Tuesday, January 14, 2014

South America & Falklands - part four



I've transited the Panama Canal twice, both times on a container ship. Those interested in the view from the bridge can read my 2011 posting at:



Minerva's early morning approach offers visual proof, as if needed, that Panama remains a key waterway. It handles 5% of global trade.


Our passage comes in the canal's hundredth anniversary.


Impossible not to be impressed by the foresight of the American engineers who planned and built the canal. Even now, it can take some of the world's larger ships.


However, to remain profitable, it must accommodate even bigger vessels. An expansion was expected to open in this, the centenary year, but is behind schedule. What's more, as I pass through, there's a dispute concerning cost overruns. The Spanish-led construction consortium has threatened to stop work unless the Panamanians pay up. The Panamanian president, his small country's finances and prickly national pride at stake, says he'll go to Europe to demand completion.

As this goes on, we have a good view of four of the massive new lock gates.


This is my first time through on a cruise ship, so I content myself watching everyone else taking it in. 





 The anniversary is an opportune time to insert a few, old postcards. They give a nice sense of scale and history.






Today's high point has been, not so much the canal, but something of a get-together. I should explain that Bud and Marcelyn, American friends who live in Panama, had suggested I might be interested in this cruise. Bud's a onetime U.S. submarine officer. Here they are as we approach the Miraflores locks on the Pacific side.


Sharon, a friend of Bud and Marcelyn, who also lives in Panama, has come to a public viewpoint overlooking the locks. Roy ferried her there on a scooter (but that's another story). Sensibly they have a Panamanian flag, so we can identify them among the sightseers (Roy and Sharon are the couple behind the flag). Everyone waves furiously.


Here's one of Sharon's pictures. Click on it and you may be able to see Bud, on the top deck, waving. To his right are Marcelyn and me.



A happy conclusion to our passage. An hour or so later, we're in the Pacific passing a container ship heading, as we are, south. At Cape Horn, we'll turn left and back into the Atlantic.