Wednesday, February 9, 2022 

Whatever were we thinking??  Getting up at 7 a.m.?  

 We were approaching the Panama Canal for the return trip to Ft. Lauderdale at 7 this morning and the Shops Onboard, that mecca of ostentation, scheduled a sale of Canal-related merchandise at the Lido pool at 7.  So D dutifully trudged to the sale only to discover that this was the same stuff that he didn't buy two weeks ago.  However, we wanted a t-shirt which showed the Canal, so he bought one which we can share.  And having a sale is not the same as selling things.  There were no markdowns or deals other than the discount we get as frequent customers. 

Since we were up anyway, D went to the coffee bar for the usual hot water, cappuccino and pastries.  The Crow's Nest was crowded for a change at the crack of dawn [as was the Lido dining area] because everyone wanted the best seat to view our transit of the Canal. 

We were content to sit on the verandah and watch the Canal unfold behind us.  While there was a slight cloud cover, we were comfortable watching and reading, but when the sun came out of hiding, it got too hot and uncomfortable, so we moved inside.  After a while, the clouds returned and we had rain off and on most of the rest of the crossing.  Some of the precipitation was pouring-down-hard rain but some was more of the gentle-shower type.  

 The ship, escorted by tug boats, slipped effortlessly into the various locks without scraping the sides, and were hooked up to the "mules" who pulled it from one end of each lock to the other.  Despite the presence of locks to equalize "sea level," most of the trip through the Canal is in open water, especially in Gatun Lake. [A quick reminder -- sea level, despite its name, is different in the Pacific and Atlantic ends of the Canal, so the locks are used to raise or lower the ships depending in which direction they are headed.  Based on the locks seen today, the Atlantic is the higher end.] 

Of course we napped.  We had been up at 7 a.m.!  

 We had the usual drink-dinner-casino trifecta again tonight.  MA still has some money left in her account on the slot machine and D won another $100 at blackjack.  Earlier, at supper, Danan spent time entertaining us with magic tricks and origami animals.  One of the animals had been made by another waiter who thanked us for the noodles we brought the other day.  As noted before, Danan shared his bounty with lots of folks.

 We are cruising the Caribbean tonight on the way to Cartgena, Colombia.  More on that tomorrow.

 Tomorrow -- Cartagena, Colombia