UnderveisRøst, heading west
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Underveis
Balboa, Panama 17 February 2008 Les på norsk

Galapagos next

EGGSHELL Tiny Underveis as a part of three vessels rafting together. We are the boat closest to camera, that is, to the right. The transit went very smooth, and everybody at the canal are very professional. (Photo: The Panama canal)

NEWS AND FEATURE STORIES

BALBOA: Underveis has reached the Pacific! We are currently moored in Balboa, where we are provisioning and preparing for the passage to the Galapagos islands. We are feeling completely intoxicated these days, and that is only because we realize that we are in a different world ocean.

(Photo: Clifford Vaughs)

GIGANTIC The ships taht transit the canal, are enormous, and the largest ones are the container ships and the ro-ro shils. This one was so large that it hardly cleared the bridge. But safety is very good in the canal, and accidents very, very rare.

FACTS ABOUT THE PANAMA CANAL:

  • The construction of the Panama canal is amongst the greatest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken by man. A passage from New York to San Francisco through the canal is around 9,500 kilometers, less than half of that of the former route around Cape Horn, that is approximately 22,500 kilometers.
  • The Panama canal is roughly 81 km long. It has two sets of locks on the Pacific side, the Miraflores- and Pedro Miguel locks, and the Gatun locks on the Atlantic side. Each lock chamber is 305 meters long, 33,5 meters wide and 26 meters deep.
  • The canal has two passages, so that ships can transit in both directions at the same time. The difference in height from the ocean up to lake Gatun is 26 meters. 14 times more matter was removed when the Panama canal was built, than when the Suez canal was built.
  • The locks on the Atlantic side have massive steel locks 21 meters tall and each weighing 745 tons. Still, they are so well balanced, that it only takes a 40 hp motor to open and close them.
  • The construction was hampered by problems, including diseases (especiallyt malaria and yellow fever), and massive landslides. As many as 27,500 people supposedly lost their lives during the construction period.
  • In 2014, the Panama canal is scheduled to be expanded with a new channel running parallel to the existing two. It will be so wide that it can fit even the largest ships being built today and in the foreseeable future.

(Sources: Wikipedia, the Panama canal)

LANDLUBBERS The family of Sandra and Manuel Luiz came to visit us. Even granny came along. We made them some Norwegian-style porridge. They seemed to like it, even though Sandra (far left) became seasick simply from laying at anchor!
INTIMATE IT was intimate below decks when we were visited by a Panamenian enlarged family. We ate porridge, served snacsk and drank sodapops. Conversations were running in Spanish, English and Norwegian, including all intermediary versions of the aforementioned!

Balboa, Panama, 17.02.2008