I didn't think house life could be so busy, how did we ever fit sailing into our busy schedule LOL. Sid is busy between fixing this and that in either our little house, or helping Binnie and when weather permitting going out to the boat and fixing this and that out there. I am busy catching up on computer stuff, keeping up with the house which is a lot more to clean than Paradise, assisting Binnie and going shopping with her or with Cindy. Shopping here is definitely a whole day's activity. It takes a little over an hour to drive to Colon and 1 1/2 hours into Panama City. In either place the traffic is always a chaos and Sid and I were trying to figure out how much driving/standing in traffic to shopping we do and we figured about 1 hour of shopping to 4 hour driving or more. There is no such thing as a quick shopping trip. Shopping here is so good that it is worth all the driving.
Before all the Christmas dash started Jennifer, friend of Binnie, organized a tour of the Expansion of the Panama Canal (Third Set of Locks Project) which should be in operation in 2014.
We had to drive across the bridge of the Americas and meet everybody on the other side of the canal. From there a tour bus took us to a sight above the Miraflores Locks with an incredible view over the new excavation for the new locks. The view was spectacular over the new ditch they were digging. (Click on pictures to enlarge).
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| Miraflores Lock |
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| Miraflores Lock |
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| View of Miraflores Lock and Lake |
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| Bridge of the Americas |
This project will double the capacity of the Canal and will allow the mega tankers to cross. To do so a new lane of traffic along the Canal is being created by constructing a new set of locks. On each side, Pacific and Atlantic, two lock complexes are being added, each with three chambers, which include three water-saving basins. Plus the excavation of new access channels to the new locks, the widening of existing navigation channels, deepening of the navigation channel and the elevation of Gatun Lake's.
Outside Panama the expansion will create demand along the US Eastern Seaboard for ports able to handle post-Panamax ships. As of January 2012 ports of Miami to New York are considering renovations including dredging, blasting and bridge-raising, only Norfolk, Virginia is completely ready for the larger ships.
They also are going to build a new bridge across the canal in Colon.
It was very impressive and I hope to be here when the new locks open.
Before we went to the second event of the day we visited the local fish market and had lunch. The market is very impressive, clean and wow what an array of fish. I don't think I have ever seen bigger shrimp.
Lunch was a disaster, the chef never showed up and we waited for over an hour until the food finally arrived and it was horrible. I think the United States is the only county that will not charge for horrible food, here you don't have a choice.
A short drive later we arrived another construction sight the new Biodeversaty Museum of Panama City in Amador. A very funky looking project.
Jennifer is a volunteer and had her first speech to see if she is going to get the certificate to do tours. She passed with flying colors and we were amazed what this museum is going to offer, I hope I will be here for the opening in January 2013.
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| Binnie |
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| Binnie, Jennifer and friend |
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| view of Panama City |
I did not know that the Isthmus was formed some three million years ago during the Pilocene epoch. The wide body of water between the continents was a strong flowing current that connected the water through the earth. This major geological event separated the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and interrupted the current. Two Plates of the Earth's Crust beneath the surface were slowly colliding, forcing the Pacific Plate to slide under the Caribbean Plate. The pressure and heat caused by this collision led to the formation of underwater volcanoes, Some grew large enough to form islands about 15 million years ago. Meanwhile, movement of the two tectonic plates was also pushing up the sea floor, eventually forcing some areas above sea level.Then over time massive amounts of sand, soil and mud from North and South America filled the gaps between the newly formed islands. Over millions of year sediments deposits added to the islands until all gaps very completely filled. By about 3 million the isthmus of Panama was formed between North and South America.
Scientists believe that this was the biggest event in the last 60 million years. Even though only a small sliver of land was created it had an enormous impact on Earth's climate and its environment. By shutting down the flow of water between the two oceans, the land bridge re-routed ocean currents in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Atlantic currents were forced northward, and eventually settled into a new current pattern. This is how the Gulf Stream was created. With warm Caribbean waters flowing toward the northeast Atlantic, the climate of NW Europe grew warmer. The Atlantic, no longer mingling with the Pacific, grew saltier. Each of these changes helped establish the global ocean circulation pattern in place today. The Isthmus of Panama directly and indirectly influenced ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns around the world.
It is believed that the creation of this land mass and the warm wet weather over northern Europe resulted in the formation of a large Arctic ice cap and contributed to the ice age.
The formation of the Isthmus of Panama also played a major role in biodiversity on the planet. The bridge made it easier for animals and plants to migrate between the two continents. In North America today, the opossum, porcupine and armadillo all track back to ancestors that came across the land bridge from South America. Likewise are bears, cats, dogs, llamas, raccoons and horses made the trek south.
In each show room you will see an epoch from then to know. Even two aquariums which shows the difference in fish and fauna between the Caribbean and Pacific side.
Although the museum is still under construction we were the first tour group that was allowed to enter. All was in raw state but it was really easy to picture the finished museum.
Scientists believe that this was the biggest event in the last 60 million years. Even though only a small sliver of land was created it had an enormous impact on Earth's climate and its environment. By shutting down the flow of water between the two oceans, the land bridge re-routed ocean currents in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Atlantic currents were forced northward, and eventually settled into a new current pattern. This is how the Gulf Stream was created. With warm Caribbean waters flowing toward the northeast Atlantic, the climate of NW Europe grew warmer. The Atlantic, no longer mingling with the Pacific, grew saltier. Each of these changes helped establish the global ocean circulation pattern in place today. The Isthmus of Panama directly and indirectly influenced ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns around the world.
It is believed that the creation of this land mass and the warm wet weather over northern Europe resulted in the formation of a large Arctic ice cap and contributed to the ice age.
The formation of the Isthmus of Panama also played a major role in biodiversity on the planet. The bridge made it easier for animals and plants to migrate between the two continents. In North America today, the opossum, porcupine and armadillo all track back to ancestors that came across the land bridge from South America. Likewise are bears, cats, dogs, llamas, raccoons and horses made the trek south.
In each show room you will see an epoch from then to know. Even two aquariums which shows the difference in fish and fauna between the Caribbean and Pacific side.
Although the museum is still under construction we were the first tour group that was allowed to enter. All was in raw state but it was really easy to picture the finished museum.
You read already about our Christmas so I will not repeat it.
For New Years, we had a wonderful time at Jim and Melania's who live in a quite part of the coast line around the corner from Portobelo. As always at her house we had wonderful food, drinks, fun but when Jim and I started singing Karaoke for some reason everybody disappeared upstairs to the pool room, wonder why??!!!! The party came to it's peak at 11 when the power went out region wide and stayed out until 3 am (we were told it happened the previous year as well). That did not stop us from playing pool but I'll tell you the candle light shadow following the balls into the pockets made it a bit more difficult to play. With the power outage the party started dwindling down and we left 10 minutes before midnight, there was no way to tell exactly the time for the new year anyway. Actually it was perfect to leave early, we arrived in Portobelo to watch the wonderful firework as we passed Portobelo in the dark when midnight struck. It was pitch dark other than the headlights on high beam and no other cars within miles on this very windy stretch and had a safe drive back to Puerto Lindo where a bottle of cold champagne was waiting for us. Our first day of 2012 was spent with a champagne brunch at Casita Paraiso and the afternoon playing Ping-Pong and Wii game, wow is that Wii stuff fun.
For New Years, we had a wonderful time at Jim and Melania's who live in a quite part of the coast line around the corner from Portobelo. As always at her house we had wonderful food, drinks, fun but when Jim and I started singing Karaoke for some reason everybody disappeared upstairs to the pool room, wonder why??!!!! The party came to it's peak at 11 when the power went out region wide and stayed out until 3 am (we were told it happened the previous year as well). That did not stop us from playing pool but I'll tell you the candle light shadow following the balls into the pockets made it a bit more difficult to play. With the power outage the party started dwindling down and we left 10 minutes before midnight, there was no way to tell exactly the time for the new year anyway. Actually it was perfect to leave early, we arrived in Portobelo to watch the wonderful firework as we passed Portobelo in the dark when midnight struck. It was pitch dark other than the headlights on high beam and no other cars within miles on this very windy stretch and had a safe drive back to Puerto Lindo where a bottle of cold champagne was waiting for us. Our first day of 2012 was spent with a champagne brunch at Casita Paraiso and the afternoon playing Ping-Pong and Wii game, wow is that Wii stuff fun.
We are so done eating and drinking, I don't think we ever ate that much over any holiday so we were going on a diet and of course every time we started another party came up then another and then Birthdays and and, but we are on it now.
The rainy season officially is over and the Christmas Winds have started bringing high winds and high seas to especially this part of the Caribbean. The nice thing is no more rain and adios to mildew growth, for a while.
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