Saturday
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Today we went shopping in Colon. The marina has a free shuttle bus that takes some 20 passengers, and it was full. That was a very good place to make acquaintances. Among the passengers we had a lengthy talk with a couple from South Africa. They sailed with four daughters. They were on their way around the globe. Last year they met some nice people from New Foundland, and then they decided to take half a year extra, to visit their friends during the hurricane season in the North Atlantic. Consequently they had to spend four years on their journey around the world instead of three as originally planned. That is the freedom of cruising!
Since May last year there are two parallel operating sets of locks from the Caribbean sea to the Gatun Lake. That means that the cars, when going from the one side of the canal to the other must either pass over two locks (when they are closed), or go by ferry to cross the canal. The road over the locks have a very limited opening hours, because then the ship traffic has to stop. But now there is a huge project going on. A bridge is being built over the canal. It will have a free height of 60 meters. I think this project will have significant impact on the regional activity. The east coast in Panama is poorly developed All the richness is in Panama city and other places on the Pacific side. |