Day 6 January 10

Julie and Jinkee (concierge)

Panama Canal

A thunderstorm at 5 am was my wake up call for a long day. Engines outside came from the pilot boat. Lots of shipping around waiting their turn to transit. About 6 we entered the Gatun Lock. Captain van der Waard opened the fore deck for passenger access and with the veranda deck forward deck we had a great forward view entering the locks. Aft on the Lido deck and Navigation deck we had a good view behind us. On our cabin deck we had an excellent view of the starboard side. This means there was a lot of running around the ship to gain different views of our transit.

All traffic at this time was Southbound so both locks had traffic going the same way. We cleared the Gatun Lock about 0630 and crossed Gatun Lake, passed Gamboa about 1130, made the Pedro Miguel Lock about 1330and the final locks, Miraflores, at about 1430. Ahead of us there were a couple of container ships and behind us (sometimes beside us) a tanker and behind us a ways a cruise ship from Oceanic. The day was cloudy and there were numerous tropical showers. All through the transit we were close to shore and watched the tropical flora and fauna pass by. A narration on the ship's PA system kept us awake and informed. The narrow Gaillard Cut was not much to look at but was fascinating considering the engineering that went into it. After we left the canal we headed South and West to follow the coast of Columbia. The sky cleared but it was very dark with only a sliver of a moon.

Watch canal traffic at www.pancanal.com