Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Azamara Journey Cruise Ship

In this image we see the Azamara Journey Cruise Ship on her South bound Panama Canal Transit today on December 28 2010 on a rainy day leaving the Gatun Locks in Colon heading to the Gatun Lake and later to Panama City. Normaly we should have the dry season starting now and the heavy rains we have had this december in Panama (according to the Panama Canal Authority the most rain in december in the last 200 years) this is due to La Niña that brings cooler waters in the Pacific Ocean currents then normal causing extreme weather problems in many countries see this blog here about La Niña weather problems.
Azamara Journey Cruise Ship

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Seabourn Sojourn Luxury Cruise Ship

The Seabourn Sojourn, a luxury cruise ship operated by Seabourn Cruise Line, is seen here in the Miraflores Locks in her South Bound Panama Canal Transit, on Christmas Day December 25 2010.

The Seabourn Sojourn
Operator: Seabourn Cruise Line
Capacity: 450 passengers

The Seabourn Sojourn in the Miraflores Locks

Friday, December 24, 2010

The Celebrity Constellation Cruise Ship

The GTS Celebrity Constellation, a Millennium class cruise ship of Celebrity Cruises, is seen here in the Miraflores Locks in her South Bound Panama Canal Transit today December 24 2010.


The GTS Celebrity Constellation cruise ship




















Class and type: Millennium Class cruise ship
Decks:     13
Capacity: 1,950 passengers
Crew:     999

Panama Canal Flooding Satellite Image

Panama Canal Flooding Satellite Image what is seen in this NASA image is the Lago Alajuelaa (Lake Madden; formed by the Madden Dam) a reservoir along the upper Chagres River, that feeds the Lake Gatun and the Panama Canal.

That image was taken on Dec 17 2010, and still today on Dec 24 the lakes water remains with extremely heavy sediments causing problems to Panamas water supply as the water treatment plants are struggling to cope with this problem. Also guess they need to take a close look at deforestation and its effects on the Panama Canal watershed.

NASA TEXT: In early December 2010, the Panama Canal closed for only the third time in its 96-year history. Two artificial lakes linked to the canal, Gatún and Alajuela, reached their highest-recorded water levels, prompting authorities to close the canal for 17 hours. The canal reopened on December 9.

Lago Alajuela serves as a reservoir for the Panama Canal, which lies to the lake’s southwest. On December 17, 2010, several days after the canal’s temporary closure, the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this natural-color image of Lago Alajuela. This image has been rotated so north is to the right. The canal lies off the top left corner of the image.

Torrential rains can erode soils, delivering heavy sediment loads to streams, rivers, and lakes. Ranging in color from dull green to tan, Lago Alajuela appears choked with sediment, contrasting sharply with the surrounding green forest.

Panama is accustomed to heavy precipitation. The rainy season lasts from May to January. The Panama Canal actually depends on huge quantities of water—each trip through the canal requires some 52 million gallons. Still, heavy rains in early December 2010 overwhelmed the region. The same rains that raised Lago Alajuela’s water level and filled it with sediment also forced thousands of residents to evacuate, washed out roads, and caused deadly landslides.




Lago Alajuelaa

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Check out the Real Time Panama Canal Ships Location GPS Map

Check this out: NEW from Canal-Cruise-Panama.com Information on Panama Canal Cruises and what else to do around the Panama Canal

This great feature is a real time updates GPS map of the Panama Canal with the location of all ships at any given moment! Check out this cool new map here:

The Silver Cloud Cruise Ship in The Panama Canal

Here we see the Silver Cloud Cruise Ship in the Miraflores Locks in her North Bound Panama Canal Transit today, on a sunny day, December 16 2010.

Name: Silver Cloud Cruise Ship
Registry: Bahamas
Capacity: 296
Number of Passenger Decks: 6
Number of Outside Rooms: 148
Number of Restaurants: 4

Silver Cloud Cruise Ship

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The Island Princess Cruise Ship

The Island Princess Cruise Ship seen here in the Pedro Miguel Locks in her North Bound Panama Canal Transit today December 15 2010.


The Island Princess Cruise Ship

Monday, December 13, 2010

The Oceana Cruise Ship

The Oceana Cruise Ship




















The Oceana Cruise Ship is seen here in her South Bound Panama Canal Transit in the Miraflores Locks today on a rainy Monday Dic. 13 2010. We had some bad weather here for a while now with some heavy flooding in some parts of Panama. In the other Lock in Miraflores behind the Oceana we can see the Norasia Alya  Cargo Ship.


The Oceana Cruise Ship
Crew: 875
Decks: 15
Passengers: 2,016

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Panama Canal Flooding Video Taken From The Gamboa Bridge

Here is some video from the Chagres Bridge at Gamboa where you see the heavy flood that comes down the Chagres River with alot of vegetation beeing swept into the Panama Canal. From Youtube:

Panama Canal resumes transits






Panama Canal resumes transits, after a stop to all transits as a safety measure that started yesterday due to extremely heavy rains that caused high water levels in all lakes and strong currents in the Chagres River. You can see the actual real time ship movements here in this Panama Canal GPS map. See also here this report from CNN: Panama Canal reopens after heavy rains and flooding.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

La Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP) suspends temporarily Panama Canal Transits

La Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP) suspends temporarily Panama Canal Transits due to extremely high water levels because of prolonged heavy rains in the area. The strong currents of the Chagres river could affect ships in the area of Gamboa and therefore the temporary halt to all ship transits.

See also this report here from BBC News: Traffic through the Panama Canal is suspended for the first time in more than 20 years because of heavy rain.

The Truth About Cruise Ships

The Truth About Cruise Ships - A Cruise Ship Officer Survives the Work, Adventure, Alcohol, and Sex of Ship Life

This is a behind-the-scenes look at cruise ships in a way that’s never been done before. Some of the stories are shocking, some are enlightening, but most are just laugh-out-loud entertaining. This tour behind those “Crew Only” doors will reveal:



- How romance on a cruise ship is unlike anywhere else

- The insane things passengers do

- Why alcohol is mandatory at sea

- How nude cruises compare to Christian cruises

- What happens when things go horribly wrong at sea

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Charges to tackle ship emissions

BBC News reports here: On the sidelines of the UN climate summit, a plan is being hatched to charge cargo ships on the basis of their emissions.

Cargo Ship in the Panama Canal
Cargo Ship in the Panama Canal