The San Blas Islands were only about 80 km from the opening of the Panama Canal. By early morning we were at the opening of the canal. The canal runs from the Northeast to the Southwest. Three different sets of multiple locks transport us up to Gatun Lake and back down again. The Gatun, Pedro Miguel, and MiraFlores.
Outside of our room. One of the 38 tugs that guide ships through the canal.Entrance to the Gatun locks. 3 locks to get up to Gatun Lake. The lake is a man made reservoir that feeds water to the locks. The canal is all fresh water fed by this lake.The fee for passage is by the size of the ship among other things. $400,000 for our ship to go through. This must be paid 48 hrs in advance. No payment. No passage.This Chinese car carrier is coming through the other lock towards us. 14,000 cars are aboard. The largest passage fee ever charged was $1.4 million. After listening to the guide aboard the ship, my guess is this ship paid $1 million.Another picture of the carrier. It was hard to capture the size. Six locomotive “mules” guide each ship through the locks. Two in the front, two in the back, two in the middle. The wind can cause the ship to stray to one side or the other. The mules keep the ship in line. Three Canal Pilots boarded our ship. This is part of an agreement each captain must sign after paying for passage. The captain of the ship must relinquish command to these pilots. The pilots guide the ship through the canal. The ships use their own power. The mules only provide guidance if needed.Looking down at the water on the starboard side of the ship. 24 inches of clearance between the ship and the canal wall on each side of the ship. If I climbed over the railing I could have easily touched the canal walls.Looking back at the Chinese carrier.A container ship passes as we reach Gatun Lake.After blasting, the spoils were removed by train along the edge of the canal. The stair step effect was left after the tracks were moved to the next level closer to the center. This area is solid rock.Tugs were never far behind to offer guidance. There is too much money involved to allow any mishap in the canal to force a closure. The canal brings in between $30 and $50 million US dollars each day. The trip around the Southern Tip of South America is the only other route and it is long and expense. Looking back at the Atlantic bridge near the Gatun lock.Approaching the Pedro Miguel locks after a few hours through the Lake.A lightly smaller cruise ship pulls up next to us. It felt like they we’re close enough to give high fives.Tons of modern technology but some old school things remain. The arrow points to the lock that the approaching ship is to use.Heading toward the final set of locks. The Miraflores. After passing through these we will be in the Pacific Ocean. The Bridge of the Americas was built by the American Tax Payer. Thanks everyone. Using this bridge, one can drive from Panama City to Alaska. I’m not sure why this was important to mention but the guide did mention it. We are visiting the Miraflores locks tomorrow on a tour we are taking.
The canal transit took about 8 hours to complete. We spent our day on all sides of the ship but did manage to play team trivia and get a good work out in the gym.
We had dinner with a couple originally from Oklahoma who now live in Florida. They are taking the cruise as far as Australia and then going home. Karen and Ron haven’t done the full world cruise yet but have tons of cruising and travel experience. They lived in Saudi Arabia and Libya for a time when they were young. They have taken many, many cruises like most of the other passengers.
The team trivia earlier in the day didn’t go very well for our team. We decided to try Music Trivia. We would do better at that. Right? Wrong. I expected the game would be played like name that tune. Instead, popular tunes were played and some words would be garbled (aren’t they all?) We had to name the three garbled words. I don’t think I could name them if they weren’t garbled. …
