This day would be my first chance to see the Panama Canal, what I knew would be the highlight and primary reason for this cruise. I was up at first light and was amazed to see all the ships surrounding us waiting for their turn to go through the canal. We anchored right near the NCL Sun, a ship that is not yet in service since the restart.
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| Panama City in the haze and fog with one of the tender boats that would bring us ashore |
We anchored in the harbor and took a water shuttle to get to the port. I understand a cruise ship dock is in progress and some of the smaller ships have started using it, but it is not yet ready for larger ships.
We had booked an all day tour, "Panama Canal: From The Miraflores Locks To The New Expansion" which met first in the theater so our entire excursion group could go together on the water shuttle.
I managed to snag the last seat on the upper open air part of the water shuttle so I could get some good views of the ship.
Our excursion took us to both the Caribbean/Atlantic and the Pacific side of the Panama Canal, plus a chance to observe ships going through both the new and the old locks. We started by driving to the Caribbean side to view the Agua Clara Locks which are new locks that opened in June of 2016. These locks allowed larger ships to travel through the Panama Canal. The Agua Clara locks consist of three chambers that raise the water level a total of 85 feet (two chambers raise the water level 27 feet and the third raises it 31 feet). Next to each chamber is a series of three ponds that are used to hold water that is recycled. Approximately 60% of the water used in these locks is recycled. The chambers are drained and filled using gravity.
Each chamber has two doors that slide into place at the beginning and end. This allows maintenance to be done on one door that can be slid into a chamber that is drained to create a dry dock for the door while the other door is still in use to allow the canal to stay open.
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| Lake Gatun (a man-made lake between the Atlantic and Pacific locks) |
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| A tugboat is likely already tied to the back and one of these will hook up to the front (the others will not fit in the chamber with the ship). The front and back tugboats help keep the ship centered. |
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| Tropical Kingbird |
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| There was a fire drill while we were there and so they were testing out all the fire hoses. |
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| The chamber doors - they slide in when open and the water can be drained out of the door area if they need to do maintenance on the door. Service vehicles drive over the beginning and end set of lock doors. |
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| The Bridge of the Atlantic |
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| Brown Pelican |
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| A flock of Brown Pelicans |
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| A view in the distance of the old locks. This photo shows three mules connected to the ship on this side (and there would have been three on the other side as well). See the afternoon part of our excursion for more details on how the old locks work. |
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| A fourth mule on this side at the front |
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| The lock doors fully open |
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| A tugboat - you will see a lot of them on this blog |
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| This is the front tugboat which works with the aft tugboat (as well as the Panama Canal pilots on the bridge) to keep the ship centered in the lock so it doesn't scrape the sides. The ship moves forward (or backward) with its own propulsion. The tugboat is only to help keep the ship center. |
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| Panama Canal pilots take over control of the ship - at least one of them is on this wing of the bridge and at least one on the other wing of the bridge monitoring the distance to the wall and making adjustments. |
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| Lake Gatun, which is 85 feet above sea level. |
After spending about an hour watching ships go through these new locks, we got back in the bus to drive back to the Pacific side to view the Miraflores Locks which are the old locks. On the Pacific side the old locks consist of Miraflores which is two chambers and Pedro Miguel which is one chamber. The chambers in the Miraflores each raise/lower the water level 27 feet. The chamber of Pedro Miguel raises/lowers the water level by 31 feet. The locks drain and fill with the help of gravity and unlike the new locks, none of the water used is recycled.
The old locks are unique as they use mules to help keep the larger ships centered. These are electric vehicles that run on tracks next to the ship and tighten and loosen the rope as the water level and the ship moves from one chamber to the other. Ships still move forward (and backward) on their own power. Just like the new locks, ships are required to take on Panama Canal pilots who take over the controls of the ship.
The Miraflores Visitor's Center looks like it has quite a few great exhibits on the history and operation of the locks. Unfortunately, it was closed due to COVID protocols but in reality, I just wanted to watch the huge ships go through the locks and so got what I wanted out of this excursion.
On our drive through the city that morning, we drove past a field of palm trees that are distanced to match the length and width of the chamber of the canal. I can't recall whether our tour guide indicated this is the size of the new locks or the old locks.
To get back to the ship, we once again had to board a water shuttle. A ferry had just come in that uses the same dock as our water shuttles (aka tenders) and so a line had developed as the water shuttles waited for the ferry to finish its business. I once again snagged a seat up on top to get some more views of the ship and a few last views of the city. This ride was slow and the boat zig-zagged back to the ship; later I learned that one of the two engines were out on the tender, leaving a propeller on one side to provide all the motivation.
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| The dock for the water shuttles |
Once back on the ship, we had a low key evening because we were tired. We watched us leave port although we really didn't have far to go. We could see the canal from where we had anchored this day but couldn't stay in the harbor so we headed out to sea just overnight to return in the morning at our designated time slot.
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| Dressed for dinner |
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| After dinner, we returned to the room to sort through photos and so I ordered a Sidecar and some cookies to help me with that task. My husband tried the banana pudding. |
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