Panama Canal - June 7

"train" that kept us centered

Miraflores Lock

Today was the day!  The Panama Canal!!!  After hearing so much about it through lectures, tours, and PBS documentaries, it was finally time to experience it.  We raised anchor around 6:00 am and slowly made our way to the entrance to the canals by the Bridge of the Americas.  By 8:00 we approached the first lock at Miraflores and got connected to cables on each side attached to small railroad car type vehicles that would keep the ship in the middle of the canal and not bump the sides.  Then we slowly inched forward until we were in place and the lock shut behind us.  There was a large crowd of students, faculty, family, and crew watching and everybody was thrilled to witness this event.  After watching the process yesterday, I was expecting the process to be painfully slow but being on the ship and watching everything from above made a real difference.  The water rose relatively quickly and soon the gates in front of us were opening and we pulled forward slowly to repeat the process again.

Gatun Lock

After about 30-45 minutes (I didn't actually time it), we were through both gates and on our way to the next lock, Pedro Miguel Lock, a short distance away.  Once we were through that one we had a long trek on the river and lake until we reached the last lock around 3:00 pm at Gatun.  We had a Canal pilot on the ship with us the entire time - all of the ships are guided through the length of the canal by these pilots since they know the intricacies of the locks better than the ship captains.  We saw our captain on his observation deck throughout the day taking photos of the trip.  It was kind of cute to see somebody who has navigated the canal before to still be excited about it.

Since the Panama Canal was a major event on the boat, schedules were very flexible.  Professors gave their students more breaks during class to witness the journey at various times and Anne and I took quick trips outside to get pictures and enjoy the moment.  I have to confess that by the end of the day, I was ready to be on the open sea again.  Primarily because of the intensity of the sun and the humidity.  There were a lot of hot,sweaty, and sunburned people on the ship by the time we passed through the last lock...but so worth it for this amazing experience.

In the evening we had a faculty and staff social which was a nice way to celebrate this day.  Everybody was in the mo0d to have fun and the deans had a tough time herding us out of the lounge and into the Union when it was time for our pre-port lecture on Costa Rica.  We arrive in Limon, Costa Rica early tomorrow and on to another adventure...but it will be difficult to surpass this one!