I was up at 6:00 this morning so I could follow the schedule of events of when we would enter the Locks. Chuck was up soon after. It was a pretty day and the new locks were interesting although I missed seeing the trams that would use ropes to pull the ships through on the old locks.
Coming toward the Atlantic BridgeOne of the tug boats that keeps the ship from smacking the sides of the canalLocks closing behind usLooking down to show how close the ship is to the sideOne of the many buildings along the canalPanama flagTraffic crossing the canal when the locks close
When we reached the Gatun Lake, the tenders were lowered so people could go on tours – most to go see the old locks. I spent the time on the balcony watching all the different ships coming and going through the lake.
I watched this pelican harass a seagull until the gull dropped his newly caught fish – right to the pelican’s gullet
We went for sandwiches at the NY Deli for lunch and then walked a mile around the track.
We had some more pool time until it was time to get ready for the evening.
We had another Pinnacle Grill dinner tonight. Chuck had the filet mignon and I had the sea bass. I had the creme brulee for dessert and Chuck had the coconut-banana pudding. We also received some macarons.
The main stage was showing the Super Bowl on the big screen. I just popped in to see what the score was. The Eagles were leading.
We went to the Rolling Stone Lounge and then to the Casino.
We get to set the clocks back another hour tonight.
So when is a good time for a water line to break in your yard?
Never. Never is the correct answer.
And it is definitely not at 4:50 p.m. on a Friday evening before you leave for a 12-day cruise.
I had finished putting a load of laundry into the dryer. I walked into the kitchen to rinse some dishes before loading the dishwasher. Turn the hot water handle. No water. Turn the cold water handle. No water. The clothes I had put in the dryer had been wet. What gives?
I tried each faucet in the house. No water. Maybe some work is being done in the area. I text a couple of our neighbors – “Do you have water?” Both responses – “Yes”. Oh no. It’s just us.
Chuck is playing a video game- blissfully unaware of our situation and the panic that is building up inside me. I’m about to spoil that bliss big time.
After he gets over the initial shock of what I am saying to him, he goes outside to find a big pool of water bubbling up near an outdoor faucet in the front of the house.
We are fortunate to have very good neighbors.
One of the neighbors who I sent a text came over to help. He and Chuck got the water turned off at the street and started digging around the spigot area. I started making a mental list of things to do to cancel the cruise since there was no way a plumbing company was going to come out on a Friday evening in the dark and we couldn’t leave the house with no water.
But before I could make the first call, our neighbor said “don’t cancel your cruise. I’m going to be in town next week. Either I can fix it myself this weekend or, if it looks like too big of a job, I can get the plumbing company out here on Monday.”
As I said, we have very good neighbors.
He let us fill a big bucket with water for flushing. I had a gallon of distilled water for handwashing. I had a pitcher of filtered water for the coffee maker. I had bottled water for drinking and to leave for the cat sitter to give Pumpkin until the water was turned back on.
So after all the drama of the evening had died down, I took a deep breath and rechecked my packing lists. I think we are good to go.
Needless to say, 2024 was full of challenges for us. However, ever the optimist, we believe that 2025 is going to be better. So until we are told otherwise, we are going to continue to travel as much as possible.
We will start this year with a 12-day partial Panama Canal cruise. It is a very similar route to the one we took in 2018 – coincidentally – the first one we took after a serious health scare that year. The full-transit from Ft. Lauderdale to Seattle that we tried to take in 2024 was cancelled before it got started.
One difference this year from 2018 is that we are sailing on the Holland America (HAL) Rotterdam VII, the newest Pinnacle Class ship. Because of its size, we will be using the newer, larger canal locks that were completed in 2016. I was fascinated going through the old locks in 2018. It’ll be interesting to compare the different experiences.
We are also looking forward to some warm weather. The many days of below-freezing temperatures here have gotten on our last nerve. I promise I won’t even complain about the humidity wreaking havoc on my hair if we can just get some warmth.
No snorkeling this trip but we do have three tours scheduled – one in Aruba, one in Colombia, and one in Costa Rica. Fingers crossed that the weather is nice for each one of them.
So now is the time to finish packing our bags, gather our documents, and make our way to Florida for the first adventure of the new year.
Today is the day that is the purpose for this whole trip – traversing the Panama Canal. We have received enough paperwork regarding the canal – a FAQ sheet, a color brochure, and an encouragement to watch the hour movie: A Man, A Plan, A Canal. There have also been several informational sessions about the Canal during the past few days. If you don’t know what to do today or anything about the canal, it is your own fault.
What I learned – The first firm effort to build an all-water route through the Panama began with the French in 1880 but financial problems and tropical diseases ruined the initiative. When Panama consolidated its independence in 1903 it agreed with the United States on the construction of the Canal and that the US would help build, operate, and maintain it until December 31, 1999.
The Canal was opened in 1914 and in 2010, the bulk carrier Fortune Plum became ship number one million to pass through the Canal. In 1994, the Canal was named one of the seven wonders of the modern world by the American Society of Civil Engineers. In 1999, as agreed, Panama took on the administration and operation of the Canal. In 2007, construction on the new, larger locks began with the inauguration of the new locks held in 2016.
There are 2 lanes for the ships to pass from either Atlantic to Pacific or Pacific to Atlantic. The system of locks raises the vessels to the level of Gatun Lake, approximately 80 feet above the sea, to allow the crossing by the Central Mountain Range, and then lower the vessels to sea level on the other side of the Isthmus of Panama. The water that is used to raise and lower the ships in each set of locks comes from Gatun Lake by gravity and is poured into the locks through a system of main culverts which extend below the chambers of the locks from the sidewalls and center wall.
We set our clocks back an hour before we went to bed so even though I set the alarm for 5:30, I got that extra hour. I was up and dressed with camera and binoculars by 6:00. It was a cloudy day and I could see that it had rained heavily some time during the night. They did call for rain today so I put on my swimsuit with coverup so if it started raining, I was ready. Chuck was looking forward to seeing the Canal but did not feel he needed to be out on the bow as early as me.
All services were starting at 6:00 today instead of the usual 6:30 so I stopped to get my Latte. The Crow’s Nest was already filled with people. I did not want to see the canal from the inside so I got my Latte, went first to the sea view pool area to watch the sunrise over Panama, and then I went back to the front and joined the people in line to go out on the bow. There were several ships around us waiting for their turn to line up to head for the Canal.
I did not get a spot at the very front of the bow but I did get a good spot near it. I thought of it as a Black Friday shopping experience, get there early and stake a claim or snooze and lose. The ship also opened up the crew doors to the 5th, 6th, and 7th floors for people to stand. The crew was serving coffee and their Panama rolls – soft puff pastry with cream inside.
The narrator came on the speaker at about 6:45 as we were entering passing the breakwater and heading for the new expansion bridge (newly constructed and not yet named) and the Gatun Locks. Since this trip was a partial transit, we would only be going through the Gatun Locks, anchor a while in Gatun Lake, and then back out the same locks.
We watched as the ship in front of us entered the locks and it raised up to get it ready to go to the middle set of locks. Once it entered the middle set and the gates closed behind it, it was time for us to enter the locks. While we waited, I watched a couple of gators swimming around paying no heed to the large ship.
Each ship is charged to use the locks. Our narrator said that our ship was charged $300,000 for this trip. Every cruise has port fees added on to the cruise price. Makes sense why these port fees were some of the more expensive that we have paid ($380 pp). The passengers get to pick up part of the costs of this crossing.
When our turn came, the guiding lines were brought out to the ship from the locks by two men in a rowboat. A rowboat, seriously? The narrator explained that they had tried several other ways to get the ropes over but they proved either dangerous or too costly so rowboat it is. The lines were attached to vehicles on either side of the locks that looked like train engines that ran on a track. The narrator called them “mules.” They pulled the ship along through the canal. We watched as we slowly rose with the water level.
It was also interesting to watch other ships coming from the other direction. As we took pictures of them, the crew from those ships (mostly cargo ships) were taking pictures of us.
Once we made it through both sets of locks (Chuck did make it outside before we finished), we anchored in the Lake and they started calling for people who were on tours to start making their way to the tender area. They would be using most of the ship tenders to get people to shore. Guess they figured the rest of us could swim to shore if the ship started to go down in the Lake. (If you could get past the gators).
It was now 10:00 and the Lido would be open for another 30 minutes and the Panama roll was gone. I got some juice and cereal.
We could see the entrance to the new locks from where we anchored. I watched some larger tankers get towed into the new locks. Several other ships were anchored near us. One by one they made their way to either the old locks or the new locks.
At 1:00 it was our turn to go back through the locks. It had started raining hard so I went to the Crow’s Nest to see if I could find a chair. With so many people having left on excursions, I found a nice lounger in the front. It was interesting to see the process from higher up (10th floor vs the 4th floor of the morning). I watched until 3:00.
The shops on the ship were having a sale on Panama Canal souvenirs. I was able to find a keychain that I can repurpose into an ornament. The tag said “it has been handcrafted especially for you by friendly hands inside the Panama Canal Rain Forest.” I was also told there was no free WIFI at the port so there is no reason to get off the ship when we port at Colon which is good because it is still raining.
We didn’t dock at Colon until 5:00. There were several tours that were already back so there were a lot of people getting back on the ship. There were some people getting off to explore. The all aboard time is still 7:30.
With so many people off the ship, the main dining room seemed almost empty. We had our first table for 2 of this cruise. Service is always fast when there are just 2 people. I had the apple/cucumber salad and the vegetarian pasta. Chuck had the gumbo soup and beef brisket.
We finished so early that we went to the 8:00 show of Planet Earth II in Concert instead of the 10:00 show. This show is a movie produced by the BBC and the score is performed by a live band on the ship. I have seen these performances on other ships and have enjoyed them. From the preview show, I thought this one was going to be one set in frozen areas (Antarctica, Artic, etc.); however, it was one that we had seen before on the Alaska cruise. It was still good.
We went to BB King but we didn’t stay long since we have an early excursion in Costa Rica tomorrow. They had a note in our mailbox that said due to the number of early excursions tomorrow, please be aware that room service would be very busy and that the Lido and main dining room would open early for breakfast for everyone’s convenience. We put out the room service menu anyway (yes, we are those people). We asked for delivery between 6:00 – 6:30. We’ll still be OK if it is later.
I also got the disembarkation paperwork turned in. I chose the early time since we will start driving on the day we disembark although I know we will not get all the way home.
The towel animal tonight is an elephant. Wait, wasn’t that the same animal as last night? Guess they didn’t think we would remember.
We are to set the clock back another hour tonight. Weird.
