Passing through Panama

Day 6

Today is the big day. We're passing through the Panama Canal. We didn't think ours was the best room when the ship was bouncing on 12-foot seas a couple of days ago as we traveled across the Caribbean Sea from Key West to Cartagena, Columbia, but today as we journey through the Panama Canal, we are thrilled to have this great and comfortable front row seat at the bow. We would pick a room on the bow again.

The horn is sounding! We just passed through the Gatun Locks into Gatun Lake. In total there are three sets of locks as we move from the Caribbean/Atlantic side to the Pacific side of Panama. The passage that will take us through those locks and various artificial lakes and channels will consume a large part of the day. We leave the Mila Flores Locks, the last in the sequence at 4:10 PM today.

Harry saw a couple of crocodiles sitting on the shore. Margaret heard the ship announcement about the crocodiles but was in a hallway with no windows at the time.

It's very sunny, very scenic, hot (+27) and very humid right now. We've been going from our deck into the room to cool off occasionally.

You can see what we see from our stateroom by looking at the bridge cam of the ship. We've put a link on this blog.

Cartagena
Yesterday, we visited Cartagena with a small group of eight people. Our guide and driver were the best. We visited the old and new city as well as the walled fortresses (largest in South America) that were used to guard the city against pirates and privateers who constantly threatened to cause damage and steal the gold, silver and jewels that came from South and Central America to await transport to Spain. Sir Francis Drake, the English privateer ravaged the city several times. When we get our photos posted, you'll see the mixture of beauty and scruffiness, wealth and poverty that is so often typical of large cities.

The bells are sounding indicating that we're ready to move onto Gatun Lake. A large container ship called The New Jersey (owned by the Yang Ming company) is just ahead of the Regatta. Now we'll sail across the lake to the next lock at Pedro Miguel which we'll be in at about 2:40PM.

Food
The food is truly outstanding. It's not just that there is food available at any time, it's that is flavourful, nutritious, and beautifully arranged, truly gourmet. We've been told by other passengers (many of whom have cruised multiple times) that the food on the Oceania ships is outstanding. We're going for a cappuccino in a bit to see the Panama vendor display on the pool deck.

Company
We had breakfast with Pat and Mike from Victoria this morning as we sailed into the first of the locks. Pat and Mike are amongst more than 100 other Canadians on board. Yesterday, we missed the Canadian get-together because we went to Happy Hour and met two other couples who entertained us with their stories. Being polite and slightly under the influence of two alcohol drinks, we stayed with them and missed the Canadian event. C'est la vie.

Books
Harry is on his third book, Margaret her second. We started to borrow from the ship's wonderful library, leaving our books for home reading.

Hope everyone is well.