Today was spent in transit thought the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal is an engineering marvel that uses turn of the century technology to join the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in an 80 kilometre waterway.
The idea for the Canal had been around for 4 centuries before the French started the first firm effort to build the all-water route through the Panama in 1880, but financial troubles, disease and thousands of deaths made the initiative fail. In 1903, Panama made an agreement with the United States for the construction of the Canal which the U.S completed, within the set time and budget, on August 15, 1914. December 31st, 1999, Panama took complete control of the Canal as per the agreement made with the U.S in 1977.
The Canal cost $350-380 million U.S dollars to complete. The average cost of the Canal transit is $35,000. The cost is determined by tonnage, size and the amount of cargo (I am considered to be cargo). I think for the Sea Princess it ended up being roughly $180 odd per person with a total of approximately $353,000 to cross the Canal. In 1927, a man swam across the Canal for something like 36c. The Canal is open 24/7 since fluorescent lighting was installed in 1963, and has only been closed twice, I think most recently in 1974 due to a landslide.
Over 30,000 people died building the Canal, for the French, the biggest problem was the mosquito's that carried Yellow Fever, the men were labouring in water and disease was spread that way, also many died of snake bites. When the U.S started the construction, they cleaned the place up, placed fly screens on windows, built working platforms so that men no longer spent hours in the water, and they used pesticides to kill off the mosquito's. Still many died when explosions went off prematurely due to the dynamite sitting out in the heat, and there were massive landslides.
Our transit through the Panama Canal took about 8 or 9 hours. The fastest transit on record was just over 2 hours. I found the experience fascinating however it is slow going. Our transit was narrated by our onboard port lecturer. I took as many notes as I could, but I cannot guarantee their accuracy, because I was also taking photographs and video at the same time.
This picture shows a cross section of how the Canal is structured. You won't be able to see the written descriptions clearly, but you can see that each lock chamber acts like a water elevator. The first set of locks from either side of the canal raise the ships from sea level to Gatun Lake, which is at 26 meters above sea level, to allow the crossing through the Continental Divide. At the other end you are lowered back to sea level.
This is the first set of locks we passed through, called the Gatun Locks, located on the Caribbean Sea end of the Canal. There are three lock chambers here that raise you to the water level of Gatun Lake (26 meters above sea level).
We arrived here at about 6.30 am. Each ship waits at anchor for passage through the Canal at a designated time. Each set of locks has two lanes, an arrow at the start of the lock chambers tells the ship what lane to use.
Before approaching the locks for the Canal transit, a pilot boards the ship to take control and tug boats help manoeuvre the ship into position for the locks. This is the only time the Ships Captain relinquishes control of the ship.
The grass is always cut short to help avoid snakes where there are workers.
There is 25 inches of clearance (sometimes less) on each side of the vessel, so the Mules not only help keep the ship free from damage, but the locks also.
The Mule guiding the ship in the lock chamber. The water drains from the next lock chamber to the one our vessel is in. When the water level between the two chambers is even, the lock gate opens and we proceed forward.
A cargo vessel in the other lane.
Some Mules. There were jokes on board about feeding them carrots, I guess some people didn't know that they weren't real Mules until they saw them.
Gatun Lake. We cleared the Gatun locks at about 8.00am. Gatun Lake is the second largest man made lake in the world, approximately 164 square miles. You can see the vessels anchored in the distance waiting for their turn to access the locks. We waited for about one hour like these vessels before we could proceed.
Welcome to the jungle. We spotted two crocodiles, but that was it.
Sentenial Bridge, Culebra Cut.
Passing under Sentenial Bridge at approximately 1.30 pm
Approaching Pedro Miguel Locks, approximately 1.45pm.
The next two photo's show just how close we are to the sidewalls.
Each lock chamber is 12.8m deep, 304.8m in length, and 33.5m in width. Therefore, ships have to meet certain specifications in order to pass through the Canal, this is called Panamax Class.
Ready to exit the Pedro Miguel Locks.
Approaching the Miraflores Locks.
Miraflores Locks, approximately 2.50pm.
Crowd of onlookers from the Miraflores Visitors Center. Many people on board made signs to flash at the cameras as we passed by, there was live footage of our passage on the Pancanal website.
This is a closer look at a lock gate. They are called "Leaves", they are hollow inside and filled with leaves, which reduces their weight and makes it easier to take them out if they need to be repaired. It takes 15 horse power to open the gates. The gates at the Pacific end of the Canal are much stronger because there are 8.3 meter tides on the Pacific side.
Exit from the Miraflores Locks, and into the Bay of Panama and Pacific Ocean.
Panama City.
Bridge of Americas, built in the early 60's.
Passing under the Bridge of Americas, approximately 4pm. There is rain ahead, but we just missed it.
Panama City.
They are currently expanding the Panama Canal. For further information visit:
There is a Panama Canal Museum in Florida.
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