Canal Day: Part Two in Postcards 4

<center> </center></center><center><font size="1">The mules travel up their ramps via cogs. Human tourists on stairs. There are all sorts of tourist facilities throughout the Canal.</font></center>

Lunch was more pastries as breakfast was still out and lunch wasn’t ready. Silly us. Slowly over the morning, my intolerance to the heat got me. I barely made it inside to the air-conditioned lido before I fell apart mid-morning. My heat intolerance had stuck with me, and this day it did a good job of frightening me with the threat of collapse.

<center></center><center><font size="1">We took pictures of the passing ships and crews, and they took pictures of us.</font></center>

<center> </center><center><font size="1">Out on the lock walls in the truly withering heat, ship’s camera persons shot the Island Queen’s transit from every angle…and in the air from a helicopter.</font></center>

<center></center><center><font size="1">The old style building is the Atlantic side Administrative Center. The blue and white buildings are Engineering department buildings.</font></center>

<center></center>The walkway hard rails drop down on the side of the gates, and the locks move into the walls of thelocks themselves.<center><font size="1"></font></center>

<center></center><center><font size="1">This type of cogged wheel originally opened and closed the lock gates throughout the canal.</font></center>

<center></center><center><font size="1">While we rose to the level of the Gatun Lake, the tanker Bull begins its transit downward.</font></center>

<center></center><center><font size="1">Now a car carrier is heading down while we are almost up. This is a gravity fed system.</font></center>

<center> </center><center><font size="1">Even with today’s technology, there are still landslides. Dredging keeps the canal clear.</font></center>

<center></center><center><font size="1">New bridge across the Pacific end of the Canal.</font></center>

While I retreated to a nice cool place, G had a grand time all over the ship and made over 600 shots. Once through the first set of locks, I took a nap. That helped. He came inside, and we sat together by the window to watch the canal and the new construction. We joined a small meeting before dinner then ate way too much. I am keeping track of all I eat, but today had to have been a weight gain day.
<center></center><center><font size="1">Pedro Miguel, single flight Locks are almost at the Pacific side of Panama.</font></center>

Dinner was in the cool dining room, and after dinner, G was off to the casino while I wrote on the laptop. I’m truly having a case of internet withdrawal this trip. We had made a decision to not pay the high fees for internet access. I write and log our adventures, but instead I don’t know what any of my blogging friends are doing. He brought a small sum with him to play in the casino. With this hundred he tried black jack then the Penny Slots. They liked him this night. By morning, we were at Puerto Rico.

PS: I am not taking the time to remove the HTML Coding. I apologize for the confusions and ugly codes interfering with the look of my entry. Mea Culpa.