Panama-Saturday

We started out this morning with a Chinese breakfast. Then we went to the locks. We took the tour that only guests of ACP are allowed to take. We were able to look up at the usual tourists, wave and smile J We watched a Panamac ship go into the locks. We were able to walk across the gate that keeps the water and ships in for each lock. We were able to tour the control tower where the lockmasters control the gates and water levels. The Panamal Canal is one of two places where the captain gives us his ship to the pilot. There are 150-200 pilots. Each one takes the ship through the entire Panama Canal with its three lock systems. The whole process takes about 8 hours. Each time a ship comes through there is also a crew of about 24 ACP people who go with the ship through the entire process. Their job is to tie down the boat onto the locomotives and other jobs like that. The locomotives steer the ship into the locks and help keep it in place. The locomotives help the ships get started and break. Tugboats are also available to help guide the ships into the locks. The whole process is truly amazing. The pilot commands the locomotives and the tugboats. In fact the radio system is a one-way system. The pilot can talk to the locomotive engineers and the tugboat captains but they cannot talk back to him. He is the ultimate decision maker.

We also went down below the locks to see how the pistons for the gates work. There were also many other gadgets underneath the locks.

After the tour we went to Balboa where Ken used to live. We visited a nice resort looking for his friend, Dave but we couldn’t find him. So we came back to the house and swam in Ken’s pool. Tonight we went to a Chinese restaurant and then to a larger mall than the one we visited on Thursday. It was huge! We did a little shopping but mostly ate ice cream! We are getting ready to watch a movie and then head to bed.

We go back to Atlanta tomorrow. This has been an amazing trip! We are going to church with Ken in the morning. That will be great!