Panama Canal (Full Transit) & Panama City, Panama

            Monday, 11 Dec 2023 – Today, we were scheduled for a full transit of the Panama Canal, an artificial 51-mile waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, cutting across the Isthmus of Panama.  It is a conduit for maritime trade.  The Panama Canal celebrated its 100th year of operation in 2014.  The canal took more than 34 years to complete and cost the lives of more than 25,000 people, who died from either tropical diseases or landslides. 

In 2016, two new sets of locks were opened to accommodate much larger ships, and facilitate maintenance of the other existing locks.  The two new sets of locks include one from the Caribbean Sea to the Gatun Lake, and the second directly from the Gatun Lake to the Pacific Ocean.  (The original lock system consists of three sets of locks.)  Construction of the new locks took about 9 years and involved more than 36,000 workers, 90.5 percent of whom were Panamanian citizens.  The new locks are capable of recovering about 60 percent of the water used in each cycle and are equipped with gates that can open and close in just five minutes.

Gatun Lake, created as part of the Panama Canal construction, is one of the largest manmade lakes in the world.  It lies 26 meters above sea level and provides the navigation channel between the Gatun and Pedro Miguel Locks.  The Gatun Lake concept facilitated the construction of the Panama Canal, which otherwise would have been next to impossible, even with modern construction techniques and equipment available today.  Costs to transit the Panama Canal start at about $800 for small ships with a record high of $4 million one of the largest ships!  In 2014, the Island Princess was charged $150,000 to pass through the Canal.  (Not sure how much the Oceania Marina was charged.)   After traversing the canal, the ship was scheduled to dock overnight at Panama City at 7:00 PM.

We went to our usual breakfast in the Terrace Café.  We had an excellent view from our cabin, and we could see the gates opening and closing on the stateroom TV.  We went dancing earlier than usual, then to dinner in the Terrace Café.  Since we arrived so early, Sally had to wait in a long line to get her lobster!