It was a very early start this morning, as we entered Limon Bay, the Caribbean Sea entrance to the Panama Canal at around 5.30am. The ship was a hive of activity, with most passengers up and heading out to the bow deck, which will be specially opened up for the passage through the canal. It is barely light, and we can see the lights of many ships in the bay, waiting for their turn to traverse the canal.
We are moving very slowly and have a couple of ships ahead of us, but finally enter the Gatun Locks about 3 hours later, after a wait of about 1.5 hrs near the entrance to the locks. The Gatun locks lift the ships up into the man made Gatun Lake, a lift of 26m, done over three consecutive locks. There are two lanes of locks operating independently, and alongside in the adjacent lock, we have a large containership, the Hanjin Montevideo. Apparently they focus on getting the Panamax ships through in the morning and the smaller ships later in the day.
The Hanjin Montevideo moves into the lock adjacent to us
You can see one of the locomotives on the left guiding us in to the first lock
Once lifted, we exit the first lock into the next stage
Gatun locks control centre
Moving into stage 3 for the final lift to Gatun Lake
There is no doubt it is incredible piece of engineering, with ships held in position in the locks by a number of locomotive “mules” that run along tracks either side of the lock, and tension and release the cables securing the ship as levels rise or fall. In our case there were 6 locomotives involved.
We enter Gatun Lake
Once through the 3 locks, we enter the huge Gatun Lake, formed in 1913, by damming of the Chagres River. We traverse approx. 24 km of lake, before entering the Chagres River watercourse, enhanced by the damming of the river, and travel along the river for a further 8.5 km.
Top of the dam that created the lake
The next part of the canal was the most difficult to build and it is too narrow for large vessels to pass, so in that case it is one way. It is known as the Gaillard Cut, and slices 12.6 km, through the mountain ridge, crosses the continental divide and emerges under the Centennial Bridge, just prior to the next locks that will lower us down to the Pacific Ocean level.
A Catamaran passes us going in the opposite direction
The Centennial Bridge
The first lock we come to is the Pedro Miguel lock, a single stage lock, which is 1.4 km long, and has a lift of 9.5 m, lowering us into the Miraflores Lake (another artificial lake). The lake is 1.7km long and 16.5m above sea level.
The Pedro Miguel lock
After a short traverse of the lake, we came to the last set of locks, The Miraflores Locks. They are 2 stage locks, which lower us 16.5m down to the Pacific Ocean.
Vessels waiting in Miraflores Lake
Miraflores Locks
There is a large building alongside the locks, packed with spectators, waving madly and watching the ships go through the locks. In the background you see the outline of Panama City.
Not far from the locks is Balboa Harbour, and the exit channel takes us under the Bridge of the Americas and into the Pacific Ocean, a trip of about 13 km.
Port of Balboa
On the Pacific side we get a much clear view of Panama City, and the many ships that are waiting for their turn to go through to the Atlantic Ocean.
Passing Under the Bridge of the Americas
Panama City
It was a fantastic experience, and very, very hot, with little to no breeze. The whole process took us a bit over 11 hours from entering Limon Bay to exiting into the Pacific.
The decks we full of people all day taking in a very memorable experience.
We were later told that the reason for the delays at the beginning of our passage, was heavy storms on the Pacific side which caused temporary closure of the locks there due to poor visibility.
New locks are under construction on the Pacific Side of the canal, to increase the size of ships that will be able to pass through. The new locks will be 3 stage allowing the lift to take place in one set of locks, rather than having to use the current 2 sets. Several other initiatives are underway to increase the overall capacity of the canal. The new locks are expected to be operational next year.
New Locks under construction
They will operate in conjunction with the existing locks, taking the larger ships, with their own independent inlet and outlet channels, also under construction.
The new ship parameters “Post Panamax Ships” that will be able to pass will be up to 25% longer, 51% wider in beam, and have a 26% deeper draft.
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