Panama Canal - Part 2

I realized last night that I had a video on my cellphone of the car carrier making it's way into the Gatun locks. I hope it works, as it shows the mules as they travel down the rails to the lower lock. 

When I left off yesterday, we were about to sail under the Centennial Bridge. I watched from the buffet until we got closer to the Pedro Miguel locks. I didn't take as many photos here, but there are a few to share.

There's the Amadea again, this time using the left side of the locks. It may be there wasn't any traffic waiting to come through that side, or it might have been due to the weather that was about to blow in.

Look at the difference in the water levels. We were about to enter that last portion of the lock, and the water would be released so we were lowered too to match the open water beyond. Again, magic!

We're in the third lock at this point, with a view to the Miraflores locks ahead. It's not entirely clear, but it was beginning to rain at this point.

The tugs were waiting for us as we exited the locks - their presence turned out to be very important. The Amadea was beginning its progress throught the Miraflores locks, and you can see the rain coming in.

The visibility continued to drop as we waited. The temperature dropped significantly too, probably close to 10-15 degrees C. It wasn't raining too hard where we were (yet), and I stayed outdoors. (I don't melt, I just wish I would.)

We had a brief glimpse of Panama City, as the storm continued to roll in. 

This photo was taken with my cellphone before I fled indoors from the balcony. I was looking towards the Miraflores locks and could see nothing!

There was a single flash of lightning, a loud rumble of thunder, and the rain fell in torrents. I went back to my stateroom for 15-20 minutes (it was on Deck 11 too) hoping that the storm would clear out.

It hadn't entirely but had decreased signficantly. I tucked under a overhang and waited for it to clear.

I heard later that the winds were so strong that the ship was blown sideways and one of the tugs placed themselves between the ship and the wall to keep us from crashing into it! I must say I didn't feel a lot of movement in my stateroom, so I'm not certain of the veracity of that story.

As we made our way through the third series of locks, the Amadea had made its way through and was sailing towards the next bridge.

As we made our way through this last set of locks, we were greeted by a large crowd. They waved and took photos while we waved and took photos of them. There was an announcer explaining the process in English and Spanish. I'm assuming it was a tour group, and not locals.

This local, a brown pelican was waiting for the water to stir up its next meal.

On the other side of the ship, were several birds - two of the pelicans spotted something in the water. I wonder who got there first?

I wasn't able to find any information about this structure, but I'm thinking it was likely used as an observation deck at some point. It didn't appear to be in use now.

Finally, we reached the Bridge of the Americas, the first of the bridges built to allow traffic between North and South America. The bridge was completed in 1962 at a cost of $20M USD. This bridge is 1654 meters (5425 feet) in length, has a main span of 344 (1,129 feet, and a height of 117 meters (384 feet). 

Some other interesting facts about the Panama Canal:

France was the first country to begin working on the canal in 1881. This enterprise failed due for various reasons, including tropical diseases that killed thousands of workers.

In 1902, the United States took over the project. The government eventually spent $375M to build the canal, including a $10M payment to Panama for the rights to a 500 square miles to build the canal, and $40M for French assets.

More than 25,000 workers died during the construction of the canal; 20,000 from the French contingent, and 5,600 from America's efforts. Deaths were due primarily to disease and accidents.

The canal opened in 1914, and in 2010, the one millioneth ship transited the pasage.

While tolls for large ships can be reach $500K, the smallest toll paid was 36 cents, in 1928 by Richard Halliburton who swam the canal.

A maximum of 40 vessels a day transit the Panama Canal, however this number isn't often reached due to water storage limits, and the variety and size of the vessels.

We didn't complete our transit until nearly 5:15 p.m, about nine hours after it began. Despite the delay we were close to our original anticipated ETA. Good thing we got an early start.

I didn't catch a photo of the sunset that evening, as I'd gone to the singles/solo event and then to dinner. It was early night for me again - tired from all the running around the ship!

Next up - Costa Rica