Panama Canal
Today we are going through the Panama Canal from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific ocean. It takes roughly 8 hrs to navigate through the canal. The Canal was opened in 1914 and expanded in 2016. The original Canal could handle containerships carrying +/- 4500 containers, the expanded canal can handle ships up to 15,000 containers. The cost for our cruise ship to cross the canal was approximate $250,000. The ships crossing the canal have to to take a pilot on board to steer the ship through. There are 3 sets of locks on the pacific side to raise the ship approximate 25meter into gaton lake. There are 3 locks on the pacific side to lower the ship down into the Pacific ocean. The ship is pulled into the locks by 2 trains (mules) on each side of the boat to keep it straight and away from the lock walls. There is only 30omm-500mm space between the ship and the walls. The locks are approximate 300meter long and 33 meter wide.
It was a very hot day today crossing the canal 33 deg C and very humid. At the end of the day we moored at the pacific side of the canal. On Saturday we took a shuttle into town and wandered the town a bit. This time we didn’t do any excursions here, as we were here about a year ago on a previous cruise. We did stop at one of the largest shopping malls in the world for a coffee. (yes a coffee, didn’t buy anything else). Around 4.00 PM we returned back to the ship. Shortly after we set sail and continued our journey. Tomorrow will be a sea day.
Cheers
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