Monday, March 28, 2011

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 – Gatun Lake to Colon, Panama – Mostly Sunny - 80s

Distance from Panama Canal to Colon: 52 Nautical Miles

Now that we have transited two of the three Locks systems, the Infinity will anchor in Gatun Lake to allow passengers on excursions in the Canal area to tender to shore.  Below the tenders are running their 5 minute trip.

 Gatun Lake Tenders (Small)

We are on the “Gatun Lake Eco Cruise” excursion today so we are leading (at least Ellen is leading) passengers to the two tender loading areas. 

Gatun Lake Tender port (Small) Infiniity from tender (Small)

Celebrity Infinity from the Tenders

Gatun Yacht Club (Small)

The Tender Port (Yacht Club? Really?)

After some initial confusion about bus assignments, we are on our way.  Our first stop is the Gatun Locks.  There we meet some locals, a group of Coatis, that are members of the raccoon family.  While they looked cute, I stayed away from them.

Lemurs near Gatun Locks (Small)

Gatun Locks heading North (Small)

Ship in the Northbound Lane of the Gatun Locks

The 74 step climb to the viewing area was worth the burn since the location offered a pretty good view of incoming ships including our very own Celebrity Infinity.  Many of the Infinity crew members are there in their civilian clothes enjoying the arrival of the Infinity.  The video crew is also to capture this for the Cruise Video.

The shots taken below were shot in real time as the ship made its way into the Gatun Locks.  Twenty six minutes elapsed between first and last shots.

 Infiniity at Gatun (Small) Infiniity at Gatun1 (Small) Infiniity at Gatun2 (Small) Infiniity at Gatun3 (Small) Infiniity at Gatun4 (Small) Infiniity at Gatun5 (Small) Infiniity at Gatun6 (Small)                   

Passengers were allowed to stand on the Helipad to get a good view of the passage through the Gatun Locks.  Below, one of the locomotives is tugging our massive cruise ship through the locks.

Mule pulling Infinity (Small)

 

Infinity in first stage of Gatun (Small)

Celebrity Infinity in the Gatun Locks

The transit of the Infinity cost the line $293,000.  This is based on the number of beds ($100 per bed) and people ($50 per person).  Not sure if that works out but that was the fee per canal personnel.  It was great watching the ship from the perspective of the locks.

Our tour left before the Infinity was able to transit the Gatun Locks.

Our next stop was the starting point for our Eco Cruise.  Along the way – all on small roads (one lane each way) – we passed some new homes ($250,000).  A tract of these homes is shown below.

On tour to eco cruise (Small)

I had thought that the Eco Cruise would be in the out of way portions of Gatun.  Instead, the cruise is on a lake-lagoon which is part of the Melia Panama Canal hotel.

Melia Hotel Panama Canal (Small)

Melia Panama Canal Hotel

Interior Melia Panama Canal (Small)

Hotel Interior (above) and Pool Area (below)

Pool area Melia (Small)

The boat is nice – plenty of room, open sides, and a deck in front perfect for shooting fauna and flora.

Eco Cruise boat dock (Small)

The lagoon dock at the Melia Hotel

Leaving the dock, we are off to explore the lagoon (I believe the guide said it was 64 square miles of water)

cruising the lagoon (Small)

Just a picture of the sky (Small)

No wildlife jut a pretty sky

Vegetation along shore (Small)

Looking for fauna (Small)

The vegetation (above) was rainforest type with many different kinds of plants.  Everything was incredibly green. 

In the center of the picture below, there is a sloth (perhaps a mother and infant).  They are usually well camouflaged but this sloth picked a tree with few leaves.

Sloth in tree - a baby also (Small)

The next two pictures are just examples of the incredible amount of foliage in this lagoon.

Very rainforestry (Small)

The very green foliage (Small)

Clean your glasses – there is toucan at the top of the tree below.

Toucan dead centeer (Small)

Sloth (Small)

Another Sloth

Giant Egret top of tree (Small)

Giant Egrets at the top center of the tree

I took the picture below of a single small tree sticking out of the lake. It just seemed interesting and out of place.

Small tree in Water (Small)

Sloth in center of tree (Small)

Another sloth in this tree – look closely

The tour ended in Colon, Panama.  We actually beat the Infinity there by about 10 minutes.  I met up with Ellen and we borrowed some internet access from a nearby hotel to touch base with everybody.

While Colon may not have been an official port of call, it turned out to be one with the ship not departing until 10 PM.  There has been a lot of new business created in Colon since we were here a couple of years ago.  Let’s hope that continues.

Infinity docked in Colon Panama (Small)

Celebrity Infinity docked in Colon, Panama

Had a late dinner and were just too tired to see the show tonight.  (Guest entertainer: Chilean Rock Star Peter Rock).

It was a very different kind of transit and a very nice day in Panama…

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 – Panama Canal Transit Party Cloudy – 80s

Distance traveled from Manta, Ecuador: 594 Nautical Miles

Looks like a great day for a transit even though there are intermittent showers as we get started.  I’m up early to catch the start of the transit. 

 Early morning Panama Canal (Small)

Panama City – Pre-Dawn (transit underway)

Boats in queue (Small)

Ships and boats in queue for the Canal

Sunrise over Panama City1 (Small)

Panama City at Dawn

I brought breakfast for Ellen down to the room so we could watch some of the transit from out window – that turned out to give us a nice perspective on just how precise the locomotives and engineers have to be.  The picture below is the ship in the Miraflores locks.  There is no zooming here – the wall of the locks looks to be less than a foot away.

Miraflores Lock Wall from room (Small) 

Two shots while the ship was in the Miraflores Locks. 

Miraflores Lock start (Small)

Before the introduction of water into the locks

Miraflores Lock startMiraflores Lock finish (Small)

About six minutes later – above the surface of the locks

Panama Canal Tug (Small)

Panama Canal Tug monitoring our progress

Water released from Miraflores Locks (Small)

Water exiting the Pedro Miguel Locks

Next:  The Pedro Miguel Locks: The picture below taken from our window shows the paint from ships who did not negotiate the wall as well as they should. 

Pedro Miguel Locks from room (Small)

Another close encounter with the wall of a locks (this time the Pedro Miguel Locks) – also looks like about a foot of clearance.

Pedro Miguel Locks from room1 (Small)

Seventeen minutes later our window is well about ground level (below).

Pedro Miguel Locks from room after (Small)

Exiting the Pedro Miguel, we pass under the Centennial Bridge on our way to the Culebra Cut.

Centennial Bridge (Small)

Culebra Cut (Small) Me at the Cut (Small)

Top:  The Culebra Cut; Bottom: Me and the Cut

The train tracks below were the same ones used during the construction of the Canal.

Railraoad tracks used during the building of the PC (Small)

One of the highlights of the Culebra Cut is Gamboa City and its huge Nazi built crane, Titan.  Titan was purchased from Germany after the war for one dollar but it took $2,000,000 dollars to ship it to Panama.

Gamboa City (Small) Gamboa City and Titan (Small)

The Infinity will anchor in Gatun Lake to allow passengers on excursions in the Canal area to tender to shore.