This first part follows the trench dug by the French on the first attempt. It was during this attempt that close to 60% of the workers perished. There has never been an actual count of how many workers died during this time but 20,000 is not an unrealistic number. All were victims of either Malaria or YellowFever and a few accidents thrown in .It’s odd how knowing the history makes this place so amazing and so accurately reflects a time when the “big idea” went from Europe to the States. When the French started the canal they had just finished the Suez Canal and Paris was the most beautiful and advanced engineering center of the world. The French engineering universities and architecture schools were where any serious student..British, American, German went to study

They believed they could do anything and raised millions for projects all over the globe. They believed that sheer intellectual power could overcome anything so they ignored the minority’s advice to not build a sea level Canal but use locks and create a huge lake. There was actually a French engineer who suggested just that and he was derided for not having vision.

In the end intellectual brilliance couldn’t overcome the jungle and the tiny mosquito and the venture collapsed

When Teddy Roosevelt became president common opinion was to forget Panama and build the Canal through Nicaragua using Lake Nicaragua. The reason Panama got the go ahead was that the French offered to sell what they had started for a bargain basement price. The new American engineers stressed practicality over vision and borrowed from the scoffed at French guy and created a man made lake. Of course not asking the Panamanians who would be displaced by the new lake what they thought …but hey we engineered and financed a rebellion just to take Panama away from Columbia so we could control the eventual Canal so what’s a thousand or so displacements?!

Anyhow, knowing all this and the contextual history made the journey really interesting to me Going through the Galliard Cut where first the French then the Yanks essentially cut a canyon through the mountains at a huge cost to life and endured continuos deadly landslides seemed like a minor sight unless you visualized the challenge it was in 1908. It’s funny everything I read talks about the outrageous financial costs to build the canal ….how it’s been repaid many times but few talk about the human costs. The sheer magnitude of death that went into this turn of the a Century wonder. Of course much of our understanding of tropical disease treatment came from those who died but I’m sure they don’t care ! Finally after 6 hours I could finally see a glimpse of the pacific.

Even today I was shocked at the sheer volume of traffic through the Canal 24/7 365 a year.

So I crossed a continent in 6 hours !

I really know my grandad and my pop would have loved being with me. I hope they were I took a bunch of photos in chronological order so you can go from the Atlantic to the Pacific with me.

signing off…I’ll see you in 16 days…and be full of boring stuff to read during conference calls 😎please drop me an e mail that I can access on the ship at

Donojames@aol.com

N ow on to those 99 dvds and 50 books on my iPAD

As we head through the canal I’m thinking of my grandad today but also my father. My dad loved adventure. He always put family first so other than the occasional fishing trip he didn’t get out much. When my folks had vacation it was always a family affair and usually my mom and dad made it educational . My dad was famous for long drives expounding on various geological features. My sister and I knew all about rocks and strata and seismic plates from an early age from long family vacations and my dads running educational monologue. Sometimes I hear myself sounding just like my dad ..ask John lol. If my pop did get a chance to do something daring or exciting he embraced but seldom planned it for himself I remember taking him on safari to Africa two years before we lost him. He loved that trip I’ve never seen him happier than sitting in the land rover with his silly fishing hat ready to go He was raised on a tenant farm in New Mexico to very poor parents and never thought he would see anything. I think that was something I always loved about him.. he never lost his enthusiasm for new things or experiences. He never dreamed he would get to experience much so when he did it always meant something to him. Whether it was flying in first class for the first time or tenth time or chasing cheetahs in Botswana or watching His kids catch their first fish he never lost his enthusiasm for life and for small and big experiences that shape it. Even in the end he was optimistic and wondering about tomorrow. I hope we get to have more adventures somewhere …. 

I thought about my pop a lot today 

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Those who have had the misfortune of working with me know how I always warble on about all crew and no passengers. So, it’s interesting to actually be a passenger and not part of the crew. I just hope they don’t make me walk the plank or put me to work ! 

Anyhow, thought I’d write a little about the crew 

The crew consists of 19 guys including Germans, Lithuanians Ukrainians and primarily Filipinos who by working on container ships are in a job that pays substantially more than jobs found at home. 

I spend a lot of time with the Filipino second and third officers. Richard and Paolo. They both have families at home and they work long contracts so don’t get to see them much. Everyone is on contract. You work a 9 month on 2 months off contract if you’re crew Think about that. If you have kids you get to see them essentially 2 months a year ! 

Junior officers work 6 months on and 2 off while senior officers work 4 and 4. It’s hard and lonely work but for the Filipinos it’s really a way to get ahead financially . In addition to this job they all were running side businesses with family back home. Every one of them told me they don’t see this as a long term thing . 20 years then home and build a business there. It made me laugh cause 20 years seems pretty long to me😟. It’s all about perspective,

For years these cargo companies have discriminated against Filipino employees in terms of advancement Captain Nelson is one of the few Filipino captains in the company. He is quite open about the disparity in terms of pay and work expectation between European Captains and Filipino ones. 

The  chief engineer is German . He works four months then is off four months but paid for the entire 8 months as he is under European working laws. Captain Nelson does the same but he is only paid for the 4 months he is working. That is true of all the Filipino employees. If they don’t work they don’t get paid. These Companies save a lot of money doing this. Now, certainly the Filipino employees earn well for their economy but there is no such thing as pay equality. 

Employees often extend their contracts. I met one crew member who has been on this ship for 18 months. He goes home in 17 days. He hasn’t seen his family in a year and a half. He will take 2 months off and then head out again. Not the life for a family man but some people have fewer choices . As he talked he showed me downloaded videos his wife sends of his kids That’s how he knows them .


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An unexpected day in Panama City. Up early and into a taxi to the Center. Went up in the observation platform then walked around and had coffee and then to a very upscale mall. Between “interesting ” banking and offshore business regulations and the canal Panama seems to be bustling ! And who doesn’t love a good court with a Dairy Queen ..just missing the Elvis impersonator like we have back home 

Thought I would share some details of the ship with you all ….although no one seems to know who Bernhard S was !Length 261.1 meters (around 858 feet) 

Width. 32.25 meters (106 ft approximately) 

Not to tempt fate but roughly the size of the Titanic..luckily we don’t expect any icebergs  

4256 double containers can be transported 

We sail with 19 crew and room for 8 passengers course this trip just one passenger. ME

We consume about 160 tons per day of fuel 

Out fuel tank had 6500 tons capacity and we fill up primarily in the US as prices are lower

50k horsepower 

We actually make out own water. Using sea water we have an on board evaporator that is sampled for purity regularly 

Currently we are carrying 335 tons of water but can carry up to 430 tons when full of water and we make it from salt water

Questions? Lol ​

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So we are now anchored in the entrance to the canal. The pilot has just radioed  to inform us of an hour + delay and it’s easy to see why. I’m counting at least 14 big vessels in front of us.  It’s a traffic jam on the Caribbean. It’s sort of funny that except in port I’ve seen almost no other ships on the water the last 8 days and now suddenly they are everywhere 

I can tell Captain Nelson is annoyed. We got here early and now we have to wait. Time is money ! 

Perhaps I’ll head back to bed for a little nap ! 

Almost there. The pilot comes on board at 8 am and we will enter the canal. Having read the oath between two seas I’m really thrilled to see the actual structure and appreciate the United Nations of mechanical minds that created a true engineering miracle in the jungle.  However, I wii probably reflect more on the literally thousands of people who died building it. The primary labor force were from the Bahamas and West Indies The price was high. They estimate the death toll at 500 dead per mile between the French effort and the US completion. And most of those were from the West Indies 

I’ll think of true heroes like Dr Gorgas (above) who demanded that US Government focus on mosquito eradication and prevention programs despite the naboobs in Washington who denied the science dismissing the link between the mosquito and Malaria and Yellow fever. Some things haven’t changed 

Okay Grandad here we go !! 

Being Alone

 It’s mostly great being the only passenger.  I get up each morning have coffee with the guys. I walk around the deck 5 times which equals a mile then choose where I will hang out for the morning.  

They set up a chair on the bridge balcony and one at the tip of the bow (my favorite ..very titanic ) and one in the bridge itself.  

Ive got a lot of time so I’ve been listening to music I haven’t played in years. I’ve forgotten how soulful Rod Stewart is when he isn’t being sexy . I challenge anyone to listen to his version of Waltzing Matilda or Sailing and not get a bit choked up …

Civil Wars, Arcade Fire, Manic Street Preachers,The Verve,Beatles , Beautiful Day, The Who , Prince, Kinks ….albums I haven’t listened to in years suddenly have re merged as fresh and interesting as ever . I had forgotten how much fun Erasure and The Pet Shop Boys were until they became serious …I have now replayed all of Bowie about 12 times …time to do what we want and enjoy is so valuable .  

I read and watch for dolphins and do some writing then it’s lunch time. Everyone tends to linger at lunch and shares stories except for “The Lithuanian ” who eats then disappears . More on him later 

In the afternoon I do another four laps then it’s nap time. I sometimes watch a movie or a tv show on my DVD player 

Then around 4 I saunter to the bridge and hang out. If it’s not too windy I sit outside As we were catching the edge of Jose I hunkered down in the bridge pretending I wasn’t freaked out. All I can say is I would have hated to go through the eye of a storm.   It would be great if there was one or two other passengers to carlt had up with but fir limited time only lol.  I’m enjoying this being alone 🤓

I have a lot of time to read and have been plowing through the books on my kindle 

Mostly Mysteries and Biographies .  I wanted to know something about the history of the Panama Canal before I actually went through it so I downloaded 

I’ve read his history of John Adams and Truman and this is equally absorbing.  500 people died for each mile of the Canal.  If you like history pick it up 

Okay the main part of the storm was three hundred miles away and yet the seas were really rough. Swells were occasionally coming over the bow where I sit each day and my cabin was rocking and rolling.  

I kept thinking how glad I was not to be in a real storm if this was just the edge. I actually have a fear of storms on water so this played into it. I remember seeing “The Perfect Storm ” and having nightmares for weeks of those huge waves consuming George Clooney s valiant little fishing boat.    

The Ukrainian first mate told me the story of being caught in a typhoon off the coast of china once and how the boat was tipping so much that they lost almost all the containers on the top of the stack. It seemed unbelievable that a ship of this size could be so affected but we all know Mother Nature is crazy sometimes. I’m grateful that I missed all that.   Good news is we are now headed toward the western Caribbean and smooth water and that the southern pacific this time of year is quite calm !