02 May 2012; Panama Canal, Panama.

 Bright (at least us on the bridge, the weather was overcast) and early we arrived at the sea buoy of Cristobal for an entry into the break waters at 05.00 as scheduled. We were told to wait as Cristobal Signal Station had a traffic muddle on their hands. Three ships coming with the convoy; and the local dredger (the Charles Darwin) was enlivening it all by slipping in and out inbetween to dump the spoils from dredging in the fairway. They do that every two hours or so when the hold gets full, and they hate to wait for other traffic as that costs money. The dredger has been there all season already as he is busy with deepening the approach channel for when the new locks are ready. Last time he was sitting right in our way when we came in but this time he was on the East Side outside the channel. Still he was part of the holdup and in the end we were inside at 05.15.  

Luckily as we were the first in the southbound day convoy, pennant S 10Z, we did not have to wait for the convoy, we lead the convoy this time. So with a speed of 6 knots we trundled along to the first locks, so we could go in as soon as the 06.00 shift change had been completed. From that moment on the transit time was in the hands of the opposing convoy. We have to pass the last of that convoy at Gamboa as the Culebra Cut through the Continental Divide has not been opened yet to two way traffic. Eventually that will happen but the canal is not wide enough yet for safe passage at all times. Today it would have been possible as there was very little wind but it can blow considerably here with quickly changing directions. That would be mostly the case when a tropical shower is coming over but it would cause the high ships, such as the cruise ships and the container ships to drift, and there is no room for that yet. So one way traffic and we are in a convoy.

It was of course my luck that the last in the opposing convoy was a slow boat and thus we had to sail through Gatun Lake with the dynamic speed of three knots. THREE KNOTS for a cruise ship; it felt as if I was in command of a rowing boat. That meant that we would not be out any earlier than 5 pm. So any hope of saving some fuel by being able to sail slower on the other side was gone. Still every cloud has a silver lining and in this case it was a tropical downpour. Because we were going so slowly we got it while passing under the Centennial Bridge and not while we were in the locks. Inconvenience was kept to a minimum for our guests. As mentioned yesterday, I do not have a crystal bowl and those of the weather guru’s can now be smashed as their forecast was completely off.

Artist impression of the new locks. Much different than the old ones. Water is collected in side basins to reduce usage, the doors are retractable and there are no locomotives. The idea is to do it all on the thrusters and/or to hold position  with tugboats. It will be interesting to see when they want to send ships through that have the panamax size for these locks. That is bound to happen sometime in the future.  Then it will be difficult to hold control with tugboats as there will be no room left.  Maybe we will see locomotives appearing then.

The pilots think so…. 

Photo courtesy: Mr. Google.

 It made it a bit harder to see the new lock construction going on because when the rain lifted there was still a lot of moist air out there reducing visibility. The pilot brought the startling news that the construction as of now is about 5 months behind schedule; from a previous 5 months ahead of schedule. The dredging (mainly a Dutch/Flemish affair) had been progressing so fast that all the work was 5 months ahead of time. Then came the moment of poring the first concrete and when tests were taken it was concluded that the wrong mix was used. So everything had to be dug out and the whole process had to be started anew. I am happy to announce that it was not Dutch concrete. Maybe it should have been and then there may have not been a delay. Unless a miracle happens, the opening of the new locks has now been set back to probably early 2015.

By 17.00 hrs. we were indeed out of the Canal and set course towards our next point of interest Golfo Dulce. Again no rain is expected and that might be true as it is supposed to be a wind still day and that means that there will be very little turbulence in the air during the day.

The rain should remain mostly above land. We will be back in Panama in autumn but for the time being: ALASKA HERE WE COME.

A bit of creativity by our Hotelmanager Bert van Mackelenbergh.