It got quite windy by the time we started passing Nicaragua and for a while we had a good wind force 5 to 6 blowing from the landside. By 11 am we came into the lee of Costa Rican mountains and nearly wind still weather came back to the ship. With it was the return of the black starlings and the brown boobies; who started to drift on the upstream of the wind around the bow. We were doing 19 knots and that was too much for them to try and find a place to sit on the railing but they might try tomorrow when we most likely will slow down a bit, depending on whether we get the current much against us or not. As mentioned before, when we were sailing along the Mexican coast, the current is not behaving according the established patterns at the moment and thus I am building up some time and mileage “on the sleeve” to ensure that we will be on time. If the adverse current does not show itself, then we can always stop an engine and adjust speed accordingly.
I am at the moment aiming for a pilot time of 16.45 near the Balboa anchorage of the Panama Canal to pick up the port pilot for Fuerte Amador. If that goes as scheduled, then I will be at the anchorage around 17.15 and have my tenders down by 17.30 and start the operation ahead of time. As it is a short call, it is always better to be a bit early, as Mr. Murphy likes to be involved in tender operations and is very creative in letting things go wrong, if we try to start at the last minute. Our official time is 18.00 hrs and with a 30 minute head start we can iron out any “kinks” he might come up with.
This morning we came across the first ships who were either on the same course as we are or on opposing courses, meaning that we are coming into the flow of the Panama Canal traffic. In the area under Nicaragua the ships are still far apart, but by tonight when we will sail under the coast of Panama they will be on the same track line. Most of the ships that we will see are the regular cargo ships. Now the twice- yearly migration of the cruise ships to and from Alaska is finished, the chance of seeing another one will be quite small, as there are not that many ships doing full transcanal cruises. When we are at the other side we might meet them again, in Cartagena or Oranjestad if we catch up with their Caribbean schedule. It is more or less the same for meeting cruise ships in the Panama Canal.
There are ships, like our Zuiderdam, who go into Gatun Lake for a call and then out again but there is not much cruise ship traffic to look at. For those of you who would like to look at the webcam, while we are going through: I can post the schedule as we got it early, but it is subject to extremely much change.
http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/webcams-works.html
It will be 5 hours later in England. Same time in New York, and 3 hours earlier in San Diego.
MIRAFLORES LOCKS ( East Lane) Arriving 0815 hrs Departing 0915 hrs
PEDRO MIGUEL LOCKS ( East Lane) Arriving 1005 hrs Departing 1045 hrs
GAMBOA Passing by 1145 hrs
GATUN LOCKS ( East Lane) Arriving 1345hrs Departing 1605hrs
November 5, 2012 at 4:26 pm
Thanks for the heads up regarding your canal lock times. I just watched the Statendam go through the Miraflores Locks on the web cam. I was interested to see that the mules on the centre section (between the East and West lanes) appear to hold their lines longer than those on the outside, does this assist you in clearing the lock?
November 5, 2012 at 11:40 pm
No,
They are normally equal, but when making fast, they have to align themselves and that can take a little bit of time. It is improtant though that they are balanced out on either side of the ship by the time they go up or down the slope to the next chamber.
Best regards
Capt. Albert