Mike and I figured that Carole and Joann would be back before we left on our trip. It wasn't to work out that way at all. After the first group of passengers disembarked via tender, the captain started moving the ship toward the dock. But we never made it. The swells were simply too strong and the ship could not be brought in. The captain announced that we were going back to the anchoring spot so that passengers could be brought to shore via tender. When we reached that spot, it was soon obvious that the swells were so severe that the tendering operation would have to be stopped. By this time, the Captain had announced that because of the severe swells, the tendering was cancelled and all of the later shore excursions were cancelled. I suddenly realized that while Mike and I were aboard, Carole and Joann were still ashore. How were they to get back on?

Having somehow lost my brother aboard the ship (he had gone to see a movie while waiting), I suddenly found myself quite alone and annoyed. The crew was too busy to give me a decent answer as to how the people on shore would get back (barring an unlikely reduction in the wind and swells). A little after the time for the return of Carole and Joann's group, while standing on the outdoor deck, I saw the tender returning and managed to see Carole who waved to me from the small boat. But when the tender pulled up to the boarding area on Deck 1, it was painfully obvious that the crew was unable to get the tender close enough or steady enough for disembarkation from the tender, although two people did manage to get off initially (this situation was clearly dangerous and the one woman who got off asked me semi-kiddingly "Is this the Titanic?") The tender went back out, and I was getting even more nervous. After what seemed a relatively long period of time worrying about this situation, the Captain finally announced that the ship would move in closer to shore where the swells would not be as pronounced. It worked. The tender pulled up again and Carole and Joann and 300 other passengers were soon back on the ship. What relief!
On the upper decks of the ship while at anchor in Caldera, Costa Rica.

Interestingly, I soon discovered that those who went ashore had no idea that there was a serious problem other than the delay in getting off the tender. Some of the other people who sat at our dinner table got off easily, went on a five hour shopping tour, and returned to the ship with little or no awareness of a problem. The other 1500 passengers, however, suffered the initial disappointment of not being able to go ashore. We were not to actually get off the ship until Saturday, March 28, 1998, a week into the cruise.

Wednesday, March 25, was another day of sailing at sea towards the Panama Canal. This was the event I had been waiting for and I couldn't wait to see how it would go. It was going to be interesting to see how crowded the upper decks would be and how much we would actually see.

The Panama Canal

On the morning of Thursday, March 26, we arose early and went up to the Deck 10 forward area, that portion of the ship with the best outdoor view of the arrival at the Canal. When I got there relatively early, the deck was already lined with people, some having been up there since 5 a.m. We had been told that we would be passing Panama City to the right of the ship, go under the Bridge of the Americas, and then enter the Miraflores Locks and begin to transit the Canal. The first sighting of Panama City was rather spectacular. It was looming ghostlike out of the sea in a mist, an almost Emerald City-like vision.
From the Panama Canal Commission's 1997 official map, here is a representation of the Pacific entry into the Canal.

The Panama Canal was actually first envisioned hundreds of years ago by the Spaniards, but the French, under Ferdinand deLesseps (who had built the Suez Canal), thought they could build a sea level canal and they began operations in Panama in the 1870's. They were to fail as a result of inadequate equipment, lack of funds, and severe losses of life due to Malaria, Yellow Fever, and accidents. A sea level canal was a hopeless venture. At the beginning of the 20th Century, the country of Panama was established as a result of a small revolt encouraged by the United States (it had been part of Colombia). President Teddy Roosevelt began the process of constructing a lock canal through the Isthmus of Panama. But the Americans found similar problems to those experienced by the French, and it was not until Yellow Fever was eradicated and Malaria was controlled that true construction could begin in 1904. Three sets of locks had to be built, a nine mile cut (the Culebra or Gaillard Cut) down into the earth through mountainous jungle and the Continental Divide, had to be excavated and supported, and the Chagres River had to be dammed in order to create the incredible man-made Gatun Lake, the fresh-water source of all of the water used in the Canal locks. The canal opened, at long last, in 1914, just as World War I was beginning.
We are at the Pacific entrance to the Canal, about to enter the Miraflores Locks. The white ship in the lock to the right is the Princess Lines' Regal Princess. The red ship to the left is a container ship.

The operation of the canal is rather simple in concept and absolutely brilliant. Two sets of locks on the Pacific end (the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel Locks--which are separated by a one mile Miraflores Lake) and the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic end either raise or lower the ship. When entering the canal, a ship is raised by the locks to the level of Gatun Lake which is well above sea level. At the other end, the locks lower the ship back to sea level. Each lock works by simple gravity. For example, in lifting the ship to lake level, fresh water enters the locks from the lake to lift the ship to the next level. Each time the ship moves from a lock to another lock or to the lake, water is released through spillways into the oceans. Approximately 52 million gallons of water is used up for one large ship to move through the Canal. Panama has a long rainy season and thus the continued health of the rainforest around the Canal is essential to maintaining the level of the lake and the functionality of the Canal. However, Gatun Lake is currently down several feet due to lack of rain resulting from El Nino. Panama is hoping for substantial rains during the upcoming rainy season.
Carole on Deck 10 as we were entering the first lock at Miraflores.

The story continues on page 3.

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