Ocean to Ocean

Today our daily shipboard paper said that we make history as the largest cruise ship to date, to pass through the Panama Canal, a fact that we were not aware of when we booked this trip.  I am thinking this is not factual, as this the ship would have come through the Panama Canal in late September or early October as it transitioned from it’s Seattle base for the summer Alaskan runs.  After we complete this trip, it will be doing weeklong roundtrip cruises from LA to Mexico. 

We woke about 5:30 to watch the proceedings.   Lots of ships waiting their turn to transit the canal, and these are just what we can see from our side.

At 6:30 AM the Panamanian authority came alongside, and our Panamanian pilots came on board for our trip thru the canal.  We were treated to a rainbow while we waited.  

By 6:45 we had passed thru the breakwater, under our first bridge and heading for our first 3 locks, the Aqua Clara Locks.  Three locks will raise us up to the level of Gatun Lake, then we will cross the lake and enter the Culebra Cut which takes us to our final three locks, the Cocoli Locks.  And at the other end, 3 will drop us down to the level of the Pacific Ocean.  This will take a total of about 10-hours to transit the canal.

 We will be veering to the left to travel thru the new locks.  The channel to the right is the old lock route, which smaller ships will be traveling through at the same time.

The view from the bow of the ship as we nestle into the first lock.  They have opened up the bow of the ship so that people can get a better view, but really, there were so many people and limited sightlines, that we were better off just watching on the big projection screens

 This was the view you had if you could get upfront

 A little better here, but you could only stay 2 minutes before you had to move out and let someone else have a look.

 The water ponds that provide the water for the locks - the water feeds by gravity from the upper pond to the lower pond, into the lock.

 

 Lock gate closing behind us.  We will be brought up to the point where those black bumpers on the left wall will be covered by water.

 We have been raised up one level and the front gates are now opening so we can move into the second lock

  Midway into the second lock with the lock gates at the center of the picture.

The lock gates 

We had passed through our first three locks by 10:45 AM.  Ships waiting to go the other way.

 Canal scenery

 

 

We spent the next 5 hours crossing Gatun Lake and Culebra Cut and by 3:45 we were entering our last three locks.  We were on the lookout for wildlife, but only saw and heard birds from a distance.  At various points when we were particularly close to shore, we could hear the howler monkeys making a great racket, but never did catch a glimpse of them.

 Our second bridge

 ship ahead being dropped down to sea level

moving out

Cocoli love administrative building

  This year marks 20 years since Panama has taken over full control of the canal

 

  

 These fellows were enthusiastically greeting us.

Finally through our last lock 

By 6 PM we have cleared our last lock but must sit and wait in Panama Bay until low tide so that we can slip under the Bridge of the Americas, before we can continue our journey onwards.  At 9 PM we were finally traveling under the bridge and heading out to sea.

It was hot and humid as usual, so we spent a lot of time going in and out of the cabin.  The heat and humidity are hard to take.  By the end of the day, my feet look like sausages ready to burst from their casings.