Cruising the Panama Canal

To prepare for cruising through the Panama Canal, I have been reading The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough.

Even though I knew the basic story of the building of this great structure, I never realized what it really took to do it. McCullough makes the story of this epic human endeavor come alive!

Just experiencing a part of it through Lake Limon on the Atlantic side isn’t enough. You have to do it all—like go through the Culebra Cut (known as “The Ditch”), the nine mile stretch which was the main engineering challenge of the 40 years of construction effort by the French and the Americans. And, there is so much more. If you are really interested, read McCullough or watch the PBS video by clicking on the arrow on the photo below.

Some little known financial facts: it cost Holland America $35,000 just to make a RESERVATION to go through the canal today. The toll for the today’s 50 mile transit for our ship is $250,000. The lowest toll ever charged was 36 cents, paid by Richard Halliburton when he swam through the canal in 1928.

Here are the highlights of my cruise through the Panama Canal.

We started just as the sun was rising.

We passed by this building which looks like a pile of junk, but it is the new Bridge of Life Museum designed by Frank Gehry who also designed the Bilboa Art Museum. It is operated in partnership with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

We pass under the Bridge of Americas which is the highway that connects Panama with Central America.

We soon see the construction of the Canal Expansion which will double the PC’s capacity to handle the increasing demand for world-wide trade and larger ships.

A close-up of the cement work on the locks look very similar to the way the old ones were constructed.

^{We soon arrive at the Miraflores locks. These are double locks, so you go through two chambers to lift the ship 54 feet. Container ship in the left lane is a high point in first chamber.}

^{These gates on the Pacific are the heaviest and largest to accommodate the higher Pacific tides. Each gate weighs 745 tons and is 82 feet high.}

^{Here is what they looked like when under construction. They are hollow so they can float.}

^{Workers are putting the plates on.   The size of the men compared to the gates give you some perspective of their size.}

^{The process of going through the locks is interesting. Men in row boats attach cables from the “mules” to the ship. The mules are named for “old Sal" of Erie Canal fame.}

^{The mules run along a cog-wheel track next to the ship. They don’t drag the ship; they just keep it aligned as it goes through the chambers.}

^{About a mile after the Miraflores Locks is the Pedro Miguel lock. It is a single lock which raises the ship another 31 feet. Soon afterward, you pass under the Centennial Bridge which part of the Highway from Alaska.}

^{Around that curve in the canal is the famous Calebra Cut.}

<sup>It doesn’t look too spectacular until you realize that this passage was a “ditch” cut through the Continental Divide…solid rock, millions of tons of the stuff had to be blasted and cut away. It is said that the amount of stuff excavated would be equivalent to a 12 foot square hole cut through the center of the earth.

Compounding the problem was mud slides. Even though they terraced the cut, the tropical downpours would cause the mud to fill-up the work they had done and derail trains they were using to carry the debris away. Here’s a photo of one such event:</sup>

<sup>The Canal continues into Gatun Lake which is the largest man-made lake in the world. The Chagris River had been dammed to fill its valley to the planned 85 feet. It covers an area the size of Barbados and was built so the ships could go from the Pedro Miguel Lock to the Gatun locks where they are then lowered back to sea level on the Atlantic.

It takes eight hours to cross the Canal.  It was a wonderful way to end 2012.</sup>

Learning at Sea

The distance from San Diego to the Panama Canal is 3,440 miles. And from Panama City through the canal to Ft. Lauderdale is about 1,150 miles. The main attraction, of course, is cruising through the Panama Canal.

As you can see from the itinerary below, there are relatively few ports of call which means there are several days at sea.

 

I love being at sea. It is so relaxing just to sit and look at ocean at sunrise, or mid-day, or sunset.

 

 

 



I saw a golden, full moon rise a couple of nights ago. I do some sea-watching, deck sitting every day. Sometimes I also catch a nap; sometimes I read. There really is something about the sea air…

I also learn a lot when we are sailing. So far, I have attended all of the lectures by our travel guide, the anthropologist about the textiles and jade, and the shopping guide (who is from Orlando interestingly enough). The information they have provided has been very helpful.

I have also attended some of the digital workshops that are provided every day.

I didn’t think I would need them, but I was curious to see how “Techspert” John presented the information. 

Even though I think I know a lot about photo editing, I sat in on his workshop explaining how to do it using the Windows Live Gallery. I had never used this program since I employ Picasa for viewing, organizing, and editing my photos.

I learned a lot in his one hour presentation. Windows Live Gallery is very powerful and is free and is part of the package Windows Live Essentials 2011. I had downloaded this package before this cruise in order to use Windows Live Writer to prepare this blog off-line as I explained in an earlier post. There are some features in Gallery (which is also on my Android phone) that are not on Picasa, so I now have more options to work with.

John is a great presenter, and I have attended several of his workshops.

 



Antigua, Guatemala--Puerta Quetzal

Puerto Quetzal is the jumping off place for the city of Antigua, Maya ruins at Tikal and Yaxha, as well as scenic tours of coffee and banana plantations.

I chose to go to Antigua, the main icon of the Spanish Colonial heritage in this country. Founded in 1552, it served as the Capital of Guatemala for over 200 years before being destroyed by a series of earthquakes. Three volcanoes can be seen from the city square and are featured on the Seal of the City.

 

Antigua is famous for its unique Spanish Mudejar-influenced architecture that has made it a protected UNESCO World Heritage site. For example, the Cathedral of Santiago was built in 1542.

 

Many buildings that once were monasteries and convents are now used for different purposes. For example, the old University of San Carlos, founded in 1672, was first a monastery but is now a museum.

 

 

When you walk down the walled- off streets that lead to the central square, you think they are deserted.

 

 

But, if you peek inside open doors or through windows barred with wrought iron, you will discover beautiful art galleries, shops and even an internet café.

 

 

 

 



Along the streets are many vendors trying to sell you flutes and little drums, or textiles with the well known Guatemalan tribal patterns, or just some fruit, or who knows what this woman is selling.

 

 

I had attended two lectures on-board about the jade of Guatemala and learned that the geologist who rediscovered Guatemalan jade (it’s an interesting story) operates a museum and shop in Antigua. So I went to hear Mary Lou Ridinger’s story and the story of jade.

 

 

After returning home, I found this CNN interview of her.

 

 

 

Here’s a photo of her and her husband which was featured in the National Geographic (September, 1987). Her jade factory and shop has earned her mucho dinero over the past 30 years.

 



 

I saw this craftsmen cutting the jade at her factory.

 

 



I succumbed and bought a lovely ring.

Textiles hand embroidered by the various Mayan tribes (over 30 still with their own languages in Guatemala) are still being made, though it is becoming a lost art and replaced with machine embroidery. 

 

An American textile expert gave a lecture on this art/craft on board and said you could still find some of these hand-embroidered garments in Antigua (not the stuff the street vendors were hawking).

This woman is wearing a ceremonial dress (probably for a wedding) which is beautifully decorated.



Puerto Chiapas

Even before we got off the ship, I could hear a marimba band playing.  This port is near  the Guatemala border where the marimba is the national instrument.

The port facility offers a terminal with shops which are in this huge palupa.

The small port and near-by town offered little of interest to me.  I did go see what was inside the terminal, but went back to the ship and stayed on-board to get caught up with this blog.

Bahias de Hautulco

Santa Cruz is a beautiful little port town with beaches and marinas right at the pier where cruise ships land.

In fact, the beach is so close that many passengers decide not to take any of the shore excursions and just loll on this beach, get something to eat, or just drink underneath the shade of the palupas.

There are nine distinct bays (bahias)—collectively called Bahias de Hautulco (‘wa tul ko) that stretch along a 22 mile pristine coastline and boast of having no less than 36 beaches. Only half of them are developed.

Just north of Huatulco is Acapulco which has drawn international visitors for decades. So Mexican vacationers slipped away to Hautulco to get away from these crowds and relax on these secluded beaches and enjoy the fresh seafood. But the Mexican government found out about it and started to develop the area hoping to attract visitors while maintaining the area’s delicate ecological balances.

Most of this Oaxaca coast is protected which is why it is called the Western Hemisphere’s first eco-tourism resort.

Tangolunda Bay is the most “developed” with lavish resorts, including the largest Club Med in the Western Hemisphere.

However, since the financial bust of 2008, many planned condos, shopping areas, have come to a halt because the stream of tourists has slowed. Our guide told us that only 39 ships have stopped this year, while in the past around 140 did.

The buildings on the left are examples of half-built condos.

Construction on the wide dirt road (shown in the background to the right of the ship leads to the town of Las Crucecitas) was planned to be a shopping approach to and from the port, with shops and restaurants lining the two mile stretch, hoping to be the 5th Avenue of Huatulco.

Work has stopped.

Even though Las Crucecitas is the town where most of the people who work around the port in Santa Cruz live, it is becoming touristy, too. Our guide took us to see a demonstration of how the rugs (well-known from this area) are woven.

Other shops are filled with souvenir items like these colorful wooden animals called alebrijes. LIke the rugs, these are a regional specialty as is silver.

The Las Crucecitas town square is surrounded by many of these little shops and restaurants, as well as a church.

 

 

After our tour of the town, we were taken to have a snack of tamales, quesadillas, black beans, guacamole, and beer. The restaurant is family owned and is run by Clara who is in her 80’s. The food was que rico!

 

 

Our bus took us back to Santa Cruz to roam the town before going back to the ship. I walked along the marina:

This bright pink chapel is right on the beach and can be seen as you enter the port. 

 
It is an open air building which provides respite in several ways in this hot and humid climate.

Even though it is winter here, the temperature was in the high 80’s and the humidity in the 90’s. It felt like Florida in the summer.

This was a nice visit to a very beautiful little place.

Santa Cruise

After a long ride from the North Pole, Santa arrived at our ship on the top deck. He climbed down the ladders through the fog.

We had been awaiting his arrival in the theater. The children on board were so excited as they sang Christmas songs and the adults drank eggnog. Finally, Santa made his grand entrance.

 

Each child was able to say hello to him and receive a special Christmas gift.

 





Which was an inflatable ms Statendam.

 

 

 



I think this is a great way for families to spend Christmas. Everyone really enjoyed this and all of the other special things the crew has prepared for us to celebrate these holidays. At least, I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far. The music, the religious services, the food, the decorations have been great, and I didn’t have to do anything but show up.

 

 

Hope you had a wonderful day, too.