Two “sea days” on the way to Miami

It is surprising just how far it is from the exit of the canal to Miami. It take two full days and nights at almost full speed for the ship to make its deadline with the Miami Pilot at 4-30 am..
We were able to take a look at the bridge where the real seamen; like the ship it is gigantic and looks more like a space shuttle launce center than part of a ship.



The right picture is the center area of the bridge the lone officer is the “officer of the watch”, keeping a look out as the ship steers itself. The left picture is one of the several monitor areas from which the engines are controlled, navigation is performed and monitoring of all safety aspect of the ship are controlled. Just out of the picture is a wheel about the size of that in a toy car which is only used when all the magical electronics and the multiple back ups fail!.
We we able to see repeater monitors of the information that the watch office has infront of him.

This is a clean version of the main radar – about 24” diameter. Below is this information and GPS input superimposed on the standard navigation chart of the area.
                                               
The last monitor show an enormous  amount of data at the top center is an electonic version of the compass.

 If you click on this iamge you may be able to find the distance to the Balboa Sea bout – the entrance to the canal it is in the bottom left area 237.1 nautical miles..
After all this geeky stuff we found time to visit the excellent Tepanyaki restaurant.

                                                

We we inundated with excellent sea food; Lobster, scallops, jumbo shrimp and calamari all cooked perfectly  in a spectacular showy way in front of us.
 
                                               

After three plates full MJ had coffee served and called it a day!
As a contrast here is a rather sad looking MJ awaiting her breakfast under a painting of “Catherine the Great” of Russia – a hero of her’s – in one of the formal restaurants decorated in the style of the late Tzarist period.

I will post a few more post to wrap up this adventure mainly covering the pro’s and con’s of our first experience with cruising and some ideas of what worked and didn’t for us.
If you like pictures I will be posting many more to MJ’s new “Flicker” page which I will link to in the next post.

Check back in a couple of days for new stuff. We are home now so the restrictions of the expensive onboard internet connection do not apply!