April 10, 2013 Panama Canal Cruise; Day 6 Panama Canal and Panama City

Brett and I woke up at 6 a.m. because the day had finally arrived, we were going to go through the Panama Canal.  The Island Princess began to go through the Isthmus of Panama at 6:15 a.m. and then we began to go through the first set of locks at 6:45 a.m.

Barely awake

The Isthmus of Panama

The canal

The doors of the Gatun Lock

Watching the Oil Tanker next to us enter the other lane

water coming into the canal

The gates releasing into Gatun Lake

The little cars that help pull the ships

Gatun Lake

Here are some interesting facts about the Panama Canal... 

1. It takes about 8-10 hours for each ship to get through from one ocean to the other. 

2. A ship has to be in the water for 48 hours before able to go through the canal.

3. There are three sets of locks.  The Gatun Locks, the Pedro Miguel Locks, and the Miraflores Locks.

4. Each ship takes 52 million gallons of water to go through the entire canal.

5. It costs money for ships to go through the canal.  This is how the country of Panama makes their money.  Each ship varies on what type of ship it is and also the size.  The Island Princess cost $360,000.  The most expensive is the Norwegian Pearl at $440,000.

6. A third lane is currently being built which should be complete for the centennial next year.

The Island Princess on Gatun Lake

We took a tender to shore and went on our excursion to Panama City.  It's 50 miles from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean so we took a 70 minutes bus ride to the Pacific side.

We reached the Pacific Ocean

The skyline of Panama City

We then had a chance to see Old Panama City.  I loved the architecture with the European influence.  Panama City and Panama in general is such a clean and beautiful city and country.  I would go back and stay a week if I could.  

That's our guide Sweet GoGo

The last part of our excursion was to see the final set of locks, the Miraflores Locks.  We were able to go the observation deck and actually see the same oil tanker from earlier, go through about 8 hours later.

The same oil tanker

Observation deck

Since our ship only did a partial transit, we were taken back to the Caribbean side to the city of Colon. Brett and I loved Panama and thought the Panama Canal was such a neat experience.  The history and the mechanics of the canal was so interesting that it really would be every engineers dream to see it.  I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to see it.  I even have a certificate to prove it!