10/31 Today is the day we go through the Panama Canal. There were several places on the ship to get a good view of this. We had listened to a presentation by one of the crew members on the history of the canal, which was very interesting and informative. We learned that it cost $35,000.00 to get a reservation to go through the canal. If a ship doesn’t have a reservation they have to wait outside the entry to the canal until there is an opening for them to go through. There is an additional charge according to three criteria. The amount of tonnage (weight) it is carrying, the number of berths (which is how our ship was charged) and if the ship is empty whatever its weight is. Anyway, it cost our ship $350,000.00 to go through the 3 locks that we went through. That’s right, all those zeros are correct. We went through the Gatun Locks onto Gatun Lake. There are 3 more locks on the other side of the lake. Our ship had 24”clearance on each side as it went through the locks.
There are only 2 criteria a ship must meet to go through the canal; they must relinquish the steering of the ship to one of the pilots of the canal and they must pay in advance. It was a wonderful experience!
We went into the little town of Colon to hunt for souvenirs. Donna and I found some beautiful tablecloths (made in China) and some pretty shawls. Did the evening things before retiring.
11/01 we are now 2 hours behind our Florida time. Today is the zip line experience and oddly enough I am not afraid, but excited, maybe a little apprehensive. We met the bus to take us to the line. It was a 30 minute drive high up into the rain forest of Costa Rica. We passed through some very poor areas where the housing was sad but the foliage was beautiful everything is very green and beautiful.
It took probably about 45 minutes to an hour to get hooked up in our harnesses, hard hats and welders gloves. What a lovely site we were! The line had 13 platforms in all, one at the beginning, 11 in between and the last one at the end. It was so much fun! I didn’t make it all the way to the 2nd platform so someone had to come out and bring me in. It was a bit scary just hanging our there in mid air over the forest. It became my goal to make it to all the rest of the platforms and I did!
We got back one hour of our lost time tonight at 2:00 a.m. and the other one at 2:00 p. m. We will be at sea until we get to Ft. Lauderdale. I was actually looking forward to that. The weather is so hot and I have decided that I do not want to get any closer to the equator than Orlando, Florida from now on.
11/02 We got up early enough to go to the Interdenominational devotional service. It was very nice. A Chaplin led it and did a very nice job. We sang a few hymns as we sat in a circle then he asked us to tell about someone living or dead that had been like a saint in our lives. Well, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that, so I said my “saint” was still alive and his name was Jesus Christ. As usual, when I talk about God’s love for me, I begin to cry and can barely talk. I didn’t get far with this testimony either. Donna then gave the testimony that her saint was her mom, which made me cry even more. It is a blessing and an answer to prayer that my life through the cancer could be a testimony to my family and others. All in all, it was a blessing to attend this little service. A lady afterwards came up to me and thanked me for my testimony. I am very thankful for that.
The steel drum band performed in the afternoon and brought tears to my eyes when they played “To God Be The Glory” and “Amazing Grace.” It was beautiful and touching.
I think this is long enough to hold your attention for tonight. I had hoped to get up to date with this post but it doesn’t look like I will accomplish it. There only 2 more days to the cruise so perhaps I can finish tomorrow.
Good night and God bless.
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