LIVE from the Vision of the Seas Sailing 5 Oct 2012

[Just The 3 Of Us]

I get the 500 minute packages and use free minutes and 25% discounts from my C&A Booklets.

 

Cost is relative.

 

Some cruisers have an excursion in every port. I post on the Internet. The cost is about the same and I am doing what I enjoy.

 

 

 

Your reviews are amazing, Trainman and totally appreciate all the time and effort you put into them!!

 

THANK-YOU!!!

Barb

Edited November 6, 2012 by Just The 3 Of Us

[Trainman-2]

My new camera also shoots HD Videos and I tried it out. Links to the three I shot are below.

 

The container ship "Lito" in the lock next to us has a bunch of white containers marked "Hapag-Lloyd" on the sides. These are all refrigerated containers and have large cooling units on the ends running. That is what the loud "humming sound" is that you hear in the Videos.

 

 

 

 

http://youtu.be/0leVhDJwH0w

 

 

http://youtu.be/HriE88WULGM

 

 

http://youtu.be/RLda7XiRJg8

Edited November 6, 2012 by Trainman-2

[CAC104]

I get the 500 minute packages and use free minutes and 25% discounts from my C&A Booklets.

 

Cost is relative.

 

Some cruisers have an excursion in every port. I post on the Internet. The cost is about the same and I am doing what I enjoy.

Lucky for all of us!:D

 

I drive by Palm Coast a few times a year when I go back and forth from Maryland to my house in Port St. Lucie. When we were looking for a place to have when we could semi retire I really liked Palm Coast and it seemed like a really nice place to live. But, my husband is a golf professional and when the PGA decided to build a place in PSL, we bought there in the PGA Village.

[bluechair]

Thank-you for posting the video's interesting to watch.

[BillOh]

All of my photos are posted here:

 

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/2012%20Vision%20Panama%20Canal/

 

They are in sub albums on the right by day.

 

Thanks for the pictures, especially of the canals and ports I have never seen before. What's next?

[AF-1]

thanks for the tour; your youtube video's of the canal are very clear. Great shots.

[Trainman-2]

Hello Again Everyone,

 

It has been over two weeks since we debarked from the Vision and I promised you a bunch more photos and especially of the Panama Canal.

 

We have spent the last two weeks getting caught up at the Yacht Club and planing for the new House. Closing is set for Dec 5th. The tile crew comes in on Dec 6th and will convert all of the bedrooms from carpet to tile. We move in on the 12th.

 

Everything is going according to plan!

 

Last weekend we finally got to explore the back yard and found the two small ponds which are full of Otters. Cute little Guys!

 

 

 

 

For Veteran's Day we bought ourselves (Mostly Me) a nice used Kubota, diesel, Side-by-Side, 4x4 so we can "get around" the yard.

 

[Trainman-2]

The Panama Canal

 

Recall that I mentioned earlier that the Canal was built using Steam Powered Railroads.

 

Here is a photo of one of the Railroad Yards.

 

 

Here is a drawing that shows how the Steam Shovels and Special, one sided, flat cars worked together.

 

 

Here is one of the Steam Shovels

 

 

Here is one of the Steam Shovels loading a flat car. Look closely at this photo and you will see that there is only one side on the flat car and that there are iron plates between the cars so that it is one long deck. They used 20 of these cars in a train to haul material dug up by the Steam Shovels.

 

[Trainman-2]

In the drawing above you can see that the Steam Shovel is lower than the train of Flat Cars. AS the shovel continued to dig, eventually it dug up the the track where the flat cars were and could dig no more.

 

So they brought is a "Track Shifter" which would lift the track out up off the ground and move it away from the Steam Shovel about 15'.

 

They reused the same track but simply lifted and shifted it as the Steam Shovels Dug. When they had dug to the proper width of the canal, the Steam shovels would start digging again on a new track down the center of the ditch and they would disassemble the track for the flat cars and reassemble it next to the Steam Shovel.

 

[Trainman-2]

They emptied the flat cars by "plowing" the stone off to one side.

 

They had a steam powered winch behind the Steam Locomotive that drew its steam from the locomotive. On the back of the train they had a heavy iron plot that the winch would slowly pull forward (toward the locomotive) and plow the rock and dirt off to the side.

 

 

 

After the rock was plowed off they would run another train through with a side mounted plow which would push the pile of stone off to side and level the base. When the base got too wide they would bring in a Track Shifter and move the track closer to the edge and continue to dump rock and dirt.

[Trainman-2]

They used this same method to build the break waters at each end of the canal to provide a sheltered area for ships waiting to transit the canal.

 

Here are two photos I took of the breakwater on the Atlantic side as we approached the Canal on our West Bound Transit.

 

 

 

They built trestles out into the ocean and backed the trains loaded with rock and dirt out to the ends and then plowed off the rock. They kept doing this over and over until the breakwater was built up high enough.

 

 

In some areas the current in the water was so fast that it washed away the rock and dirt faster than they could dump it so they cast large blocks of concrete and plowed them off th get the initial breakwater built. Once the current was stopped, the added more rock and dirt.

 

 

Today you can see that they have "armored" the breakwaters with special concrete castings that are not washed away by wave action during a storm.

 

 

Here is a Google Earth view of the breakwaters on the Atlantic side of the canal.

 

[Trainman-2]

By the way, the old wooden trestles are still there inside of the stone breakwaters. The tops of the pilings have been rotted away by the weather over the years but the part that cannot be seen is still there.

 

If you look closely at the Google Earth View above you can see that they removed a section of the breakwater on the right to allow smaller ships to enter and leave the protected anchorage.

[Trainman-2]

During Construction of the Canal they had a number of major rock slides.

 

The type or rock they were digging was such that it tended to slide down. They are still working today to cut back some of the larger hills to prevent future slides.

 

[Trainman-2]

You can see in these photos how they cut the hills back in "steps" to prevent slides. In many cases, these cuts are covered with a chain link fence like material and then sprayed with concrete to prevent slides.

 

 

 

 

[Trainman-2]

Here you see where they are lining a small stream that enters the canal with concrete. This is the dry season and there is barely a trickle of water in the stream.

 

But during the rainy season, the water comes our in a raging torrent and washed dirt into the Canal.

 

 

[Trainman-2]

They are constantly dredging the Canal. Part to deepen it for the larger ships when the new locks are completed but primarily because every year during the rainy season thousands of tons of silt are washed into the canal.

 

They have dredges working everywhere 24/7.

 

 

[swcruise]

Hi Trainman,

 

I have just spent the past few hours reading the 2nd part of your B2B cruise and I enjoyed the journey with you and Judith, we were on the Vision in Aug/Sept and really enjoyed our trip to the Baltics and Russia. Good luck with your house move and your new role in the Yacht Club.

 

Tks again for all your posts...

[north29]

"Sun rise, sun set, swiftly flow the days".

 

Just gorgeous pictures of the sunrises and sunsets. My favorite. I hope your days aren't flowing by too fast. Continued good weather and happy sailing. Really enjoying your "live" report. Thanks.......

 

Id'm glad some one else knows what the green flash is(from my boating and sailing days), I have mentioned this to many cruisers, and they look at me like I'm crazy. We have only seen it on two occasions, and maybe a small flash, but that is all in 50+ years on the water.

[KDRCruisers]

The Panama Canal

 

Recall that I mentioned earlier that the Canal was built using Steam Powered Railroads.

 

Here is a photo of one of the Railroad Yards.

 

 

Here is a drawing that shows how the Steam Shovels and Special, one sided, flat cars worked together.

 

 

Here is one of the Steam Shovels

 

 

Here is one of the Steam Shovels loading a flat car. Look closely at this photo and you will see that there is only one side on the flat car and that there are iron plates between the cars so that it is one long deck. They used 20 of these cars in a train to haul material dug up by the Steam Shovels.

 

Trainman,

I love your "live" cruise reports. My husband I also love train especially steam. We have been on many excursions including Grand Canyon Steam train, which runs on vegetable oil. My grandfathers worked at the ALCO in Schenectady, NY for many years, in fact, they worked on the "Big Boy". I guess that is why I have a love for trains;). Good luck with your new home, hope to meet you on a cruise someday.

[poolboyclay]

 

Here is a Google Earth view of the breakwaters on the Atlantic side of the canal.

 

 

This really puts it in perspective.

[Trainman-2]

Yes it does!

 

If you have never used Google Earth to explore the Canal, it is well worth taking the time to do so.

[Trainman-2]

I will finish up all of the Canal postings today and/or tomorrow in between other activities.

[Buffett fan]

I have always loved your reviews and comments, but the information about the canal is just more proof that I love your informational writing style! Thanks :)

 

Buffet fan/Ginger

[Trainman-2]

They have a large maintenance facility on the western end of Gatun Lake.

 

This Floating Crane (The TITAN) is taller than the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

[Trainman-2]

Interesting Deck Loads on a Container Ship.