We loved some of the freighter's names.
Ralph did an excellent job of driving the boat - both in the locks (our advisor complimented him on his skill when we were tying up each time) and between the Pacific and Atlantic locks.
You may not be able to read the name of this freighter, but it is Seattle! The water in Culebra Cut looked muddy. This reminded us of the stories of all the landslides that occurred while the Canal was being constructed and that continue today.
Usually, it just takes one day to transit the Canal when going from the Pacific to the Atlantic. However, due to decreased traffic on that route, ACP started the boats coming in from the Atlantic so early on our transit day that we had to spend the night on Lake Gatun at this buoy. We subsequently found out that this has happened to about one-half of the boats that recently transited. Cacique anchored nearby. They asked if we had a deck of cards (they had not planned on a two day passage!) which we did and which we were happy to give them. Fortunately, we had enough food for all those extra meals. We also got to know Junior and Alphonso better - thank goodness they were so pleasant. In addition to getting to know about their lives, we discussed their views on the upcoming election, on all the high rise apartment buildings in downtown Panama City, and on the economic downturn. It rained so we all slept below decks on the boat which got pretty stuffy! We were at the buoy about 24 hours due to this re-scheduling.
Francisco went home for the night, however. The ACP boats deliver the advisors and picks them up at the end of their shifts. We would see Francisco the next day when he was assigned the Cacique! The guys on Cacique offered us the deck of cards back and we told them to keep them. We also gave them each a Snicker's bar which produced very happy smiles all around! On 4/30, our new advisor was delivered to our boat about 3 p.m., we were tied up with Cacique at the first lock by 4 p.m. and through all three locks at 5 p.m.
We loved some of the freighter's names.
Ralph did an excellent job of driving the boat - both in the locks (our advisor complimented him on his skill when we were tying up each time) and between the Pacific and Atlantic locks.
You may not be able to read the name of this freighter, but it is Seattle! The water in Culebra Cut looked muddy. This reminded us of the stories of all the landslides that occurred while the Canal was being constructed and that continue today.
Usually, it just takes one day to transit the Canal when going from the Pacific to the Atlantic. However, due to decreased traffic on that route, ACP started the boats coming in from the Atlantic so early on our transit day that we had to spend the night on Lake Gatun at this buoy. We subsequently found out that this has happened to about one-half of the boats that recently transited. Cacique anchored nearby. They asked if we had a deck of cards (they had not planned on a two day passage!) which we did and which we were happy to give them. Fortunately, we had enough food for all those extra meals. We also got to know Junior and Alphonso better - thank goodness they were so pleasant. In addition to getting to know about their lives, we discussed their views on the upcoming election, on all the high rise apartment buildings in downtown Panama City, and on the economic downturn. It rained so we all slept below decks on the boat which got pretty stuffy! We were at the buoy about 24 hours due to this re-scheduling.
Francisco went home for the night, however. The ACP boats deliver the advisors and picks them up at the end of their shifts. We would see Francisco the next day when he was assigned the Cacique! The guys on Cacique offered us the deck of cards back and we told them to keep them. We also gave them each a Snicker's bar which produced very happy smiles all around! On 4/30, our new advisor was delivered to our boat about 3 p.m., we were tied up with Cacique at the first lock by 4 p.m. and through all three locks at 5 p.m.
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