kiel canal

Latitude: 54 degrees 22.110N

Longitude: 10 degrees 7.420E

Course: 260 degrees

Ship (and Hamburg) time: 10:55am

We are currently entering the Kiel Canal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel_canal), leaving the Baltic Sea and making our way across the Jutland Peninsula from Kiel to Brunsbüttel and the North Sea. We will be in the North Sea only a short time before heading up the Elbe River to Hamburg. Our arrival is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 8am.

German immigration is on the ship right now, and we will shortly be making our way to Deck 7 to meet them and pick up our passports. That will make leaving the ship in the morning much more efficient since the ship will already have been cleared. 

 The channel in this canal is much more open than that of the Panama Canal which we transited in 2009. We are now past the first lock and it appears to be more of a lake than a canal; there are other vessels around us. I see a family picnicking on the shore and a couple walking on what seems to be a path along the canal. Our ship is so quiet I can hear them talking. The countryside is beautiful and green and it's a sunny day with few clouds. We are told the transit will take six hours, so we are looking forward to more sights like these as we go.

Off to get passports now.