The Panama Canal

We had scheduled a Canal tour for Saturday earlier in the week and had to be at the marina at 7:00 am to check in.  I had a restless night and the alarm went off early. We readied and were in the lobby of the hotel at 6:30 and had the front desk call a cab. The traffic was light at this time on Saturday morning but the marina was quite a ways away. It was located on an island connected to the mainland by a man made causeway that was created by using the material dug out of the canal almost one hundred years ago. The causeway also serves as a breakwater for the canal entrance. We checked-in and moved to the end of the long line of people waiting to board the tour vessel. It seemed like we sat at the dock for quite awhile before finally getting underway. As we approached the channel that leads to the first lock a large refrigeration ship steamed across our bow. John said we'd probably be going through the locks with that ship. We had to wait for a canal pilot to board us. Any vessel over 65' must have a pilot on board and in control of the ship. Once the pilot came on board we pulled into the channel and made our way under the Puente de las Américas or Bridge of the Americas (in picture above) then motored to the first lock and queued in behind the refrigeration ship and two tug boats. Tug boats are another companion that all large ships must have to navigate the canal. The cost of going through the canal is based on displacement and the cost of the tug boat and canal pilot are extra. The canal master determines if a ship needs a tug and how many. The average cost of a canal transit is about $200,000.00.

Once the four boats had cozied into the first lock they closed the gates and flooded the lock with water from Gatun Lake and in eight minutes we rose about twenty feet. The Iron gates in front of us opened and we moved into the second lock. This pair of locks are called the Miraflores Locks and after another eight minute flood we were 20 feet higher and the front gates opened and we motored out into a man made canal.  Picture above are the gates to the first lock closing behind us. After a short transit through the man made canal we arrived at the third set of locks called the Pedro Miguel Locks. There are a nice series of pictures at the preceeding link and in some you can clearly see the new larger canal that is being dug parallel to the transit we just took. The expansion scheduled for completion in 2014, the canal's one hundreth anniversary, will allow for the larger more modern ships to take the short cut through the Americas.

I'm watching the lock fill with water in  picture to the left. The water roils as it floods the locks from large underground pipes. After leaving the locks we motored under the Puente Centenario or Centenial Bridge. It is a classic beauty of sleek design that resembles a racing sailboat speeding across our path.

That's me on the stern of the tour boat with the bridge behind us. Click on the link to the bridge for better pictures. John wisely opted for the half day tour when we signed up. I was thinking that it would be nice to go through the whole canal, but after taking about three and a half hours to get from the harbor through the Pedro Miguel Locks I was quickly using up my energy reserves.  It was nice being outside and on the water, but the heat and breathing in the diesel fumes from the refrigeration ship in front of us took its toll.  I spent most of the transit through Gaton Lake in the air conditioned space below decks. There were windows to take in the sights and we could still hear the narration of the tour guide.

The transit from the last lock to the town of Gamboa, our disembarkation point was only about an hour or less. Gamboa was a worker village during the time of canal construction then it became the headquarters for the canal dredging operations and is one of several villages in the Canal Zone. There is a hotel called the Gamboa Rainforest Resort located here and John and I may try to spend a weekend there if I feel up to it. For most of our journey there was arid or semi-arid land along the west side of the canal and thick dense rain forest along the east side of the canal.

We boarded a bus at Gamboa and took the only access road to the town back to Panama City and the island where we met the boat earlier in the day. We hailed a cab to take us back to the city. The afternoon humidity and heat were sweltering and the cab was well worn with an air conditioning system that functioned best when travelling over 40 miles per hour.  We hit a traffic jam coming into the city and the air conditioner started spewing out warm air. I was sitting in the back seat with the sun behind me and I thought I was going to pass out. To our right were the slums of the city. Someone had told us about this place, hundreds of tenement buildings in terrible repair. They had told us the police would not even go in there. After a few minutes of sitting almost motionless our cabbie took a sudden right turn into the slums. John said, "Ah, the senic route." The cab dodge in and out of back roads and passed by discheveled buildings and the gaggle of the downtrodden loitering along run down storefronts. We emerged unscathed onto a less busy road back in the safe zone. I was thankful the air conditioning was putting out cooler air.

We arrived back at the hotel and I was thoroughly worn out and my body was hurting. I took my last pain pill and John and I both laid down and took a short nap. Around 5:00 pm we went down to the hotel gym and worked out. I'm a little more mobile but my mid section still hurts from the surgery. This night I slept like a baby.