BillB48

First a thanks to Teeara for providing pictures for a virtual transit! Also would like to add thanks to RobInMN for the GoPro video, excellent, I almost was for a few moments feeling humid sitting on that balcony! Actually this whole thread just rekindled old professional curiosity from days gone by as I used to be involved with Canal operations. The length of time the Radiance spent at Gatun Locks was not exactly what I would have considered the norm. However the pictures along with the video and the various posts have provided a little insight on the time spent getting through Gatun Locks. While I don't have any incident or failure to attribute to the length of time, maybe the following will offer some answers of sorts. I discussed the lockage times of the Radiance via text with an old cohort who is still working for the Canal. He took it upon himself to reach out to one of the Assistant Port Captains for Canal Operations to see if he could shed any light on the matter. The short answer was there were no incidents or failures at the Gatun Locks that were officially noted. Now that does not preclude something going wrong with the ship ahead of the Radiance which was a HAL passenger ship IIRC, if that were the case it would not reflect on any notations for the Radiance. Hopefully I don't get too far down in the weeds, I will offer a few items that could have been contributing factors in that lengthy passage through Gatun Locks. The pilots may have decided to get to Gatun Locks and hold on the north approach wall ASAP rather than timing their arrival for when the locomotives were available. This would have had the affect of spending more time at the locks. They were using a procedure at Gatun called a relay lockage. This is where on set of "mules" (sorry, they were always locos or locomotives to us) bring the ship to the middle level or second chamber. They will secure the ship very minimally with mooring lines, then the first set of locos cast off and return to pick up another ship. Then the locos from the ship ahead will come and make fast and the mooring lines will be taken back aboard. The lockage will be completed with the new set of locos. Where a ship of the Radiance's size would normally be able to lock through Gatun Locks in a little over hour, the relay procedure does add time compared to a straight through lockage. However this procedure will enable the locks to lock through more ships in a given time period. While I did not notice any cross spilling with the Raidiance as mentioned by a post by Essiesmom, this procedure does add a fair amount of time. Just because I did not see it on the Radiance's lockage, it is quite possible it was being used on the HAL ship which ultimately would impact the Radiance . This would add to the overall time the Radiance was homesteading at Gatun. Canal authorities claim the cross spilling saves from 4-6 chambers of water per day. I am afraid the 8-10 hour lockage is for the history books. The increased size of the ships as introduced by the new locks as well as more stringent meeting restrictions for LNG ships, cross spilling at the locks have pushed transit times closer to 10-12 hour bracket. I suppose that the way things went for your transit, they just fell into place where it took the longest possible time. There doesn't seem to be any one or two things that appear to the cause. A case of ship happens! Anyway, don't have a conclusive answer but hopefully it sheds some light on what happened. Enjoy the remainder of the trip!

That is the Crane barge Titan moored at the Canal's Dredging Division headquarters. It has a rather interesting history, it started its career in 1941 as Schwimmkran No. 1 for Germany's Kriegsmarine. After WW2 in 1946 it was partially disassembled and brought to Long Beach Navy Shipyard in California via the Panama Canal. While in Long Beach it was widely known as Herman the German (YD-171) and remained there until the mid 90s when it was transferred to the Canal as a replacement for the Canal's original heavy lift crane, the Hercules which had also been built built in Germany in 1914. The future of the Titan is not certain as the Canal has just acquired to new heavy lift crane barge with a greater lifting capacity. Even though the Titan can lift 350 tons, that is not enough capacity to completely lift any of the miter gates at the Locks. The "lightest" miter gate weighs over 400 tons and the heaviest (tallest) comes in at over 700 tons.

I think going through the new locks is worth the experience particularly if you want the bragging rights in being able to say you have experienced the original and the new locks. The transit is essentially the same, the only difference is which locks are used and the access channel used to enter and exit the lock. The other significant difference is you lock through three locks with the original locks and only two locks with the new. Other than that the transit is the same, both the new and original locks are within one mile of each other. You will be seeing the same scenery, just from a slightly different perspective. Now the BUT! IMO there is considerably less visual attraction to the new locks... missing are the locks locomotives (mules) that assist in your passage through the locks, your ship is tightly packed into the lock chamber with only inches to spare on each side, to me the lock gates opening and closing seems more dramatic. By that I mean the way the gate halfs open and close at the original locks compared to the rolling gates at the new locks. You also have the opposite lane to watch and see and compare their progress. The fill and spill operations at the new locks take a little more time and are slightly less apparent. None of the above is meant to minimize the new locks, only to point out there are fewer things to focus on. I am sure your engineer partner would still find it interesting whichever locks you decide on.

You will actually see very little of the original locks and even less of the new locks. While the RR runs on the edge of Gatun Lake for a good portion of the transcontinental trip, glimpses of the Canal are at a considerable distance. There is about a 5 mile stretch near the town of Gamboa where the RR runs along side the main Canal channel and then crosses the Chagres River which is the primary water source for the Canal. Views of the original locks are brief and are on the Pacific side where you will get a quick look of Miraflores and Pedro Miguel Locks. The train trip is pleasant as much of the trip is over fairly remote areas, however I think the main attraction here is the historical significance of traveling on the first and quickest transcontinental railroad. Often times this tour is one way by train and the other way by bus. How it operates depends on the number of people on the excursion and where they need their equipment after the excursion. There are times when the excursion is operated as a round trip via rail. However if you are on the train/bus version you will want to pick the "correct" side in order to maximize your views of the Canal. The "incorrect" is not what you would call a wasteland, but you won't have a good view of what you came to see.

The research department was up pulling an all nighter,😉! The official beam of the Explora is 107.5' and the limit for the original locks is 105.9. As a result the Canal classed her as a NeoPanamax.

I left out distant, which is what makes a cruise eligible to transport passengers between two US ports. The post has been editied.

They have transported passengers from one US port to another US port without having visited a distant foreign port. The powers that be can waive that in cases such as this.

I think we have an enigma wrapped in a conundrum in this case! I certainly don't have any real knowledge on why she would use the new locks since her dimensions would easily allow her to use the original locks. My first thought was perhaps for Canal convenience, but I don't think that is the case. Perhaps there was an overhang or other protrusion that would better suit using the new locks, but from the pictures I can't find anything on the ship that would create this need. The only other thing I can come up with is perhaps the location of her deck machinery, (winches etc.) does not lend itself for hauling the locomotive cables aboard. It may have been more practical just to handle the tug hawsers as opposed to loco cables. I'll snip a pic and send it my contact who is a tug captain and maybe he can shed some light

While a number of ex pats live around Panama City, I think you will find a large portion of them that live in that area live in sections of the old Canal Zone. The areas of the old Canal Zone would include the civilian communities such as Balboa, LaBoca, Los Rios and Cardenas. There is also a lot of ex pats living in the former US Military areas such as Albrook, Howard and Ft. Clayton. Ft. Clayton is now known as Ciudad de Saber. Also very popular with the ex pat community are the beaches starting about 50 miles up on the Pan American Highway at Gorgona, Coranado, Rio Mar and Santa Clara to name a few. Another favorite spot would be in the Chiriqui highlands much further up the PA Hwy in Boquete. Much cooler temps since it is about 5000' and up. If you really want to get to minimum development and maybe even a wee bit on the exotic side, have a look at Bocas del Toro near the Costa Rican border on the Atlantic coast. Of course it will take much more than a day to track down the places I have mentioned.

His name is Sal Mercagliano (may misspelled last name). He is a former licensed merchant mariner now a college prof. He has a YT channel What's Going on with Shipping.

Rather two very different ways to spend the day. Monkey island would take you out to Gamboa where you board a small craft for the trip to the "Island". the trip would include traveling the main shipping channel of the Canal for a fair part of the trip. It certainly would be seeing that part of the Canal from a completely different perspective. With any luck you might pass a ship or two. The Hop On/Off does cover many of the interesting areas to visit such as Miraflores Locks, Casco Antiguo, the Bio-museum as well has you will get to see some of the City. Hard to recommend, but the Bus tour might give you a broad overview of Panama City, if that is something that interests you.

This is the ship we were discussing the "asymmetrical designs" in the Old vs New Locks thread. The last picture clearly shows the funnel off to the port side and a smaller funnel like structure on the starboard side farther forward. Another thing that caught my eye is the lack of any outside viewing areas forward. I'm sure the glassed area above the bridge is available for passenger viewing, but I would miss not having a forward viewing area outside. I don't think I could be considered a fan of that design, I still prefer the more traditional approach to ship design.

They did get some welcomed rains and the good news it just wasn't one of those splash and dash showers. There was a fair amount of coverage over the watershed, although not enough to declare the drought over and start singing Happy Days are Here Again, a good sign.

Had no idea it was around that long, sad to see it go as well. Thanks.

I suppose she may have done a turnaround at Ft. Amador Cruise terminal. EM, is that other place ( C cruise ch..) gone dark?