PC Day, Friday, May 16

Cruising The Panama Canal

Ok so today started off at 6:30. The PC pilot boarded then and shortly after we entered the canal. We enter Gatun Locks around 7:30 and that was nice. It was hot as expected and miserably sweating. I normally don’t sweat but its seems I do in Panama. I did the last time too. Everyone was crowded around the front which was the same as in 2005. DCL did not allow chairs past the basketball courts. They had signs up posting this. As usual, everyone tried to crowd at the front. When I went wandering because tall people keep getting in my way (M – you may want those Tinkerbell wings or your in trouble) so I had to keep jockeying for a new vantage point. Anyway, in wandering around, found that the camera at the front of the ship was playing on the Jumbotron. AND NO ONE WAS AROUND. Maybe just a handful – the view was much better than where I tried to get too. I had to laugh. I took some pictures of the view from the jumbotron and will post when I can.
I managed to get someone to take my camera up on the maintenance roof by the basketball courts and I got a slightly different view which is nice. The exciting thing which most of you know about is that we were following a US submarine into the locks. It was really neat seeing them and I was able to zoom in when they in the locks with my 100-400m lens. I was able to see the “sailor” in the George Michael shorts – you all remember that? Was it I want your sex? Or Faith where he’s dancing? Wait – could it have been Wham? Remember those? Yeah – well some guy had them on. It was funny to see the sub meandering into the locks. From the guys talking around me – it seems that subs are not very adept at maneuvering above the sea. While they were going down, the “deck” of the sub was crowded along with that nest they have on the pole – is it like a crow’s nest? I am not sure of the correct terminology.
We entered Gatun Lock and I started texting Pam who was posting on a thread on DIS. Seems there were some people out there who were interested in what we were doing at the moment. ROTFL. She told me that people were taking laptops into the bathroom so as not to miss the ship. LOL – ok – I would probably have been one of those J
So we were greeted at the first observation deck in Gatun Lock. People were very excited and they had an emcee announcing play by play – not too much different than what I was doing. Before anyone asks – I have AT&T. I have a plan that includes unlimited texts in the US. Overseas or international, it costs $0.50 per text. It does add up but its cheaper than the internet here on the ship -which by the way it went out about 1 ½ days ago. I think it was because they ended up putting a tarp at the front of the ship where they signal might have originated from and it interfered with the signal. Anyway, DCL was a bit better prepared. They had ice cold water and lemonade but I didn’t find that out until later.
After the initial excitement everyone left to eat, catch some z’s or whatever until we hit the next lock or the BBQ started. It was supposed to start at 11:30 but it started early about 11:10. Good thing too because I was starting to get a bit cranky. I waited for Steve to get up and he finally did. Anyway, they had salmon kabobs, rib-eye steak, lemon-resemary chicken,BBQ short ribs, cous-cous, coleslaw, corn-on-the-cob, a cesear salad station and a bread station and desert which consisted of chocolate chip cookies, banana bread and pineapple upside down cake. Let me tell you they are really pushing the pineapple more so than ever.
Steve and I ate headed down to room to charge by phone – seems I was using it a lot! (Wink, Wink) then headed out about 12:30 to front of the ship. It was hot and I was trying to avoid a repeat of sun poisoning I got on the 11-Night Wonder so I ended up putting a towel around my head. It did indeed help and as it turned out – I did not get any redded. I am now a nice medium toasty brown while Steve is back to be in “rare” form! ROTFLMAO! Seriously, we both drenched ourselves in sunblock, but’s he’s the one lobster red. I’m fine.
So around Gamboa, I started the play by play with Pam and that is when I found out that the cameras seemed to be going down whenever the sub was around – probably for security reasons which was the general consensus on the ship also. LOL – as glued to your seats as you were at that end – people were just as glued my area as I was giving play by text plays myself! LOL
BTW, before I forget – I ran into Brent the cruise director – I told him I was going to retire his Chicken Boy title (J) and then asked him if he was doing the EB. He said no. He’s leaving at the end of June. So Stacey and Chris might still have him if they go in June. Our family will be going on the July 20-27th so we will miss him too. I haven’t sailed under Christian before but I did have some interaction with him – he was a bit distracted shall I say. Hopefully – he’s gotten on task.
Back to the PC, so for the Pedro Miguel lock – Steve and I were able to snare a prime spot at the front of the ship. Then as 1 got closer – I was pushed and prodded but Cheryl, you’d be proud of me – I stood my ground and did not budge – FOR OVER 2 HRS! After exiting Pedro Miguel, I couldn’t take it anymore and I left for deck 4. I passed Miraflores lock on deck 4 portside. For those that were on the 2005 PC cruise – remember the 4-story admin building where the camera was? Well, if possible, they were even more crowded than then. We were introduced by the emcee again and people cheered. DCL was kind enough to sound its horn and the people went crazy. I’m proud to say that NO ONE – I mean NO ONE threw anything over the sides. We all behaved! J
Between Pedro Miguel and Miraflores, the lake the two locks is only about 1/5 miles and is located 54 ft above sea level. There are two sets of locks in Miraflores each with a 27 ft drop/ascent. Whichever way your coming. Seems we were again the first one through Southbound – the Northbound (from Pacific Ocean to Caribbean sea) went first and we saw the last inbound pass us by. I guess that the canal runs North and South and in one city near the canal maybe Cristobal?????? Is the only place where the sun rises in the West and sets in the East. That is what the PC pilot told us anyway. He also repeated several times that the ocean on both sides – meaning the Atlantic and the Pacific are on equal levels but the waves on the Pacific Ocean are much harder and therefore they had to build bigger lock gates.
So upon exiting Miraflores I booked it to the aft portion of Topsiders and managed to get the locks closing and the photographers were still on the starboard side of the canal taking pictures. I so totally forgot about the secret deck on deck 7. Else I would have been there. It was crowded but not as crowded as deck 9.
When we pass under the Bridge of the America’s it was really too close for me. I know they have it checked out but the stack sure looked like it barely cleared the bottom of the bridge. Steve said that it looked like there was only about 10-15 ft clearance but I don’t know – I’m horrible with distance. Plus – I’m that much closer to the ground which colors my perception just a bit! J
Once we cleared the bridge, we were now in the Pacific Ocean. We stopped I assume to let the photographers get back on and to let the pilot off. Soon we were on our way. Steve headed out to se the Pre-mEAR of Narnia – they showed it at 12:01 this morning but we were both too tired to go. He went at 5 and the movie lasted 2 hrs and 24 minutes. I took a badly needed shower and tried to relax. I had this awful feeling that I was going to bungle my compactflash card so I downloaded the photos – not too bad folks – I only took 583 shots this time. Not too bad considering I was taking lots of duplicate shots. Later on I will try and delete some.
So for dinner, we had East Meets West. I ordered the Golden Pineapple Cristobel (with Tequila Fruits Compote) as an appetizer which was really very good and had cantaloupe, mango and honeydew and pineapple of course. Then I followed up with Chicken Noodle Soup from the kids menu. That was safer. For the main course I had Baked Pacific Lobster Tail with Yukon Gold Potato mash, garlic roasted asparagus and yellow squash covered in shrimp lemon butter. BTW, we got to keep the menus. They are some funky tropical yellow which resembles the postcard yellow – it’s a bit funky. You’ll all see. For dessert I had the Pedro Miguel Sundae which contained coconut ice cream (really good!) fresh pineapple, Curacao liquer, whipped cream and orange macaroon. Not bad – my lobster was actually really good and big!
OH, OH, OH, forgot to mention, Steve did a really nice thing. DCL had the characters walking around the ship, in one of Steve’s “wanderings” he bumped into Minnie (in her tropical dress) and I had my Marine Cpt photo laminated and I’ve been taking pictures with it – well, she not only held it but she then kissed it and it is sooooooo cute. I have just got to send it to the SGT Sperl’s company in Iraq. They will get a kick out of it – I have Donald Saluting, Minnie kissing and Cpt Thord holding it – sorta like from one CPT to another. Everyone here – mainly the photographers around here, have been really good about getting close-ups with it. They all know me by now! LOL. Its awesome. Anyway, dinner was nice but I was tired – am and so I think I will close for now.
We are headed for Acapulco now and the ship is moving a lot faster than it has since we boarded. Either that or the Pacific is welcoming us in her own way. The ship is rolling a bit – still not too bad but enough to make me want to go to bed. I am tired. I got up at 5:45 today and I had no nap. In fact, I didn’t sit down the whole day until we exited Miraflores lock around 4:30.
We wer e Lumiere’s tonight and we had “the Beauty and the Beast” show – lasted all of 2 minutes! But still nice. OK – can’t keep eyes open. Gotta - sea days for the 2 days then Acapulco. Talk to you all tomorrow.
One week gone – see you all soon!