Panama Canal - Going Through the Canal

The Locks
The Ship Ahead of Us
Locomotive

Well, today was the day. We went through the three sets of locks that make up the Panama Canal. It was an interesting experience. Imagine if you can, the Rideau Canal on steroids. Sonja went up to the deck early in the morning; I decided to stay closer to home and sit on the balcony. We entered the canal at 6 a.m. and were in the Pacific about 5 p.m. I didn’t realize that it was an all-day process. The distance (or lack of) between the ship and the side of the canal was amazing. We are so close to the concrete that I swear we left a layer of paint on the side of the concrete. They have little locomotives on the side of the canal that helps take the ship through. They attach wires to the big ship and assist in the process.
Did you know that in takes 52 million gallons of water to move one ship through the canal? I didn’t until today. One of the reasons they are building some new locks is to cut down on that amount of water. Apparently the water they use now is “lost”, the Panama Canal Authority wants to be able to change this. They are well on their way.
Tomorrow should prove to be another interesting day – a tram ride in the Panama Rain Forest – really looking forward to that.