Today we are transiting the Panama Canal. This is our 6th time going through the canal on cruises and is more fascinating every time. The history and engineering of the canal is remarkable. Construction of the canal began in 1904 and was not competed until 1914 at a cost of $352 million dollars. Because of landslides it was closed and the formal opening was delayed by WWI until 1920. The French started to build the canal back in 1880, but after 22,000 laborers died from yellow fever and malaria due to the mosquito's, they gave up. The US stepped in to build it in 1904. The US controlled and provided the defense for the Panama Canal Zone until 1977 when a gradual hand over to the Panama Canal Authority was completed in 1999. So now the Panamanian government owns and operated the canal. (Big mistake in my humble opinion. Jimmy Carter was President then) The canal has a workforce of 9000 employees and operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I bet you thought the canal runs east-west. WRONG! The canal runs north-south. At 8am this morning we entered the Gatun Locks at Limon Bay from the Caribbean Sea (Atlantic side). The Gatun locks consists of 3 locks where you enter and the ship is raised totally by water from the lock above it. Gravity moves the water to equalize the water levels and the ship rises. So the ship is raised 85 feet above sea level now and into the Gatun lake. This huge lake was formed mostly by damming up the rivers. The engineers had to make an 8 mile cut however in one section so ships could go through. This cut is called the Gaillard Cut. 30 million cubic yards of rock and dirt had to me excavated by steam shovels. Back to the locks--There are 3 locks (Gatun Locks) on the Atlantic side and 3 on the Pacific side. The first of these is the Pedro Migel Lock that takes us down to the Miraflores Lake (it is only 1 mile across) and then there are 2 Miraflores locks that finishes taking us down to sea level again. Once again 85 feet up to the lake and 85 feet back down to sea level. It is 51 miles total through the canal so the transit takes 8 to 10 hours. Each lock is 110 feet wide and 1050 feet long so it can handle Panamax size ships. There are two lanes through the locks so two ships can go through at same time. A new lane is being constructed now with larger locks to be able to handle much larger ships including our aircraft carriers. It is due to open in 2014, the canal's 100th anniversary. As I said water from the lake is used to raise and lower the ships. Then the gates open at sea level 26 million gallons of water goes into the ocean and is lost from the lake. This happens on both ends so a total of 52 million gallons is used for each ship. What makes the canal work is all the rain that Panama gets to keep the lake full all the time. As I am writing this we are about to go into the San Migel lock. I will be describing the locks and canal in more detail when I post the photos. By the way, the cost for our ship's transit today is about $150,000. Each ship's company has to have wired the money to Panama before it is allow to go through. NO credit cards!! Our veal Parmesan for dinner last night was very good. This evening we have been invited to Jim & Sally's suite at 6:30 for cocktails. They have a very large suite on the back corner of the ship so have a balcony facing aft and one facing to side. I am jealous as have always wanted that suite. Very $$$$ though. After cocktails we all have an 8:30 reservation for dinner in Prime 7, the steakhouse. Due to late dinner we will probably miss the show tonight. It is a "Liars Club" so not that good anyway. Tomorrow is a sea day so will post photos of the canal then.
