Friday, 1 March 2019
Panama City, Panama
Have always wanted to go through the Panama Canal ever since I was a kid in the 1970s and read about the construction of it in one of my Grandfather’s old encyclopaedias.
Only taken 40 years to achieve.
Today entails a partial southbound transit from the docks at Gamboa (about half way along) to the Flamenco Marina in Panama City. Takes about four and a half hours to do this partial transit but 8hrs for the Full Monty from Colon on the Caribbean to Panama on the Pacific.
Set sail aboard the Pacific Queen. A pleasure boat consisting of open air top deck and two air-conditioned decks. Have to stay on the top deck for the simple reason that the floor to ceiling height of the air-conditioned decks is about 1.85m. About 10cm shorter than I am. Only manage to crash my head into a smoke detector twice.
In transit with another pleasure cruiser and the bulk carrier Maestro Pearl. Another ship, the Gotland Aliya, also sailing along at the same time but that will be using the other lock to transit whilst the three of us squeeze into one lock.
Construction commenced in 1904 and was completed in 1914. The Panama Canal basically consists of connecting the Pacific and the Caribbean by the Gatun lake, which is at a higher level than the sea, hence the reason for the three locks. Gatun Locks near Colon on the Caribbean side and the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks near Panama on the Pacific side.
Starting at Gamboa docks at the start of the man made cut, sail through the Gailard Cut, the narrowest part of the canal. First lock is Pedro Miguel. There are two sets of locks at each location to allow transit both ways but today all four boats are going southbound. Once the ships enter the lock they are tethered to mules, locomotives on a rack and pinion rail. The tethers ensure that the ship maintains equal distance between the hull and the lock walls to prevent the hull knocking into the side walls, as there are no fenders. As you will see from the photos below, there’s not much room either side of the ship. There’s no messing and it’s surprising how quickly the ships transit the lock.
Fabulous feat of engineering. Especially as it’s over 100 years old.
Doesn’t take long to reach the Miraflores Locks but as the pleasure boats are substantially quicker than the bulk carrier, it’s quite a wait for it to catch up and enter the lock so we can be lowered down with it (to conserve water). Miraflores Lock is a double stack so have to equalise the water level in both locks then sail into second lock before being lowered down to Pacific Ocean sea level.
Once out into the Pacific Ocean, sail under the Bridge of the Americas, part of the Pan-American Highway.
A brilliant trip.
