13 February 2019; Panama Canal and Colon.

The Zuiderdam has been sailing on this service for quite a while and hence the Captain and his team have become experts in dipping into the Panama Canal and out again.  So today was pure routine, although it was a hot routine. Although it was somewhat cloudy at times, the sun burned down upon us all day and there was not much wind to help cool things down a little bit. That was a pity; but on the other hand it is also good as a cool breeze gives the impression that it is not so warm and then the next morning you find out that it was very warm and sunny when you start to imitate a well-cooked lobster.

Believe me, much closer it not an option. It was still a bit overcast at sun rise but it was not before long that the sun burned it all away,

We do what we can to help with the battle against the glaring sun and we put tents on the forward mooring deck, where most guests want to be, to see the ship being pulled into the locks with the locomotives. The Zuiderdam is a Panamax ship which means it has the maximum hull seize that fits into the old locks.  And because we fit in the old locks, we do not go into the new locks as that would be wasting fresh water. Thus only the very big boys are assigned to the new locks and hence the old locks are (still) much busier than the new locks. Many a cruise company has already asked if things could not be combined and do both  size locks but the Panama Canal Authority is concerned about the fresh water consumption and thus the new locks are only used when needed and not for cruise fun.

At the anchorage. The tenders shuttle the short distance to the shore and with two landing spaces we can get a 1000 people ashore in an hour. The guests then walk under a covered walk way up to the coaches for their tour.

It was a bit of a quiet day in the Canal and thus we were early, which is good. Normally the Zuiderdam arrives at the anchorage inside Gatun Lake at 09.00 hrs. but now we were already in tender operation by that time. Thus we finished early as well and then this afternoon we ended up in Colon by 15.00 hrs.  The captain is normally already a happy camper if the ship is alongside by 16.00 hrs. but there are cruises that it goes past 17.00 hrs. or even later. Then the guests coming back from the overland tour have to wait until the ship has come in and the gangway is out.  And there is nothing worse than 800+ hungry guests who are afraid to miss their dinner. When coming back they still have to go through ships security and scanning and that does not do anything either to stop the moaning and the groaning. But this time there will be no problem as the guests can roll straight off the coach back on board. Although the terminal here in Colon has some shops and restaurants it is not big enough to make 800+ guests happy while waiting. Hence the Captain tries his best to get there as early as possible but it is all decided by the dispatcher and the lock master who decide the locking sequence. Luckily today we were very early.

This is a stock photo from the internet. Colon has two cruise ship terminals and as the port is getting more and more ships in, they are now building more port facilities to right which is still brown wasteland in the photo

When we are in the Gatun Lake we drop anchor as close as possible to the shore side tender pontoon to shuttle the tour guests ashore as quickly as possible. It is only a run of 1500 feet between gangway and shore. So the ship is brought as close as is allowed, the anchor goes down and then the Azipods and thrusters keep the ship on location as close near the shore there is no room to swing around. There was even less room today as the Island Princess parked itself next to us two hours later. She had also sailed two hours later from Cartagena.  We could also have stayed purely on the engines, with the anchor housed, but then the Panama Canal pilots have to stay on board as the ship is – technically spoken – sailing in the Lake, even if it does not move.  So we drop the hook and the pilots go home happily, to be replaced later on by new ones for the reverse part out of the Canal again.

This is a very early day for the guests as the ship is at the pilot station at 05.00 and the Panama Canal narrator started making noise at 05.30. It is still dark then but the lighting of the Canal is so good that the narrator can still point everything out that there is to see and to explain about the workings of the Canal.  And because we were early the guests saw the inbound part of the journey through the locks before it was getting really warm

So today was a good day, although it was a very warm day, after the sun had established itself firmly above the horizon.

Tomorrow we are in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. The challenge with this port is the swell, which can run straight into the harbor and build up to quite a high amplitude. It is not uncommon for cruise ships to cancel as they simply cannot stay alongside.  For the tomorrow is looks quite good, the predicted swell outside is only 6 feet and the angle is not pointing directly into the bay around which the port is located. But that is a prediction so we will see what we get when we get there. What will be certain is that we will have another tropical day. Partly cloudy with temperatures of 28oC & 8oF and 72% humidity.