Through the Panama Canal

December 25, 2012:  Panama Canal Zone En Route to Puntarenas, Costa Rica -- Crossing Between Two Oceans

Panama Canal and Surroundings

The Canal Runs North to South!

Our evening/night transit from Cartagena to Limon Bay, Panama (where ships are staged to enter the Panama Canal) was uneventful, and we were in the bay awaiting our pilot and tugs at 5:00am on Christmas Morning – Merry Christmas!  Since sunrise was until about 6:30am, J and E stayed in bed and waited for the first big event, the Gatun Locks. (See Map)  It is procedure for Passenger Ships to transit the Canal during daylight hours.  However, the Canal operates 24 hours a day.

M/V Silver Whisper Enters the Gatun Locks

"Mules" are waiting to hook-up on both port and starboard of the bow.

One might intuit that crossing the Isthmus of Panama by Canal would be a trip from east to west or vice versa.  But, the orientation of the Panama Canal, with its location in a north/south-trending river valley, is from north (Caribbean) to south (Pacific).  This is obvious from the attached map.  North is UP!

We went on deck just as Silver Whisper was easing into position to enter the first chamber of the Gatun Locks.  Canal crews attached steel cables to the bow and stern of Silver Whisper.   Those cables were hooked on both landward sides to “mules” (small electric locomotives) that hold the ship centered in the lock.  Mules do not move the ship through the locks; the ship uses its own power to move from lock to lock.  During our entire crossing, a narrator (provided by the Panama Canal Company) discussed the Canal’s operations and its history.

"Mule" Attached to Ship's Hull

This is a third generation "Mule."  The first generation was built by GE.  Guess who built this one!

The three chambers of the Gatun Locks raised the ship 85 feet from the Atlantic/Caribbean Sea entrance of the Canal into Lake Gatun.  Gatun Lake makes up the largest portion of the Canal.  It is a man-made, fresh water lake filled with water from the Chagres River.  All of the filling of locks in the Panama Canal use fresh water from Lake Gatun, and because Lake Gatun is higher than sea level, the locks are gravity operated and do not require pumps.  Currently, the locks are paired, so that two ships transiting in the same direction are handled at nearly the same time.  We were paired with a panamax German car carrier.

Another Cruise Ship in the Third Chamber of the Gatun Locks

Luckily we were not headed for the same port as this monster! 

Another set of locks are under construction, which will handle a class of ships called super-panamax, allowing these larger ships to pass through the Canal.  The bigger locks are slated to be in operation by 2015.  From what we saw of the construction work, a great deal more needs to be done by 2015.

Construction Works for New Locks

You boys are going to have to dig a little faster!

After clearing the last Gatun Lock chamber (about 8:30am) and passing into Lake Gatun, we were held near the entrance of the Lake so that ships in the Lake could be properly spaced and separated.  Passage through the Lake would take about four hours.  So, the next hours were spent watching the rainforest scenery, passing ships, and the Canal Company’s dredges used to keep the silting of Lake Gatun under control.  The west side of Lake Gatun is a continuous series of Panamanian National Parks, consisting largely of tropical rainforest.  These may be the most protected tropical rainforests in the world, as they represent the watershed for Gatun Lake and the Chagres River, which provides the water for the operation of the Canal.   No rainforest, no water, no Canal!

Canal Company Dredger on Lake Gatun

Forested areas around Lake Gatun are used for more than game hunting.

About 2:30pm, we passed the town of Gamboa, which is the major center for administration and operation of the Canal.  Here, we changed Canal pilots, from one responsible for the Caribbean side to one responsible for transit of the Pacific portion of the Canal.

Then, it was into the Gaillard Cut.  Construction of the Gaillard Cut cost more than 2,500 lives and was the major construction feat of building the Canal.  (Remember the photo of TR on the steam shovel.) Even today, there are constant signs of landslides.  Operations to repair and mitigate such problems from digging a very deep ditch into very unstable soils and rocks continue as we sailed through the Cut.

Gaillard Cut Recently Reconstructed Wall

Note the landslide near the center of the image.

Until the 1960s, there were no bridges over the Canal.  In 1964, as part of the Pan-American Highway project, the Canal was bridged near the southern entrance and Panama City.  In 2000, a second bridge, known as the Millennium Bridge, was built over the Canal at the southern end of the Gaillard Cut before the entrance to the Milaflores Locks.

Millennium Bridge and a Car Carrier at Narrows

Two tugs are assisting the car carrier to maintain course.

Passing through the Milaflores Locks brought us down to Pacific Ocean sea level.  While the Gatun Locks have three chambers, the Milaflores Locks have only two.  In this way, the difference in sea level between the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean is taken into account.  About 4:00pm, we cleared  the last Milaflores lock chamber and transited into the Pacific Ocean, setting course for our next port-of-call, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

Car Carrier Entering Milaflores Locks

Silver Whisper will enter locks to starboard (right) of the car carrier.

That evening, the ship’s chef prepared a special Christmas Day Dinner, and just so you don’t think that we are denied proper nourishment on this voyage, the menu is included.  No drooling please!

Menu Card for Chef's Christmas Day Dinner

Now this is serious eating!