Panama Canal transit

6 March 2010 - Panama Canal Cruise - Island Princess
We woke up at 6am today to witness our approach to the Locks. It was plenty light enough outside by the time we finished breakfast. We were transiting the locks from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.
We soon discovered that the entire bow of the ship was filled with passengers - seems like the ship would've tipped over forward! We decided to watch the approach from our stateroom balcony, which had a fine view! Well, Jim did, anyway.
Tricia & I headed to the aft of the ship to watch from the decks back there. There were only a few people, so not bad crowds. Plenty of elbow room.
We traversed through the two Miraflores locks that raise you 27 feet each. Then we traveled through Miraflores Lake for a little while. Then locked through the Pedro Miguel lock which raised us another 31 feet. So we were 85 feet higher there in the middle for most of the day.

We passed through Culebra Cut, which is about 9 miles long, and the biggest challenge building the locks. It's an amazing feat of engineering genius that went into building these locks 100 years ago. Someone seems to have really planned ahead. The big ships today - although not all fit anymore - still are able to pass through the locks.
It was, as we expected, extremely hot standing out there today. Sweat just rolls off you - and no one likes a smelly, sweaty monkey!!! We got a break in the action where we went for a nice swim. The indoor pool is really nice an relaxing - it has a Polynesian design. I think Jim likes it most because that's where the ice cream bar was...
In the afternoon, we entered Gatun Lake, which is the biggest water reservoir for the lock operation. It's huge, even though it's a man-made lake. Fortunately, this area gets a lot of rain to keep it topped off.
The last leg of the journey took us through the Gatun Locks, which have three steps back down the 85 feet to sea level. We watched, comfortably, from our balcony.
We got to witness a lot of other activity, as other ships locked through, and we watched the 'mules' pull us through. It's truly amazing how quickly the locks fill with water once the doors are closed. Only took about 6 minutes in the Miraflores Locks!
We had an onboard lecturer, who helped us really appreciate what we were seeing. The size of the locks was designed to accommodate the greatest sized war ships envisaged before WWI. Amazing! Some fun facts:

• The Panama Canal saves 7,800 miles for ships that need to pass from the Atlantic to Pacific or other way round
• The Bridge of the Americas - bridge that connects North America to South America - has 201 ft. of clearance at high tide
• Max ship size that can go through the locks is 964 ft long, 39 1/2 feet deep, and 106 ft. wide. Our ship pretty much met those specs - it was built specifically to travel through the locks. It's REALLY long! Takes about 10 minutes to walk from the stern to the bow. We learned our clearance was 24" on either side. Could've fooled me - it looked like the ship's walls were right against the lock walls.
• New locks are being built - they'll take ships 1200 ft. long, 160 ft. wide, and 50 ft. deep. These will open in 2014
• The fees were a really interesting fact. It's NOT CHEAP to go through the Panama Canal. Our ship's transit fee was about $288,500.00 plus the cost of tugs, so it ended up costing ~$340K!!! And they only take CASH! Can you imagine that wad! And the security - WOW!

Barefoot All Day

There's something about an excursion where the first thing the guides do is take your shoes. You just know it's going to be laid back.
Today we sailed to St. Thomas. It was my fourth visit to this gorgeous island. I think, of all the Caribbean islands I've been to - and there have been plenty - this one (or collectively the Virgin Islands) is my favorite.
We got up early today for a long tour. We sailed on the catamaran "Heavenly Days" out to Buck Island, where we got to go snorkeling and saw a whole bunch of green sea turtles! Amazing! It was really neat when they came up to the surface of the water. Not afraid, they got air right next to us.

We, of course, saw plenty of other colorful fish and coral while snorkeling. The water felt great - it's not every day I can swim in February, living in Cleveland!!
Then we sailed over to Water Island and had a BBQ lunch on the beach. Got to spend plenty more time in the water there, too. Quite the enjoyable day. Laid back. Fantastic weather.
I think if I got to choose where to spend a winter, St. Thomas might just be it.

Sailing on that catamaran, we just got to relax, be served drinks, and work on our tans. Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday in February, I say.
After we got back to the ship, I hung out on the balcony of our stateroom, where Jim locked me out, while he was down the hall doing laundry. Nice. Guess there could be worse places to get locked out.
I did get to witness the excitement from our next door ship, though. A lady went back to the market on the pier to do some extra shopping, and her ship took off without her! Ouch! That'll cost you some big bucks. At least they all speak English on St. Thomas. Hope she got to her next port OK.
The night was capped off with a big Movie Under the Stars. Got to watch Pirates of the Carribean: Stranger Tides - IN the Caribbean. Fantastic! The weather was great, the movie was fun to watch, and it topped off a terrific day.