Mon, Jan 30: Panama Canal

The canal, locks, and the story behind it were interesting. We were up early before sunrise to get a good spot on the deck, not early enough for the front of the bow on deck 7, but early enough for the front on deck 9. 

Deck 9 people getting ready:

It was just getting light when we went under the Bridge of the Americas. The Pan-American Highway crosses this bridge on its 19,000+ mile journey from Prudhoe Bay Alaska to Ushuaia Argentina (with a a number of branches up and down it's length).  The highway has a 60 mile gap between Central and South America at marshlands called the Darien Gap.

Watch video in a new window.

Then on our way to the first locks:

The construction is for the new canal, wider and deeper to accomodate larger ships:

Passing though the Miraflores locks:

Entering first lock:

Waiting on ship in front to clear second lock:

 Now water in lock is being raised with water from second lock,

until they meet in the middle.  See the little engine on the tracks on the left.  More about them when we get to the locks on the Atlantic side.

Going into the second lock

Waiting for the water in the lock to match level of water in the lake:

And moving out into Miraflores lake (man-made):

View a more sequenced set of photos about going through the locks.

Miraflores Lake:

To Pedro Miguel lock:

Paul went to the front of the bow for the this lock (a lot of people left).

Under the Centennial Bridge:

Into the Culbera Cut:

Connecting to the Chargres River

Maybe dredging equipment:

In the river:  

Into Lake Gatun.  the locks are fed by gravity from the lake:

And onto the Atlantic side locks.  

Just before entering the lock, a crocodile:

Ships go through the canal under their own power.  But they need help to prevent them from bumping the sides of the canal.  So several "mules" (engines) are used on each side of the ship.

First they get the cable from the ship:

Then they attach the cables to the mules:

Now they tighten the cables.  With mules pulling on each side of the ship, the ship will not bump against the sides of the canal:

I went to the side of the ship.  Not much room in the canal, so the mules are necessary.   The canal is 110 feet wide.  The ship is 106 feet wide.

And below to our cabin.  If the window opened, I could have touched the side:   

A lock next door:

We then passed though to Limon Bay on the Atlantic side:

We had rough seas after we left the bay.  Waves up to 12 feet, winds up to 45 knots. You could certainly feel the boat rocking. Many people, and some crew, were sick. Surprisingly, Paul didn’t have problems (he may have taken medicine). He certainly does not do well on small craft like fishing boats or whale watching boats.