After arriving at the Pacific side, we boarded a smaller ship which would take us through the locks. The Carnival Legend can not make this passage because of its size and the cost that would be accessed. The ship we were on held approximately 500 people. |
Beyond this bridge is the Pacific. To our right was the first of three locks which would raise us through the mountains to basically a body of water or a lake. This would be our final destination, but if we continued, we would drop back down through two more locks and back into Colon on the Atlantic side. |
It took about 15 minutes to arrive at our first lock. Each set of locks have two sides in which ships can traverse. However, the ships do not travel in opposite directions, but in the same directions. Usually, the ships in the Pacific traverse all morning and arrive at the top of the lake where at the same time, all ships in the Atlantic are doing the same thing, traversing to the lake as well |
When all ships arrive at the lake, the process is reversed and all ships travel back down to their respective sides.
Here, we are entering our first lock. Ahead is a gate which holds back over 50 feet of lake water.
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As we enter the lock, the gates behind us will close. Within moments, out ship will rise about 30 feet. The massive gates move without any great forces. They are well balanced and they use the forces of the water to keep them tightly shut. |
Immediately, the water starts to churn as water rushes in from the lake above and you quickly see yourself rising as you watch the walls to the side. |
The process of rising 30 feet took about five minutes. Although our ship was small, it doesn't matter whether the ship is an oil tanker or a row boat. The process can raise both at the same rate. |
One of the few modernizations over the years has been the trains which pull the ships through the canal. The large ships themselves cannot navigate under their own power, but rely on these trains to pull them through the canal. These are electric trains and have a lot or horsepower. |
Here, you can see that we have risen another 30 feet and down below, another 30 feet and down below that, the Pacific. |
As we travel from left to right, across from us on the other side of our lock is a huge freighter travelling in the same direction. We would later see this same vessel as we leave Panama and head North to Ft. Lauderdale. |
Although the lake has never run out of water to supply the lifting of ships 24 hours a day, to conserve the lake water, multiple ships will use the same lock to ascend and descent. Here, we are joined by another tourist ship and a tug boat. |
Although young and not quite sure what this is all about, we are sure that Preston and Brooklyn will someday study about the Panama Canal and it's importance. I'm sure they'll then realize that they had made this adventure and share their experiences with their class. |
As for Greg, the experience was recreating what his grandparents experienced. Susan was amazed at the amount of work which it took to literally carve a path through the mountains. |
We have arrived at the top of the lake and the final gate opens to allow us to exit the third lock. |
To our side, the same freighter begins to move out of the lock ahead of us. |
From the third lock, we wind our way through the mountains for about a one hour boat ride. Although we would not be traveling back down into the Atlantic, we knew what the process involved. |
We quickly passed the freighter which passed through the locks with us. His next destination would be waiting his turn to go back down the locks and into the Atlantic. |
After the one hour boat ride, we arrived at the main body of the lake and saw at least 50 ships waiting to begin the traverse back down into the ocean.
We boarded our tour bus and began the two hour trip back to Colon.
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