Wednesday, April 20: Panama Canal Transit

By the time I got up to deck 9 (topside) at about 5:30 AM, the rail positions at the bow of the ship were already claimed by those more eager to see the Panama Canal than they have been to see the sunrise. I elbowed into a comfortable spot where I counted more than two dozen ships in the morning twilight - can there be twilight in the morning?- seeming to wait, all pointed in the same direction, toward what we all presumed was an opening on the horizon to the Panama Canal. Panama City, just coming to life, twinkled off to the right, like some ghost city rising up out of the sea. By 6:30 the sun was up, the pilot boat had transferred our pilot for the canal and we progressed immediately behind a huge container ship toward the Miraflores Locks at the Pacific end of the canal. From running commentary on deck, I learned that rates for travel thorugh the canal are determined by gross tonnage and the value of the cargo. Our charge was about $150,000. I guess human cargo is more valuable that TV sets or refrigerators. As we passed through the first locks we were photographed by a web cam on the administration building. Bill called his office in Baltimore and told his staff how to find us, live, on the internet. I waved my white baseball cap madly so they could identify us. Isn't technology grand? (According to Stephen King, a worm inserted into a cellular telephone transmission program will turn all those who answer their phone into slaves. Sometimes I think we already are.)

The process of raising our ship 80 feet up to the level of the lake that forms most of the Panama Canal transit was very interesting. Moving into a narrow bin, locks closing us in and water rising to lift the ship, procedures in reverse when, later in the day, we were gently lowered into the Caribbean. The cargo ship, called a Pan-Max, for it is the widest a ship can be to squeeze into the locks, with literally only inches of clearance, preceeded us alongside, and our friendly sister cruise ship, The Europa, followed behind. I later leared that many of the ships that seemed to be waiting were really anchored here in Panama, waiting for cargo (for there is a huge cargo port at each end of the canal and a railroad that runs between them.)

We settled on Deck 8 by the pool in a spot I've found to be the coolest on deck, a funnel-like space where the wind blows across the pool andinto the shuffleboard court. Bill introduced himself to last night's entertainer, Aaron Shaw, to ask him if he knew Rachael, Bill's niece, a professional in opera. And he did, saying, "So you're Rachel Gilmore's uncle!" Bill realizes to his chagrin that now, with Rachael's success, he may be forever known as "Rachael Gilmore's uncle."

It's now even hotter than it has been and by early afternoon, I had to escape nside. Susan, of the Bridge instructor team, had urged me to join her accolytes for a hand or two but I preferred to lie down in my suite and cool off. I can't imagine actually living in this climate! I lost the Silver Quiz to Bonnie, the needlepoint guest - today was all cryptograms and Bill and Ted and I struggled for hours without getting the answer to No. 12, which was "circles beneath the eyes" - but I beat her at Bingo. Collectively, our little group of three now has 145 points but we're aiming for a total of 200 so each of us can have a Silver Sea baseball cap.

Before we met in the bar at our usual time (7:15) where Myra now automatically prepares a Grey Goose martini straight up, a Cosmo and a margarita, I went to the late afternoon opera lecture, this time on Puccini who wrote, the lecturer contends, the last of the popular, lyrical operas as entertainement, after which serious vocal music gave way to the hardness of Stravinsky and Benjamin Britton. Scottish, with a distinct burr in his delivery, the lecturer is both informative and very funny, punctuating his remarks with video clips of famous arias, one of which still unfortunatly continues to run in my head.

After wading our was through the heavy dinner - we've all gained weight, which at least I can ill-afford - we enjoyed the rather informal evening show where the singers, including Judie (who, yes, was on the QE2 when Dennis and I returned from Europe on the ship in 1983) belted out popular melodies from Cole Porter that now compete in my head with Puccini. At the beginning of the show, Judie, whom the ship troupe all call "Mum," announced a new engagement they were all celebrating, between Todd and and his partner, Matthew. As Todd, who calls our Bingo games would say, "How lovely. Well done!"

And yes; in response to a comment below, we did exit the Panama Canal, repeating the procedure followed at the beginning; a series of two locks, lowering us down gently to the Caribbean. More on this later.

As I said earlier, when I return home, I will edit all these entries for errors in spelling and grammar and add photographs in an effort to make this blog more complete and interesting. In the intermin, have patience with me and

Stay tuned