Keep on rockin' in the free world !: Up and down in the Panama Canal

Next stop on the itinerary was the raison d'etre for most passengers on this cruise. For a lot of these old Americans (of which there were a lot!) a visit to the Panama Canal genuinely is a bucket list item.

I was fortunate to have passed through the whole canal a few years earlier on a world cruise on the MV Artemis, and for Brenda this place is boring by now :-)

On many occasions such as the current, the cruise lines planned their itineraries not to actually pass through the whole canal, i.e. from the Atlantic to the Pacific or vice versa, but to only go through the Gatun locks on the Caribbean side.

I must admit that I do find the whole Panama Canal fascinating. There are a lot of lectures onboard on this topic which I loved attending. The canal was constructed more than a 100 years ago and in order to pass through from either side, a ship is raised up with a set of locks from the sea level to a man made lake, the Gatun Lake, and then after passing through the lake and the canal, gets lowered down again to sea level with yet another set of locks. The actual canal section is not very long, only a few miles, as most of the distance between the locks is covered by sailing through the Gatun lake. If this kind of thing interest you, it will be worth your while to read up on this - there are a lot of info on the web in this regard.

I also only realised on this occasion that the whole passage is done in a north/south direction, as this narrow part of Panama is actually stretching from east to west, and not north / south as I previously thought.

Another interesting fact is that the whole lock operation is designed to function only with gravity that causes the fresh water to flow down into the sea, which of course is then lost forever - nothing is pumped back up to the lake. Each ship's passage results in the loss of several millions or billions of fresh water lost to sea. The only electricity required is to operate the actual lock doors and the trains that assist with pulling the ship through the locks and keeping it from touching the sides. They have so much rain here, that the lake remains full despite the daily release of water. In fact,in addition to releasing the water through the locks, a hydroelectric power plant is used at the dam wall to create electricity for the whole operation. And all of this was done in the early 1900's . . .

As I have mentioned, today's passage will only be going up the Gatun locks, turning around in the Gatun Lake and then dropping down again back to the Caribbean sea. This little exercise will costs the company in excess of $400,000!

Anyhow, here are some pics of the day:

Coral Princess is mid in the process of being raised up from the Caribbean sea level. Note how much lower the ship next to us is

Another ship following in a lock behind us

They are actually busy constructing a whole new set off bypass locks right next to the existing locks, in order to allow for larger vessels to pass. Here you are able to note the inlet forking off to the right where the new locks are being constructed

Actual lock doors

Once the ship is raised to the next level, the doors can open

These doors behind us are busy closing to let the water out to accommodate the ship behind us. Once the ship is in, water will flow back and raise the ship to the next level

A 'knuckle' - simply a pressurized tyre to assist with preventing the ships from bumping into the sides

the little trains (Mules) that assist in pulling the ships through and also preventing the ships from bumping into the sides of the lock

Making use of a turn table to get onto the rail that is running back

Here we are now out of the locks and on the level of the lake.

Ships at anchor in the lake waiting their turn / slot to drop down to the Caribbean

The Gatun Lake dam wall - despite the huge amounts of water lost everyday to the locks and the hydro power plant, the lake stay full to the extent that they constantly have to release water

Busy now with our return journey - note the various levels that we will be going down to

Another ship alongside us, but still a little bit higher

Note the difference in water colour - the fresh water being released from the locks has a different ph than the sea water and as a result does not mix immediately

Those holes are used as outlets to fill the specific lock with the water coming down from the lake

the Gap between the ship and the side of the lock - maybe 40-50cm's? This is apparently one of only a few instances where the ships master (captain) relinquishes total control to the Canal Pilots. There are a few pilots onboard during each passage and they are in constant contact with the train drivers to ensure a smooth passage