It will be a while before I see the sky again over the Atlantic Ocean! I don’t know what time we actually entered the Panama Canal on our westbound transit. According to my original itinerary, 0500 hrs was given as entry time. Certainly by half-six, most had stirred from their beds and were thronging the crew decks, designated for today as viewing areas, forward on 5 and 6. Soon, higher forward areas on decks 7, 8 and 9 appeared also, to be open to passengers.
Although this is my third transit, I am just as thrilled as I was in 2019 when my voyage started in Vancouver and, after an Alaska cruise, we sailed down the west coast of the United States, through the Panama Canal and home via Fort Lauderdale, New York, Halifax, Newfoundland, Iceland, Greenock, and Dublin. (In San Francisco, I had completed a land/sea circumnavigation of the world, and celebrated accordingly!)
I ventured up to the Lido for breakfast, where all the “good seats” had been taken. No problem; “Let’s have a boot-filler in the Britannia Restaurant,” I reasoned with myself. I was allocated a table close enough to a window to enjoy death by bacon etc, as M.V Queen Elizabeth was raised to a higher level in Gatun locks. The sauté potatoes which came with the doctor defying dish was a special treat, not enjoyed since the days of classic breakfasts on regular long distance U.K. passenger trains!
Ship’s Time has gone back one hour; my phone hasn’t! This means that the times of these pictures are one hour forward. I will need to remember this if and when I get around to identifying the places photographed.
11.30 Ships Time.
Even I am taking shelter from the heat outside. However, we have been particularly fortunate as this is now the rainy season, and only yesterday the rains fell incessantly, so I am led to believe. But, the sun worshippers are out there on the various open decks, working on their tans.
We are now in the beautifully scenic Gatun Lake. Cargo ships of all kinds come frequently in the opposite direction.
Before the Panama Canal was opened, the only route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean was via Cape Horn, doubling in some if not all cases, the present journey time. Even the Spaniards in the 16th century who had arrived here had looked into the possibility of building some kind of waterway. The French came in 1880 but eventually ran out of funds, among other misfortunes including disease and lack of understanding of the local geology; America learned from the French and the Canal was opened in 1914. (There’s more to it than that!) Three lock systems “lift” vessels to the level of the man-created Gatun Lake, 27 meters above sea level, and lower those same ships back to sea level, in both directions. Gatun Lake supplies by gravity the water needed to operate the locks. There is also a nearby reservoir/lake to cover the event of Lake Gatun being inadequate during an unusually dry season. This covers what was once the Chagres River, still the only river in the world to flow from one ocean to another.
It still took me almost an hour to get up this morning and venture to the forward end of Deck 5, where despite many others with the same idea, I managed some reasonable photographs. We were soon approaching the first of three locks, Gatun, which has three chambers which lift or lower ships in two directions to or from the level of Gatun Lake. I hope my pictures convey the beautiful rainforest scenes Gatun Lake has to offer. What I like about this transit is the slowness of it all. There’s a good eight hours to see much of what you might wish to. I did miss several things, but at least, this time, I got a decent view of the Panama Railway tourist train I so thoroughly enjoyed three years ago. Also a two level container freight train which I was too late to photograph.
As the day progressed, I watched again in amazement as huge cargo and freight vessels negotiated both Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks. One of the ship’s photographers kept his appointment to take official pictures of me on my balcony. Out of several, one or two aren’t bad. Much more interesting is that there are technicians on board who might be able to restore my ill-fated Lumix camera to working order. Right now, it’s a failure! But my device on which I write my blogs, also acts as a half decent camera, and it is these pictures which I use to illustrate my writings.
Our transit appeared to be without incident or problem. Things do go wrong but not very often. I remain fascinated by the mules, locomotives whose only purpose in life is to guide the ships through the three lock systems, being tied to the vessel concerned. According to what I have read, 8 mules are required for the guidance of large vessels, two at each end, starboard and portside, forward and aft. They do not tow the vessel through the locks, they are there to prevent the vessel colliding with, and thus damaging the canal walls.
Sunday 23rd May.
I didn’t complete my account by the end of a most enjoyable, but very hot transit of the Panama Canal. It seems the more I make this journey, the more I want to see more on a future occasion. Like a good opera, it is good to get a decent understanding of what you are going to experience beforehand.
I wasn’t on my own feeling exhausted afterwards. But I did enjoy another fine dinner in the Britannia Restaurant. We were the last out of the third deck level, having to walk down a deck to exit the restaurant! I slept really well and awoke only just in time to prepare for church this morning in the Royal Court Theatre.
It’s calm outside, with the numerous clouds a reminder that it is the rainy season, and a good dousing is assured for our stay in Puntarenas tomorrow! I must resume walking today even if it is 30°C outside.
Many thanks for reading, David, 13.40 hrs ship’s time, portside Lido.
David's Cruise 