Saturday, June 9, 2012

June 9, 2012

Journal notes:

  • Clocks going back another hour tonight
  • See dolphins, but don't get pictures
  • Ship's store opens for the first time since my arrival.  I buy a case of Corona and a can of peanuts
  • Barbecue!
Pictures:



Left to right: Chief Engineer Eduard Glavan, Captain Claudiu Crisan, Eric, and Harvey



Friday, June 8, 2012

June 8, 2012

Journal notes:
  • Navigating the Panama Canal
  • This entry has some explicit language in it.  If you wish to read it, but without the swearing, you have some options, depending on your browser:
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Pictures:

Clipper Endeavour

Bahia Castillo

Ships waiting to go through the canal


Gatun locks

New lock under construction

Gatun dam




The Panama Canal




The canal's construction has caused some erosion along the banks


Here is a run-down campsite with picnic area

Tugboat



The prison




The canal is fed from the surrounding mountains


A train passing us.  That's the captain and pilot by the steering console

Pedro Miguel locks







Miraflores locks

Lock chambers


Thursday, June 7, 2012

June 7, 2012

Journal notes:
  • "This is the life of a seaman.  You must always wait." - Captain Crisan
  • Spend the day anchored in the bay in Colon, Panama
  • Hull cleaning operations
  • Bunkering (refueling)
Pictures:
Divers suiting up to clean the hull

Ships anchored outside Colon

More ships

Refueling tanker

Preparing for bunkering

The Bahia Castillo - also bound for Australia

Nighttime bunkering

Colon

Colon

This is what's at the very top of the ship, above the bridge

Manzanillo harbor

Entrance to the Panama Canal
Video:
Bunkering operations

(the full journal entry follows.  If you don't see it on this page, click the "Read more »" link below)

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

June 6, 2012

Compared with yesterday, today is pretty uneventful.  I sleep through breakfast, waking around 0945.  I set up a chair on the starboard side of F deck, reading Swiss Family Robinson, until about 1100, then nap in the chair until noon, when I take my lunch (salmon).

After lunch, I return to my cabin and sleep until around 1700, at which time I employ myself by downloading yesterday's pictures and videos from my camera and camcorder to my computer.  My phone still will not mount, but I remember seeing it detect that it was plugged in a couple days ago, so I decide to try cleaning the contacts with a toothpick and some hand sanitizer (which is alcohol based).  The toothpick removes a small mass of pocket lint, and afterward it mounts with no issues, so I am able to copy the pictures from the phone as well.

Dinner is ham, and afterwards I go to bed.  At dinner, I mention that we have picked up a stowaway on our stop in Jamaica.  My fellow passengers give me puzzled looks, and I explain seeing a beard soaring just above the ship for most of the day.  "Probably a frigate bird," Harvey says, and Eric comments about a pair of smaller birds, possibly swallows, that had crossed the Atlantic with the ship.