PANAMA CANAL TRANSIT – MAY 2ND

In honor of our transit of the Panama Canal, we watched “Arsenic and Old Lace” the night before.  If you’re familiar with this great film starring, Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre, you’ll know that the “Panama Canal” plays a big part in the storyline. 

I think the transit was the best part of this segment of the World Cruise and is always fascinating.  Every time we’ve done it, we learn something new from the pilots that embark our ship and present their commentary on the open decks or on Channel 49 in our stateroom.  Ernesto Lou of the Panama Canal Commission was our guest commentator.  Viewing of our transit was available on the Pacific Princess’s webcam and, supposedly, available on www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html although a friend wrote and said viewing was not possible.  

Up early on our Balcony

 Pre-Columbian populations are known to have inhabited Panama as far back as 11,000 years ago.  King Charles V of Spain authorized a survey of the region in 1534.  The Isthmus is a land bridge connecting North and South America and the Panama Canal connects the Caribbean Sea (Atlantic Ocean) with the Pacific Ocean.  Panama has a population of approximately 3.4 million people with about 1.2 million in the Panama City metro area.  Spanish is the official language but English is widely spoken.  The U.S. Dollar is the currency in Panama. 

Although the times varied from what we had expected (traffic was low so our transit was the fastest in our current Captain’s experience) but here is a list of the transit highlights:

Pilot Boarding Time

Arrive at Gatun First Locks

Depart Gatun Last Locks

Passing under Centennial Bridge

Arrive Pedro Miguel Locks (West Lane)

Depart Pedro Miguel Locks

Arrive Miraflores Locks (and Visitor’s Center)

Department Miraflores Locks

Passing under Bridge of Americas

Canal Pilot Disembarks

Expansion of the Canal began in 2007 and completed in 2016.  It doubled the capacity of the interoceanic way to meet the growing demand of world trade.  The Agua Clara and Cocoli Locks are significantly wider and allows for much bigger ships carrying, natural gas for example, to transit.  The cost for these ships is double of what a cruise ship like ours pays – cost of the transit is dependent on the size; a canoe, for instance, would pay next to nothing, while a huge tanker would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars.  According to our guide, the Panama Canal Authority, an autonomous government entity, was created when Panama assumed its full operation on December 31, 1999, and runs very efficiently and transparently. 

I think the locks are a fascinating engineering feat.  On the Atlantic side, the three chambers of the Gatun Locks raise the ship 87 feet above sea level, while the Miraflores Locks transfer 26 million gallons of water in under seven minutes at its Pacific end.  There’s plenty of information out there about how all this works.   

The little vehicles that run along the tracks next to the ship are called “mules” and are attached to the ship, not to pull it along, but to center it in the Canal so as not to scrap the sides.  

 

I posted photos on Facebook in real time as we made the transit but here are some photos, hopefully in the correct order.  

Gatun Locks

Gatun Locks

 

Gatun Locks

Panamanian Officials boarding the Pacific Princess

Centennial Bridge

Centennial Bridge

Pedro Miguel Locks

Miraflores Locks

Visitor's Center

Bridge of the Americas

The best part of this transit was provided by Karaline, the daughter of our friend, Miss Sherri.  Back in August, I “commissioned” Karaline to prepare a sign for us which read TEAMSALAZAR “HEART” PANAMA.  Last time we were here, Princess provided cardstock for the passengers to draw posters to display from our balconies or on the open deck so that the people at the Visitor’s Center at the Miraflores Locks could see.  Well, we didn’t do it in 2016 but swore that if we came through again, we’d have the best sign ever.  We initially hung it over our balcony but as we approached the Miraflores Locks, we went to Deck 9 and hung it over the railing for all to see.  Well, thanks, to Karaline, we certainly did have the best sign and the people waving from across the way were proof.  Thank you, Karaline, for your incredible talent!  

Hanging on the starboard side of our ship on our Balcony

On Deck 9 on the port side to display for the Visitor's Center

For our further thoughts about the Panama Canal, check out our last blog:  http://teamsalazar2016.blogspot.com/2016/05/panama-canal-transit-april-30th.html

MICHAEL’S OBSERVATIONS:  I agree with Leona that this segment’s highlight was the Panama Canal transit.  Surprisingly, I was up early, for me, as we entered the very first lock.  Apparently, we were the very first ship through that morning and the reason for the quick transit.  My recollection was that we would approach the Visitor’s Center at the Miraflores Locks a little after 1 p.m.  As it turned out, we passed the Visitor’s Center just after 11:30 a.m.  Many people aren’t aware that the local Panamanians will take buses or tours or drive to the Visitor’s Center, which is a multi-level structure, in order to watch as the ships go by.  

Leona and I wanted to share our thanks to the folks who traveled to the Visitor’s Center watching the Pacific Princess navigate the last lock and so we proudly hung our sign on the port side of the ship passing the Visitor’s Center.  (Our stateroom was on the starboard side.)  I think the Panamanians appreciated our gesture by waving and cheering as the ship slowly navigated the last lock.  Afterwards, we turned the sign around and took pictures while holding it and explaining the purpose of the sign to our fellow passengers who asked about it.  Previous world cruisers remembered the time when Princess encouraged us to make our own signs for the Panamanians at the Visitor’s Center and we all wondered why that hadn’t happened in 2017, 2018 or this year.  Needless to say, Leona and I felt very good about our sign. 

 

It appeared to me that Panama City, which was visible in the distance, has at least doubled in size since 2016.  Multiple high-rise buildings could be seen in the distance.  While we did not dock in Panama City, I do recall it was an excellent port to buy souvenirs and coffee.  Well, maybe another time….