Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Panama Canal Day 2 Gatun Locks

When we woke up this morning the rain was gone and the lake was calm. We were told that a new canal pilot would arrive between 10 and 11 am. Around noon the pilot still had not shown up so a radio call to the pilot station was made. We were told that it would now be around 2 pm. So we waited. We watched several of the large freighters go into to the locks. Around 2 pm the pilot showed up and we waited some more. At 3:30 we finally untied from the mooring buoy and slowly started heading to the locks. At the Mira Flores locks we went in last...behind a big freighter. On this side we had to go in first. The problem was that we were to tie up along side another tour boat but the boat was running behind coming from the other side of the canal. When it finally got there we were able to enter the first lock. This time we loaded at the top level in each lock and drop down as they pumped water out. Here are several pictures of our trip through the Gatun Locks to the Caribbean Sea.
The last set of locks and our first view of the Caribbean!
The trip from the exit of the last lock to the breakwater protecting the port of Colon took about an hour. We had to stop about half way and let the pilot off and the line handlers with their gear. Daylight was already fading as we exited the last lock. The closer we got to the breakwater the worse the weather got....it was not looking like our run to Bocas Del Toro was going to be a pleasant one...Here are some final pictures of us exiting the breakwater. Until next time...Cheers!