The high point of our trip - literally

Well, THAT was pretty cool!

A couple of days ago we spent most of the day sailing above sea level. About 85 feet above sea level, to be almost exact. Thankfully, there were no reports of altitude sickness.

My day started at about 5:30am when the alarm went off, insuring that we could get a good vantage point for us and David and Carolyn for our entry into the Panama Canal. We looked out our deck into the darkness and Rob counted at least 30 lit vessels of various sizes and purposes congregating outside the entrance to the canal. I imagine there was some sort of organization to it all but it was hard to decipher any. I will post a separate blog with fun facts and tidbits about the canal itself, but one thing we were told is that the order of ships passing through the canal is somewhat determined by how much money is paid as the toll. Cruise ships (or more to the point, their passengers) pay a premium to have top priority in line.

A waiter a few nights prior had let us in on a little secret: two of the upper floors of our ship have great decks looking right over the bow. They are open to the public but not well signed and even sort of give the impression that several doors accessing them are for emergencies only. As the nice young guy told our lively table of 6 about these “secret spots” to hang out on Canal Day, I asked him how many other people he told. He intimated that he only told passengers he liked (and no, since tips aren't customary he wasn't angling for one). Judging from the pre-dawn party on decks 10 and 11, he liked about 60 passengers.

I was the first of our four up on deck at 6:26am. It was a lovely sunrise over the Canal Zone as we waited in line for about an hour and 20 minutes before we officially entered the first of six locks. And perhaps this is where I should give a basic explanation of the whole Panama Canal thing.

In order to save a ton of time and therefore money, a passage was man-made through Central America since God and Mother Nature didn't provide one. That trip all around the tip of South America to get to and fro the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans would be quite an undertaking otherwise. So the French gave it a shot, simply digging a big ditch in the narrowest part of land but the rock was so soft, it kept filling in the hole they were trying to dig. They also kept dying. Like over 20,000 of them. So a number of years later, an agreement was made, some money exchanged hands, and the Americans took over. After confirming that it was indeed impossible to dig a ditch deep enough to allow ships to pass through, the American engineers decided that the best solution was to create a big, deep lake – thus flooding out a bunch of the swampy land – that would accommodate ships. So they dammed up a river and created Gatun Lake in the middle of Panama. That's pretty spiffy but then the question is, how do you get ships up to and down from this lake...this lake that is now at a higher elevation than the ocean on either side because of the dams and all? The answer is locks.

Locks are basically enormous swimming pools that have big doors on either end so you can let ships in and out. Locks have big culverts and valves under them so that water can flow in and out on command. Each lock in the Panama Canal has the ability to raise or lower the water (and therefore the boat sitting on it) about 25-30 feet. Since Gatun Lake is 85 feet above the ocean, ships go through three locks to rise up to the lake and then three more locks to lower back down to the ocean when they are on the other side. On the Atlantic side, the three locks are all right in a row and are called the Gatun Locks. On the Pacific side, one lock is by itself at the Pedro Miguel Locks and then about 1.5 miles further along two locks are together called the Miraflores Locks.

The locks currently only have two lanes (an expansion is underway to be completed in 2014). In the morning, ships use both lanes (or side-by-side swimming pools) to enter the locks from both oceans; in the afternoon, both lanes are used to exit canal. So only two ships at a time can enter or exit the Panama Canal.

OK, so back to our story.

As our ship got into position, a knowledgeable guy named Hutch narrated for us over the loudspeaker. He explained and pointed out all sorts of activity going on around our ship. It's a remarkably ingenious system, especially when you consider it was developed in the very early 1900s. But it is also a very careful system since many of the ships are built as big as they can be and still get through the canal, so precision is paramount. For example, our ship had all of 24”...yes, inches...to spare on each side of the ship. Due to the precision necessary to avoid bumps, scrapes, explosions, etc., the Panama Canal is the only place in the world where a ship's captain is required to relinquish control of the ship to someone else. Every vessel that passes through the Panama Canal – including sail boats – is required to have a specially trained Panama Canal pilot board the vessel and pilot the ship throughout the entire locks system and lake.

While going through the locks, each vessel is also tethered to these heavy little train-engine-like machines called “mules.” Our ship had eight mules, four on each side. The mules are tethered to the ship and run along tracks on either side of the ship to help keep the ship aligned and going the correct speed. So with the tether lines being thrown and the mules being connected and the bells and horns ringing to communicate orders and the big lock doors opening and closing and water emptying and filling and cruise passengers dashing from one vantage point to another and camera crews signaling to wave to capture the moments (DVD for just $39.95!), it was a very busy and exciting transit indeed.

After we completed the Gatun Locks, we were deposited into Gatun Lake. Hungry, Rob and I headed up to the lunch buffet only to find out it was still breakfast time. We're not really used to waking up at 5:30am. We then reapplied suntan lotion, relaxed a bit, watched the constant dredging and other lake scenery, and then retrieved our sign for the videographer.

Honestly, I'm not sure who started this (passenger or crew) and if this is a Princess thing or if other cruise lines do it, too, but the night before our Canal Day, all sorts of poster boards and scissors and markers and glue sticks were made available. We were encouraged to make a sign to wave and display. To whom, it wasn't clear. Why wasn't clear either. So I put minimal effort into a sign with two hearts and the greeting “Hiya from Piglet.” When prompted as we entered the second set of locks called the Pedro Miguel Locks, Rob, Piglet, and I stood on our balcony with our sign and waved for the camera. We now have the option of seeing ourselves on DVD (just $39.95!) as well as purchasing a still photo for just $19.95. The pizza and hot dogs may be free but there are still lots of way to spend your money on this boat.

After our sign dance, Rob and I got into position on the Promenade Deck (7th floor) on the right side, right next to the mules and their tracks. It was a fascinating vantage point. We started out above the canal and then sunk to eye level and then below. We could see the mules up close and personal. It was also fun to watch the crew on a tanker in the other lane disappear as well. If I hadn't been afraid of a severe and expensive reprimand, I am sure with just a little stretching I could have touched the side of the canal. As we sunk, we could see the ship's shadow on the cement side of the locks: a big flat deck with all sorts of little stick figures dotted about. By the time the water was done draining from Pedro Miguel, we were staring at cement.

The final locks, called Miraflores Locks, were just about a half-hour down the canal. So we refilled our water bottles, reapplied sunscreen, and got into position at the back of the ship on the 8th floor. This vantage point allowed us to watch the big metal doors swing closed and get bigger as we sunk deeper until we were surrounded by cement and steel. The Miraflores Locks are also noteworthy because there is an observation tower there for land-lubbers to watch ships go through the canal. It is a four story structure right on the bank. We...and those around us...were shocked to find it seemingly filled to capacity with lots of people waving and smiling and yahooing. It was a wonderful greeting and the narrator encouraged us to return the enthusiasm. Judging from the reaction on the tower, I think someone on the port side flashed the observers. Or something similarly entertaining and demanding of an encore.

After we exited those last locks, we went under the Bridge of the Americas (connecting Central and South Americas) and were dumped into the Pacific Ocean. The calm, pacified ocean, where the sea conditions were officially described in the Captain's Navigation Log on Channel 21 as “Calm, glassy.” The 58% humidity was equally delightful.

We motored along for just an hour or so and then just bobbed slowly in a small circle. We ended up (on purpose) spending the night anchored in the bay just outside of the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, along with about 60 other vessels. It was a mostly quiet night, save for the Panamanian party boat the looped around us. Their live band was pretty awful; I kept expecting a clown head to pop out of the top of the boat like a jack-in-the-box. But I think the passengers were too drunk to care about the quality of the music.

The next morning, we were tendered into port where Rob and I took a tour that returned us to the Miraflores Locks, this time as observers. The accompanying museum was very interesting with information I plan to steal for my next blog. We were also treated, just by luck, to the somewhat rare occurrence of seeing a nuclear submarine travel though the canal. It was the Oklahoma City sub, based out of Norfolk, Virginia. About 20 of its crew members were up on the small deck as they passed by to our cheers and waves. Joining us on the tower were four heavily armed guards...armed even better than the armored truck guys in Cartagena...whom we learned appear for all nuclear vessels. Them and the two Panama guard boats and the three US guard boats. It was quite the stone-faced party.

And so in long, the entire Panama Canal experience was fascinating, more so than I expected. Since we live near the Columbia River and its locks system, Rob and I were familiar with the concept and purpose of locks and had even spent an afternoon watching a paddle-wheeler full of excursionists rise above us. So a small part of us was a teensy bit concerned that the Panama Canal version would be anti-climatic. Um, yeah, no.

I was amazed by how quickly we rose and fell with the water through all of the locks. We could feel the movement and could easily see shadows and water marks changing. The mules were interesting also, how with physics and engineering, such comparably tiny machines can stabilize much bigger ones. It was also mind blowing to watch enormous tankers and cargo ships go through ahead of and behind us, exposing parts of their hulls not typically made public.

I took hundreds of photos, including ones of my watch at critical times. I can say with certainty that it took us 1 hour and 40 minutes to go through the Gatun Locks, and 8.5 hours to go through the entire Panama Canal. It was a long day in the sun, but the breeze was pleasant, the humidity was very tolerable, and the SPF 30 worked brilliantly. All in all, a perfectly terrific day.