Panama Canal Full Transit Cruise with Photos

 

It's hard to be objective about the Panama Canal.  It was on my bucket list.  But I wanted more than to just visit the canal.  I wanted to go through the original locks and I wanted to do a complete transit.  I never dreamed I would get to do that once the new locks opened.  But here I am in the old locks doing a complete transit through the canal!  Here are a few of our favorite photos of the Panama Canal and a brief discription of our experience.

 

The Caribbean Locks

 

We read the book about the building of the Panama Canal and watched the documentary about the building of the Panama Canal, but nothing prepares you for your first glimpse of the locks.  We came in from the Caribbean side after spending a few days visiting other ports of call.  The morning was bright, beautiful and already humid.  I was not prepared for the humidity, I would have gone out a little earlier to give my camera more time to acclimate.  As it was, I had to keep cleaning the condensation from my lens.  It was worth it.  This was our first real look at the locks.  If you look closely, you can see the gates to all three locks.  It was thrilling.  To think all of this is powered by gravity and water.  Such an amazing feat.

 

This was taken on deck 5 of our ship.  As you can see, there is not a lot of room for error.  We just fit.  Though our ship was almost as wide as the locks themselves, there was room at the back for two tug boats to join us.  Interestingly enough, the tugs were just sharing the lock with us.  Most of the guidance came from the shore where they have, for lack of a better word, train tugs, to guide us and keep us perfectly centered in the lock.  I spent most of my time on top of the ship watching all the activity on shore.  Be sure to explore around the different decks of the ship.  They all bring a different perspective and they all reveal something new.

The Lake Section

Once we made it through all three locks on the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal, we were placed in a holding pattern on the lake.  The lake is otherworldly.  The area is flooded jungle and and there are "lanes" of traffic for the ships to pass through.  On the day of our sailing there was a bit of a traffic jam so we got to sit and just enjoy the views for a little while.  Once we received the all clear, we made our way through the lake section of the Panama Canal towards the "cuts".  The cuts were the area that just about stopped the building of the canal in its track.  There are areas of steep terraced walls that during the excavation phase would collapse and cause them to dig it out once again.  Pictured here are views from the lake.

Here is another view from the lake section of the Panama Canal.  We had a lot of fun watching for alligators.  We didn't get to see any, but according to the captain and crew, you can see them from time to time sunning themselves on the banks of the little islands that dot the lake section.  Sailing through this jungle is peaceful and mesmerizing.   There is a constant haze from the humidity but that only makes the views more exotic.  

The Cabrara Cut

The Cabrara Cut is one of the steeper sections of the Panama Canal.  This section is quite different from the lake section.  This is more of what I imagined the canal would look like.  From the picture  you can see that some of the walls are still terraced and others are not.  This is an interesting stretch of the canal and we enjoyed the back end of the ship for viewing.  By sticking to the back of the ship or the very top of the ship, you can see both sides of the canal as you pass through.  It helps to gain perspective.  The canal passes under two bridges, one being the Bridge of the Americas.  Beautiful scenery on all sides and interesting stories behind the building of the canal can be had in this section of the Panama Canal.

 

The Pacific Locks

 

This photo was taken as we were leaving one of the locks on the Pacific side of the canal headed towards the Pacific Ocean.  As you can see the locks on the Pacific side are longer and spaced further apart.  On the last lock you can watch the lake water mix with the salty water of the Pacific Ocean.  I didn't realize that the two  don't mix immediately.  Who knew?  We did get to see alligators in this area.  We saw two of them in the area of the locks.  The whole experience of traveling through the Panama Canal was a full day.  It was an exciting day with fabulous views, fun stories about the building of the Panama Canal, and great experiences.  This trip was everything I always wanted it to be.  Well worth the trip.

This cruise through the Panama Canal was actually a segment of a World Cruise.  Because it was a segment of a World Cruise, it was on a smaller ship which allowed us to go through the original locks.  For me, this was the way I wanted to see the Panama Canal.  The ship had 600 passengers and thus was very social, very intimate, and quite enjoyable.

When you are ready to plan your perfect trip through the Panama Canal, contact us, your premier full-service Boise Travel Agency and Panama Canal Experts.

Phone: 208-996-3269  Email: cal.lindsay@cruiseplanners.com