Colon, Panama

Today, we are in Colon, Panama.  

We are doing fine, both of us are fighting some sniffles and congestion, but so is the entire cruise population it seems.

Today, we had an 8.5-hour excursion to see both the new and old Panama Canal Locks.  It was a great excursion, and we saw a lot.

We woke up at 7:30 AM so we could eat breakfast and get all of our gear together, including our rain jackets.  It was beautiful skies this morning, but there was a good chance of rain forecast for the afternoon. 

We left our cabin about 9:20 AM and headed into the terminal after exiting the ship.  There was a large desk with about 15 people processing passports and stamping them.  These must have been for the crew, we did not have to turn in our passports or bring them with us, so they were not from passengers.  Just in front of this desk was a line of people for the excursions and it was barely moving.  The line went around the end of a wall that was behind the passport processing people, so we could not see why the line was moving so slowly. 

We had been asked to bring a government-issued ID with us, so we thought they might be checking something as part of immigration.   Once around the end of the wall we saw what was causing the delay.  There were two Viking Excursion Representatives telling people what bus they were on as part of the check-in process, and it was moving really slowly.  It was just about 9:30 AM when we got to the bus, which was the time that we were told to be at the bus in our excursion paperwork.  Only two other people boarded after us, but at least we were not the cause of any delay to the other people on the excursion.

There were only about 23 people on our large bus, so that was nice.  Two buses were doing this excursion at the same time, and when everyone got off together at the first stop, I think the split of people was about the same on both buses.  It was nice to have some extra room on the bus and not be crowded.  Plus, it did not take nearly as long to get on and off with the bus only being maybe half full.

We drove through an area near the port where there was a gigantic duty-free shopping zone.  There were hundreds of stores, and they seemed to be inside a fence, and there were gates to drive through to park.  The area around the port was not very scenic, there seemed to be a lot of buildings that were in disrepair.  

Our first stop was at the new locks on the Atlantic side called the Agua Clara Locks.  There was a visitors center there, and we were given a ticket on the bus to use to enter.  There was a large elevated observation area along the lock and it was a great viewing area.  There was a special guide there to give us some history of the new locks through our AudioVox system and we were lucky enough that a large container ship was just approaching while we were there.  The locks are roughly 1,400 feet long and 180 feet wide, much larger than the old locks.  Two tugboats are used to guide the ships through these locks instead of the cables and electric engine “mules” used to guide the ships through the old locks.  One tugboat is hooked to the bow and the other is hooked to the stern via cables.   In addition, these locks have two large sliding gates that slide into an open area when opened.   The old locks use large swing gates, split in the middle. 

We stayed long enough for the container ship to enter the lock, be raised, and then proceed into the second lock of the three locks here.  It was amazing how much larger the ships are that can go through the new locks.  Another difference with the new locks is that there is only one lock instead of two parallel side-by-side locks.  This means that the ships go in one direction for 12 hours and then in the other direction for 12 hours.  This is not always the case for the older locks since there are two parallel locks for each lift. Ships can be going in opposite directions at the same time.  There are still three locks on the Atlantic side and three locks on the Pacific side.  Another significant difference is that the water is pumped in the new locks instead of just using gravity to flow the water in and out of the old locks.  This enables a lot of the water to be saved in basins off to the side instead of just flowing through from Gatun Lake into the ocean.

There have been a lot of issues lately in Panama because of a drastic reduction in rainfall due to the effects of El Nino.  Gatun Lake is about six feet lower than normal, and this has caused a reduction in the number of ships that are being allowed to pass through the canal each day.  The reduction is from about 34 ships a day to about 25.  

Many ships have reservations well in advance, but there is a hefty fee for this.  Many do not have reservations and are having to bid on any available slots, and the cost is much higher than normal.  Of course, cruise ships pay the hefty reservation fee so they can guarantee passage on their cruise schedule dates.

We re-boarded our bus and then headed out to the highway to head across the isthmus to head to the set of old locks on the Pacific side called the Miraflores Locks.  It was nice to be on some better roads, many times our bus driver had to almost come to s stop to cross the ruts on the secondary roads we had traveled on so far.

Before we arrived at the locks, we were scheduled to make a stop at a Hotel for a buffet lunch.    It took about one hour and fifteen minutes to get to the hotel, not helped by the road construction we ran into once we exited the highway.  The roads seem to suffer a lot from all of the rainfall that is normal for this area.  We stopped for our lunch at the Summit Rainforest & Golf Resort.  We saw some of the golf course as we neared the entrance.  There were quite a few people out on the course, but the conditions looked marginal.  It was far from a typical-looking course, there did not seem to be well groomed fairways or greens, but maybe it was because we were a little far away. 

The lunch was good other than Stephanie and I had selected our seats before we served ourselves from the buffet.  We were near the end of the line because our bus arrived second, and we were behind just about everyone else on our bus.  We had also used the restroom, as had many of the other people, so we were last in line to get food.  Realizing this, Stephanie put her phone on the table to reserve two seats together.  We also went ahead and grabbed our dessert servings and also placed them on the table to hold our spots.

By the time we got our food and headed to our seats, we saw two men traveling together, and one was in one of our seats.  Apparently, the items we placed on the table were not enough to deter them from taking our seats.   I reached over the man’s shoulder and said “Excuse Me”, as I grabbed my dessert off the table.  He said nothing and did not even acknowledge or apologize that he had taken one of our seats.  He obviously had no clue…..

We ended up having to grab two bar chairs, as did another couple so we had a place to sit and eat our lunch.  There were probably enough seats for everyone at the tables, but just enough, and there were an odd number of people in several groups on the tour in both excursion buses, so there were just some random single seats here and there at the tables.  

The lunch was good, there were several choices of meats, some rice dishes, vegetables and bread.  It was quite filling.  They served various beverages including wine and beer with the lunch.  They had nice bathrooms, but there was no paper towels in the men’s or ladies’ restrooms for some reason, and even after several people said something, it was not remedied, there were still no paper towels when we used the restroom right before we left.  We were there at the restaurant for about 45 minutes in total before reboarding our buses to continue to the Miraflores Locks.

Luckily, we did not have to go through the construction delay area again since we headed out in the opposite direction from the hotel.

It took about 30 minutes before we arrived at the visitor’s center for the Miraflores Locks.  Our guide gave us two separate tickets for the center, one was for entry into an IMAX movie about the canal construction and history, and the other was for entry to the observation platform there.  The tickets looked the same other then there was a code on the back of each ticket, and one of the codes started with the letters IMX for IMAX.  Our guide kept confusing everyone because instead of saying ” I M X” he kept saying what sounded like “A M X”.  Apparently he had a tough time saying the letter “I” for some reason.  Eventually, we understood which tickets we had for each entry.

There were long lines at the ticket counters to purchase tickets to the various parts of the visitor’s center, but since we already had tickets, we went directly inside the IMAX Theater lobby, which was packed with people.  We could not believe how many people were inside, and all crammed together.  We were able to go directly into the theatre, the next movie was just starting as we headed to our seats with our 3D glasses.  We had to sit pretty close to the front, but it did not seem to matter.

The movie was pretty good, but a little repetitive with some of the information we had already gotten when we attended a ship lecture on the Panama Canal history a couple pf days ago.  But who does not like an IMAX movie.

After the movie, there was some type of hang-up with our next entry.  Our guide told us we would have to wait about 30 minutes in the crowded theatre lobby.  It was raining outside, and there was nowhere else to go to try and get away from the crowds.  We were not sure that if we left the building we would be able to get back in, so we waited in the crowded lobby with the rest of our two groups.

At 3:00 PM, we all headed outside and got into another entry line, this one for the observation platform.  We were never told what the delay was.  Eventually, we got out to the platform and then we were told we would have a special guide and we would be taken out to the area of the locks outside the fence barricade for the regular observation area.  We would go in two separate groups and have a special up close view of the locks in operation.  Other than some light rain, this was really going to be nice since the regular observation area was extremely crowded.

Apparently, there was also a museum here at the Visitor’s Center, but it was closed for renovation.  Unfortunately, this really reduced the available observation space, several of the upper levels were part of the museum, so they were closed off and all of the people were crammed together in the remaining platform spaces.  

There was a slight issue because our guide told everyone that no open-toed shoes were allowed out on the special viewing area we were going to, part of the safety rules.  Luckily, this did not apply to us, we both had tennis shoes on, but a couple of the ladies in the group were in open-toed sandals, and they had to wait behind the fence with all of the other people.  We had not seen any notice about the shoes, but someone else in the group mentioned they had seen something.  That was too bad for them, and they were not happy at all.

The delay we had earlier in getting out to the platform was so that we could be out there when there were ships actually passing through the lock.  When we got out to the area by the lock, our special Panama Canal guide took over the audio system we were using and explained a lot about the operation of the locks.  There were actually three smaller ships going through the lock at the same time.  One was a fairly small tour boat, one was a smaller tanker, and the last was a National Geographic Expedition ship.

It was interesting to be that close to all of the operations.  Luckily, the rain had ceased and so it was more enjoyable, and a little cooler since it was still cloudy.  We were out by the lock for about an hour total as the ships transited through the two locks here.

We headed back inside to make one last restroom break before getting back on the bus for the hour and 20 minute ride back to the ship.  There was quite a lot of traffic now because it was about 4:45 PM and rush hour.  Luckily, most of the traffic was heading in the other direction. 

We had to pass back through the construction area, but now it was late enough in the day and they were no longer working, so there was not any delay, but the road was pretty rough and the bus had to go really slow in some areas.

Once we were back on the highway, we made good progress until we got back into Colon and into some of the late-day traffic there.  At about 6:00 PM, We were dropped off at a mall area near the terminal, and there was a Viking Rep there to give us directions through the open air mall back to the cruise terminal.

Stephanie wanted to look in the store inside the terminal, so we did.  It was a Duty Free store and was mostly selling alcohol and perfumes, so there was not a lot to see.

We headed into the terminal and back onto the ship.  We really enjoyed the tour today, other than the crowds at the Miraflores Locks Observation Center.  I am still fighting a little head cold, so being around that many people made me feel like I was really exposed with a lowered resistance to anything out there.  Luckily, it is hot here in Panama, and we did not see many people coughing, unlike most of the time we are on the ship, everyone seems like they are fighting something.  Tomorrow, we will have a different perspective of the Miraflores Locks when we pass through them as we transit the old Panama Canal Locks.

We had a dinner reservation for the Chef’s Table at 7:30 PM, so we did not have a lot of time to relax for a bit before we had to shower and get dressed for dinner.  We were tired, but decided to go to the dinner anyway since the menu for the Chef’s Table only lasts three days before it changed to another theme.  

We were ready a little early so we headed to the Living Room Bar for a glass of wine before dinner.

The dinner was our best experience yet for the sometimes good, sometimes not Chef’s Table dining. 

The theme of the dinner was West Indies Spices, and all of the different courses were good.  The main course was Beef Tenderloin Tips and they were excellent, and very tender.  It was served with some sauteed shitake mushrooms and purple colored mashed potatoes.  I asked if I could have another serving, and our waiter said he “had to ask the chef”.  Of course, the answer was “yes”, I don’t think it would ever be “no”.  I just wanted to enjoy some really well prepared tenderloin, and the second plate was even better than the first, it was served immediately and everything was really warm.

Afterward, we had a couple of drinks at The Living Room Bar and headed back to our cabin at about 10:00 PM.  It had been a long but productive day.

Tomorrow, we will transit the Panama Canal, and the schedule that was posted said we would pick up our Pilots at 7:15 AM.  

We set an alarm for 6:30 AM tomorrow and called it a night.