Through Panama Canal!

Well… what a Panama I’ve been through…literally. I had been told about it by Mum and could not wait to go through the canal and see what Mum had seen on her own cruise. I was still asleep when we went under the Bridge of America (I believe it’s called!), but some other crew members got photos so it’s all good! It’s just a bridge anyway! He he. So anyway, I was so excited when I woke up and went to grab some breakfast. I was in the lab for the morning but was allowed to go up to the Captain’s balcony to take photos. They opened it up for crew members for the whole day which was pretty cool. Was a great view of the first gate, and the ships that had already been through. There were two cargo ships just in front of us that we had to wait for. I was so exited and took heaps of photos. There wasn’t much room on either side between the ship or the side of the canal which was a bit scary, but also very very cool! I had to go back to work but we had the T.V. on the crew channel showing the view from the bridge which was good.

Panama Canal is made up of INSERT INFORMATION ABOUT PANAMA CANAL LOCKS AND LAKE ETC ETC.

I went to take photos every so often to get a glimpse of everything. The surrounding areas are basically all trees and jungle. There are palm trees appearing out of all this jungle scrub which is very cool, and everything is so green. It was amazing to see the landscape so took lots of photos (once again!) I had a chat with a few guests who were nice; they kept commenting about how it’s good that we get a break to see the view and experience the Panama Canal, and to be honest, I agree with them! He he. Little did they know that I was officially at work and was allowed to bugger off for a while! I loved the fresh air and wanted to stay out there all day. The ship was moving very slowly, but made for a relaxing trip through the Gatum Lakes at the top. I never realized how big the Panama Canal actually is. In natural fact, I actually thought it was just this canal with a few gates all close together and would only take a few hours to get through…hah! It took 9 hours to get right through the canal! There were so many guests out on the decks, but not as many as the crossing over in May. A lot of the guests had done that crossing so Panama Canal to them wasn’t anything overly special!

When I came back from my break it was really gloomy outside and was pouring. The clouds had come down really low; I was just waiting for the Flying Dutchman to appear out of the sea…it was that scary! It started pouring down which was very exciting and my camera got a bit wet!!! It continued to rain for the rest of the crossing through the Canal which was a shame but was quite enjoyable. We took the kids up to Topsiders Buffet for dinner as usual, so I took my camera too so I could get some photos. Fabrice was age anchor so I kept asking to go and take photos of things! It was still pouring so I went up to deck 10 (in the rain) with Katrina’s camera and got some cool shots. Her camera was better than mine so will get copies! I got drenched basically but enjoyed every minute. I’m not sure at what time exactly we passed through the last gate, but we were finally through to the Atlantic Ocean, which is a scary thought. It’s crazy how you can cross over and be at a different sea level…very clever! Anyway, it had been a great day and I enjoyed every minute of the crossing through the canal. It was beautiful and am glad I got photos!

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