ON the Panama Canal

Today J and I got up and went bird watching at 6:30 am as the sun was rising. Lots of parrots and birds in the trees, but foliage was plentiful so it was difficult to see them!  A refreshing walk just the same!

That speck of Orange is John's shirt. E and P appreciated being able to sleep a little longer this morning. 

After breakfast we met at the bus to drive to the Panama Canal just down the road and 10 minutes away from our Gamboa Rainforest Resort. This is where we boarded a 300 passenger 2 story boat to ferry us along the Panama Canal for an hour before we entered the Pedro Miguel locks. Lucky for us, Caravan passengers were allowed to board first and we got front row seats on the second level. It was HOT In the sun and we were dripping sweat!!  E had a couple of seats a few rows back in the shade so we rotated back there to join her. 

The Pedro Miguel lock drops 31 feet in 8 minutes. 26 million gallons of fresh water is drained out of the lock in the process. The equivocal 42 Olympic sized swimming pools. 

The six foot wide doors are pictured opening after the water level dropped in the Panama Canal!  

We passed through the Miraflores locks too. 

Seated from the left is P, then E and J with lock wall in background. At this lock 36 million gallons if freshwater is drained in 8 minutes.   We spent about 5 hours total on the water and I was stick with sweat!

The pool was very inviting when we got back to the resort!

Even Grandma got in the pool but pictured above is fellow traveller Margo with J and P after a game of soccer!

Supper was preceded by some local entertainers dancing. 

The dancers even got P up on the dance floor and he held his own with some disco moves!

We were given a bottle of Jacques champagne by the Gamboa Rainforest which we shared at 10 pm to ring in the New Year. E said she didn't believe this bottle was really 11% alcohol!

Another great day in paradise!