MAJOR bucket list ✅ today due to our Panama Canal crossing!! We went from the Atlantic to the Pacific, crossing completely through the center of Panama via their incredible lock system- wow! If you haven’t seen a lock system before (and definitely some of our fellow passengers had not!), you sail into each lock at your same water level, and it seals your ship in the chamber and then the water rises or lowers to release you into the next chamber (or body of water) at that level.

The Panama Canal’s system- 1 of the 7 man-made wonders of the world- involved building out a giant man made lake (Gatun Lake) and dam in the center of the country at a high point, and then building a system of locks on each side of that lake connecting the Atlantic side and the Pacific side, then letting gravity help with water flow and power. There are several sets of locks on each side of the country creating multiple “lanes” for crossing. We started on the old/original side in the Gatun locks, which differ from the Agua Clara locks in that they are smaller and still pulled by electric “carts” called mules that hook to the ship with steel cables and help pull/guide the ships thru the locks.

My personal connection with the Canal, as told to me by my mom, is that my maternal Great Grandfather, Edwin Dwight Smith, was one of the civil engineers sent here to work with the Army Corp of engineers on the canal in the early 1900s. I don’t know which part of the canal he worked on, but I say “Super job, great granddaddy!”

Reservations for canal crossings are made at least a year in advance, and our onboard guides (who have been doing our port talks and announcing the sights and events all day today) told us that the cost for ships like ours goes by tonnage, so our ship paid $650,000 to cross, including a $100,000 reservation fee. Yikes!! No wonder so many ships turn around at Gatun Lake and sail back. The day of your crossing is tightly scheduled, and if you are off by one minute in your timing as a captain, they evidently put you in the back of the line. The locks are operational 24/7. Before you gain permission to enter the locks on the day of your reservation, you have to obtain permission from the harbor master and pass inspection that includes divers going under the ship to check for leakage or particles that shouldn’t be there. With ships going from salt water to fresh water systems, they don’t play! Evidently this system is very straightforward now, and much improved over the old reservation system that evidently involved bribes given to the harbor masters and control centers and anyone involved with crossing. 😂

We’re On Our Way!

Coming in from the east/Atlantic side of the canal (or more precisely, the canal runs north/south so we are coming in from the north), we sailed through Limón Bay and under the Atlantic Bridge early this morning. What a sight to wake up to! Rob and I alternated between the upper decks where we could get good photos and the lower decks where we had air conditioning but smudgy windows so the photos are less clear. They also had the ship’s helipad on the bow open and available for guests to come stand and view the crossing.

Limon Bay to the Atlantic Bridge

Some shots from the start of our day, which began about 6 a.m., but what a beautiful way to begin!

And a few videos of the start of our day

Sailing under Atlantic Bridge

Gatun Locks

Once we were cleared by the Panamanian authorities, we headed into the first of the series of three chambers that make up the Gatun Locks. These locks are 110 feet wide, and our ship is 105 feet wide, leaving only 2.5 feet of clearance on either side as we pull into the locks! Thank goodness for the mules and guide boats to help make sure we fit perfectly inside the chamber. Clearing these three locks took about two hours.

Sailing into Gatun Lock #1

Rising/lowering water in Gatun Lock 1

Entering Gatun Lock #2

Leaving Lock 3 and entering Gatun Lake

End of Gatun Lake: the Centenniel Bridge

At this point in our day, we’d been in the Canal for over 7 hours and it had started pouring rain. The climate here is much like FL in that it goes from humid, crazy heat to downpour to sunny heat again in very short periods! We got rain off and on for about the next two hours.

The Pedro Miguel Lock and Miraflores Lake

After we finished sailing the winding curves of the Culebra Cut in Gatun Lake, we headed under the Centenniel Bridge and into the next lock, the Pedro Miguel Lock. This is a single lock that lowered us from the (higher) Gatun Lake down to the lower Miraflores lake level.

The ropes at this lock are actually brought out to each ship by two people in a rowboat! They have tried different and newer technology of obtaining the ropes over the years, and always went back to the old standard as being the most efficient. The quote from our onboard guide: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” the Panamanian pilots came back out to guide us, and we were once again hooked up to mules to pull us through the lock.

Miraflores Locks

There are two locks in this part of the canal that lowered us from Miraflores Lake to the final section of our crossing in the canal. It was fascinating to see that each lock area we entered had viewing stands for the public to sit and watch ships go by with guides announcing what was happening in the lock process, and some had food stands and other entertainment, including an IMAX movie theater! On this leg there was a field full of deer grazing right near the canal. We were also amused by a heron who was fishing on the lock wall right by our ship. Imagine his surprise when the water level (aka his dinner plate) decreased by 32 feet!

Final locks videos

Wildlife Along the Way

Panama is a bird lovers paradise, plus it has a ton of other cool critters (see yesterday’s blog post!). Today further proves the point- lots of cool stuff to see even while we were crossing the canal!

Final sight: Bridge of the Americas

It seemed fitting to end our crossing with a sight that celebrates the working together of North, South, and Central Americas. This beautiful bridge is actually going to be torn down eventually and replaced by another, taller bridge (see cranes nearby).

It has been a picture perfect day and the fulfillment of something we dreamed about for a long time! Feeling grateful and blessed. And ready for a nap! Thanks for adventuring with us!