December 2000

Well I'm back in business after the usual horrors associated with moving to a new home, something I did after taking a Panama Canal cruise.  I've been recruited as a guest lecturer for cruise lines making canal transits.  This gave me some great photo ops.  I've always gone through the canal in tour launches, basically at water level.  It's interesting what you can see from several stories up.   So the following is going to be a trip down memory lane, plus shots of some changes.

This is the old Amador Yacht Club pier.  (The club house was destroyed a while back.)   The buildings in the Fort Amador area were demolished in order to make room for tourist development.  Off to the left of the picture you can see a new hotel under construction.

Here's the canal side of Sosa Hill.  The trees are a teak tree plantation that has been put in on the slopes.  No more "burning the hill."

The old Balboa port area was demolished and a large landfill put in.  The old facilities have been replaced with modern container port structures.

Are there any old Boy Scouts or Explorers from Troop 5, Saint Luke's Church in Ancon?   Do you remember the camp we had on the Cocoli River for a while? Those were the good old days, skinny - dipping at night under Coleman Lanterns.  Here is the mouth of the Cocoli coming into Miraflores Lake.

Miraflores Lake again:  Very muddy from the Autumn rains, and the lush jungle right down to the water's edge.

The Panamanian Canal Authority continues to work on improving the canal.  This is part of a widening project just as you enter Gaillard Cut (Miraflores Locks in the background).  The minimum width of the channel is to be over 600 feet in straight aways and over 700 feet in curves.

This is what's left of Gold Hill at the Continental Divide.  The rectangular objects you see in the hill side are the heads of devices used to try to stabilize the face and prevent land slides.  I wonder if some day the hill won't be completely removed?

Here's the old railroad bridge at Gamboa.  As I went through I could see the work being done by the Kansas City - Southern Railroad, which has a contract to renovate and run the system.  The old tracks have been removed completely and are being replaced.

Finally, this is near Gatun Dam.  It was the end of a Rainy Season day, and the jungle was really steaming.

If all goes well, I will be taking a couple cruises a year as a lecturer.  I also intend to be making "in-country" visits at least every other year.   So I hope I will be providing regular up-dated pictures of what's happening.  Hasta la vista!