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.

10/6 -- Visit Gamboa and Board the Discovery

Today is the first step of our canal transit: we board our ship. Our morning was officially unscheduled, but Octavio planned a hike in Gamboa at the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center and the Summit Municipal Park, leaving the hotel at 7:30 am.

Our first stop was the rainforest walk, posted as 2.2 km, though I am not sure that was the round trip distance. We saw a bunch of Blue Morpho butterflies, which are quite big, but difficult to photograph: Just when you get them in the camera sights and click, they dart up and you take a photo of random greenery. We also saw a Quetzal relative, a Smoky tailed Tragon, an agouti, and a coatimundi along with tanagers and hummingbirds that were impossible to photograph. We also saw a couple of spaced apart sign posts used by canal ships to line up and verify they were on the right path. I am curious to see  how they look from the water.

A two-toed sloth. They are more gray.

Herman the German crane - a reparation from
WWI we think.

A Tragon, a cousin of the Quetzal we saw
in Costa Rica

Octavio showing us a weaver bird nest.

Our best photo of a monkey. They didn't pose well.

A coatimundi, raccoon relative, I think.

Above and below: another bird poses. This
may be another tragon relative.

 

Above and below: Front and back of navigational signs. When
the vertical lines line up, you are in the right place. These
have been replaced with taller signs we saw later.

 

A three-toed sloth: browner and hairier.

Jim captured this butterfly

Our next stop was the municipal park, which is not a standard zoo. They rescue animals and try to release them back to the wild and only display those that cannot be safely released. Our objectives were the Harpy Eagle (the national bird) and the jaguar. The Harpy Eagle is one of the biggest eagles, with a wingspan approaching 7 feet and 3-4 inch talons. We watched video that focused on an eagle feeding its young -- the adult plucked a grown sloth off a tree, breaking its back, and carried it back to the nest for lunch. They lay one to two eggs every three years and only one survives. They spend two years raising each chick before it is ready to go out on its own. The bird they have here was born in captivity and could not support herself  in the wild. Unfortunately, she was not visible any where in the enclosure when we looked. 

Two photos of photos. The most distinctive feature are the
short vertical feathers on the back of the head below.

 

 

Off we went to the jaguar cage and we saw him pacing about, and he came right up to the window we stood at. We gave another shot at finding the eagle, then went back to the hotel to finalize packing for the ship and taking a bus to the harbor.

We wandered around  mall and had a small pizza for lunch before boarding our ship. We were supposed to have sailed to nearby Taboga Island and anchored there overnight, but the sea was too rough, so we stayed in the harbor and had time to unpack, explore the ship, and do a bit of hand laundry so we would have clean clothes to come home in. 

Practicing how to evacuate if needed.

Princess Cruise ship waiting in the evening for their canal trip.

We were treated to a lecture explaining the operation of the canal, which included a discussion of some of the prices charged for transit. It is based on ship weight and size. For many years, it was $1 or $2 per ton, but when Panama took over the operation of  the canal, they raised the rates to cover their administration costs and made money for the treasury. The least charged was in 1928 when a swimmer wanted to swim the length of the canal. There was also a support row boat. They charged the swimmer 36 cents. I think it took him about a week.

The ship will be our home for the next three nights. The cruise director spent about an hour explaining our planned transit. Although most boats go through the canal in a single day, we will be staying overnight just outside  the north most locks on the Caribbean side.