Panama Canal, Panama
Another fantastic day today—we began the day exploring the rich waters of the Gulf of Panama, and ended our day in the man-made Gatun Lake, half-way through the Panama Canal. We experienced every kind of weather, beginning the day with some spectacular rainbows, showers and then during breakfast out came bright, clear sunny skies for the remainder of the morning. Our first activity was to explore by Zodiac the seabird colonies found on the islands of Bona, and we could hardly believe our eyes. There were birds everywhere; every branch seemed to support another bird, either a magnificent frigatebird, or a Booby, or a Brown Pelican! Indeed, we were lucky enough to spot some Blue-footed boobies of Galápagos fame.
We came back aboard for a well deserved swim to cool off, and then had lunch as we sailed towards the entrance to the Panama Canal. We could see the darkening black skies ahead, and indeed the heavens opened, and down came a tropical downpour of tremendous proportions. Was our transit to be ruined by this downturn in our weather? Not at all; the rain stopped as we began our transit and we were able to toast the Bridge of the Americas under sunny skies.
We made our way inland passing through all three Pacific-side locks in daylight, the last lock coinciding with sunset. It had been quite a day, and there was more to come, as dinner tonight was a delicious Panama Buffet upstairs in the lounge so that we could continue to enjoy the beautiful views of the Canal and the infamous Culebra Cut. We dropped anchor this evening at 10:00pm and had a restful night in the Gatun Lake.
Another fantastic day today—we began the day exploring the rich waters of the Gulf of Panama, and ended our day in the man-made Gatun Lake, half-way through the Panama Canal. We experienced every kind of weather, beginning the day with some spectacular rainbows, showers and then during breakfast out came bright, clear sunny skies for the remainder of the morning. Our first activity was to explore by Zodiac the seabird colonies found on the islands of Bona, and we could hardly believe our eyes. There were birds everywhere; every branch seemed to support another bird, either a magnificent frigatebird, or a Booby, or a Brown Pelican! Indeed, we were lucky enough to spot some Blue-footed boobies of Galápagos fame.
We came back aboard for a well deserved swim to cool off, and then had lunch as we sailed towards the entrance to the Panama Canal. We could see the darkening black skies ahead, and indeed the heavens opened, and down came a tropical downpour of tremendous proportions. Was our transit to be ruined by this downturn in our weather? Not at all; the rain stopped as we began our transit and we were able to toast the Bridge of the Americas under sunny skies.
We made our way inland passing through all three Pacific-side locks in daylight, the last lock coinciding with sunset. It had been quite a day, and there was more to come, as dinner tonight was a delicious Panama Buffet upstairs in the lounge so that we could continue to enjoy the beautiful views of the Canal and the infamous Culebra Cut. We dropped anchor this evening at 10:00pm and had a restful night in the Gatun Lake.
