My Panama Canal Vacation and Other Nonsense (Part III)

A brief description of the journey:  We took a ten-day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Panama with stops along the way.  We were on  the Holland - America cruise ship 'Volendam'.  Part I took us through Holland - America's private island, Half Moon Cay.  Part II was a little bit about Aruba/Curacao and here in Part III is the highlight; in my opinion - The Panama Canal.

The trip only took us into the Gatun Lake.  To visit the Pacific side, one had to take a 'shore excursion' to the other side of the country.  Once we arrived at the dock above the Montefiore Locks, we boarded a much smaller 'Party Boat' and then went to the locks where we were lowered to the Pacific Ocean. 


Sunrise heading towards Panama...


Here is the acess to the Gatun Locks on the right.  The left side is the new canal (under construction), that will accommodate much larger ships.


Approaching the locks, there are two ships being raised to Lake Gatun at the same time.



On the left:  'Alinca Shanghai' from Monrovia.  On the right:  'Green Cove' from New Orleans.  The first one is a cargo container transport and the other is a secured vehicle transporter.



OUR TURN:  The locks opening to admit the Volendam!


Easy does it!  Panama Canal is the only place in the world where Maritime Law decrees you MUST give up command of your ship to a Canal trained Captain.  They are the only ones qualified to maneuver a ship through the locks.  On the other side, a pilot ship takes their Captain and gives control back to the original Commander.



The locks on our starboard side (right).  One full, one empty.  This is lake level.


Many things going on here.  You can see ships lining up for their turn, you can see the pilot boat delivering a Captain while the electric deisel (mules) attach to the ship to help guide it through the locks, too.  You can also see how little room there is to maneuver through.  This looks to have about three feet on either side.


Here's a lock mate going the other way.  Look at the blue side of the ship, Look down to the dark red strip below and THAT's the side of the lock and shows how close the ship is.  Literally INCHES.


Our ship inside the lock.  Photo taken from our room on the port side, midship.


View from lower deck almost level.  The men in the photo hopefully gives you a sense of scale.  The locks really aren't that large in 'real life'.


Exiting into Lake Gatun.  It's been great having you...now GET OUT.  LOL


An 'in your face' view of one of the lock gates almost head on. 


The Panama Canal Lighthouse.


These are the Montefiore Locks on the other side.  No need to bore you with the connecting ride we had to take.  Really not worth it.



Here we've transferred to the 'party boat'.  Up ahead is another 'party boat' and three sloops, all sharing the same lock.  It's ok until I went to the stern of the boat and saw what was coming.


Here comes a Cargo Container Transport Ship behind us.  It got so close that the shadow crossed over our little boat.  It was a very undomfortable feeling.



As the water lowered, we had to look UP instead of DOWN.  On the Volendam, we'd be several stories above the prow.




The sloops sharing our lock.


Down to the second lock, one more to go.  (TOTAL OF FIVE)  This is the Overlook building.  If you want to watch the Canal in action, you can go to www.panamacanal.org and see their live webcam mounted here.  Their time zone equates to US Mountain time.


This picture sucks but when I realized what it was, I couldn't remedy the situation.  This us us sailing UNDER the Pan American bridge, 'Bridge of the America's'.  It was a spectacular sight, sorry it wasn't better.



Panama City, Panama, and the end of the journey on the Pacific Ocean.  We docked off shore at a place called Flamenco Island which is connected to the mainland via an very long causeway.  From here we took a bus ride back to Puerto Limon' on the Atlantic Ocean where the Volendam was docked and waiting for us.



Sunset over Central America.  Leaving Panama; heading for Costa Rica!


Part I:   http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977318820

Part II:  http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977322497