We were up at 6 AM and out on the bow of the ship. We started through the Gatun Locks about 7:30 AM. Mother and I stayed on the bow until we started to enter the first lock. They had rolls and juice on the outside decks. Mother went back to the room and I went to the back of the ship, where there was hardly anyone there, and took video of closing the first gate. It started to pour down rain, so I went back to the room and got an umbrella. I decided to go back to the bow, and stayed there until we got through the last gate. I ran down my battery on my movie camera!
We were through the last lock around 8:45 AM. I was back in the room at 9:15 and joined Mother for breakfast, I have a few cool pictures, that I will download and put up on the web, The picture I took of Mother last night was with my Palm Treo cell phone.
I am relaxing for a few hours, letting my camera charge, and I will be ready for the Pacific side, where we go through the famous Gaillard (Culabra) Cut, and then the Pacific side locks. They estimate that we will be on the Pacific Ocean by about 4 PM. We are following a big container ship through the locks, and there is another cruise ship behind us.
It is quite an experience going through the locks, and a fantastic operation to observe. The process runs by gravity, and the fact that it rains a lot in this part of the world. The water flows by gravity, not pumps. The gates are the original, although the locks next to us were closed for repairs and maintenance. Maybe on the Pacific side we will have another ship going in the other direction.
