Hinton Happenings: Panama Canal Cruise Part 1

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Panama Canal Cruise Part 1

Ken and I were gone January 3rd through the 19th on a cruise through the Panama Canal. We started in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and ended in Los Angeles, California. Several years ago, we went halfway through the canal and then back out. Ken really wanted to go all the way through. I was less excited about it as I don't like to be hot. It is excruciatingly hot in those cities near the equator. But I told him I would go because I love him. I was pleasantly surprised how much I loved this cruise. Yes, Columbia was excruciatingly hot. But the cities on the Pacific side of the canal were bearable. And the day we spent going through the canal was a highlight day of my life. It was amazing and fascinating. It was a lovely trip AND we didn't come home sick! That is a huge win!

Leaving Ft. Lauderdale

Cartegena, Columbia

Our first stop was Cartegena, Columbia. We went on a cruise into the Panama Canal several years ago. We went in to Lake Gaton, then back out again the same way. We stopped at Cartegena then, too. It is SO hot. But they had a shuttle bus that would take you down the pier to a little oasis park that they have created.

The oasis is full of exotic birds and animals and lush jungle foliage.

I love these pictures. I will tell the story in an upcoming post.

An anteater poking his nose out.

Proud Peacock

A peacock displaying his beauty to a female on the other side.

We got the ugly side. And frankly, she didn't seem that impressed.

They also had a nice, air-conditioned gift shop there. We shopped and bought a few things, then took the shuttle back to the ship to get cooled back down.

Pictures of the Sailaway that evening.

Going Through the Panama Canal,

January 8, 2024

Going through the Panama Canal on January 8th was one of the highlight days of our lives. It was amazing to see this wonder of the world.

Am I out on our balcony in my nightgown? Yes, I am. We started before 7am, and I didn't want to miss a thing. I didn't even comb my hair! I just put on my sunglasses and headed out onto our balcony!

Sunrise- Ken took these while walking at 6:00 am on deck 7.

As you approach the canal, a boat comes alongside the ship, bringing an individual that will captain the ship through the canal. The ship's captain relinquishes his position to this canal captain.

You can see the locks ahead.

This shows the two sides of the canal. They are surprisingly narrow.

Ships hook up to "mules" that are on tracks. Those mules pull the ships through.

And here we go.

You can see how narrow the canal is. We barely fit.

Not much wiggle room. Everything is very precise.

We went through at the same time this container ship was coming through the other way. It was amazing to watch.

A mule hooked up to the big ship, pulling it through.

A ship approaches us, having just gone through the canal.

We enter the first lock

When the ship is in the lock, it closes and the water slowly rises until high enough to go into the next lock. It takes a while.

Watching a ship coming through from the other side. Our balcony was the perfect place to view it all. If you ever go through from the Atlantic side, be sure to book a room with a balcony on the Port side.

You can see we are slowly making our way through.

I love these views of the locks.

After going through the first set of locks, you enter Lake Gaton. It is beautiful. By now, it is about noon. It takes about an hour to cross the lake.

We figure this area was the deepest place they had to dig and blast to make the canal. It looked a lot like the Virgin River Gorge, except green. You could see the drill holes for the dynamite.

What an incredible engineering feat.

We went under this beautiful huge bridge.

After the lake we came to this little community- set mostly we guessed for canal workers. We noticed that all of the structures were surrounded by high fences with barbed wire on top.

About 1:00 we were hungry and decided we would go down to the 5th level to the dining room to get some lunch. We hated to leave; afraid we would miss something. But it ended up being such a blessing we went down. As we ate, we entered the lock, and through those low dining room windows, we watched our ship sink down into the lock as they let out the water. We were amazed at how close to the side of the lock our ship was. It was a tight fit!

We are now down inside the lock. Is this not amazing?

Back up at our balcony we continued to watch as we went through those locks and ended up in Panama City.

This was our itinerary for the day. We got a bit behind these times, but it was basically what we did.

As we approached Panama City, we were amazed to see a large crowd of people at a building. A man was pumping them up and encouraging cheering in Spanish over a loudspeaker.

We cheered and waved at each other. They were people that had come to view the Panama Canal.

A beacon on the hill. It was the Panama City temple. We took many pictures.

We passed this place where they load containers onto ships with cranes. It was fascinating to watch how this was done.

When we saw those huge cranes loading containers we couldn't help but think of a friend in Japan that we hoped we could teach the gospel to. He was a nice guy, but not very interested. He was the husband of a very active member. Anyway, they lived in Sakata on the sea. His job was to operate one of those cranes and load and unload containers. He was up in one of them when that huge earthquake hit in 2011 that caused the huge tsunami. He said he swayed and swayed up there, but it didn't topple over. I'm sure it was scary.

This is an art museum out on the peninsula in Panama City. It is an eyesore, in my opinion. Otherwise, Panama City was gorgeous.

All of the skyscrapers are white. They line the peninsula, so it looks like the buildings extend out into the sea.

The boat comes to take the canal pilot off of our ship.

We were given certificates- proof of our transit through the Panama Canal. (I could not get mine to turn right side up!)

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Before we left on this cruise, Ken arranged online for a bird guide in Costa Rica. He got the deal of a lifetime. Two friendly, nice guys picked him up at the port.