10/7 -- Cruise the Canal

We left our dock around 7am to pick up our pilot and get in line for our turn. Typically, the biggest boats go first, and smaller ones join up together. There was one super tanker in the new lane and a Princess Cruise ship and a cargo ship ahead of us, each in their own lane. The Princess was one lock ahead in our lane. We were next and were joined by a catamaran and two of the working tug boats. Two of the locks were adjoining, and the third was about a mile away. The big ship lane has all three locks together, so when a ship is completely lifted, it sails along in its own channel high above us until we get to the last lock.

Panama City is on the right of the canal entrance.

Our pilot boards. He was a level 3 of 11 levels. His father is
also a pilot and is level 9 at age 50 something. You need to
be a 10 or 11 to pilot through the new locks.

The Bridge of the Americas that we crossed when we went to
Chitre, south and west of Panama City.

Sometimes cargo is partially or completely offloaded here and
there are trains that run along the canal to take it to the
Caribbean side.

The cat that entered the locks with us.

The freighter for the west lane.

The tall building is the Holiday Inn where we stayed. I got a wi-fi
signal from it on our boat!

Panorama of the canal lanes and the hotel.

Tugs help guide the ships to the locks.

The arrow points toward which lane to use. The orange and
white ship is a car carrier ahead of the freighter.

The Princess enters ahead of us and the swinging locks close.

This building is a mock-up of a freighter's control tower for the
canal firefighters to practice on.

The freighter has completed the first lock, above. Below, the
little train goes up a ramp to the next lock and pulls the
freighter along. There are trains and each side, front and
back to control the freighter's motiion

 

Our first lock opens.

Sailing into the second lock. Notice the tile roof and the white
building. The tile comes down lower in the front and back than
the sides. It used to be the same all around, but as ships got
bigger, they started hitting the side tiles so they were removed.

There are double locks for safety and they are about to open
because we are at the top of the second lock.

The Centennial Bridge was completed in 2014, but the road to it
came later. Apparently, this is fairly common in Panama.

These three photos show the newer version of the navigational
signs, that get closer together. We saw lots of pairs of these.

 

Big ships have to go single file in one direction in a narrow channel that runs for about 8 miles, but because we are smaller, we could pass them. We emerged into Gatun Lake, which is man made and supplies much of the water required to operate the locks. We sailed to a location near the entrance to the Caribbean side locks and dropped anchor for the day. 

The M/S Discovery at anchor on Gatun Lake.

Lunch was a barbecue on the top deck, followed by an opportunity to kayak and take a boat trip around several of the islands to try to spot wildlife. Jim and I decided to give kayaking another try (the last time, our kayak's drain plugs had not been properly seated and we were in serious danger of sinking) and we were much more successful than in previous outings. We still have trouble going in a straight line, but we did ok. On the boat trip, we saw sloths, several kinds of monkeys, and a pair of toucans.

Sloth

Three uncooperative monkey photos

 

Toucan posing nicely.

A more cooperative monkey posing and eating

The newest bridge across the canal: The Atlantic Bridge. Like
The Centennial  Bridge, the bridge itself is nearly done but the
roads to it have barely been started.

Above and Below: Sunset

Back on board, it was nearly time for dinner, and we had a presentation about the history of Panama afterwards.