Day 06 - 10/12/23 - Transiting the Panama Canal
The title says it all. Today we did a full transit of the Panama Canal. What's a full transit you ask? It's when a ship travels the full length of the canal using all three sets of locks to reach the Atlantic Ocean (Caribbean Sea) from the Pacific Ocean or vice versa. Some cruise lines will do only a partial transit typically from the Caribbean side into Gatun Lake and back out through the same set of locks.
This was our seventh full transit of the Canal and I've written about it multiple previous times so I'm not going to repeat that. Every transit is special and different and yet the same. In today's case we travelled NW to SE starting around 8am when we reached the Gatun Locks after sailing from Puerto Límon overnight.Special Panama Canal pilots board the ship and assume full control of the ship as opposed to the normal use of pilots when entering or leaving ports when the pilot is an advisor to the Captain and the Captain maintains control of his or her ship. The transit costs about $440,000 or around $400 per passenger.
Much has been written about the Canal and its history and construction. Essentially the process of transiting the Canal is as it was done originally over 100 years ago. Water from the Chagres River was dammed up on the Pacific and Atlantic ends of the canal. Earth was removed from the center, and a large lake Gatun was formed. On the Caribbean or north end, a set of 2 parallel locks were built which raise a ship about 90 feet from the ocean level to the lake level. The ship then sails the lake in a southeasterly direction to the Pedro Miguel lock which drops the ship down some 30 feet to a small Mira Flores lake and a second set of two locks at Mira Flores drops the ship another 60 feet. All of this is done without pumps. The entire transit takes around 8-10 hours. We were closer to 10 hours today even though the Canal did not seem very busy.
Recently the Press has reported that the locks are low on water. As a lay person, I could not detect it. Also, a few years ago, new larger locks were created at each end of the Canal for the very large container ships. Generally cruise ships do not use those locks. They have some water saving design features that help reduce the loss of water from lock operation.
Today was blazing hot and humid with a few very light rain showers. I was so captivated by the Gatun lock operation that I missed breakfast, but I did not miss the traditional Panama rolls that are served on the bow. We also missed seeing the final Mira Flores lock passage and sailing under the Bridge of the Americas as we had a 5pm dinner appointment. It's also worth noting that there are now three bridges that span the Canal: Bridge of the Americas on the south end, the Centennial Bridge in the center, and the Atlantic Bridge on the north or Caribbean end. At the Mira Flores lock there is a large viewing area that was very full today. Also there are WEBCAMs and a friend sent me pictures of our ship in the Gatun and Mira Flores Locks. Those are shown below.
Apart from the transit, we ate our normal LIDO lunch and then had a special second Tamarind dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. The entertainment tonight was the comedian, Steven Scott, who performed a routine of Catskills type jokes, many of which were off color to say the least. But he also did do some really cool sound impressions.
We're thrilled with our room change and we've got it cooled down to the same level that our previous room was. It is nice having daylight welcome one to the morning.
Tomorrow we have a day at sea before we reach Ecuador. A glance at the schedule seems to indicate a fairly light schedule of activities.
Here's a few pictures from today.
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