The Panama Canal

This morning we got up early again. Uber was coming at 8:30 and we needed to be dressed, caffeinated and breakfasted by then. I have found this great crepe place down the street the night before that serves breakfast; but when I checked this am, they were closed on Sunday. 🤦‍♀️
So I checked Uber Eats to see what breakfast could be delivered, and McDonalds won. 20 minutes later 2 sausage egg McMuffins and an OJ had been delivered to our door. I had brought good strong French roast Starbucks instant coffee with us so we were good to go.
Don’t get me wrong. We would have loved to have found a little local place for breakfast , but it was far easier to have a good sturdy familiar breakfast without having to leave the apt.
A few hours later we were on a pretty good size boat with about 150 people. We took a bus to a spot about an hour north, and boarded the boat there. It was very well organized, super clean, plenty of clean bathrooms, and water, sodas and lunch was included. The lunch was excellent. Rice, chicken in a red sauce, roasted veggies, plantains and salad.
We went through 3 locks. There was a man who narrated the whole thing in English and Spanish. He was funny without being annoying and very informative. There was plenty of seating downstairs through the length of the boat and lots of seating on the upper deck that was 80% under shade, which was really nice. The wind was blowing and it felt really nice. There was a sailboat behind us, going through the canal too. It was about a 45 Ft boat, with 6 Frenchmen on it. Someone said they were coming through from the Caribbean.
Behind them was this HUGE container ship. So as we went through the locks, the sailboat would raft up with us ( the tour boat) . It must have been annoying trying to do that with 15 tourists leaning over the side watching you.
Then we would all watch this huge ship come up behind us. It was incredible. I think it would be very stressful to be a smaller boat going through the Canal. It all runs like a well oiled machine, but there is a lot that can go wrong.
We saw some humongous container ships go by and it was neat to be so close to them. Normally if you are in a smaller boat and that close to one of those big ships, it means things are going bad quick.
It was fun to people watch today. It was a mix of nationalities, most US, European and a few from China.
We got off the boat around 5 and it’s now 7 pm and we are home, showered and tired. But I’m so happy that this all went well. Mom has always wanted to see the Canal, and I’m glad she got to come down here. It’s really beautiful and the people are warm and friendly.Read more