05 December 2011; Panama Canal, Panama.

You have days where everything goes perfect and you have days where everything seems to conspire against you. This was one of those days. Not that it really affected the guests for their Canal experience but a few things occurred that made the shipboard operation run less smoothly than I like it, and nothing I could do about it. We were scheduled to receive the pilot on board at 0545 with the first locks at 0800. I prefer that to be a bit earlier as I need my time on the other side but I can only ask. The Pilot came on board nice and timely and then told us that 17Z; the ship scheduled in the convoy ahead of us was still at anchor, as far south as possible, with 8 lengths of anchor chain out. (4 is normal at this anchorage) On my question, why anchored so far out and in that way, we found out that the Chinese captain was so scared of the other ships that he did not want to come closer, was afraid of the weather that he put 8 lengths down (best weather in the world today) and on top of that refused to heave up the anchor without the pilot on board. On my request to go first, the pilot did not wanted to push Control in swapping pennants (e.g. go as 17 instead of being nbr 19) and thus we had to wait 40 minutes until 17Z came chugging by with a speed of 10 knots. That brought us in the locks around 0830, so I lost already 30 minutes on a late schedule.

By the time that we were in the 2nd locks we were next to this bulk carrier and we were hoping that we could overtake. Although we were finished leveling out first and our pilot was pushing, the lockmaster refused to open the gates because the pilot of the bulk carrier did not confirm that he agreed with it. So our pilot was not a happy camper to start with and then the Panama Canal crew refused to make fast the tug aft. When we go through the Continental Divide, the Culebra Cut, we have a tugboat as escort; just in case there is a machine failure or something. Depending on what the pilot favors, the tugboat is made fast to the ship or is not. It is a personal preference. This time he wanted it but the aft crew did not do it and just walked away. So pilot phoned & complained to the Supervisor ashore, Supervisor phoned & read the riot act to Panama Canal Bo’sun. Bo’sun gets upset with his Panama Canal crew. Crew back on board from the boat. Back to the stern to make fast the tugboat and back off the ship again. Quite funny to follow and as our bulk carrier friend was going slow anyway, I was not losing any time in this case. In the mean time this was hotly discussed by the 3 pilots on board, in what sounded very dirty Spanish. Who says I have a boring job??

That slow bulk carrier meant that we had to go with 10 knots all the way through the lake as it was the fastest our friend could do. So that cost me another 20 minutes, while the locks at Gatun were available for us all that time. In the meantime the guests enjoyed typical canal weather. Nice and dry for the locks, then a downpour while going through the lake and then dry but overcast in the final locks. We had the lady narrator on board who is the best of all four narrators the canal has, so I am trying to get her on board each time but it is not something I can control, only request. In the last locks we were overtaking the bulk carrier again due to our leveling out speed and now we managed to get ahead. The bulk carrier is deep draft and thus it takes a lot of time for the final water to fill or leave the lock chamber as that “bulk” is obstructing the flow. That is called leveling out. The time needed before the flow from the water exchange has completely stopped. Same for the ship itself. It has to push the water in front of it away and it has nowhere to go as the bulk of the ship takes up most of the space available. So while we can take off like an arrow out of the locks, a deep drafted ship really has to push hard. The pilot confirmed that we could go ahead.

The traffic bridge coming out again on the north locks of the Gatun locks. Normally you can not see it from the ship as the lock doors obscure the view.

Just when we were starting to move, the lockmaster stopped all traffic for an emergency. An ambulance had to pass and for that the bridge behind the lock doors had to be put back in place. Stop the ship, wait for the bridge to swing out, ambulance to pass (paramedic in a pickup truck), bridge to swing in again and then we moved again. Again necessity but again a delay. With all that excitement we passed Cristobel breakwater at 16.30 and had to crank up to full sea speed. Not only because of the distance to cover but also because we were expecting a lot of wind against us. The North Easterly wind enhances the current that flows down along the cost north of Cartagena and then we have that against us for most of the night as well. Reason already while we do not arrive in Cartagena before 0900 hrs officially anyway.

The weather tomorrow is supposed to be windy until arrival and then it should die down. That should ensure a sunny day, with maybe a shower in the late evening.

So 14 hrs of continious excitment today. It is time for a strong diet coke………………