The Panama Canal

We entered the Canal which is 80 kilometers long, at 7 a.m. I think every single person on the ship was hanging over the railings. The approach looks just like going into a river but then you get to the 3 Gatun locks which lift you up to Gatun Lake 26 meters above sea level. It only takes 8 minutes for the locks to fill or empty. It looks like there is only 2 inches to spare on the sides but there is actually about 2 feet. 197 million gallons of fresh water from Gatun Lake is used for each lockage and flushed out to sea. Ships can make appointments to go through a year ahead of time and the cash has to be in the bank or you don't go. It cost $300,000.00 for our ship today. Apparently it depends on weight, depth and length. The Americans finally got the lock system built, the inaugural passage was August 1914 so it is now 95 years old. It was returned to Panama in 1999. Since 1963, it has been running 24 hours a day. It is continuously being dredged for maintainance. There were 12 ships waiting in Gatun Lake and then we went through the Pedro Miguel Lock to lower us to Miraflores Lake. We passed under the Bridge of the Americas and next were the 2 locks to lower us to the Pacific Ocean, where we arrived at 4:00.