Today is the highlight of the cruise. I am so excited and can’t wait even though it will be a very long day. Did you know it will take our ship over 8 hours to make full passage from the Caribbean Sea (part of the Atlantic Ocean) to the Pacific Ocean? I went to bed super early so I could be on deck early to hopefully have a decent place to stand and view . . . I wasn’t early enough for all the old people. We are approaching the Agua Clara locks (left; where I was yesterday), but we are using the original canal locks (right).
I finally ended up at the front of the ship on deck 12 for the first lock. It was crazy packed on all levels front and back of the ship . . .I mean it should be because who isn’t outside watching this since it is the highlight of the cruise? There are two lecturers on the ship that are giving live information about our passage which is fun.
Fun Facts:
- Opened in 1914
- August 15, 1914, was the first sail
- Took 10 years to build
- The canal is 50 miles long.
Okay so I am going to sound silly
but I had no idea it would take all day to get from the starting point to the
ending point. I thought it was just one
lock and that was that, but it is way more complicated than that. Apparently, I did not recall that fact from
my education.
GATUN LOCKS
- Raised about 85 feet over 3 chambers
- Each chamber raised the ship 28 feet in about 15 minutes
- 8 locomotive mules used to guide ship
It was a scramble to find open
viewpoints from deck 12 and 13 both front and back and down to 5. It’s
funny how territorial people get with their spots. I mean I get it but it’s funny how people
would ask to just snap a photo and people would tell them no. I did have one very short lady ask if she
could get in front of me for a “quick photo” and then she proceeded to stay
there for 15 minutes. I did not say
anything because she was so short that I could still get a good view over her
head. After we completed the three
cambers at the first lock it was cruising across GATUN LAKE for a few hours
before the next set of locks.
I took a late breakfast break and power nap
before the next set. The narrowest part of the Panama
Canal is called CULEBRA CUT. It's a roughly 13.7 kilometers (8.5 mile) stretch
excavated through rock and limestone.
It’s very narrow and boats must go
single file one at a time.
PEDRO MIGUEL LOCKS
The ship is now being lowered 31
feet. A rowboat comes out to connect the
cables to the locomotives. I missed
seeing this but apparently they have tried more advance options but this works
the best!
So how close are we? I am standing on deck 5 and could reach out
and touch the side of the wall . . . so very close! The white is the railing of the ship.
Fun fact: In1928 Richard Halliburton swam the length of
the Panama Canal. His journey took him
10 days to swim the entire 48-mile length of the canal. Oh, and he paid a
toll of 36 cents for his passage, the lowest toll in the canal's history. It was a short one mile to the
last set of locks. By this point, not
many people are out watching which is nice.
It is super-hot and humid, but I am here for the show!
MIRAFLORES LOCKS
I finally was able to see the rowboat
as it approached the ship to connect the cables to the locomotives. They have
found this in the most efficient way even after 100 years.
These are the locomotives that
attach to the ship on each side and guide it through each lock and chamber. I think there were 3 or 4 on each side every
time.
Once again the ship is being
lowered. There are two chambers and we
will go down 27 feet each time.
And now we are back to sea level and Panama is in our rear view.
It took about 8 hours to make the
entire journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
This was so interesting and informative, thank you. Our son Geoff just sailed his boat through the canal starting Sat and ending last night. They spent the night tied to a buoy in Lake Gatun. He managed to get a photo of his boat, tied to two others, right in front of the Miraflora Lock building on their webcam. What a thrill for these old folks to see.
ReplyDeleteHe bought his boat in Greece and kept it there for a few years while making his way to Gibraltar each summer. He sailed it across the Atlantic in 17 days in September and left it in Martinique. He didn't do this all alone, he had his wife and a crew, consisting of different caver friends and other sailing buddies. For the Atlantic crossing his wife stayed in Texas where their official home is, and we all watched on his satellite linkup to see where he was every day.
They left Martinique on April 16th and made their leisurely way to Panama. The final destination is to their place on Orcas Island where he will keep the boat. It is a 45" something, I know nothing about sailboats.
Again thank you for the very good information on going through the canal, it helped me know what was going on with the SV Whimbrel as it traveled towards the Pacific.
Your old blogging voyeur, Ruth H.