Thursday 22nd January 2015- Atlantic to Pacific Ocean in 12 hours

We set the alarm for 0630 with Noel not realising that it needed to consider that latest one hour change and as a result we were up and dressed with first cup of tea at 0545 instead of 0645, Dah…

It was rather cloudy once it got a little lighter but anyway we went upstairs to an open deck area anticipating it would be empty but no there were quite a few people there who, I guess, may have had the same problem as us. The lock system is very impressive when you consider they were finished in 1914 and its not surprising when you watch the on board documentaries about the project who difficult it was and what a change when the Yanks took over particularly to make the workers facilities and health to be improved and rid the staff of yellow fever, malaria etc.

At around 0730 we entered the first of three locks which lift you up to the lake where we had anticipated leaving immediately to cross the lake but there was a traffic jam and so we parked up for two hours on anchor at which point we headed after breakfast back to the balcony on our room to watch the next few hours proceedings. The lake is surrounded by dense vegetation although in places you can see the railway line which was used to help build the original canal and now serves as a usual rail service from one side of Panama to the other. The journey is done very slowly as there are places where it’s extremely tight and impossible for two large ship to pass without an almighty bang.

By mid-afternoon we were well on our way across the lakes and anticipated reaching the next set of locks which take you down to the Pacific Ocean but during the day the lovely Port Presenter did a non-stop talking routine try to explain things we


could all see. During the past few days we have had a lot of documentaries on the canal and also we were given a very good leaflet on the crossing so there was no shortage of information. Nevertheless she carried on talking whilst we went to our balcony to get away from her. One of her useful bits of information was that cars waiting for the road bridge to be open by the lock carried cars with mothers taking their children to school. What!

She then started reading details from the brochure given to every passenger as though we could not read; she needs a kick this woman.

By late afternoon we reached the next locks, first a single lock and then later the last set of double lock which we finally exited at about 17.30 and we understood from the Captain, that the cost of putting the ship through the canal was £ 220k  and as long as he does not ask for a whip round we should be OK. The Captain did come on several times during giving very good information in a very professional manner compared to miss Port Presenter.

We went under Bridge of Americas and out in to the Pacific Ocean leaving Panama City views as the sun went down. The buffet tonight was Chinese style food, I won’t say Chinese Food as it was not up to Hong Kong standards and we did wonder what the Chinese musician and his family thought of it.

It had been hot and sticky and mostly overcast during the day and the evening was pretty much the same and so we borrowed the DVD of ‘The best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ which is a nice film. We own this film and seen several times but it was still good to watch again, can’t wait until the new one is released.

I took a lot of photos during the day and so will have to work on those tomorrow but unable to load to our website until such we find a good internet speed which may only come in San Francisco.

Then an early night after a long day with another clock change tonight so perhaps a bit of a lie in tomorrow.