Fuerte Amador, Panama

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Fuerte Amador, Panama

Yesterday we had a wonderful tour, and an excellent tour guide. We anchored off shore and had a magnificent view of Panama City from our room. In the morning we took the tender to shore passing many beautiful yachts from all over the world. Our guide, Rina, was waiting for us on bus #7 - a lucky number indeed. We drove through neighborhoods once housing American officers, but now owned by Panamanians, Americans, and other nationalities. From there we went to the Miraflores Locks to see how the locks work from shore side. We were lucky enough to be there as a ship was entering the lock, so we watched as the water rose and brought the ship up to the next level. The mules, one on each side, pulled the ship forward with cables in order to make sure the ship didn’t touch the sides of the lock. Two more mules were attached to the stern of the ship and continued pulling the ship forward. When the ship was in place, the gates opened and the ship left the lock at a higher level.

The water in the locks is fresh water, not salt. That is because Lake Gatun, in the middle of the canal, is a man made lake, deliberately flooded in the mountains (big hills) by river tributaries. It took two years to fill the lake, and it is because of the lake height that the locks were built to carry ships from one ocean to the other. Actually, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are the same height, so in order to get the ships from sea level to “mountain” level and back, locks are needed. Does that make sense?

Anyway, after going to the locks, we headed to Lake Gatun in small speed boats. Each boat carried about 15 of us plus the guide and driver. We headed out toward some of the smaller islands in the lake for about 15 minutes. On the way, we saw a huge suction dredge bringing sludge up from the bottom and carrying it hundreds of yards to the shore. On our return trip, we saw a crane type dredge working in another area. It is a constant battle to keep the canal deep enough for ships. Panamanians are also working on new locks that should be open in 2014 allowing the huge ships to pass through. They are leveling some of the “islands” so the curves in the canal are not too sharp for the large ships.

Our guide, Rina, was great. She knew the area and the flora and fauna of the lake. We first saw some howler monkeys. They eat only leaves and are quite lethargic. We proceeded to another area, seeing a river turtle on the way, where we saw a whole family of cappachino monkeys. They are the ones with white faces - the kind organ grinders used to have. They eat bugs and small animals so they are quite frisky. They climbed on the roof of the boat and wanted food. Rina wouldn’t feed them because she said we shouldn’t feed the wild animals or they will become less interested in foraging for their own food. We continued to another area where we saw a sloth, the most lethargic mammal in the world. We saw a three toed sloth (no, I didn’t count them) which was grey. Two toed sloths are brown. So, next time you see one, you can speak with authority about how many toes it has. Sloths sit in trees all day and eat leaves. They descend once a week to poop, and then move to a different tree. What a life! So, we had a successful trip and returned to the bus and back to the ship having learned more about Panama and the environment here.

After dinner (another formal evening - lobster night) we went to a very entertaining show. The performer is the son of Jackie Wilson, one of the original Dominoes. Bobby Brooks Hamilton did impersonations of Little Richard, Stevie Wonder, Johnny Mathis, and Sammy Davis, Jr. It was really fun and he was a great MoTown singer.

Today is a day at sea. Tomorrow we arrive at Manta, Ecquador for more adventures.

Oh, and P.S., Bruce’s pants came back spotless so he’s keeping them!

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