Very early on January 20 we enter the Panama Canal. Dawn. Pink skies and misty jungles. It will take us all day to traverse the 48 miles of the complex. There are 3 locks, Gatun, Pedro Miquel and Miraflores; each takes 1-1 ½ hours to pass thru. Our average speed is 3.9 knots or about 4.5 miles per hour. Glad we are on the starboard side of the ship because we have shade on our side of the ship in this hot humid climate.
We are enthralled at everything: the locks, Gatun Dam (on the Chagres River), Gatun Lake, passing thru the one-lane narrow ‘Culebra Cut’, the Centennial Bridge, the Bridge of the Americas, crossing the Continental Divide. The French tried unsuccessfully and expensively to dig a channel thru the country. The American plan of locks was genius. Panama can receive 200 inches of annual rainfall which supplies Gatun Lake with fills the locks when needed. Ships are raised 26 meters (85 feet), the level of Gatun Lake, and then lowered on the other end.
Any ship may use the Canal with certain rules. They make reservations although slots can be bought, they pay first (The cost for the Norwegian Star to pass through is $347,000.), and they accept a pilot. When the Battleship Missouri went thru, it required 5 pilots). Small locomotives called ‘mules’ guide ships thru the locks.
Wherever we wander on the ship today, we cannot take our eyes away from the passing scenery. We came to see the Panama Canal and we were not disappointed.
For the next 10 days we will be on the Pacific Ocean. The wildlife: whale spouts (just spouts), dolphins (not as many as I hoped for), 10-12 inch wide sea turtles (a lot of these), gliding seabirds of all sorts, a couple of larger fish, but not much else.
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