Panama Canal

Yesterday was a very interesting and busy day from early morning to evening.

We had breakfast in our room at 6:30 AM so we could get out on deck for the beginning of the transit of the Panama Canal. We should have gotten up earlier, as the decks were very crowded by the time we got out at 7:00 AM.

Because there are so many ships waiting to begin the journey, ships can pay a preferential fee to reserve a transit time up to a year in advance. We counted at least 20 ships at anchor waiting for permission to enter the first series of locks at Mira Flores. Mira Flores has two contiguous locks followed by a single lock called Pedro Miguel. The Mira Flores locks have the tallest gates which are over 80 feet high. This is required because the tides on the Pacific side have a greater range than on the Atlantic side. The actual heighth a ship is lifted in any chamber is about 27.5 feet.

Each gate weighs about 750 tons. They are called "miter gates" because they create a very tight miter joint when they close. Each pair of gates has another pair of gates about 200 yards beyond the principal pair which simultaneously close. It is a safe guard in case the main gates malfunction. The gates are sealed and are designed to float. Once every 10 or 15 years they are removed and floated to a drydock for maintenance. Since the gates are exposed primarily to fresh water, there is no corrosion from salt water. These gates have operated for over 100 years without any failure.

All filling and emptying is gravity controlled. Once a ship is in an enclosure (on the way up), huge flumes are opened that feed water from Gatun Lake through 100 openings in the bottom of the lock. The chamber fills rather quickly. The locomotives, called mules, are attached to the ship on both sides by heavy cables. The mules are used to keep the ships in the middle of the canal and to assist movement through the locks.

The average vessel transiting the Canal pays a fee of $47,000.00. In 1928, Richard Halliburton paid 36 cents to swim the Canal and took him ten days. It took us about 10 hours to transit to the Atlantic.

They are constructing a new, larger, single channel parallel to the original which will allow virtually any size vessel to transit the Canal.

I took alot of video and more pictures than I can post. The upload time is tortuously slow so will not upload many pictures at this time.

This morning we are 10 degrees 56.1" N and 76 degrees 20.94" W, which is about due south from Philadelphia. We are cruising off the coast of Columbia and are scheduled to arrive at Aruba tomorow morning at 8:00 AM. We had rain showers earlier this morning and it is a very comfortable 76 degrees outside.

We both are doing well and send our love to all of you.