New York to Houston ... the long way - part forty-three

Even longtime sailors - this is electrician Milan Cojic - burn up SD cards as we near the first two locks of the Panama Canal.

About forty vessels a day use the canal. Three are already in the locks as we approach.

Captain 'Boni' and pilot consider steering Amber - a 'Panamax' ship - safely into the lock. Panamax means Amber's the maximum size that can transit the canal.

The captain checks our fit as Hyundai Goodwill enters the parallel lock.

A crewman on Goodwill takes a break.

Wide shot of Goodwill and Amber.

One of the electric locomotives or 'mules', which assist ships through the locks. In the old days, first timers were advised to have carrots to feed the mules.

Goodwill's stern in the Miraflores lock shows the squeeze.

It's not original to say how impressive it is that a system a hundred years old can still take some of the world's larger ships.

The U.S. handed the canal over to the Panamanians, a process completed in 1999.

This is one of the huge shovels the Americans used to dig the canal.

From Amber, we catch glimpses of the $5.2 billion canal expansion, expected to open in 2014. Although the new locks will be wider and longer, some container ships - designed only for the Asia-Europe run via Suez - still won't fit.

These pictures give some idea of the close quarters.

I'd like to claim this splendid display was for us, but suspect they were merely testing equipment.

By the way, it cost CMA CGM about $165,000 for Amber to go through Panama, but it did save us a voyage under South America.

New York to Houston ... the long way - part forty-two

Yesterday, off the Mexican coast, I was at the bow taking touristy pictures of seabirds. After a while, the birds vanished and I started to leave, taking at last look round. On the forward mast, a new visitor had arrived.

Not the best angle for a shot, but half an hour later, I was on the bridge when the visitor and his or her mate settled on two of the containers.

In the late afternoon, there was a page throughout the ship: "Passenger John, passenger John, come quickly to the bridge and bring your camera!" On the starboard wing was one of our guests. As best as possible, I snapped through the door.

My fellow passenger must have liked the perch, because this morning he or she returned. Oliver watches.

Hawk? Falcon? No idea. Suggestions welcomed.

___________________________________________

November 22, 2011 - Thanks to Brian, I now know that the bird was likely an Osprey.

New York to Houston ... the long way - part forty-one

Today, we had abandon ship drill. If I ever have to leave a sinking vessel, I hope it's a freighter with a handful of crew and not a cruise ship with thousands of passengers.

Amber has regular training for fire, pirates, oil spills, all sorts of emergencies. By the swimming pool, Chief Mate Hrvoje Horvat instructs on immersion suits, which are in all our cabins.

Third Mate Elijun Tan demonstrates.

Another crew member (difficult to tell who's who in these suits) bobs in the water.

A lifeboat is lowered as the chief mate and captain anxiously watch. This can be very dangerous; two people were killed on a CMA CGM ship this year when a boat drill went wrong. Now, no one's in a lifeboat when it's lowered in an exercise.

If you've ever wondered what one of these things is like, read on. From the bow, here are the two sides with space for thirty-six (Amber is currently carrying twenty-three). Each place has shoulder straps, a safety belt and protective headrest.

The boats are equipped with a solar panel for charging, radar deflector, flares, fishing gear, first aid supplies and so on. These are water and ration packs.

Third Mate Frederick Villanueva at the wheel.

Here are the instrument panel and view from the little cockpit.

Amber has two lifeboats and six life rafts. In the best case, with only eleven or twelve in each lifeboat, it still would be claustrophobic and unnerving. With engine on, the interior would be hot, stuffy and noisy. Pitching and rolling would make people seasick and the smell in tightly packed conditions would be dreadful, but survivable.

On passenger ships, the chief mate, who worked on one, says the worst problem would not be the elderly or handicapped; the problem would be untrained people panicking. And on a vessel with thousands of passengers, that could mean disaster.

New York to Houston ... the long way - part forty

News item: Indian Navy thwarts pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden, seizing weapons and boarding equipment, then releases the fourteen pirates.

The normally good-natured Captain 'Boni' is furious about letting pirates go free. "Give them to the Russians," he says, "They'd know what to do with them." I guarantee not a member of his crew would disagree.

New York to Houston ... the long way - part thirty-nine

Sunday morning and a lumpy, sullen sea. Heading below for poached eggs, I'm walking in zigzags. The ship is quiet as those not on duty sleep in after last night's really enjoyable Pacific party. Let's go back to yesterday afternoon.

Like all parties, tables have to be brought out.

There's the inevitable discussion about what goes where.

The homemade barbecue, which lives on deck, is power cleaned of rust.

Three hours later, somewhere in the smoke, Cadet Hrvoje takes charge of cooking everything from steak to chicken to seafood.

Chief Mate Hrvoje Horvat forgoes his diet.

Cadet Nathaniel Ladiana cranks up the music.

Second Engineer Bruno Tomic displays rare, very rare, talent.

As watches change, everyone gets to come. Ordinary Seaman Manuel Uytoco.

Deck Fitter Domingo Garfin.

Chief Engineer Ivo Jurin and Third Engineer Florencio Ordillo relax ...

... as Oiler Ernesto Sicatin croons old Filipino tunes.

Electrician Milan Cojic, Bruno and Captain 'Boni' pose.

And I, looking my sheepish self, somehow end up on the deck with Fitter Oscar Mataberde.

It was a great evening.