04 March 2017; Panama Canal.

It was not one of the best Panama Canal days in my life but it all worked out. Occasional rain, which it has to be otherwise The Canal Zone does not get its 200 inches of rain a year which it needs to operate the Canal; and very windy.  However the wind was from the North and the First set of locks are almost north south as well. Only 8 degrees away from the true North. Thus the wind was only pushing or slowing the ship down, it was not causing much drift which otherwise would have hampered the lining up for the lock entrances.

The ms Zuiderdam drifting in the anchorage area just outside the Traffic Lane to the Gatun Locks.

This is a Panama Canal visit with a twist. You see the canal, by going through the first set of locks and then you have the option to take the local tours and catch the ship again in the evening. If you do not take a tour then you can see the ship sailing out of the lake again, back to open sea, and then sail to the dock at Manzanillo to collect the tour.

The tender dock we use to disembark the guests. Designed by a pilot and thus a delight to use by us. Safe mooring and safe loading and unloading. It floats as the level of the lake goes up and down with the rain fall.

This morning the whole happening started at 05.30 with the arrival at the pilot station. Then there is the clearing of the ship and then line up in the convoy. Although we are not going all the way through, the Panama Canal Authority still has to make sure that the locks are used efficiently and will lose as little water as possible. With the new locks in operation and thus more traffic, more water is used and focus on efficiency is now even more important than it was before.  But by 09.00 we had made it through, had left the locks behind and the ship parked itself between the two lock sections in the anchorage area of Gatun Lake. All the tenders were lowered as we had to shuttle 1120 guests ashore, out of the 1970 on board, Thus it took two good hours before all the tours were on the way and the tenders had been retrieved. Then the ship was ready to turn around and go back.

This is the moment where everything goes out of the captains hands, as the ship can only go back if there is a gap in the convoy or no opposing traffic so the other side of the lock system can be used. Sometimes the ship has to wait one or two hours and then it docks just on time to collect the returning tour people again. Today we were lucky, there was a gap in the traffic and the ms Zuiderdam could slot in without having to wait. Good news as it gave the guests who remained on board the un-expected bonus of being able to go ashore and noise around in Colon 2000.

The bridge is going to be pretty high so even the tallest ships will fit under the bridge span.

Sailing back, means going down the locks back to sea level, I personally find that more impressive than going up because it is easier to comprehend a downwards depth, than an upwards lift in measurement. Also there was now something new to see. They are building a bridge on the Atlantic side. First there was only the Bridge of the Americas near Panama City. Then they built the Centennial Bridge near the Continental divide (Culebra Cut) and while that was very nice, the Caribbean or Atlantic side could only cross over the bridge built into the Gatun locks or had use the ferries closer to Colon. Both created long waiting times if there was a lot of shipping traffic in and out of the locks. But now there is a new bridge being constructed which should be finished late 2017 or early 2018. I suppose it will depend on the amount of rain for how fast they can work.

Colon 2000. I suppose the locals go here was well, but it seems to be focused on the cruise ships that stop here in ever increasing numbers.

Normally our ships docked at Cristobal but this season the ships have started using Colon 2000 full time, which is tucked away in the corner of the Manzanillo container port. To get there you have to sail out of the Panama Canal, make a sharp 180o turn in open sea, and then enter the port of Manzanillo. There they have two berths, dock 1, today in use by the Monarch of Pullmantur and Colon 2000 which is a sort of little terminal village with shops eateries and a Casino.  We were docked by 15.00 hrs. which is a record so far and thus a bonus for the guests.

Tonight we will sail around 1900 hrs. and head for Puerto Limon in Costa Rica.  Weather is expected to be the same; windy and a with certain chance of rain.