Colon, Panama

 Of all Dave's and my shore excursions, I was most hesitant about our nine-hour "Panama Canal Tour."  "Will we see anything different from when the ship itself crosses the Panama Canal?" I wondered.  In fact, this trip was the perfect complement to riding in our ship through the Canal, the next day.  We left from Colon, on the Caribbean side of the Canal, drove by bus to the midpoint of the Canal, and then crossed through the remaining half the Canal in a ferry boat.  The ferry was small enough so that we could really see how the locks work, whereas our ship took up the entire width of each lock.

 Our guide was a Panamanian who was raised speaking English as his first language and had worked with the US contractors in the Canal Zone for so many years that his American accent and idioms were impeccable.  He was also deeply knowledgeable.  He told about the history of the Canal from the French entrepreneurs from 1880 forward to the latest expansion plans and the competing, Chinese-financed canal to be cut through Nicaragua.  He pointed out the tree stumps where low water revealed the land covered up by the canal, and he explained how the locks worked as we sailed through in our ferry.

 One of the treats of crossing the Panama Canal is to see all types of ships from all over the world.  Many are maneuvered by tugs.

 Small boats and ships can cross the Canal, as well as large ones.

 This bridge carries the Pan-American Highway.

 We crossed through two locks during our tour.  This lock lowered us.  We sailed to the end of the lock, the water was lowered, and the front doors of the lock were opened to let us sail through.

 Many ships are now too large to pass through the Panama Canal.  Containers are lifted from those ships at one end of the Canal, carried by railroad to the other end of the Canal, and then lifted onto ships waiting to take them on to their final destination.

 The focal point of the Pacific end of the canal is this flamboyant building by internationally renowned architect, Frank Lehry.

 As we got to the Pacific end of the canal, a tug came to pick up our skipper, who was specially trained to take the ferry through the locks.  Most boats have special skippers to take them through the Panama Canal.