Day 73 Panama Canal

Day 73 Panama Canal

Our early morning start took in the arrival to and through the Gatun Locks, the first three locks of seven, which allow ships to transit the canal. From Balboa's discovery at the Isthmus of Panama to the completion in 1914, the Panama Canal took 400 years to construct. Thousands of workers, up to 50,000 at one time, helped make this convenient passage from Pacific Ocean to Atlantic Ocean. It saves almost 8,000 miles in travel, if a ship were to traverse via the Cape Horn.   Malaria, Yellow Fever and accidents caused the loss of several thousand lives during construction. It cost $352,000 for the DP to traverse this canal today and was paid over 2 years in advance to secure an early morning passage.

We headed to the front observation deck on eleven to see the DP sail into the Gatun Locks. The lights on the lock were turned off but came back on again when a heavy thunder storm passed over the area. It took around an hour and half to go through the locks. The ship had been tethered to little locomotives called Mules, to steady the ship in the centre of the canal as the ship used its own propulsion to move through. We found it fascinating watching the ship rise up out of one lock before entering the next.

We were followed by a roll-on roll-off car carrier, and I found it interesting seeing this huge ship almost disappear as the DP rose on the highest level. After going the first of the locks we travelled through the Gatun Lake and through to the Culebra Cut. I found the stepped sides of the Cut which had endured the decades of weather a marvellous feat of the engineers and workers of over a century ago. The same as the cement locks where tens of thousands of people had lost their lives to build.

By the time we approached the Pedro Miguel Locks we could see the massive construction works going on to build a 3^rd lock bigger than the existing locks to cater for the large super ships. We passed an island where workers worked in the mud, heat and humidity to establish some type of building or construction. Their lunch tent left a lot to be desired!

When we passed through the Miraflores Locks we were again in a thunderstorm and visibility was minimal. Paul and I stood for over an hour holding up a poster on the promenade deck in hope that the 'pancanal cam' at Miraflores would pick up our sign so it could be seen live over the web. I am not sure we were successful.

Life and work continues on board the ship. Whilst we were running (?) around from one section of the ship to the next to see the ship's progress through the canal, we returned to cabin only to see one of the ship's crew laying new carpet in the side corridor near our cabin! And of course our cabin stewards are always around, working to keep our cabins spotless. Thankyou Pol.