LIVE from Radiance Apr. 21, 2023 - The Panama Canal - Canal au Niveau de la Mer

[Kathscof]

I was just being nosy and I saw that tomorrow the Theatre has.....an Olympic gymnast? innnnnteresting....

[twangster]

Our terminal today.

 

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

Beautiful photos as always. Did you tweak in Lightroom? I love your skills.

 

The sunrise, stars and moon pics were passed through Lightroom.  The rest are right from my phone, mostly posted from my phone. 

[Essiesmom]

Your arrival in Colon, from panoramic bridgecam of Hanseatic Inspiration

 

 

[twangster]

Royal could a little more thought into the excursion meeting points.  This cruise has a lot of seniors who are forced to descend the stairs of the theater to collect a sticker only to climb all the stairs to exit.  Quite a few are struggling with the steps. 

 

[little britain]

@twangster when we go through the locks are we going up or down? Is the pacific higher than the Caribbean or vice versa?  Or do we go up a bit to the lake then down again?! 

[twangster]

2 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

Your arrival in Colon, from panoramic bridgecam of Hanseatic Inspiration

 

 

Yes!   We passed it on the way in. 

 

[twangster]

1 minute ago, little britain said:

@twangster when we go through the locks are we going up or down? Is the pacific higher than the Caribbean or vice versa?  Or do we go up a bit to the lake then down again?! 

 

We start at sea level, go through three locks to reach Gatun Lake around 85' above sea level. 

 

Then we cruise across Panama at 85' feet above sea level.  

 

On the other side there is one lock, a small lake, then two more locks.  Once through them all we'll be back at sea level. 

[twangster]

This images shows a cross section of our transit.

 

 

[twangster]

The adventure begins

 

 

 

[ORD1166]

On 4/23/2023 at 1:05 PM, njkruzer said:

See you in October. 

Thought it was see you in September.  We will see you when board in Vanvcouver too start our cruise  to  Tampa.

 

Vic

[njkruzer]

5 minutes ago, ORD1166 said:

Thought it was see you in September.  We will see you when board in Vanvcouver too start our cruise  to  Tampa.

 

Vic

My mistake!  Yes see in September.   We arrive in Vancouver late Tuesday.  Out friends, 2 couples,  arrive Wednesday.   

[BillB48]

Twangster, was there any back story on the vessel landlocked "floating" vessel in your first picture in post #660?  By chance is it the Islamorada?  Thanks.

[Jimbo]

3 hours ago, twangster said:

The mountains of Panama on our port side.

 

 

Who thinks digging a sea level canal is a good idea?

 

 

Now the the real heat of Panama is going to kick in !

[Jimbo]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

To give you an idea where we are relative to the locks, here is a screenshot from marinetraffic.com.

 

The NCL Sun is going through the locks right now.  Colon is in the upper right where we are. 

 

 

The old Gatun locks on the left, the new Agua Clara locks on the right.

 

Interesting as to what those 3 bodies of water next to the new locks do as far as opening and closing the locks, faster I would guess.

 

 

1 hour ago, little britain said:

@twangster when we go through the locks are we going up or down? Is the pacific higher than the Caribbean or vice versa?  Or do we go up a bit to the lake then down again?! 

Correct.

[twangster]

We took a shortcut through the second largest duty free zone in the world. 

 

 

This was basically several city blocks of stores in a compound. 

[BillB48]

51 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Interesting as to what those 3 bodies of water next to the new locks do as far as opening and closing the locks, faster I would guess.

 

 

Correct.

The three bodies of water that are next to the chambers on each level of the new locks are Water Saving Basins (WSB).  The purpose of the WSBs is to reuse the water from the chamber several times before it actually winds up in the ocean.  Using the WSBs is supposed to allow the new locks to use less water per lockage than the original locks even though the new lock chambers are larger than the original lock chambers.  It actually takes a little longer for a ship to traverse the new locks using the WSBs to fill/empty the chambers, but it is saving a resource that at some times of year is in short supply.

 

Of course with every new idea there comes the law of unintended consequences.  The new locks along with the use of the WSBs has introduced greater salinity into Gatun Lake.  Various studies are underway to mitigate the increase.

[twangster]

Our bus took us over the Atlantic Bridge. 

 

 

 

The view North towards the Caribbean Sea.

 

 

[twangster]

The purpose for going over the bridge was sightseeing.  So once over the bridge we turned around and went over again. 

 

This time the view was South towards the locks and Gatun Lake behind them.

 

 

New locks on the left, original locks on the right.

[twangster]

Having trouble uploading photos on mobile.  I'll continue later from the ship. 

 

 

[little britain]

Feedback on the Embera village tour;

We started at 10a and we went in a bus for 1h45m with no facilities 🚽 !

We were given a small boxed meal containing a chicken roll and a rather nice muffin. And water. Then it was time to board the dugout canoes. Down a slope that was gravel and mud. This was where the unsuitably shod people in flip flops 🩴/ high heels and with walking sticks should have perhaps read the tour instructions a little more carefully! 
All safely on board we set off up the Chagres river in 3 canoes. The water level was very very shallow and several times we grounded and the lead guy had to jump over side and push us out! 
 

After about 20 mins we arrived at the village: another quite steep climb up. Greeted by musicians, then led to a large palm roofed area where the head of the village explained about their life and a lady explained about the different leaves etc used in their weaving. We were also given a banana leaf filled with fresh talapia and plantain. An hour free to roam the village, use their rudimentary facilities, then we had almost all villagers dancing for us. 
Back down to the canoes and on the bus by 2:40p.

I was a bit dubious about this trip; I was worried that I would feel that the tribe were being forced to perform etc, but our guide himself was a member of the tribe and he shared stories of his early life and experience.

 

Panama itself is very run down with filth and litter everywhere- even in the National Parks which was depressing to see. 

 

 

[njkruzer]

Sounds very similar to our tour. What we also saw was that  Panama is very depressed.  They told us teachers come to the village and teach in Spanish,  which most don't understand,  only for the elementary grades.  Getting off island to a public bus, which cost almost what the parents make and doesn't run on time to make it to school on time discourages most to not bother with school.   Did you see the trash along the sides of the road?  Told public garbage pickup was almost nonexistent.   

[firefly333]

I'm one who went to guest services about my Panama excursion. All we got was the muffin and a bottle of water. No sandwich, no other food and it was palm sunday and food things closed. We danced for over a hour, in the hot sun, no shade. We did stop for a bathroom break. No running water so couldnt flush the toilet or wash our hands and no soap. I went to a small town, portabela, and then a hour, which wasnt enough time to see the shuttle, and back by 4 pm. 

 

I wish a excursion with just the canal had been offered. I said I wasnt asking for a refund but really they need running water and hand soap and food. They needed to change this excursion. That's too long to go without food for me. I was unhappy. Rest of my cruise great, except my panama excursion. 

[firefly333]

13 minutes ago, njkruzer said:

Sounds very similar to our tour. What we also saw was that  Panama is very depressed.  They told us teachers come to the village and teach in Spanish,  which most don't understand,  only for the elementary grades.  Getting off island to a public bus, which cost almost what the parents make and doesn't run on time to make it to school on time discourages most to not bother with school.   Did you see the trash along the sides of the road?  Told public garbage pickup was almost nonexistent.   

Our guide went thru different things they tried. If bags were left out people would cut them open looking for cans to sell the metal. They have tried to do different bags and separate out stuff people will scavenge for .. they cutmopen the bags and leave the garbage there on the ground to blow. We had quite a education about their garbage issues. 

[little britain]

Lock timings for tomorrow:

8am

1.30pm

3pm

all through by 4.30pm