THE PANAMA CANAL

April 30, 2016

Bonnie was up before 6 this morning, put my sweater on over her pajamas and went out on Deck 5 to see if we were in line for the Panama Canal.  And we were.  And she came down to our stateroom, threw open the door, snapped on the light, and shouted, "We're going through the Panama Canal!"  Yes, dear.  Now, come back to bed.

Actually, I got dressed, too, and we went up to watch an incredible technological and construction wonder open to receive our ship and transport us in 9 hours from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, instead of taking up to a week to sail around through the Straits of Magellan and reach the same point.

It is fascinating to remember learning in school about the Canal and Teddy Roosevelt's enthusiasm to get it built, learn about the earlier French attempt which cost the lives of 25,000 workers and failed, saw pictures of the incredible earth moving equipment, and now to sail through in its 103rd year of service.  And an expansion to the canal to receive larger ships is supposed to open later this year.

Bonnie stayed up on Decks 9 and 10 until we were out in the Pacific Ocean.  I came downstairs to check email, and thought I'd slip in a 30 minute nap, but she called me 4 times to give me position reports, so I went back up and joined her.  Her excitement was as high as we entered the Pacific Ocean as it was when we left the Atlantic, but the crowd of our fellow passengers that swarmed around early in the morning was mostly gone by 4 p.m.  And there were a few whom we overheard expressing, "Been there.  Done that."

Tonight's entertainer was a trumpeter and vocalist whom we've heard before.  An attractive young woman, and a great musician named Nicole Sasser.  She used a line we've heard another musician, a pianist, use.  Nicole did a triple tongue -- you trumpeters out there know what that is -- and then said, "The technique I just used is called 'Showing Off.'"  If I could do it, I would, too.

Tomorrow my talk is up against crafts, so my number one fan will be late for "Spice It Up."  But since she's heard it before, she will not have to report to the principal's office for being tardy.

And speaking of NOF, hereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee's Bonnie!

Okay this is how the story really goes. I woke up at 5:40 and looking at my watch remembered Sammie said we would be in line at 5:15 and maybe it could take several hours before we got into the lock. But not wanting to miss anything I thought I would go check it out. I put on shoes and socks and his sweater over my PJs. I headed to deck 5. It was morning and I could see a long line of ships in a line but we were not sailing toward them but along side. I looked and there was a small pilot type ship drawn beside us and guys getting on our ship. I looked ahead and could see the first lock and we were headed toward it. I took some pictures and went to wake David. We both dressed and headed up and so my adventure began. I watched all day!! we were on deck 5 when the ships photographer got off on one of the small ships pulled along side and we waved and he took our picture. Exciting. We decided to go up to deck 9 or 10 for a better view but ended up going to 11. Oh My!!  IT WAS HOT!! The sweat ran down my legs, back everywhere. But it was amazing. The landscape around us was awesome and the locks were fantastic. We went through 3 locks raising us up to the level of the lake. Wow. What big gates and an amazing amount of water moved from one place to another. The Coral Princess was behind us before we got into the first lock. There was a huge cargo ship beside us in the parallel set of locks. It was about 20 minutes ahead of us so it got our before we did. I took lots of videos and pictures. I saw about 10 guys board our boat from another small boat pulled along side before we went into the first lock. I found out later they were the men who handled the ropes attached to the "mule" ( which is actually a train like engine) that pulls the ship by ropes through the lock. In the first 3 locks there 4 mules attached to the ship. WOW!! When we got into the lake we anchored for maybe  an hour (shorter than expected). Then headed for the next set of locks and two bridges.  As we anchored we went to the buffet and had breakfast. Then we went to the room showered, we were soaked with sweat, then I went to crafts and then back up to deck 11. By then 10:45 or so we had started to move again. Wow!  The scenery was magnificent. The ship cruised for about an hour twisting and turning through the lake. Finally we could see the first bridge. The Coral Princess was not far behind. We passed several large ships going the other way and a lot of tiny boats on the water. We headed under the bridge and assumed we had a while till we got to the next lock. We had lunch and I returned upstairs to watch and low and behold the next lock was just around the corner. There was just one. I did not call David I just watched us go through. After that I could see the next bridge and the next 2 locks and called him to come. It was funny there was a small tour boat in the lock with us. You could really tell the water was going down in the lock by watching it fall. The narrator said the small boat had belonged to Al Capone and had been used to carry his guests. Now some tour company owned it. Well, by this time a storm had formed over us and eventually it started to rain. But I got to watch all the way through to the Pacific Ocean.

After all this I went to the cabin, took a bath and took a nap. I had a wonderful time and I have many pictures and videos (yes, videos) to show you all. I am very tired tonight but I had to tell you what a wonderful day it was. I wish I could tell you every moment of it.

Mac, walk it is good for you. Granny knows it hurts. I love you.

Love you all wish you all could be here!

And now that Dostoyevsky has finished "War and Peace," I will say TTFN!