Travel Tips

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Aids to Navigation- red channel lights spaced out

The Panama Canal narrative came on in the cabin at about 5:30 for the beginning of the transit. I turned on the bow camera on the TV. It was still dark, but I thought I saw a flashing light, so I got up and put on one of the HAL bathrobes and went out on deck barefooted. It was just a regular red buoy with a flashing light on top. The channel seemed to be marked about every 100 feet on both sides. The sun was coming up (it was just about 6 am by now) so it was getting lighter. This picture was taken at 05:59

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Range marker from the promenade deck

Then I went in and got dressed and put on my slip-on shoes. and went out again, but I forgot my hat. I took some pictures of a range marker from the promenade deck, and then went up to the Lido, snatched a couple of buns and a cranberry juice and went forward and up to the Crow's Nest on deck 12 which is at the forward end of the ship. They had coffee and Panama buns here which they were giving out, so I took a bun. The recipe that was printed didn't mention the filling that was in it. Kind of a lemony custard.

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Ship ahead of us at the top of the next lock

People had staked out all the forward looking chairs, and were quite territorial about anyone sitting in front of them, so I sat on the banquette behind a ladder and looked through the rungs. Which was perfectly comfortable, and really a quite good view. I stayed here for about an hour, taking pictures of the locking of the boat ahead.

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Area between the two parallel locks

Then I went out on the Sports Deck (outside of the Crows Nest) and sat on the shady side of the ship (which was the center of the two locks) and took more pictures for another hour. Bob said the locking was like watching grass grow - he wasn't really interested in it.

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Gatśn Northbound Rear Light

I took photos of a range marker coming into the locks, the Atlantic Entrance Range Middle Light and the big (89 feet tall) Gatśn Northbound Rear Light which looks like a lighthouse and is right in the middle of the locks. After we passed the dam, I watched the line handlers jump off our boat. I had worn a blister on the back of my heel from the shoes, so I changed shoes.

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Distant Peńa Blanca Northbound Range Lights

An hour later, I saw a lighthouse pass our window, and ran outside and took pictures of two lighthouses and a range marker. The front lighthouse was white and the back one was kind of grey. I put the picture up and one of the guys who was a lighthouse expert identified it as the Peńa Blanca Northbound Range Lights. He said:

>These lights are missing from
> my page, because Google has no satellite image from their location and I
> was unable to verify their continued existence. Of course the shorter
> white lighthouse is the front light of the range. The gray lighthouse in
> the back is the original rear light, but it has been replaced by the
> pyramidal skeletal tower. It is customary for inactive lighthouses along
> the canal to be painted black rather than demolished.

> May I reprint this photo on my page? You've succeeded in documenting the
> survival of these important lighthouses, and I'd like to present an
> image of them.

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Looking back at Pedro Miguel after lunch

Of course I gave him permission. I ate lunch in the dining room (Bob ate in the Lido) while we went through the Pedro Miguel Locks. I had roast beef rolls (which was roast beef slices rolled up - no bread involved), and baked macaroni and cheese and the mixed berry crumble for dessert.

Continued in the next section