Panama Canal Cruise 2020 - Day 3 — Captain Father John

Today we put our luggage out in the hotel hallway at 6:30 am for collection by Tauck. The next time we see our luggage it will be in our stateroom onboard our cruise ship in Colon. Colon is named after Christopher Columbus.

Our tour bus took us to the Gamboa rainforest. We rode on a tram to the top the hill and then climbed an 11 story observation tower. At this point we were above the canopy of the rain forest and had a panoramic view. The other half of our tour group went on a riverboat ride. On several of the days we have a choice of excursions.

The next stop was a wildlife sanctuary that specializes in rehabilitating sloths that have been injured or orphaned. There is also a butterfly enclosure.

Lunch was served at a restaurant that had a lovely view of a nearby bridge. After lunch we crossed the isthmus to tour one of the new larger locks called Aguaclara. It has a very nice visitors center and observation deck. Here are some fun facts regarding the canal. - Old canal - cost to transit - $150,000 up to $420,000 for one way transit. Maximum ship size 500 containers. New canal - cost to transit - $500,000 up to $1.2 million for one way transit. Maximum ship size 1,500 containers.

The Canal Authority employs 10,000 workers.

The capacity of the canal is 40 ships per day - old canal and 9 ships per day - new canal.

We arrived at our ship at 4 pm. We had to wait on the bus until a medical team was ready to take everyone’s temperature. We also had to fill out a declaration form regarding our health and recent travel activities. The cruise line is trying to identify any high risk passengers that might have had contact with the corona virus. Everyone was allowed to board the ship. However, we were told 20 passengers cancelled their cruise plans due to fear of the virus. More room for us.

The ship was launched in September 2019 and is 432 feet long. She is only six months old and is state of the art with twin stabilizers. She also has glass observation windows 15’ below the water in the Blue Eye bar. Someone decided windows below the water are a good idea. The captain of the ship is 36 years old.

Tonight we cast off at 10 pm to cruise to the San Blas islands.

**John and Priscilla In the canopy of the rainforest**

**A flower the guide called Carlos’ Lips**