Up's and downs in the Panama Canal, the morning of day four found us at lock one of the Panama Canal. We were paired with a new looking LPG ship the "Bow Trajectory"; I believe the crew of the Bow Trajectory took as many pictures of the Ocean Princess as we did of them. The BT entered the lock first and was raised 29 feet as we entered our adjoining lock. As we were lifted the BT slipped to stage two and was lifted again, we cat and moussed three times before being released into the Lake above. We passed a viewing area and a few dozen tourist and our ships video team took pictures as we neared midway in lock one.

Once released from the lock BT took the lead as ships with chemicals can only transit the canal during daylight hours. We trailed BT until we reached lock two and were lowered twice again there was a highway near the locks and many people and rubber Necker's slowed the traffic to take more pictures of the beautiful Ocean Princess as she took her turn being lowered, I guess it's like when the Concorde used to land at JFK even the locals stopped to have a look probably not every day a cruise ship makes a full transit of the canal, most cruises stop in the lake and turn around and so after 10 hours we exited the canal still trailing the Bow Trajectory.

Day two out of Panama found us crossing the equator and being "Pollywogs" Joy and I were asked to participate in a ritual where "King Neptune "comes aboard and accused Joy and I of crimes of passion. So on stage in front of the entire ship Joy and I were pronounced guilty and had to "Kiss the Fish "and then publically shamed with eggs, whipped cream, spaghetti and sausages thrown over our heads. We can now hold our heads high as after our penitence was paid, we are now "Shellbacks" and quite popular onboard. Days at sea are not wasted as Joy attends trivia several times a day where she learned the piece of skin at your elbow with no nerve endings is called your "Wienus" and I must say we have had a blast with that one just about everybody onboard has a story of hitting their wienus on something.

I have attended seminars on Charles Darwin and a great seminar on the history of the automobile and American highways. I have also been the only passenger to sing karaoke with my signature song "Whip It". Tonight I will sing "Southern Cross" as she has come into site of our ship.

Two more days at sea and we are in Equator, we decided to take the local bus to town a whopping 25 cents. Guayaquil is a city not quite set up for tourist yet but they made sure that there was plenty of security; we walked for what seemed like miles taking in the hills covered in colorful painted homes.

As we approach the Peruvian coast our ship becomes more of a family. The biggest problem is remembering names of the characters. I tend to give people nicknames like the Mayor, Buckeye, Stash and the Lady that I just growl at and she growls back, never got her name but she wears coconut shell bikini tops so she must be fun. Before bed we watch the never ending reruns of the Love Boat on TV.