Today was our day to do the full passage through the Panama Canal. We had done a one-sided enter and exit years before on the Caribbean side, but this was our first time going all the way through to the Pacific Ocean. We had some unsettled weather throughout the day, but we were often able to get outside for some first-hand looks at the process.
This impressive bridge, currently under construction, is the Atlantic Bridge. (We had already passed under it at this point. Guess I should have gotten up a little earlier, huh?). The bridge "will span the Atlantic entrance to the Canal. When completed (sometime in 2018) it will be the third bridge over the Panama Canal after the Bridge of the Americas and the Centennial Bridge, both on the Pacific side of the canal."
Waiting for the 2 ships ahead of us to advance through the Gatun Locks before we entered. Traffic can flow in either direction, on either side of the double locks. "However, large ships cannot cross safely at speed in the Culebra Cut, so in practice ships pass in one direction for a time, then in the other, using both "lanes" of the locks in one direction at a time."
The doors open to allow us to enter. The ship barely clears the sides of the canal. "The lock chambers are 110 ft wide by 1,050 ft long, with a usable length of 1,000 ft." Our Panamax cruise ship, Norwegian Star, is 105.6 ft wide and 965 ft long - so not a lot of wiggle room.
The electric-powered "mules" used to drag the ship through the locks. "These mules are used for side-to-side and braking control in the locks, which are narrow relative to modern-day (Panamax) ships. Forward motion into and through the locks is actually provided by the ship's engines and not the mules."
This mule was tethered to our prow. There were mules on either side of the ship as we entered the lock. "Each lock chamber requires almost 27 million US gallons of water to fill it from the lowered to the raised position."
This cargo ship was about to enter into the Gatun locks, going in the other direction as we were leaving the locks. I guess it's interesting for the cargo ship's crew also. Or...they were just having a smoke break. Either way, everyone waved back and forth between ships.
As the cargo ship entered the locks on their way to the Caribbean, we were now fully clear and entering into Gatun Lake.
One of the many islands that dot Gatun Lake. Gatun Lake "was created between 1907 and 1913 by the building of the Gatun Dam across the Chagres River. At the time it was created, Gatun Lake was the largest man-made lake in the world. Gatun Dam was also the largest of its kind."
"Panama's Centennial Bridge was built to supplement the overcrowded Bridge of the Americas and to replace it as the carrier of the Pan-American Highway. Upon its opening in 2004, it became the second permanent crossing of the canal."
This "Welcome to the Panama Canal" is more for ships and passengers entering from the Pacific side - we were now on our last leg, and about to exit the canal.
Another cruise ship, about to enter the Pedro Miguel Locks. The Pedro Miguel Locks are a single step lock just prior to the final set of locks, the Miraflores Locks, that exit into the Pacific Ocean.
As we enter the left side of the lock, the previous ship is lowering in the right-hand lock. "The single-step Pedro Miguel locks have a lift of 31 ft. The lift at Miraflores varies due to the extreme tides on the Pacific side, between 43 ft at extreme high tide and 64.5 ft at extreme low tide; tidal differences on the Atlantic side are very small."
As we wait for our lock to drain, the other ship continues on to the Miraflores Locks. The channel on the upper right side leads to the new set of wider locks on the Pacific side, the Cocoli Locks. "The third lane of locks having bigger dimension of 1,400 ft in length, 180 ft in width and 60 ft in depth, in order to accommodate larger ships called New Panamax."
We can see the 31 ft lift of the Pedro Miguel Lock.
One of the mules of the Pedro Miguel Locks, guiding us through.
We didn't go outside for the last set of locks, the Miraflores Locks...it was getting late, we'd been through the process twice already this day, and (more importantly) we were hungry! Time for dinner.
This is what we found when we came back to the cabin after dinner. (Guess who had a birthday on this day - yours truly!) One of the best "towel animals" we've ever had.
A fun end to a special day.
Next: (Day 9) Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Prev: (Day 6) Cartagena, Colombia
Panama Canal - Jan 2018