Continued from yesterday”¦ Pacific finally got to the edge of the first lock at Gatun. It almost looks like a runway, with fingers of land on both sides of the waterway. The “runway” extends for quite a way before actually taking you into the chamber. We were going through the left set of locks. We waited a fair distance behind and watched while a little row boat with two guys in it rowed out from the finger. They were carrying the steel cables. They seemed to be helping to attach the cables to the front and back corners of the starboard side. Once the cables were attached, they repeated the process on the port side.

Once all the cables were in place, the tug turned around, the rowboats rowed away, and the locomotives slowly started to move forward, going up the little hill to the higher lock wall, while Pacific moved forward at the identical speed. Pacific stopped in front of the lock gate. The bridge for car traffic is above this lock, so there were lots of cars zooming back and forth above Pacific while they were getting it situated. For some reason, it seemed almost surreal to see the cars over the canal. It was just as surreal as seeing the cruise ship sitting in the middle of the jungle.

At 1745, we moved forward to the edge of the finger, where Pacific had stopped to be prepared. Here is what the lock ahead looks like. Two guys stood on each side of us, each holding a line. The starboard forward threw first. Joel caught the hook and attached the line.

Then aft starboard threw, and Tom caught and attached. The process was repeated on the other side. At this point we needed a lot of slack in the line because the men were about to walk up the little hill. Once secure, the men slowly walked forward. We crept forward, as well, trying to maintain the same speed as the walkers, passing the enormously large steel door. We were officially in the first chamber. The walls surrounding us seemed so tall over our heads and the chamber seemed enormously big. The chambers are each 33.53 meters (110 ft) wide by 320.0 meters (1050 ft) long. Pacific looks like such a big ship to us, yet we know comparatively speaking, he is a little shrimp. There are many ships that are too big for the locks, which is why they are building bigger locks right now.

Moises told us to stop a pretty decent distance away from Pacific. The gate behind us closed. We were totally penned in now. We marveled about the engineering. These walls are 55 feet thick in some spots! We knew it would take 26.7 million gallons of water to fill up the chamber and we wondered what it would be like to have so much water rushing in at once. And the water is gravity fed, not pumped.

We watched the water become turbulent in spots all around us, obviously the vents where the water was coming up out of. We had been warned that the turbulence is awful, so we were all braced for some terrible motion. But, it wasn’t nearly as bad as we had expected it to be. The water level started to rise, and the tall walls became shorter and shorter as the lock filled with water. We had also been warned about prop wash problems, but being that we were so far from the tanker, that wasn’t an issue, either. Here are shots of Jeff and Joel working hard to keep the tension right as the water filled. Edgar and Tom were working just as diligently on the aft deck.

When there was only a couple feet of wall left, the water stopped filling. Wow! We were really up higher! We were looking down on the ocean behind us! It worked!

Since freshwater is pumped in, we were now in brackish water. Christi was happily thinking about all the barnacles that were probably dying on the bottom at the moment. By this point, the wind had died completely, which was a welcome relief. It had been quite windy for most of the day.

After a few minutes, the gate in front of us opened. Pacific and its locomotive entourage moved forward into the next lock and took its position near the next gate. At 1820, Kosmos and her human entourage moved forward into the second chamber, again stopping a healthy distance behind Pacific. Once we were in place, the process was repeated, with the gate shutting and the water rising up in the chamber. And we were again amazed at how high up we were above the ocean behind us.

A few minutes after the water stopped, the gate ahead opened and Pacific moved forward. At 1850, we departed the second chamber and entered the third, where we repeated the whole thing for the third time. By now the sun was fully set, but the canal has powerful lighting and the visibility was almost as good as in the daylight. When the water stopped filling, the line handlers on shore dropped our lines into the water, and the line handlers aboard pulled them in. By now it was dark, so we missed out on the thrill of the ocean from the very top. But its OK, we’ll see it tomorrow.

This time, the gates opened to Lake Gatun, which looked pretty much pitch black to us as we peered into the distance. At 1900 we departed the third and last chamber into the inky darkness. We were all so incredibly excited. We were now 85 feet above sea level. Not only had we done it, the whole thing went incredibly smooth, with no problems or issues. We were all pretty darn proud. Jeff commented that we went from day to night, saltwater to freshwater.

Moises directed us out of the main channel towards the anchorage/mooring area off to our port side. He also told us the dam wall was to our right, but we couldn’t see it in the dark. It has to be absolutely huge. Now we were in 100% freshwater and Christi giggled happily knowing every last barnacle was probably dead by now.

We were heading toward a flashing light about a mile away. When we got close, Moises instructed us to turn on the spotlight to find the moorings. The moorings were easy to spot because they are enormous. Moises told Eric to pull up to it and have someone step off the boat onto the mooring to tie us up. Jeff volunteered. Or rather, Eric volunteered Jeff and Jeff didn’t resist. Another rain shower started just as Jeff was about to board the mooring buoy. What is interesting is that it has stopped raining the whole time we were doing the transit.

Eric pulled up to within a couple inches of the mooring and Jeff jumped onto it. He slipped both forward lines over the massive cleat in the middle of the buoy. Then it was time to do the stern lines. Eric masterfully backed up to another mooring and Jeff again jumped on and tied us up, then hopped back onto Kosmos. By 1925, we were secured and ready to relax. Within minutes, the pilot boat appeared out of the darkness to retrieve Moises. This captain was just as masterful behind the wheel as the last captain was, and we were once again impressed with how close he hovered without touching us. Here is a last parting shot with Moises.

This is such a great place. The anchorage is as flat as a lake. Oh yeah, that may be because it is a lake. We were bow and stern tied, so we weren’t moving at all. And, we somehow suspect that the moorings might be beefy enough to hold our weight without dragging, considering together they were probably as big as Kosmos!

Christi and Susan made dinner. After dinner, we put on a movie in Spanish with subtitles in English for everyone to watch. After the movie started, Christ got the linens out and got the various beds ready for everyone. Once she was done, she joined the movie watchers. Almost the instant she sat down, her stomach started roaring again. As the day had gotten busier and busier, her stomach had felt better and better, and by 1430, when all the excitement had really kicked into high gear, the pain and visits to the bathroom had gone away altogether. She thought the sickness had passed, but obviously not. Her mind had actually overridden her tummy sickness for the hours she absolutely needed to be fully functional. And now that the pressure was off, her mind allowed the tummy sickness back. Interesting how the mind and body work.

While the movie was going, we got some very, very heavy rain. We were glad to have a nice wash down, but even more glad it came after the transit was completed. The movie didn’t end until 2300, so it was a late night.