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Monday 21st January
Today we got up very early so that we could see the start of our transit through the Panama Canal. This takes us from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. We got up at 6.20am when it was just getting light and we were approaching the first of the Gatun locks. There are three Gatun Locks. Each lock takes you a bit higher. There is only just room for the width of the ship with very little space each side - the ship is held by steel wires attached to mules that are like trains that move on rails either side of the lock. They don't pull you through they just stop the ship from scrapping the side of the lock. There are two locks side by side and there was another cruise ship in the next lock. While we were going through the locks we saw several different birds including some pelicans - they flew very close to the ship so we had a good view of them and I even managed to get a photo of one of them. After the Gatun Locks we went into the Gatun Lake with rainforest all around. Further on the waterway narrows as you go through the Culebra Cut. This takes you to the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks that take you down to the level of the Pacific Ocean. There was lots of construction work here as they are building an extra lane to take bigger ships. By 3o'clock we were passing under theBridge of the Americas at the end of the canal and you could see the very tall buildings of Panama City in the distance.
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