An amazing and beautiful day! We got up at 4.30 a.m. as planned, the ship was heading towards the first lock, the Gatun Lock. It was quite a sight to see a ship in front of us being elevated to a total of 85 feet during its journey through the 3 locks. This system has been operating for nearly 100 years and its still uses the same techniques from that time. There is a new canal being built which will be open in about 5 years. I sat in the Patisserie on Deck 5 and as we as we went through one gate, I could feel the ship descending as the walls of the canal came up, quite incredible. Most of the decks were packed from very early morning right through till late afternoon as we left the final lock. On both sides of the Canal was tropical jungle along with many sightings of alligators. We had lots of bumps as we hit off the sides, only 2 foot clearance on either side. so I think a paint job will happen soon!
Its been a long day so this will be a short blog! We had a drink with some friends to celebrate going through the Panama canal.
