Thursday, January 9th--Our 6th Cruise day--The Panama Canal

Thursday, January 9^th—Our 6^th Cruise Day—The Panama Canal.

The next day after our visit to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, we were to traverse the Panama Canal!

On our 2012 World Cruise, we were fortunate to pass through the Suez Canal—a fascinating trip through what was basically a long wide, heavily militarized  “ditch”—in which there were no locks and we were at sea level at all times.

The Panama Canal is very, very different from the Suez Canal. The Continental Divide mountain range runs the length of Panama, and it would be impractical—if not impossible—to dig down far enough to produce a sea level canal. Hence, when coming from the Caribbean (or Atlantic) side a series of locks lift ships from sea level up to Lake Gatun, the ships travel the length of the lake and the Culebra Cut, and then two more sets of locks take ships back down to sea level on the other side.

The Panama Canal is deceptive. We were traveling from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, so it is tempting to think that our trip through the canal was from east to west. But considering the geography of Panama, our journey through the canal was really northwest to southeast which—to me at least—is counterintuitive (please see map). Perhaps the easiest way to think of the canal is: “three steps up, three steps down”—a ship must go through three chambers or locks to get from sea level up to Lake Gatun, and three chambers or locks to get down from Lake Gatun to sea level on the other side.

We passed the city of Colon and entered the approach channel to the canal on the Caribbean side at about 5:00 AM while it was still dark. At this point, a pilot boarded our ship to take us through the canal—with the pilot being in charge of navigation through the canal. We also had an escort of two tug boats—one leading and one trailing our ship. The pilot and the tugs are requirements for transiting the canal—it goes without saying that the Panamanian government doesn’t want any navigational “accidents” while inside the canal!

At about 6:30 AM we entered the first of the three sets of locks—the Gatun Locks. All three sets have two “lanes” parallel to and operating independent of each other. This allows two large ships to go through a particular set of locks at the same time, and theoretically in opposite directions.  Each lane of the Gatun Locks has three chambers and therefore 4 gates—some of which are double gates. We entered the first chamber at sea level, followed by a closing of the gate behind us. Then water from Lake Gatun flowed into that chamber, causing the ship to rise to a higher level. Upon reaching that higher level, the gate in front of us opened, and we went into the second chamber. This process was repeated, until we reached the third chamber and the last forward gate opened allowing us into Lake Gatun.

While the tug boats assisted us in entering the approach to the locks, they did not actually accompany our ship through the locks. On shore as we went through the locks were mechanical “mules” that looked like small railroad cars on railroad tracks—three on each side of the ship. Each mule had two cables attached to the ship, and moved along the tracks as we went from chamber to chamber. It was tempting to think that the mules were pulling the ship through the canal, but actually they were there to prevent the ship from moving side to side laterally and colliding with the sides of the canal causing damage.

So we entered Lake Gatun, and had some time to kill since we could not enter the Culebra Cut until ships going the opposite direction had cleared. Our ship’s captain, Captain Jonathan Mercer, first took us over to the dam on Lake Gatun, and then to the works for the new Gatun Locks.  The new Panama Canal Locks—which includes all three sets of locks—are scheduled to open in 2015 or 2016 and will accommodate ships of a much greater girth—making the canal more attractive to shipping.

We spent about 3 hours traversing Lake Gatun, and the views of the islands in the lake were spectacular. Later, we entered the Culebra Cut—a narrow channel leading up to the Pedro Miguel Locks. In fact, the Culebra Cut was the most difficult part of the canal to build. Earth and rock had to be excavated to a depth which would allow for the movement of shipping, and that included excavating the Continental Divide mountain range. Not only was the Culebra Cut made before the canal could be opened, but a channel had to be dredged in Lake Gatun to allow for shipping. And eventually, the level of the lake itself was raised.

We passed through the Culebra Cut and moved towards the Pedro Miguel Locks. Along the way, we passed through the Continental Divide, and under the Centennial Bridge—built in the early 2000’s to celebrate 100 years of Panamanian independence.

Although the Gatun Locks were “three steps up”, a single set of locks could not accommodate “three steps down” because the earth and rock on the southeastern part of the canal were not as stable as in the north western part— where the Gatun Locks are located. So there are two sets of locks in the southeastern part of the canal—the Pedro Miguel Locks which are one step, and further on, the Miraflores Locks which are two steps.

By the time we reached the Pedro Miguel Locks, there was a torrential downpour of rain—in fact photography was very difficult in this section, and most passengers—including us—took refuge in our cabins. But after we exited the Pedro Miguel Locks and moved towards the Miraflores Locks, it cleared up, and we got our best views of the canal. (When we went through the Gatun Locks, it was 6:30 AM, and quite foggy)

The Miraflores Locks are interesting because there is a visitor’s center next to the locks—which was absolutely packed with people the day we went through. Also, the visitor’s center has a “webcam”—meaning that people from around the world can watch ships—and people on the ships—go through the locks. Unfortunately we found out about this too late to let our friends and family back home to know that the webcam was available.

We departed the Miraflores Locks about 4:30 PM and made our way through the entrance/exit channel of the canal, passing under the Bridge of the Americas connecting the Pan-American Highway. At the end of the channel, we could see the City of Balboa on our right, and Panama City on our left with its numerous skyscrapers. And then we had completed our traverse of the Panama Canal and were in the Pacific Ocean.

This year, 2014, is the 100^th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal, and there are numerous celebrations planned for the occasion. Of course, this was our second trip through the Panama Canal. (Our first was when we extended our 2012 world cruise after the ship returned to Ft. Lauderdale, and stayed on board allowing the ship take us home to Seattle via the Panama Canal.) But this transit was just as special as the first. Much of our day was spent in moving from one part of the ship to the other in order to get the best vantage point for viewing and taking photos. At 5:00 AM we were not up to see our entry into the approach channel (it was still dark anyway!), but we were up for our passage into the Gatun Locks and were actively moving about from that point on. For the passage, the foredeck of the ship was opened to passengers where “canal rolls” (rolls with apricot filling) were available in the morning. An audio narration was broadcast throughout the ship as we progressed through the canal which was very helpful in keeping track of where we were and the highlights to see.  The map posted on this blog was provided for each passenger, and is probably the best way to get a sense of the transit, showing both the original canal—which we went through—as well as the new canal under construction.

Once outside the Panama Canal we entered the Pacific Ocean and turned left to go down the west coast of South America. We would have just one sea day before our next port of call—Manta, Ecuador, on Saturday, January 11^th.