Day 8: Panama Canal

After departing from San Blas we headed towards the part of the voyage I have been looking forward to; The Panama Canal!  The alarm clock went off way too early 😉 I pulled myself out of bed and got dressed so I could see the approach to the first locks. Navigating through the Canal and the locks is a challenge because the Westerdam has the maximum allowable width and close to the maximum allowable length to transit the locks and the Canal. We expect to arrive at the entrance of the Canal at Puerto Cristobal in the early morning where we will board the Panama pilots and the line handlers before we head towards the first set of locks.

The Panama Canal was opened to commercial traffic August 15th 1914. Since that time, more than 900,000 vessels carrying more than 7 billion tons of cargo have passed through the waterway. Savings to shipping and ultimately to consumers are enormous, and entire trade areas and industries have been developed as a result of its opening. Though the basic design of the Canal remains the same as when it opened in 1914, there have been many physical improvements and new procedures instituted to keep pace with the growing demands of the world’s maritime traffic. The ongoing multi-million dollar project to widen Gaillard Cut will increase capacity by allowing the largest ships to pass in the area where the Canal was cut through the Continental Divide. The Canal was transferred to the Republic of Panama, on December 31st, 1999, and is being administered by a Panamanian government agency, the Panama Canal Authority.

I stepped out onto the cabin balcony and was greeted with the beautiful sight of the entrance to the northern entrance to the Panama Canal. Even though it was slightly humid, I could tell it was going to be a fantastically lovely day.

As we sailed into the locks we noticed a lot of ships anchored off shore. I read an article about how these ships are anchored waiting on their company to send the payments to the Panama Canal Authority before they are allowed to enter the locks. I figured it might be one or two ships, but we saw dozens just sitting waiting. I guess it is still cheaper to arrive and wait than to sail the extra month around South America.

I wandered out of the cabin and followed the signs to the bow of the ship. They opened it up so that everyone could wander out and see the progress. The view from the bow is amazing. Your so close to everything as we passed, it felt we could reach out and touch it. As we sailed towards the first set of locks we passed a ship leaving.

Our sailing speed seems to be really slow. But I believe we are in a no wake zone and need to traverse at a slow enough speed. It made for a great sightseeing speed as nothing passed you by too quickly.  I think the speed also helps them to sequence the ships for continuous usage of the locks. The first set of locks, is the first of three sets. The Gatún Locks are a set of three locks that raises the ship up to the level of the lake.

As we neared the Gatún locks we passed the last remaining evidence of the French attempt at building the Canal. This is a stretch called the Frenchman’s Cut. It is significantly narrow than the working Canal. The cut is left as a reminder of what the French tried to do but failed. It really shows how this project was not thought of on a large enough scale and would never have been able to handle the amount of traffic that passes through the locks today.

Once we got close to the Gatún Locks you could see the mules lines up on the side of the locks awaiting our arrival. Once we got close enough two dock workers boarded a row boat and ferried over two cables from the mules to the ship.

Once the first set of cables were attached, the ship was ready to start entering the locks. As we passed each mule it would start up and pace the ship. Ahead of the ships the doors to the first locks had finished opening and we started to enter.

In the photo above, you can see the lock on the right filled with water after the ship has just departed it. This is a good reference photo that shows the different levels from the entrance to departing.

The cables were being attached on both sides of the ship now. While watching the mules I realized that they are used to keep the ships stabalized so they do not shift from side to side. Contrary to what a lot of people think, they are not there to pull the ship through the canals. The ships are under their own power. You can see below how tight the ship is, when it’s inside the lock. The ship is the widest ship that can pass through the locks. It is not quite the longest, but it comes pretty darn close. Once inside the lock, the doors are closed behind us and the lock starts to fill up with water.

I thought you would be able to feel the ship rise or hear and see the water, but it happened slowly and quitely. If you stand and watch a fixed point on the dock/shore, you could tell the ship was slowly rising. It was actually more noticeable when there was a ship in the other lock and you could watch it rising. Once the ship rose to the level of the second lock, the front doors opened and the ship moved forward into the second set of locks. The entire process was repeated for this lock and then we proceeded to the the third one.

Once we exited the third lock we headed into the Canal on our way to Gatún lake. The canal doesn’t look wide enough for two ships to pass. In fact, as we sailed we never saw a ship pass us. I wonder if this is by design and why they are trying to widen the Canal?

We sailed for most of the morning and afternoon. We passed several construction areas where they were widening the Canal. We passed the city of Gamboa and through the narrow passageway between the lake and the next set of locks. As we sailed through the lake I noticed that the shore is covered with dense forest. You can tell that this is a country that gets a lot of rain. The countryside is gorgeous and lush and full of life with birds.

As we continued to sail through the Canal we passed under the Centennial Bridge, the view was amazing. We sailed down the Culebra Cut towards the next set of locks. The Pedro Miguel locks are a single set of locks that separates Gatún lake from Miraflores Lake.

Once we left the Miguel Locks we sailed through the Miraflores Lake on our way to the final two set of locks. When we reached the Miraflores Locks, there was an observation deck were a lot of tourists were watching the ships sail by. We got quite a loud cheering send off when we departed the Canal on to the Gulf of Panama on the way to the Pacific Ocean. Our day of sailing took us through some of the most lushness parts of Central America. Below is a map of our route.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 12th, 2009 at 10:44 pm and is filed under Panama Canal, Port Keys. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.