Oct 26 2007

A Journey to the Panama Canal

To our favorite travel agent, Julie from All-Travel and to our friends who were on past Princendam cruises with us; to our friends who were with us on this last voyage on the Zuiderdam we would like to share with you some of our cruise experience to Panama.

We departed in early October from Long Beach, destined for a 17 day cruise down the Mexican coast and through the Panama Canal, then over to Columbia and finally up to Key West, FL and Ft. Lauderdale. It was a really great and fun journey.

On day 12, it’s ‘Canal Day’ I thought as our persistent alarm clock began to ring early in the morning. We dressed quickly, went upstairs to eat a light breakfast and then out onto the bow of our ship on deck 4 – of 11 decks. There was already a crowd gathered in the silent dawn, with the tang of a salt breeze in the air and we could see in the near distance the first set of giant locks of the great Panama Canal.

As we approached, more happy, excited passengers arrived on the deck as the ship started to enter the first step of three steps or flights of the Miraflores locks on the Pacific side. What an impressive thrill to see the canal up close: almost like watching your first child march off to kindergarten on the first day of school.

Our ship, the largest of any that can enter the canal, very slowly crept into the lock and was hooked up with strong cables at the bow and stern of the ship to pretty-good sized locomotives running on tracks on each side of our vessel. The locomotives are called ‘mules’ and guide as well as pull boats through the lock. Our mammoth ship -950 feet long and 1848 passengers- barely fit, as there was less than a 2 foot clearance on each side. And all the Panamanian workers scurried back and forth, shouting instructions to their counterparts who had boarded our ship to assist the Captain in guiding his monster through these very narrow locks.

When we were entirely inside the lock, the rear gates closed and then the front gates started to open, letting the water from step 2 lock, gravitate down to the first step and raising our ‘little’ vessel to the level of the 2nd step. What a thrill as the gates swung slowly open and the water gradually but surely reached a given level in both locks.

Our big ship then moved quietly forward into the second step. Next to us about 25 yards away was another channel or lane, the same as our own, and it had a bulky container ship in it that was moving along with us. A lone crewman stood in it’s bow, looking like the lost soul of Atlantis. Who would be the first out into the lake?

After we were in the middle step I went down to deck 2 to watch from a window on the ship as we glided along. I was really surprised at the condition of the locks: the concrete walls were scarred, pitted and chipped where ships had scraped the huge sides and the heavy steel gates, which held the water in each step, were rusty, corroded, with bolt heads broken off, and really didn’t seem to be in very good condition. But at least they still worked – after nearly 100 years of operation.

The Pacific side Miraflores locks raise ships 54 feet above the ocean to Miraflores lake. The next lock, the 2nd, , and only 1 step, ascends 31 feet up to the main level of the passage. So the main canal sits at a grand elevation level of only 85 feet above the both seas, and is 48 miles in length. Not much, but it took us 9 hours to go through to the Atlantic side. The 3rd set of locks, the Gatun locks, are a three-stage flight, about 1 mile long, and drops our ship back down to sea level on the Atlantic side.

Gatun lake, an artificial body of fresh water, is 15 miles long and carries vessels across the isthmus. Along the way, I saw where the great earthen cuts were made and the stair-step sides of their sloping hills, primarily there to prevent landslides. Gatun lake was very picturesque with lots of small islands full of luxuriant greenery.

The canal was begun in 1904 when the eminent Theodore Roosevelt was president. It was completed after a Herculean endeavor in 1914, and the first ship sailed through it in August 1914: at the beginning of World War I. The water to supply the locks comes from the Panamanian rainforest which gets over 100 inches of rain a year and there are numerous dams throughout the countryside to collect the needed water in the lakes and prevent it from swooshing immediately out to sea. Each chamber in each lock gets it’s water by gravity from the lock above it and ultimately from the two lakes. Only fresh water is used to prevent corrosion to the massive lock gates.

Since 1963 the canal is a 24 hour a day operation with about 40 ships each day making the transit. A new passageway, along side the old, is being built now with a completion date of 2015, which will double the capacity of the canal. These locks will be 1400 feet long, (vs. 975’ now) and much wider, 180 feet vs. 108 feet now so that bigger and better boats can make the trip instead of traveling an additional 8,000 miles and 20 days around South America.

Everyone has heard of the canal, seen pictures of the canal and perhaps knows quite a bit of it’s history, but to actually see and sail through the wonder it is, is a spectacular experience; a ringside seat. It is like a living history lesson that you feel a part of: it fortifies one’s whole conception of what man, the humanist, can accomplish given the will.

At dusk, as we exited the canal and entered the Atlantic I was so surprised by the large number of freighters anchored, waiting to get on the ride through Panama. The sea was so crowded with ships; like the BQE in New York on a Friday night.

(To watch ships pass through the awe-inspiring canal, see: http://www.pancanal.com/ a fun website).

Before arriving at the celebrated passageway, we visited several resorts on Mexico’s coast: Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo, a sleepy village where Art, my dear and great friend and I spent some time in 1956 when we were 20 years old. It must have had 2000 people back then, but today it is a metropolis of 138,000. Like the entire world, we have all grown up.

Then we stopped in famous Acapulco before seeing other ports: Huatulco, Puerto Chiapas, and Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica. All were pleasant places, but hot and humid. From Panama we went to Cartagena, Columbia where the weather was droopy, soupy-hot and speckled with a fermentation that made you limp and enervated. After two days of sailing we arrived on the island of Key West, Florida and then it was on to Fort Lauderdale and our flight home.

Take care, and as Saint Augustine wrote, “ The world is a book and those who do not travel, read only one page.”

Published by Rick and Susan Evans

For more information on Holland America Line cruises visit www.all-travel.com/hollandamericaline.com

About Julie Northington

I am a designated accredited travel consultant (CTC) with over 25 years of industry experience. My true passion is helping clients realize their life-long vacation dreams. Tahiti is one of my specialties, and I just recently became a Paul Gauguin PEARLS Agent, which coupled with 10 years as an accredited Tahiti Tiare Specialist, affords me many resources and experience to make your South Pacific travel plans seamless and very memorable. Education is very important to me. I have completed several comprehensive destination training courses on preferred cruise lines and tour companies, in addition cruising on and visiting many popular worldwide vacation spots. Please call me—I am eager to assist you in planning your next vacation whether by sea or land!