Jump to content

BillB48

Members
  • Posts

    6,856
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    Florida
  • Interests
    Cruising!
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Royal Caribbean
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Panama Canal, TAs, Alaska

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

BillB48's Achievements

5,000+ Club

5,000+ Club (4/15)

  1. While a number of ex pats live around Panama City, I think you will find a large portion of them that live in that area live in sections of the old Canal Zone. The areas of the old Canal Zone would include the civilian communities such as Balboa, LaBoca, Los Rios and Cardenas. There is also a lot of ex pats living in the former US Military areas such as Albrook, Howard and Ft. Clayton. Ft. Clayton is now known as Ciudad de Saber. Also very popular with the ex pat community are the beaches starting about 50 miles up on the Pan American Highway at Gorgona, Coranado, Rio Mar and Santa Clara to name a few. Another favorite spot would be in the Chiriqui highlands much further up the PA Hwy in Boquete. Much cooler temps since it is about 5000' and up. If you really want to get to minimum development and maybe even a wee bit on the exotic side, have a look at Bocas del Toro near the Costa Rican border on the Atlantic coast. Of course it will take much more than a day to track down the places I have mentioned.
  2. His name is Sal Mercagliano (may misspelled last name). He is a former licensed merchant mariner now a college prof. He has a YT channel What's Going on with Shipping.
  3. Rather two very different ways to spend the day. Monkey island would take you out to Gamboa where you board a small craft for the trip to the "Island". the trip would include traveling the main shipping channel of the Canal for a fair part of the trip. It certainly would be seeing that part of the Canal from a completely different perspective. With any luck you might pass a ship or two. The Hop On/Off does cover many of the interesting areas to visit such as Miraflores Locks, Casco Antiguo, the Bio-museum as well has you will get to see some of the City. Hard to recommend, but the Bus tour might give you a broad overview of Panama City, if that is something that interests you.
  4. This is the ship we were discussing the "asymmetrical designs" in the Old vs New Locks thread. The last picture clearly shows the funnel off to the port side and a smaller funnel like structure on the starboard side farther forward. Another thing that caught my eye is the lack of any outside viewing areas forward. I'm sure the glassed area above the bridge is available for passenger viewing, but I would miss not having a forward viewing area outside. I don't think I could be considered a fan of that design, I still prefer the more traditional approach to ship design.
  5. They did get some welcomed rains and the good news it just wasn't one of those splash and dash showers. There was a fair amount of coverage over the watershed, although not enough to declare the drought over and start singing Happy Days are Here Again, a good sign.
  6. Had no idea it was around that long, sad to see it go as well. Thanks.
  7. I suppose she may have done a turnaround at Ft. Amador Cruise terminal. EM, is that other place ( C cruise ch..) gone dark?
  8. I suppose this is not the best time to talk about the bad news of the lower lake levels at Gatun. The link to gCaptain below not only addresses the drought, but also speaks to what has become the 800 lb gorilla in the room. That is the increased salinity of Gatun Lake, which is something they have been concerned about even before the troubles caused by this years El Nino induced drought. In the article it describes the salinity levels reached 0.35ppt four years after the new locks opened and there was concern that the levels could go higher before the Rainy Season kicks back in. The concerns have become a reality. https://gcaptain.com/the-panama-canal-averts-a-crisis-for-now-but-at-a-cost-to-drinking-water/
  9. The pier and cruise terminal are located on the top right portion of Perico Island, the bulk of any shopping, eateries and watering holes would be on the part of the causeway that links Perico Is. and Naos Is. There are a few things towards Flamenco, but I have not been there other than I drive by. The biggest question is the ease on which to get there, even though by all reports the terminal is open I do not know what transportation facilities are available. Distance wise it could be walked, however I don't know if walking will be practical.
  10. Seems the ACP is putting more confidence in a timely return of the Rainy Season forecasts. They have increased the amount of permitted daily transits from 24 to 27 beginning the week of March 18.
  11. The Azamara Onward is definitely original locks material, as well Oceania Vista and Allure. Actually they are on the "small" side and don't crowd the maximums for the original locks. If the dimensions of a ship are 965x106 or less, she is a candidate for the original locks.
  12. Glad it was swung to the starboard a tad... the Canal's heavy lift crane the Panquiaco is working on the sea gates on the east. Don't have any word on what is being done. The crane has been there a couple of days.
  13. Since the new Agua Clara Locks were opened the ACP discontinued the visitor's center on the east side upper level of Gatun. Accessing that viewing area requires crossing the gates at Agua Clara or crossing the vehicle gates at Gatun Locks, something they are looking to avoid. They are in the process of building a viewing area that would be accessible via the new Atlantic Bridge in the upper level on the west side. Looks like it is complete or at least almost complete in that picture. My contact is not in Panama at the moment so I can't confirm what the status of the facility is
  14. Thanks, my good friend is still on the Emerald (it is his last trip) and I sent him a few of the pics. He gives a very detailed presentation to the passengers.
  15. What may have occurred with the Aurora is due to the reduction of transits, currently 24/day, they could slot the ship immediately for a down lockage. Previously they were running 10-12/day neos through the new locks and about 24/day through the original locks. Now, with the reduction of transits 8 neos through the new locks and around 16 through the original. With less ships in the schedule it was probably very easy to schedule an in and out since they did not want any time to tender passengers ashore.
×
×
  • Create New...