Ray?
Soon after awakening, I saw something in the water from our cabin door. At first I thought it was a piece of cardboard, but then it reversed direction. At one point, both side tips curled up briefly like that of a ray.
Ray?
Alice and I had never been through the Panama Canal, and were looking forward to it. Most of the folks we know who had been through the canal in the past, had told us that they went through it at night. Even though the canal is well lit, that doesn't compare with going through it during daylight hours. The locks in the canal are fed with fresh water from Gatun Lake. But there hasn't been as much rain as normal during the past year, and the lake was relatively low, so the canal authorities have reduced canal traffic. That worked to our benefit, as the Quest was asigned a 3 p.m. time to enter the canal. With a ship the size of the Quest, another sea vessel would be going with us through the locks.
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Magnificent Frigatebirds
Magnificent Frigatebirds
Magnificent Frigatebird showing off
Magnificent Frigatebird
Brown Boobies
Recently fledged Brown Booby
Blue-footed Boobies
Blue-footed Booby
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Brown Pelicans
We returned to the ship and it made its way to the canal entrance. Three Brown Boobies were flying close to me on the ship. One of them was using its webbed foot as a rudder to help it turn in the wind.
Brown Booby
Brown Booby
Brown Booby
Shortly before 3 p.m., the Quest got into line behind the Juliana. We approached the Bridge of the Americas marking the entrance to the Panama Canal.
Bridge of the Americas
Lining up for the Panama Canal
Ship leaving the Panama Canal
Starting through the Panama Canal
Mules keeping ships in the center of the Panama Canal
There were a variety of birds and animals along the canal.
Capybaras
Muddy Capybara?
Laughing Gull
Spotted Sandpiper
Fork-tailed Flycatcher
Fork-tailed Flycatcher
Fork-tailed Flycatcher
Last lock doors before heading into Gatun Lake
Today's life bird (trip# 59): Fork-tailed Flycatcher.
