Panama Canal - part 1

It is 7 a.m. on Friday, January 28, 2011 and the sun is just coming up. It is going to be a beautiful day with temperatures in the mid-upper 70's. We are moving at a snail's pace as we near the entrance to the Panama Canal and get aligned in the proper order.


Everyone on the ship is gathered in anticipation of the big event. We ordered room service for early in the morning so we would be ready in time to find a place to watch the process take place.

We will be aside and behind a couple of container ships who transport goods from the east to the west without having to go around South America. But guess what? Although the canal joins the Caribbean or Atlantic side to the Pacific side, it doesn't actually run from east to west. The canal goes from slightly Northwest to slightly Southeast. That was surprising to me.


The sky is starting to lighten as we make our way to the locks.

The locks are closing on the ship in front of us


The water in the preceding lock is rushing out to equalize the level of water. The complete passage will take us from sea level to 85 feet in elevation and back down to sea level on the other side. So why not just dig a deep channel and allow the traffic to pass from sea level to sea level? That is what the French wanted to do. One reason it wouldn't work is because the Pacific side has tides of up to 20 feet in variation and the Atlantic tides are 4 feet. The tides on opposite coasts occur at different times.

Our ship used its' own power but required the use of six locomotives to assist. Their job was mainly, with the use of cables, to keep the ship straight as we only had two feet space on each side of the ship. The process is very slow going.

The locks are opening for us.

Entering the Gatun locks

Looking behind us

That narrow ribbon of water in the center of the picture shows the distance between the side of our ship and the side of the locks. It was a pretty tight fit.

We've just about completed our passage through the Gatun locks. That is Gatun Lake ahead.

Panama Canal - part 2

For a number of reasons the Panama Canal cruise we ended up booking was for a partial transit of the canal. The ship would enter the canal, make passage through the Gatun locks and enter the man-made Gatun Lake. After a short 'scenic' cruising, it would go back through the same locks. Those with shore excursions got off the ship at the lake, completed their activities on land, then boarded the ship again on the Caribbean side in Colon, Panama. We purchased tickets to complete the canal transit all the way to the Pacific Ocean. We disembarked at Gatun Lake then got on a ferry to finish making the passage. At the conclusion of the canal trip we rode a bus to Colon to join the cruise.

A new Panama Canal is being constructed to accommodate larger sailing vessels. We could see work being done in several places. The plan is to open the new canal on the 100th anniversary of the original Panama Canal.


The water in the canal was really muddy. During December Central America had some really heavy rainstorms. Damage was widespread. Roads were washed out. Flooding was common. For the first time in the history of the Panama Canal, it was closed for a while until waters receded. The mud continues to 'color' the water brown.

This picture is taken looking back after passing under the bridge. Where the terraces are on the side of the canal is the continental divide. Note how the color of the water changes. The pacific side is not quite as muddy.

There was this neat looking clipper cruise ship that followed us through the channels and locks. In the third picture below notice the difference in the water color as the clipper passes to the pacific side.

Touching the side of the canal

Mira Flores Locks

Mira Flores Observation Tower

On the Pacific side - clearer water


More work on new canal

Panama City comes into view

Largest & most modern city in Central America

The wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean

At this point our transit was complete so we boarded a bus and made the drive to Colon through rush hour traffic in Balboa. It would have been nice to be able to also tour Panama City. Colon is a large city but doesn't have a single traffic light! The largest vehicle has the right-of-way. Two regrets: being in Panama but not getting to see the temple and not having the time to get some coins for Mason. The coins of Panama are just like U.S. coins...same size, metals and weight.

We don't anticipate seeing or going through any more locks in our lifetime. We've previously cruised the Yangtze River in China where we went through the locks at the Three Gorges Dam and on a smaller scale, the locks at Lake Washington.

Along the west coast going south from Los Angeles, we have been in San Diego, Tijuana, Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Costa Rica and Panama. On the Atlantic or Caribbean side we have been in Florida, Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, Honduras, Aruba, Curacao, Costa Rica and Panama. We don't want to repeat these places nor cruise there again (except we'd like to winter in Costa Rica). If we head south again...such as to Machu Picchu, we'd fly. If we go to Guatemala, we'll fly to Guatemala City and do a land tour. Oh, so many places we want to visit!

Costa Rica

Arriving at Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

Puerto Limon is the main shipping port. Supposedly all the bananas purchased and consumed in the United States have gone through this port.

This is the Atlantic side of the country.

This is the vehicle we rode in for our off-road adventure into the mountains of Costa Rica.

Little poisonous orange frog

We were in Costa Rica on a Saturday so there were many, many people recreating in and around the river. I agree that it looked rather inviting.

During the heavy rainstorms in December this river wasn't just a narrow channel but filled the entire wide gravel area as well.

Banana plantation

Our 'picnic' at the banana plantation

This might take a little imagination, but there is a sloth in the tree.

Along the coastline...

Beautiful Costa Rica. We love it there!

All good things must come to an end. As we were leaving we saw this little island just off the coast of Costa Rica. Now that would be a neat place to live!

Following two days at sea we disembarked at Fort Lauderdale. This is a picture at the 'Farewell' with the crew of the Zuiderdam. We liked the shows, crew and dining room experience on the Zaandam better.

There were many fellow cruisers who had their flights home cancelled due to the bad storms primarily across the mid-west and upper eastern seaboard. Upon approach to the Atlanta airport there was heavy rain and the aircraft had to circle a couple of times. We were at the back of the plane and by the time we got off we had to run. We had to ride the underground train to a different concourse and run again. We barely made our connection. The temperatures were wonderful in the places we visited...70's and 80's. The temperature was minus 6 degrees when we got up the morning after we got home. What a rude awakening! We were told that there are furnished 2 bedroom apartments in the San Jose, Costa Rica area for around $350/month. That sounds tempting. They have a temple there (that I still haven't seen). San Jose is inland and nothing is more than about 3 hours away. The Pacific side is beautiful but is starting to be developed to look more like expensive real estate in Southern California. I'm already thinking about our next travels.