Those of you who know me know getting up early is not my idea of fun. Yesterday was an exception. At 5 am Thursday we began our crossing of the Panama Canal. And we were up, watching from our balcony, as we crossed the break water from the Caribbean into the Canal.
At the Gatun Locks we lined up with container ships, auto carriers, and other large ships for our turn in the locks.
In this picture you can see the container ship NYK Diana moving into the third stage of the port side lock. The containers above deck on the Diana are stacked 13 containers wide and 5 containers high. We made our way through the three stages to be lifted 26.52 meters into Gatun Lake. Our ship, the Coral Princess, cruised about 23 miles through the man-made Gatun Lake staying in a narrow ship channel and then entered the narrow part of the canal, the Guillard (or Culebra) Cut. This 8.4 mile section of the canal was excavated through the rock and rock-hard clay of the Continental Divide.
A the south end of the the Cut we entered the Pedro Miguel Locks to be lowered just under 29 feet to enter Miraflores Lake. At the end of the Lake we entered the Miraflores Locks where we were lowered through two stages to sea level and the Pacific Ocean.
As we passed the Visitors Center at the second stage of the Miraflores locks there were hundreds of people waving, cheering, and taking pictures. Traveling through the Panama Canal is a memorable experience.
John says I have to tell you this was taken about 7:30 am at our Champagne Balcony Breakfast as I've having my third flute of champagne. It was a beautiful day.
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