As you can see, Queen Victoria is alongside us. She set sail from Southampton on January 2 and I should have been on check in, but didn't make it! We had champagne breakfast which we're still eating at lunchtime. There was enough to feed our neighbours.
The weather is warm again, not too sunny, so it was comfortable up on deck watching us go through the locks. This is our second full transit through, so know what to expect. Nevertheless, it's still very exciting.
Now a fact about the Panama Canal .... In 1534, Charles 1 of Spain ordered the first survey of a proposed canal route through the Isthmus of Panama. More than three centuries passed before the first construction was started. The French laboured 20 years, beginning in 1880, but diseases and financial and engineering problems defeated them. In 1903 Panama gained its independence from Colombia. Shortly thereafter, Panama and the United States signed a treaty in which the USA guaranteed Panama's Independence and paid her ten million dollars. On May 4 1904, the USA purchased the French Canal Company rights and properties for $40million and began construction. The huge project was completed in 1914 at a cost of approximately $387million.
