GregWCIL Loc: Illinois

Our small ship entered the canal just at sunset. It was remarkably interesting journey for the next 10 hours.

One of the most interesting sights seen that night was a huge dipper dredge. It has been working continuously since it went into service during World War II.

Captain Andreas on the right sharing the ship's controls with the required Panamanian Canal pilot


This dipper dredge works 24-7 in the Calebra Pass area of the canal. Here it brings up a huge bucket full of mud and water.

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These shots were handheld from our moving ship using my Nikon 16-35 image stabilized lens.

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As the bucket-full lands on the spoil dirt barge an explosion of water occurs. I was impressed with my camera's ability to work at 6400 ISO with so little noise.

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The Calebra Cut is where the Continental Divide is crossed by the canal. It's the most unstable area (requiring dredging) but also the narrowest area so they built this beautiful new bridge across it.

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As we pass under the bridge about midnight.

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gregoryd45 Loc: Fakahatchee Strand

Great shots GregWCIL, must have been a super experience

plessner Loc: North Dakota

Very interesting
thanks

WalPerth Loc: Perth, Western Australia

Excellent set of photos.
Thanks for sharing.
Wal

rkramer1

We been through there at night too. It was beautiful. NO ONE when to bed that night.

LarryN Loc: Portland OR & Carbondale, CO

I like all the shots but I find the three successive shots of the dipper dredge particularly interesting. Those three shots really capture the operation of the dredge. The dark background draws my attention entirely to the dredge & the reflections on the water. Really nice focusing also. What was your shutter speed for the dredge shots?

LarryN Loc: Portland OR & Carbondale, CO

A few more successive shots of the dredge would have been nice so as to capture the full cycle of the operation.

GregWCIL Loc: Illinois

Thanks, Gregory. Yes, we started on the Caribbean side, went through the canal and then stopped at several national parks in the Pacific for snorkeling, wildlife viewing and hiking on our way to Costa Rica. It was a small ship with only 53 passengers and we had a great young man from Costa Rica as our naturalist. Totally different emphasis (nature and cultural history) than a large cruise ship.

We really enjoyed the trip, but from strictly a photography point of view any cruise is quite limiting (unless you hired the boat to do just what you wanted). We put to shore usually twice a day but never anywhere near the golden hours. If I was going for photography, I would choose a land tour of Costa Rica. We have done that before and it was great. Now, if I go back a third time, I would just rent a car and possibly a guide/driver.

The only other negative to our trip was it kept me from attending the famous swamp shoot. Maybe next year.

GregWCIL Loc: Illinois

Thank you, Katherine. Not something I would hang on the wall, but an interesting part of the canal. Imagine putting a dredge there and saying, "Just keep digging - you might get it done in 100 years or so." Talk about job security. (Btw, I would recommend the canal trip. Nice combination of relaxation, food and adventure.)

GregWCIL Loc: Illinois

Thank you. There was a couple from western Australia on the ship.

GregWCIL Loc: Illinois

We started with a party on the top deck about sunset. The entertainment guy even had the sailors on the cargo ship ahead of us dancing along to his music. Our ship had an open bridge policy, so I spent a lot of time in there talking to the Captain and navigators. We compared their GPS auto steering to what I have on farm tractors.

GregWCIL Loc: Illinois

Thank you for your kind words, Larry. They were about 1/45th of a second. And I was at 35mm zoom on the lens. But I have shaky hands so I was pleased how well the image stabilization worked.

I would like to have added more shots to the series. The dumping of the spoil happens pretty fast, but by the time he swings to the side and then the big boom actually telescopes deep down in the water, we were out of range.

LarryN Loc: Portland OR & Carbondale, CO

The shutter speed worked great. Too bad you couldn't have gotten more shots of the operation but those three do tell a very interesting story.

sailorsmom Loc: Souderton, PA

Very good shots, GregWCIL! And very interesting, too.

plessner Loc: North Dakota

Yes hard to believe projects that big!
A group of us who have traveled together and gone on 2 other cruises looked at doing the canal a couple of years ago...Our farmer husbands who like to stay busy thought it looked like too many days just at sea--heaven forbid they have nothing to do but sit around and eat and drink!