Tuesday April 26th. 2011

Good afternoon,

We were awakened at 6.00am by the breakfast steward, it had been a short night and I did not want to get out of bed but out I got anyway. It was hot, humid and overcast,  we were surrounded by merchant shipping and creeping toward  the approaches to the canal, with the "Bridge of the Americas" connecting the Continents of North & South America looming just ahead.

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At about 8.30am we arrived at the Miraflores locks, taking about an hour to wend our way through them into Miraflores lake. Next we arrived at the Pedro Miguel locks at around 10.00am and in just over a half hour had passed through them, then after negotiating the Culebra Cut, entered Gatun Lake. After a quick lunch up at the buffet, we were back on the Balcony in time to see the Gatun locks  come into sight. At about 2.00pm we lined up next to a huge container ship, the "Liverpool Express" and preceded her into the first of the three locks  to begin lowering us  into the Caribbean Sea. As we looked back it was strange to see this huge ship floating and towering above us.

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We are now through the lock system and heading for Colon where we are scheduled to arrive at 5.30pm for a four hour visit. On this side there is another flotilla of shipping waiting their turn to pass through the lock system on their way to the Pacific Ocean.

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We are not sure what awaits us at Colon, not having called there before but will go ashore, look around and then probably have an early night. Today has been quite lazy but with the heat and humidity, we feel exhausted.

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5.25pm. We are nudging into our birth at Colon, one side is busy with container shipping loading and unloading. Where we appear to be docking is very pleasant with sailing boats from all over the globe and tidy looking apartment buildings, all very tropical looking. It will be interesting to find out the reason for our call here, if and when I find out, I'll be sure to let you all know. I see a quaint street of multi colored buildings with red tiled roofs, a church, pods of palm trees, a Radisson hotel, all just a chip shot from our balcony. lots of flowers with people strolling, I really like the look of this place.,

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As soon as we were docked an ambulance arrived and EMS people boarded, it took a while before a man was taken off, we recognized him as a very emaciated person we'd seen from time to time and wondered if he had some sort of non curable disease! I'm not sure if I'd want to be hospitalized in Panama but when one has no choice???? I also wonder if he had insurance???

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We did get ashore, but apart from some casinos, bars, restaurants and touristy trinket stores, "nada". The air was hot, heavy and damp, it took all my strength just to walk the few blocks along the pier. It looked far nicer from the ship. We mooched around for about a half hour, then in a rare moment of "Dorothy not finding a single thing to buy" we decided to get back to the cool of the ship…Too late for the dining room and not really feeling hungry we opted to eat light up top and then down to the comfort of our cabin for the night. We'll miss the on deck party and champagne waterfall, can you believe I'm such party pooper:)

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My eyes are getting heavy  so I'm keeping this short, next stop San Blas " woo hoo" I may not go ashore I'll watch the action from the rail.

TTFN

Tony