Well its official, I have survived my first migraine, at least for now. Over the past 11 days, I have suffered from a steadily progressing headache. The past few days have been the worst, and have forced me into a dark, quiet room, with ice on my head & neck.

I stubbornly tried to let it run its course, but could take it no longer, and called Mom. She recommended simple aspirin, the one thing I hadn't tried. DayQuil, Aleve, non-aspirin painkillers, Tylenol, anything I had, and some I had to go buy, I tried. Once I knew what to buy, it was a piece-of-cake. Headache, conquered.

I haven't confirmed it yet, but I may have developed an allergy to the local milk. Each morning I would wake up feeling decent enough, and I even went on a run yesterday around 6am. However, after my morning cereal today, the headache returned with a vengeance, and milk is the prime suspect.

Anyways, so where were we... oh ya, the Panama Canal...

We finally came to the top lock on the Pacific side. The water was still brown, and cranes attached to barges were found everywhere we visited. I found it interesting to see them digging away at the sides of the canal, not so much to build the new locks, but to keep the earth at bay. Constant rain causes a great deal of erosion throughout the canal, and this is a never ending battle. I'm not sure what this crane in the picture is doing, I just liked the shot...

About half way through our cruise, the boat stopped at a small dock on the right side of the canal. When we bought our tickets, we had two options, either the full length, or just half. Most of our shipmates had chosen the half cruise, and our boat quickly emptied. It gave us a bit of breathing room, but also an uneasy feeling as if they knew something we did not.

Not long after this, the rain started. "Ah ha," we thought, "that's where everyone went..." The crew sprang into action, and lowered rain covers on both sides of the boat. It wasn't pouring, but it was enough to keep our cameras inside where it was dry. Although the weather had turned on us, my parents & I were still happy that we decided to take the full tour.

Over the next hour or so, it was pretty much all the same: a straight, flat, wet boat ride. The middle of the canal is occupied by Lake Gatun, which in-turn is situated in the valley of the Charges River.

The lake has an area of 164 square miles, and holds an astonishing 183 billion cubic feet of water. The point is, it took a while to cross. We settled into our seats, and listened to the announcer share small tidbits amongst the soft melody of light rain. It was quite pleasant.

Our patience was soon rewarded. The rain stopped, the sun came out in full force, and even the water returned to a beautiful blueish-green. It was at this point that I was glad I bought a souvenir hat early that morning.

There were a number of characters aboard, but one of the more memorable was the souvenir lady. From the early morning, until the halfway point, she relentlessly peddled her wares, ranging from t-shirts to beer. One of the best lines of the day was introducing the beers for sale around 9am. She stepped up from the galley, and with a basket of beer in hand, she shouted, "Ok, where's my drinkers at??" It was a great way to break the ice, and distract you from the fact that people were drinking at 9am. Classic...

Another eccentric figure was the announcer, who had personality to spare. Over the entire 9 hour tour, this guy didn't stop talking for more than 15 or 20 minutes. He was completely fluent in both English & Spanish, and therefor said everything twice. He also sang half a dozen songs at different parts of the canal, which made everyone on board smile.

He told us that the boat we were on was built in 1912, and was once owned by Al Capone, who used it as a rum runner during prohibition. Several years later it was owned by Jason Robards and Steve McQueen. Hay, if its good enough for The King of Cool, then its good enough for me...

Lunch was served on-board, and all went quiet for a short period. Then, around 2:30pm that afternoon, we finally arrived at the Caribbean locks that would take us back down to sea-level.

There was a large tanker in the lock ahead of us, and we were forced to wait a half hour while she did her thing. This was just fine with us, because we had a surprise waiting in the water not far from our boat. When the announcement came over the loud speakers that there were dolphins off our port side, everyone moved so quickly that we nearly capsized the boat. Well, ok, maybe not capsized, but you get the idea.

The best we could figure was they had swam into a lock alongside some yacht, following it in from the sea as dolphins tend to do. Once inside the lock however, they could not turn around, and were forced up and finally into the lake. Since they breath air and can sometimes live in fresh water, they have apparently made a home there. I just hope there is fish for them to eat.

Moving down the locks works much the same as moving up the locks, except in reverse. Water is let out, rather than let in, but the experience is somehow different than this simple explanation.

On our way up, we would sail up along side the lock walls, and they would slowly disappear into the water below us. On our way down the locks, we started with a clear view of the sky, and were slowly consumed by a concrete casket. I couldn't help but imagine the doors behind us giving way, and Lake Gatun emptying into our lock of death.

The immortal words of Chief Brody rang in my ears: You're gunna need a bigger boat...

We made it! Three up, three down, and we were now heading into the Atlantic ocean.

Before we reached the shores of Colon Harbor though, we were approached by the coastguard. This is standard operating procedure, because our canal captain needed to disembark. Each ship must be piloted by special captains assigned to the canal, no matter how big or small the vessel may be. The coastguard barely slowed down, and the captain literally jumped onto his official water taxi. It was a maneuver they have probably done hundreds of times before, but it was a special sight for us to see.

Back on land, what was left of our boating party piled into a large bus for the return to Panama City, which should have been a two hour journey. Luckily, it was not a local's bus, but rather an air-conditioned, comfortable bus, much like what we're accustomed to back in the US. The driver was a little nuts, and a whole lot of daredevil, but we made it back in one piece, in just under an hour, and set our sights on some dinner...

One last note... Over the course of the whole day, with hundreds of pictures between us, we failed to capture one of us three together; Mom, Dad, and myself. The Panama Canal was a great experience to be sure, one that will never be forgotten. But, I do wish we had taken that picture...