Transiting the Panama Canal

Around 5 am the ship entered the channel leading to the set of locks we would transit through on the ship.   Everyone was up and about very early this day to watch the process of going through the locks.

The ship entered the first of the three chambers at 7:00 and entered Gatun Lake at 8:30.  The Gatun locks have three chambers that raise the ship 85 feet from the level of the Atlantic to the lake level.  Each chamber has a length of 1,000 feet and a width of 110 feet. Our ship is 964 feet long and 105 feet wide, so it is about the largest ship that can pass through the Canal.

People were lined up everywhere to watch the progress through the locks

A mule passes in front of the lighthouse at the Gatun Locks

Close-up view of the mule which is tied to the ship as it goes through the lock

The gates open as the ship enters the first lock

Everyone awaits our entry into Gatun Lake

Once in the lake the ship anchored and all the different tour groups would tender off the ship.  Only tours arranged through the ship were allowed off the ship.  Our tour included a bus ride to Gamboa, where all 400 of us boarded a large ferry boat which would take us through the locks on the Pacific side of the lake.

The 8 buses transported us all to Gamboa where a ferry boat was waiting for us to board.  We would spend a couple hours cruising about 9 miles on Lake Gatun toward the Pacific locks.  We passed several huge cargo ships, the prison holding Manuel Noriega, and we could see the construction of a new set of canals that will allow larger ships to transit the canal.  During this time we had a narrator on board who talked about various points of interest along the shoreline and explained more about the history of the canal, how the locks work, and the construction of the future expansion.

Our ship anchored in Lake Gatun

Many, many buses

The Turia II ferry holds 400 passengers.

The prison that holds Manuel Noriega along the Canal.

We traversed through the Culebra Cut and arrived at the Pedro Miguel locks about two and a half hours after boarding.  It was interesting that they use a couple of guys in a rowboat to gather the lines to attach the ship lines to the mules.  The locks are a sight to see from a small boat.  

The Culebra Cut--an enormous amount of earth removed at this point during the canal construction.

The Centennial Bridge named for the 100th anniversary of the canal, 1914-2014.

Gathering lines from the ship to attach to the mules in the locks

You can appreciate the size of the locks from a lower vantage point

After going through the Pedro Miguel single stage lock that lowers the boat 31 feet, we entered Miraflores Lake for the short trip to the Miraflores locks.  This is a two-stage lock that lowers the boat a total of 54 feet to the level of the Pacific Ocean.

Another ferry shared the lock with us.

The slip knot used to tie the ferry to the mule while in the lock

On the remainder of the trip to the Pacific we pass beneath the Bridge of the Americas, and view the new Frank Gehry Biodiversity Museum that has been under construction for the past 10 years, a strange looking building!

The PanAmerican highway cross the canal at this point.  The highway stretches from North America to the very bottom of South America.

The Frank Gehry Biodiversity Museum.

We then leave the ferry and board the bus for the ride to meet the ship.  During our day-long excursion the ship has transited back through the Gatun Locks and was waiting for us in Colon, Panama.

It costs between $320,000 and $350,000 for a large ship to go through the canal...cash only and reservations for the transit are made months in advance, or the vessel would have to wait perhaps 48 hours before getting an assigned spot in line to go through the locks.  Cruise ship fees are based on the number of beds; cargo ships on the number of containers.

It was very interesting to go through the locks in a smaller boat--a much different perspective being so low in the water.  I actually thought this was a better experience than when we did a full-transit of the canal back in 2008 and stayed on the cruise ship for the transit through all the locks.

Next port.....Limon, Costa Rica and we meet the strangest creatures named, Millie, Johnny Depp, Tasmania, Delilah, and Toyota....