks, the crowd top deck swelled, and it looked to be 5 or 6 deep in most vantage points. We marvelled at the operation of the lock, the way the 'mules' kept the ship steady as it powered slowly into position. To consider these locks are now 99 years old, and in effect they still operate as they did when they designed and built.

As I understand the ship traffic control room has been modernised with computers etc, but other than that things are as they were, right down to the fellas in their little row boats who retrieve the ships guide ropes, which are then used to connect the cables to the mules. Our guide asked the Panama Pilot the question that everyone was asking...why do you still use little row boats, why not motorised dinghy or runabout? The answer – oars dont break !!!!

After we watched our transit through the first of the triple locks that make the Gatun Locks, we went over to starboard side and watched a bulk carrier doing its entry and drop in its first lock, then we went to the rear of the ship to get another perspective of our transit through, by this time it was the last of the triple locks. We spotted Pam and Randy down on their suite balcony, so they waved us down, and we had a great uninterrupted view that was a bit closer to the action.

After exiting the Gatun Locks, and entering the Gatun Lake, we went for breakfast, and a few other things for the rest of the morning. We were anchored in the Lake for a couple of hours whilst we waited for the northbound traffic to pass, and then made our way on. We were lucky to be invited up to Pam and Randy's suite for a lunch of booze and burgers, and to watch the rest of the transit.

It was just the best afternoon, and we are so appreciative of their hospitality. We were able to watch the transit with uninterrupted views, in comfort, and in great company. We took about 200 photos during the day, so that is another culling exercise I will have to do :) We fell about 45 minutes behind schedule as the day went on, which was not too bad given the day's transit takes about 9 or 10 hours, and there are staging points along the way, and we also had to disembark a a passenger for medical reasons at the last of the locks.

The whole day was fine and mostly sunny, with high humidity, a little uncomfortable, but we were able to rotate through the air conditioned suite when we wanted a break. We did get a dose of the famous Panama rain on only one occasion, and boy did it come down, horizontally and hard, just as we got to the last of the Mira Flores Locks, where the multi storey visitor centre was packed to the rafters with people watching our transit. It only lasted for about 15 minutes, but it was quite a dump, but did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd or us.

After a shower and rest we went to a pre-dinner comedy show that was a bit ordinary. We are not having much luck with comedy shows, we missed what we were told by many was an excellent comedian the night before, but we seem to pick the 'lemons' to go to :)

After dinner, we went to a second show by a duo who sing with a bit comedy. This was not as good as their first show a few nights ago (they never are), but it was enjoyable, and a nice way to end a simply fantastic day.

So are transiting the Panama Canal, we are now in our 'home pond' that is the Pacific Ocean, although we actually head further away from home for the next week as we visit Coast Rica and Los Angeles.