This is the post that we couldn’t wait to deliver. Please be patient with the content, as it was difficult to make it all come together. There were 35 pieces of video and a bunch of pictures. We will build the story putting a few of the pictures and about 20 pieces of video throughout to let you all see why this was the pinnacle of our trip. Feel free to visit our u-tube site to see the video that we chose to leave out.
The tour started at Panama City on the Pacific Port of Balboa on the Gulf of Panama. The Panama Canal is 48 miles long and the passage averages 8-10 hours. The average wait time for a ship to enter the canal is 28-30 hours. Our pictures in previous posts, that were shot from our resort, shows the ships lining up to wait their turn. We will be entering the Mira Flores Locks with the ship pictured above. The canal runs north to south from 4 am to 12 pm, south to north from 12 pm to 8 pm, and smaller ships pass in both directions during the night. We were one of the last boats going north. Panama Canal Tour 1 The videos are short and have a bit of narration. When any boat enters the canal it will be boarded and piloted by a boat pilot from the canal authority. According to our guide, these pilots have an average salary of $500,000 per year. Once the pilot enters a vessel a red and white flag will fly indicating that it is being piloted by the canal authority. Panama Canal Tour 2. After our pilot entered the boat we waited for a large container ship to pass. Panama Canal Tour 3. Off to the west we can see Panama City. Panama has about 4 million residents with 2 million of them residing in Panama City. The city ranks 3rd in the Americas for skyscrapers per square mile. New York and Chicago have more. We are going to let a dry goods carrier pass next. In the video you can see the bridge over the Pan American Highway. This highway extends about 40 km further to the south where it ends in dense jungle. The jungle is too dense for the highway to continue. Going north it ends at mile marker 1 in Anchorage Alaska. If you were to drive north from Panama City to Los Angeles it would take 9 days going 40 miles per hour with no stops. Panama Canal Tour 4 Panama Canal Tour 6 . The US Coastguard protects the south end of the Panama Canal to control drugs from South America Panama Canal Tour 7 . We are waiting to enter the first lock of the canal. Notice in the video that there is a cruise ship in the first lock just ahead. Panama Canal Tour 8 . We will enter the Mira Flores Lock with the ship in front of us. The Mira Flores lock is the first of 2 locks that will take us up. Mira Flores has 2 chambers that will each take us up about 27 feet each. Panama Canal Tour 9 . Once inside the lock the door will close and water will be fed into the chamber raising us about 3 feet per minute. The lock doors were made by US Steel in Pittsburgh. Each door weighs 60 tons and is assembled with rivets, not welded. Panama Canal Tour 10 . Panama Canal Tour 11 . The ship that we will share the lock with is in the next video. It was led into the lock by tug and tied down. You will see the mules that guide the ship during the time in the lock. There is less than 2 feet on each side of the ship. The mules keep it from floating against the chamber walls. This ship requires 4 mules; 2 in front and 2 in the back. Panama Canal Tour 12 . The Mira Flores locks took us up to the level of Mira Flores Lake. Mira Flores Lake provides about 30 percent of the water supply for Panama City. We have crossed the lake and we are about to enter the Pedro Miguel Locks. Pedro Miguel has one chamber that will take us up about 31 more feet to the level of Gatun Lake. Panama Canal Tour 13 . Panama Canal Tour 14 . Just past the Pedro Miguel Locks we are passing the 2nd bridge which crosses the canal. The Centennial bridge is one of only 2 that cross the canal. We will see a 3rd bridge later that is under construction. Just past the Centennial Bridge we began the 7-3/4 mile trip through the Culebra Cut. This is the part of the canal that caused the French to abandon the project. They were unable to excavate through the mountains and jungle due to problems controlling the dynamite and disease. Malaria, Yellow Fever, and blasting killed around 5600 workers before the completion of the canal. The United States took over the project in 1904 and completed it in 1914. The pictures below are the best we got of the Culebra Cut. This is the narrow portion of the canal. The narrow pass commands constant maintenance due to erosion.
Panama Canal Tour 15 . Last year the Panama Canal opened an expansion to accommodate the Panamax ships. On the south end of the canal the new locks are called the Cocoli Locks and on the north end of the canal they are the Agua Clara Locks. We did not get pictures of the new locks, however we saw some Panamax ships along the way. Panama Canal Tour 16 . Following the exit of the Juan Miguel Locks we traveled for more than 3 hours across Gatun Lake. The lake is about 15 miles of the canal passage, and covers about 180 square miles. It is the passing zone for the larger ships. We got a lot of pictures of the big ships, but the trip across was rather boring. The enclosed ship pictured is carrying 15000 automobiles. These ships pay in the neighborhood of $200,000 for passage through the canal.
Gatun Lake was formed by creating a dam across the Chagres River and flooding the valley. The lake took 7 years to fill. The Dam provides hydro electric power, which is the energy source for the canal. It is positioned near the Gatun locks, which is the last set of locks as we exit out to the Atlantic Ocean. Panama Canal Tour 17 . As we moved toward the Gatun Locks, we learned that we would be going in to the lock ahead of the big ship that we had passed through the locks with earlier. The next video shows us slipping in ahead of it. The Gatun Locks are the locks that will take us back down to sea level so that we can continue out to the Atlantic. Panama Canal Tour 18 . Once we entered the lock the big ship slipped safely in behind us. Panama Canal Tour 19 . The final video provides an interesting perspective looking out at the last lock chamber and the Atlantic. If you look carefully you can see the construction of the Atlantic Bridge. Panama Canal Tour 20 .
The tour was packed with interesting facts about the canal. Every passage of the canal requires a toll. The lowest toll ever paid was 36 cents. It was paid by Richard Halliburton who paid it to swim the canal in 1928. He had to be escorted by snipers to kill the alligators that were a danger to him. Today swimming is not allowed in the canal. The dense rain forest surrounding the canal protects it and provides an accessible habitat where native Central American plants and animals can be observed. It took more than 30,000,000 pounds of explosives to clear the way for the canal.
We hope you have found the Panama Canal Tour interesting. Please continue to follow our blog as we prepare to spend this winter in Panama. There will be no shortage of great information to share. As always, comments, likes, and shares are greatly appreciated.
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