Wilde Adventures

George & Marney Wilde

We overnighted on the lake and the next morning at breakfast many of us were excited to see that we had a Holland America sister ship moored immediately adjacent to us. The other ship was the Maasdam, where crew members that we know and will be excited to see again when we sail with it in April are working and where the fiancee of a Guest Relations staff member is stationed. So, several of us were out on deck to wave to anyone on that ship who might be watching us; Panamanian regulations do not allow the transmittal or mail or messages (not even phone calls!) to another ship within their waters.

By noon the Amsterdam was ready to proceed back through the locks once again. Our canal visit was a scenic tour, not a transit to the Atlantic Ocean, so we returned through the locks we transited the previous day. Our afternoon transit was the result of the tradition that ships going toward the Atlantic may transit in the morning; those going toward the Pacific will transit in the afternoon. By now these locks were familiar, but no less exciting to travel through them again.

All too soon the lines that connected the Amsterdam to the mules that guide ships through the locks were disconnected, our naturalist and the local pilots disembarked the ship, and as we sailed out, we enjoyed the many birds that were overhead, probably looking for an early supper.