Panama Canal

A lock opening

The most anticipated event on this voyage, at least for John, was the Panama Canal.

Not only is it an engineering feat rivalled by nothing else, it also has a political history worthy of a movie.

Contrary to most people's assumptions, the canal does not run west to east, as one might suppose it would to link the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea, but south to north.

We arrived at the Pacific Ocean entry point early in the morning but we managed to miss sailing under the Bridge of the Americas due to our alarm not going off. It looks quite similar to Sydney Harbour Bridge, minus the pylons.

The canal has two channels, but they seem not to be used for contra flowing vessels, but, at least when we were there, for vessels travelling in the same direction, side by side as it were.

The building of the canal was commenced by the French in the 1880s. After about 10 years and some 22,000 deaths mostly due to malaria and yellow fever, the French abandoned the project. The United States purchased the rights to the construction and began their planning.  At some stage the Americans assisted a regime change and then negotiated with the ambassador to the US to sign an agreement giving the US rights to all income from the canal in perpetuity.  $11 million dollars changed hands but was never received by Panama.  No paper work has ever been found to clarify this.

As you would be aware, we have an inside cabin, so it was very nice to receive an invitation from Fred and Jenny, who have a balcony, to join them for part of the day.

There are three locks on the southern end of the canal and two at the other end.  An artificial lake was created between the two sets of locks by damning the Chagres River.  The lake is 85 feet above sea level.

No pumps are used to move water into and out of the locks – it's all down to gravity, using the water from the lake – 53 million gallons per ship.

The Queen Victoria is known as a “Panamaxi” - i.e. as big a ship as can fit in the locks.

In fact, there was only 100mm clearance each side of our ship – and, yes, we bumped the side a couple of times.

Ships are kept aligned by the locomotives which run on tracks either side of the ship and which are attached by ropes.  We had three of these on each side.  The locomotives do not tow the ship – the ship uses its own power for propulsion – but simply keep it from the sides of the lock.

The transit took all day – from 8am til about 6pm.  To increase capacity, another set of locks is being constructed.  It was due to be completed this year, but is now scheduled for 2016.

Reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Colon