twangster

Early signs of the day.

Time 5:45am. Pilot expected at 6am. The dedicated are up and marking their territority.

Starlink report

Day 8 - The Panama Canal Our progress

We've had a number of brief Starlink outages tonight that last a few seconds to a few minutes. Some folks might never realize it if they aren't trying to use the internet during an event as brief as they are

The start of our overnight course.

Exactly, possibly better lighting for pictures too.

Sunset tonight from Giovanni's. (Taken through the window from my table)

I sat down at the Champagne Bar to post some of the previous posts and spotted a certain container ship in port out the window. The same ship that was going into the Agua Clara locks this morning.

Day 8 Cruise Compass - Panama Canal Transit RD Day 8 cruisecompass.pdf

MDR Dinner Menus

Hopefully @BillB48 will correct any incorrect information I provide. I trust your input more than a guide here.

Up to this point the majority of photos have come from my phone. Tomorrow I'll be using a camera but that means my best photos will need to transferred and my workflow applied to them so I may post some live stuff in the moment from my phone then post a follow up on a sea day if I get anything good with my actual camera.

7am and much of the best railing real estate will have been claimed. I'll probably go to the breakfast as I don't plan to stake a claim on any particular spot. I'll be moving around a lot tomorrow, I need a good breakfast to power me tomorrow.

According to our guide, the transit using the original locks takes 8 - 10 hours overall while a transit using the new locks takes 10 - 12 hours. The water saving basins of the new locks re-use 60% of the water used to fill a lock chamber.

Thoughts on my excursions. Overall I really liked it and appreciated getting to go over the Atlantic Bridge, visiting the new locks and visiting the old locks. We also drove across Panama and that gave me an opportunity to see Panama and Colon in way you can't from the ship during a transit. I wish we had more time at each visitor center but I wouldn't want the bridge crossing dropped and the geography means a bit of a drive. It would have been nice to see a ship in the Miraflores lock but timing is tough the way they send conveys of ships through, so it is what it is. There is no question Panama is a poor country but there were signs of new construction in places so hopefully its experiencing an uptick in economic conditions. The sandwich was... interesting, but not expecting one I won't complain about it. Overall a great day and I'm glad I booked it.

When we board on deck two in it's in a crew area before get back to the deck 2 elevator lobby. I noticed this on the wall. September 2021 - "... assisting the yard in the repair". I wonder what that means.

Likely moving. The ship is more stable underway and they can make water, empty tanks and so all the things ships do at sea, as well as avoiding all the heavy ship traffic. On my last transit on Vision we did the same, but in reverse, going out to sea from the canal and coming back in the next day for our day at Colon. We didn't stop but nearly completed a three sided triangle.

Back to Colon and the ship.

We began our return to Colon by driving near Panama City on the Pacific side. Along the way we passed the rail yard for the Panama Canal Railway.

Goes out to sea. Need to open the casino!

Boarding the bus our bus driver was squirting hand sanitizer for everyone. Hmmm, we didn't do that earlier in the day. Then our guide handed everyone a box lunch and bottle of water. Not knowing this was coming, I had no expectations of a lunch. It was a bun with a piece of cheese in it. With zero expectations of a lunch my expectations were met. 🙂 (the muffin was good through).

Just as we were about to leave they started to open the lock gates for the maintenance crane to pass through.

In the distance the first ship of the Southbound convey can be seen coming out of Culebra Cut. The Centennial Bridge can also be seen. Note the earthen dam where that separates the larger ships from Miraflores Lake. Because the new locks have all three lock chambers together they start closer to the Miraflores Locks so larger ships are still at the 85 feet above sea level while smaller ships will have passed through the Pedro Miguel Lock and be just under 30 feet lower as they cross Miraflores Lake.

An infographic on display at this visitor center provides an overview of the Panama Canal. For the old and the new, each end of the canal has three locks chambers. The new locks have all lock chambers together on both ends while the original locks have the three lock chambers together on the Atlantic end while the Pacific side has small lake, Miraflores Lake, that separates one set of two lock chambers from the third lock chamber. From right to left on the infographic, matching our Radiance journey tomorrow, we will first encounter the three lock chambers of the Gatun Locks. A detail of the Gatun Locks: Once lifted by the three locks we will be around 85 feet above sea level on Gatun Lake. From right to left we will cross Gatun Lake, which isn't the straight shot pictured on this infographic, to the Culebra Cut, the section of the canal carved through a mountain in places. Through the Culebra Cut we first encounter the Pedro Miguel Lock, then the small Miraflores Lake, then the two lock chambers of the Miraflores Locks where I was standing to take these pictures. Then we will be at the Pacific Ocean.