Have you ever been to the Panama Canal? Well, I have, and it is truly an engineering marvel; how it was ever built and in such an ugly environment is almost beyond imagination. I've been fortunate to have gone through her twice and am planning on going again next March.
We have had some folks who have expressed an interest in going over the past few years, but I've purposefully held back because they have been constructing another canal and I did not want to go again until after it was finished. They were scheduled to be through with it in '14, then it was '15, but there were always delays of some sort or another. Well, just last week I heard that on June 26, this coming Sunday, they were going to open it for business. Here it is, 9 years after starting and $5.4 billion later, ships large enough to carry up to 14,000 containers compared to 5,000 that they can carry now, will be inviting paying customers to “come on down”. In a short while, the larger cruise ships will be able to navigate through there too, but I'm sure they will be doubly sure it is working exactly like they want it when they take passengers through those locks.