We have a few “scenic cruising” days scheduled, where there is a day of scenic touring that you can see from the ship, but where we do not go ashore. The first one was a full transit of the Panama Canal, east to west, from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
This was our second cruise transiting the Panama Canal. The first was in 2009, our first cruise with Princess Cruise Lines. We went from Fort Lauderdale to Jamaica, through the Canal, and then north on several stops, ending in Acapulco. We had several family members join us on that cruise 15 years ago.
This time we had an enjoyable transit, spending some of the time on our balcony, and some on other parts of the ship viewing our progress. It takes a full day to transit the Panama Canal and it is a privilege to be able to go through this engineering marvel.
Our “pilot” was being dropped off shortly after we got up; this is the view from our balcony.Approaching the Atlantic Bridge on our way to entering the canal. This is the first bridge that crosses the land on each side of the canal when entering from the east.Much of the transit of the canal, between the various locks, is through wilderness. You can hear and see many birds and some other wildlife.I was surprised when I went down to the Promenade Deck for my daily walk that we were at the level of the land on the lock. Made for an interesting view. As you can see when in the locks there is very little room between our ship and the side. There is now a second larger lock, but this ship was built specifically to transit the Panama Canal and at that time was the largest size that could go through.Entering another lock. This is an example of how it looks when we are high above the lock. In this case, we were entering at a higher level of water and then would descend down to the level of the water on the other side at the exit.After exiting the last lock, heading for open ocean on the other side of the last bridge, the Bridge of the Americas, built in 1962.Several boats are moored at the entrance to the canal on the Pacific side. Boats of many sizes transit the Panama Canal; we have several friends who have done it on their own sailboat or those of friends. Some of these also looked abandoned, or people might just have them moored there with no plan to transit the canal.The boat with our pilot leaving after our transit, with Panama City in the background. Panama City is a city of nearly 2 million people and is a city for international commerce, including medical tourism.
I might want to do this one day, thanks for sharing!
You are welcome!
Beautiful pictures, thanks for taking us all along for the ride !
You are welcome!