Transiting the Panama Canal - May 03, 2014

With a slight jolt this morning my eyes sprung open, I then quickly pulled the curtain back and there inches from my face was a rising wall, it was 6:47 and we were in the first lock at Gutan Locks. I was out on deck within 10 minutes catching all the days action, this feat of engineering is simply incredible. We had transited the Panama once before, Pacific to Caribbean, so this time we get to see this all in reverse.

From our handout last night, here is some history...
The Panama Canal is the result of a saga of human ingenuity and courage that goes back to the early 16th century when the Spaniards arrived on the Isthmus, the idea of building a route that would join the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans was conceived.

The first firm effort to build an all water route through Panama began with the French in 1880, but financial troubles and diseases made the initiative fail, some 20,000 lives lost. After its independence in 1903, Panama negotiates an agreement with the US for the construction of the Canal which the US would finish on August 15, 1914 and then managed the waterway until 1999.

At noon on December 31st, 1999, Panama took over full operation, administration and maintenance of the Canal.

Some additional interesting facts... During construction days, over 200 million cubic meters of material where removed, including major blasting through a mountain. So I am thinking 200 million, sounds like a lot, well it states here that if this material where to be placed on railway flatcars, it would circle the globe four times... wow, four times.

They are in deep construction (pun intended) for the new Panama Canal locks, the goal was to be completed on the 100 anniversary date, but as you can by some of the pictures, they are talking 2016 but looks like about five more years to me. The new locks will be 427 meters long and 55 meters wide, the size of four football fields.

An amazing day seeing our ship and other lifted over 85 feet and crossing jungles and mountain valleys some 80 kilometers across the continents.

Hope you enjoy the pictures... the last picture is our first Pacific sunset of the cruise, we started in cusp of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans and now have made it back to our home Ocean, the Pacific, also as of tonight we are one time closer to home, ten down one to go...