Day 1 - Saturday December 7, 2013 - Gatun Locks

I am typing to you from the lounge on the Sea Lion. We are docked in Gatun Lake after having gone through the Gatun Locks.

We were up early - 5:30, packed, checked out, took the train to the terminal, checked in, went through security, and took off on time. We had a seat between us which was nice. The flight was almost 4 hours from Houston.

Immigration in Panama was interesting. We had to get both hands and thumbs finger-printed and get a picture taken. Strange.

No one was there to meet us, but we had instructions on where to meet after the flight from Miami came in. So we just hung out and waited. The Miami flight was delayed, but I finally found the Nat Geo rep who gave us forms to fill out for Wed when we go in to Costa Rica. Eventually the Miami crowd arrived.

We finally got loaded on to the bus and headed north to Colon. It took about an hour, but they had small Subway sandwiches with a banana, chips and cookies to tide us over. Most of the people on the bus were quite pleasant.

We boarded the Sea Lion and lo and behold, two of the Nat Geo guys were guys we were with in March, and they recognized us! We went to our rooms and had to immediately get our life jackets and head to the lounge for our safety briefing. We got under way while the briefing was being held.

Then we went in for a buffet dinner. I went outside first to see the Gatun locks ahead. I went in and had a quick bite. They had salad, pasta, a chicken dish, and some great mahi mahi in a citrus sauce, broccoli, roasted baby potatoes. I got a piece of fish and some broccoli and potatoes, and then left to go outside and see where we were.

It was dark when we boarded, but the locks are lit brightly. It took a couple of hours to approach the locks (3 of them) and make it all the way through. We went through with a larger ship in front of us.

So much to watch. The pilot and line handlers were loaded on board. Lines were hooked up to the locomotives who basically just guide the ships through the canals. There was even a female line handler. It was a typical lock transit....water filled in, locks opened, on to the next lock, fill, etc.

There is one other lady here in the lounge with me writing her journal by hand. Everyone seems quite pleasant so far. The crew is awesome. Our lead guy was on the Sea Lion in March when it hit the rocks. He found it funny that we were waiting for him in San Jose.