Yangtze River Cruise Day 1

Our Boat

Our first day and we skipped the shore excursion, opting for a relaxing morning in our cabin. We got to go through the Gezhouba dam, China’s largest dam to date, completed in 1986. This dam has raised the level of the Yangtze some 65 feet behind its walls. It also gave us a chance to see the Three Gorges Dam and see the status of the project, looking up from our deck as we passed through the bypass system.

What a spectacular project. It is located at Sandouping Village, 27 miles above the Gezhouba Dam and will raise the Yangtze yet again. More than 20,000 workers and 3000 engineers are on site and the shore is teeming with heavy construction. The dam will be 6,600 feet (1.23 miles) wide and 607 feet high. They are estimating completion for 2015 at a cost of over $30 billion. It will create a barrier 370 miles long, transforming the wild waters of the Yangtze into a calm lake. It will also submerge 13 cities, 140 towns, 1352 villages, 657 factories and 75,000 acres of cultivated land- and the relocation of 1.3 million people. The project was first conceived back in 1919 by Sun Yat-sen and Mao himself supported the project. The project is supposed to generate 15% of China’s total electricity needs, reduce the flooding problems of the past and ease traffic to and from Chongqing for larger boats.
We had a lecture in the afternoon about the Yangtze River. Within the last two weeks (flood season), 4 barges capsized and 20 people drowned.

The river itself is wild- and very difficult to navigate. There is a school specifically created to train pilots for navigation on the Yangtze. It’s the third longest river in the world (after the Nile and the Amazon) and has 4 major tributaries (700 total). It carries 600million tons of silt to the East China Sea annually.
We had a Captain’s Champagne Reception and then dinner. We ended up at a table with Herb and Sandy and Don and Anne. Herb was absolutely hysterical. Don was a dance instructor from New Jersey- your stereotypical Italian stallion- huge gold rings and thick gold bracelets and a huge necklace laced with diamonds proclaiming, “Born to Dance”. It turned out that they were the most fun group on the ship. Both couples had traveled extensively and were hilarious. We skipped the Fashion Show and headed for our cabin for a good nights rest.