Sunday-January 27 Cruising through the Panama Canal
Our transit was scheduled to start at 6:00 am arriving at the Gatun Locks from the Caribbean Sea about 7:30. We had a light breakfast of the famous Panama rolls that the ship bakes every time it sails through the canal, and are delish... and then proceeded to the bow of the ship. Since we were just barely moving, we were allowed to go on the bow. I love to watch from there, but after awhile it's just too darn hot, even if you are covered up from the sun. It was going to be a very warm day-85 and clear. We are a small ship so we are going through the most common locks. The new locks were completed in 2016, but are only used for huge ships that cannot get through the standard locks. Our ship needed to go through a set of three locks to reach the level of Gatun lake. From the Caribbean Sea to the lake it's around 27 meters, then we sail through Gatun Lake to Pedro Miguel Lock, Miraflores Lake, and the last 2 Miraflores Locks that lower the ship to the Pacific Ocean.
The passage is very narrow.... we only had a 2 or 3 ft clearance on each side between the ship and the wall and at one point I swear the side of the ship was scraping along the concrete wall for a spell. It was very loud, and I am sure the Captain was not happy. (we looked at the ship the next day and sure enough it had quite a long scratch on the port side) Oopsie.....I'm just glad it wasn't an iceberg.
We have been through the Panama Canal before, but it's still thrilling and impressive. We had guides onboard explaining the whole process which was very informative. The canal is about 80 kilometers long
and it took us about 12 hrs to reach the Pacific Ocean where we anchored at Fuerte Amador, Panama which is another "tender" port tomorrow. It was a long day and a long process. A very interesting feat of engineering.
Our transit was scheduled to start at 6:00 am arriving at the Gatun Locks from the Caribbean Sea about 7:30. We had a light breakfast of the famous Panama rolls that the ship bakes every time it sails through the canal, and are delish... and then proceeded to the bow of the ship. Since we were just barely moving, we were allowed to go on the bow. I love to watch from there, but after awhile it's just too darn hot, even if you are covered up from the sun. It was going to be a very warm day-85 and clear. We are a small ship so we are going through the most common locks. The new locks were completed in 2016, but are only used for huge ships that cannot get through the standard locks. Our ship needed to go through a set of three locks to reach the level of Gatun lake. From the Caribbean Sea to the lake it's around 27 meters, then we sail through Gatun Lake to Pedro Miguel Lock, Miraflores Lake, and the last 2 Miraflores Locks that lower the ship to the Pacific Ocean.
The passage is very narrow.... we only had a 2 or 3 ft clearance on each side between the ship and the wall and at one point I swear the side of the ship was scraping along the concrete wall for a spell. It was very loud, and I am sure the Captain was not happy. (we looked at the ship the next day and sure enough it had quite a long scratch on the port side) Oopsie.....I'm just glad it wasn't an iceberg.
We have been through the Panama Canal before, but it's still thrilling and impressive. We had guides onboard explaining the whole process which was very informative. The canal is about 80 kilometers long
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| the line-up behind us |
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