Panama Canal

This morning we arrived at the area of Panama that is the Panama Canal. What we did not realize is that the canal runs north to south since the country's land is mainly east to west. It takes about 8 to 10 hours to get all the way from the Pacific to Atlantic Ocean, depending on the size of the ship. We used the older locks that were completed in 1914 since we are a smaller ship. The distance is 51 miles. The newer locks which can handle the much larger container ships through larger locks was completed in 2016. The locks are along side each other and there is a huge man-made Lake Gatun. There are 3 locks up to the lake from the ocean and 3 locks down on each end with the lake in the middle. Panama has a great economy since our ship paid $250,000 pass through the from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The price is based on weight, so the huge container ships pay much more. It is still much more cost effective than sailing all the way around South America burning fuel and time.
We started at 8:35 am at the Miraflores Locks, then the Pedro Miguel Locks at 9:30 am then across Lake Gatun to the Gatun Locks at 3:00 pm and out to the Atlantic Ocean. It takes time since you have to enter each lock, then they have to close the gates, either raise or lower the water in the lock and open the gates to the next level (either up or down). The difference between Lake Gatun and sea level is 75 feet, so the locks raise us and lower us that height to cross Panama. So, it's not just one canal like I thought, but ocean then locks, a big lake and more locks to the ocean.
Along the way we saw other ships since two ships can travel each direction through the locks. The little trains, or 'mules' hold the ship in the center of the locks with really large cables. They tie onto the ship and follow it all the way until the locks open into the lake Our ship had 4 mules, 2 on each side. Some larger ships have more due to the size and weight. In the old days, they were actually live mules that pulled and centered the ships.
There were many birds around the ship in Panama. Brown Boobies that are smaller and dive into the water for small fish and Frigatebirds that have a white head and large wing span.
Once we left Panama and the canal we head out to ocean for our next stop - Cozumel.Read more