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An early start as we entered the Panama Canal at 6.45 am and we wanted to be on deck to see it first hand and watch the sunrise. We didn't really know what to expect, back in UK we have many canals and locks near us so we had an idea, but it was impossible to imagine the size of these!
Queen Elizabeth is Panama sized to fit, that leaves 2 feet either side and 20 feet front and back, so it's a very tight squeeze, but they didn't scrape the paintwork at all. We arrive at Gatun Lock first and the pilot boat steers the ship in the right direction and then the "mules", small diesel engines attach the ship and pull it through, the whole process takes about an hour. The locks can be used in either direction and there are two locks at each point.
We then entered the Gatun Lake which is a large crossing lake where the cruise liners, ships and cargo vessels pass each other in each direction, it was very busy but Queen Elizabeth appeared to get priority at every point. There were thousands of onlookers that came to see the QE pass through for the first time and our arms ached from the constant waving.
The lake then enters the Narrows of the Chagres River and Gailland Cut passing Panama prison and under the Centenial Bridge and before we knew it, the time was 3 pm, we had been outside nearly all day, it was so fascinating.
Ahead of us were the Pedro Miguel Locks that drop you back down towards the Pacific, closely followed by the Miraflores Lock that is the final decent. It took just under 12 hours to go from Caribbean Sea to the Pacific.
With the enormous high rises and expansive Panama City to our left, we passed under the Bridge of Americas into the Pacific Ocean and most of the traffic had stopped on the bridge to sound their horns to send us on our way, a wonderful sight.
The Pacific is very calm and we have already seen dolphins, turtles and flying fish, we'll post pictures if we can catch them. Special thanks to Barbara and Al and Steve, Tracy and girlies for the pictures you emailed us of our transit, so wonderful!
Our love to our Florida Stamper family, we are so saddened to hear about Nana Schmidt, fond memories we will always keep but that doesn't stop our tears xx
- comments
john Enjoy......
christine THEY ARE GREAT PICS LOVE TO FOLLOW YOU,HAVE FUN