THE PANAMA CANAL The transit through the canal, (please note the use of the very professional word, “transit,” rather than “crossing,” “sailing,” or even “traversing.”) It was everything we hoped for. First of all, it looked like the Panama Canal. Crossing under the Bridge of the Americas, marked our Pacific Entrance. At that point we followed a line of ships to the Miraflores Locks, the first of three, which raised us up, over the Continental Divide, and lowered us again to the Caribbean Sea on the Atlantic side. Going through the locks was a complicated symphony of entering the locks, closing the doors, filling the basin, rising slowly up and then into the next chamber. In each locks we did this three times. In between the locks, we saw areas where they are expanding the canal; widening the waterways and adding significantly bigger and deeper locks, for ever-wider and deeper ships. When we got through the first lock we were an hour behind schedule. When we exited the canal, we were right on time…heading for Cartagena, Columbia, where we will be today. Truly an experience to be remembered. Fred emptied one of the items in his bucket list and I thought about being in grade school again. What a report I could have turned in: “Our Trip to the Panama Canal,” By Frederick and Barry Cronin.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 14:58:07 +0000
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