Today we had an early morning partial transit of the Panama Canal which took about four hours and took us through three locks
Extending 51 miles from Panama City to Port of Colon, it connects the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea and is the world’s most strategic waterway.
Our ship for the transit. The Pacific Queen.
Some interesting facts:
Each lock gate weighs 700 tons
The locks lift boats 26 meters to Lake Gatun.
There are no pumps, the locks work on gravity
92 nationalities we’re involved in its construction
Sailing under the Bridge of the Americas
Tug boats and “mules” (small vehicles running on rails alongside) assist the larger boats attaching cables to pull them along. The boat in front of us needed the help of six mules.
Atlantic Bridge
We were a little worried this ship wasn’t going to make it and if there had been a lot of rain it wouldn’t have!
In Miriflores lock waiting for the huge gates to shut
The canal was originally built in 1904 and completed in 1914. In the 1990’s the size of the canal was becoming outdated as ships grew bigger and bigger so to avoid it becoming obsolete in 2007 the Panama Canal Authority began an expansion programme which was completed in 2016. This added an entirely new lane doubling its capacity.
Time for a couple of hours by the rooftop pool!
