At Sea & Panama Canal report

We did the transit of the Panama Canal yesterday. At 5:30 when we woke up we were already in the channel and were entering the first Gatun lock a little after 6:00. Early in the day it was heavy clouds and some rain, but by 9:00 it cleared and it was sunny and hot all day. I alternated between the private spa deck (above the Bridge) with a great forward view and our balcony which was on the shade side of the ship the whole day. The Canal is one of those “must see” places in the world. The early 1900’s technology is still functioning perfectly! Besides being very interesting, it is just beautiful. Between the two of us we probably took 450 pictures… they are now downloaded on the Epson 2000 Hard Drive. I’ll weed through them some today if I find time. I love digital - shoot, shoot, shoot, and erase the bad ones. Think what the film processing would have cost!

There are 640 passengers on the ship so with the extra cabins for the entertainment and lecturers we have a full ship. The median age is lower than I had expected; I’d guess it is between 65 and 70. We aren’t the babies - there are a few couples younger than us and I have seen two children onboard. I’ve seen the little girl, who looks to be about 8, several times with grandma and she is constantly saying “I’m bored- there’s nothing to do”. I can’t really figure why people would bring children on one of these small ships for a 107 day world cruise knowing there will be no children’s activities.

Today is another sea day and it looks to be a little better sky but showers are predicted. It is nice and warm out on the balcony. Our favorite lecturer, John Maxtone Graham is onboard and will be starting his first 3 lecture series today based on his book The Only Way to Cross - my day will be planned around his lecture time. He also did a lecture two days ago on the Panama Canal. - Jim just handed me the Patter (the daily program) and it is at 11:30.

At 9:45 astronaut Russell Schweickart is speaking and at 3:15 gossip columnist Sue Cameron will speak. At 1:30 this afternoon we will have our CROSSING THE EQUATOR CEREMONY where King Neptune will promote us from polywogs to shellbacks! Ok, go ahead and laugh… this is a big one for me; even with all our cruises we haven’t ever crossed the equator so I will be very glad to get my certificate!

That’s all for now folks!