Well, today was the big day - the day we traveled through the Panama Canal! Our pilot got aboard at about 6:30, and we passed under the Bridge of the Americas at about 7:00. Going through the locks was fun. We had a container ship next to us, and it was fun waving to the workers on the ground and on the other ship. Up on deck 6 on the balcony, it was hard to really tell when we were moving up (and later, down) in the locks, because we were so high up.
After the first set of locks, we went up to eat at the deck bbq. It was HOT AND HUMID. The bbq was really tasty, though. Passing through Gatun lake was really neat - you could hear (from our balcony - not up on deck) the sounds of the jungle - the chirping and tweeting. It was neat. Then, a huge thunderstorm moved in. We got to watch lightening all around us and then the rain moved in right over us and came down in torrents!
The last set of locks (the Gatun locks) had a bit of a back up. Our dining time was moved to 6:00 PM to accommodate the planned timing of the locks, but we just barely moved into the first lock by 6 (we were supposed to be through much earlier.) We decided to go to dinner anyway, which was cool, because you could really see from the windows in Parrot Cay (which is down on deck 3) when we were moving down and when we were sliding into the next set of locks. Plus, we had a crab leg appetizer and a lobster entrée which was freaking awesome!
So we did it! We passed through the Panama Canal! What an awesome, amazing experience!
Getting up so early, we were pretty tired. There was no show tonight - instead, they showed Wall-e in the big theater. Grant and I opted out and instead, just walked around the upper decks of the ship and did some shopping. Mom and Bobby did go, but slept through a lot of it.
Now I am back in the room, blogging. As we flipped channels on the teeny tiny tv (yeah, big complaint - the tv in our stateroom is 13 inches. Which sucks because they have great programming!) we found a channel playing - more clues for our Who Dunnit! So we watched the loop and too some notes - good thing we caught it!
Tomorrow - Cartagena, Columbia! After tomorrow, I can officially say that I have been to South America!
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