It’s a sunny scorching hot day in Panama as we approach the canal. Dozens of ships are lined up to enter the passageway and we slink past in our cruise ship. There’s a pilot brought on board and he is the conduit between the ship and the canal engineers. Also in the bridge are the ship’s captain and the destination speaker (who I think is terrific). She’s going to colour commentate the entire passage.

I went to her talk about the canal and found it to be very interesting and informative. She recommended that we be mobile in order to get a full view of the transit. What we didn’t count on in the equation was the blistering heat.

When we woke up the ship was slowly making its way to the first set of locks. There’s a total of 6. The canal is super narrow. So there’s tug boats to assist in making the entry. Once the ship is entering, there are mechanical mules which cast cables to the ship; these cables pull the ship along into the lock and prevent it from moving into the walls or doors at each end. Off to the side you can see huge targets which the mule operators use to practise tossing the cables. I call my folks to fill them in and we enjoy the first glimpses of the canal together.

The bridges are a marvel unto themselves. Long and wide, the cables on the support pillars are amazing.

As we enter the canal we head up from our cabin to the dining area at the front of the ship. Lots of people are crowding the viewing areas and due to the heat, being indoors is more tolerable. However, you have to contend with odd photos ad the glare is a factor. To our naked eye, however, the view was spectacular.

Once through the first set of locks we entered Lake Gatun. This manmade lake is fresh water and the source of water to fill the locks allowing ships to traverse the isthmus. First up then back down to sea level on the Pacific Ocean. The only man made lake larger is Lake Mead in Nevada (where Rudy and I had our “honeymoon” swim).

The lake is filled with ships and islands. It’s simply beautiful and lush. So green in contrast to the blue water.

At this time I jumped in the pool. It was so darn hot I needed a break. While in the pool, a friendly man swam up beside me while I watched the passage on the giant movie screen (they were showing the ships bow while the commentary continued). This savvy gentleman (who was on the world cruise and had been aboard since Jan 20!) told me the best place to view the transit was from deck 10 or 11 forward. He said: walk as far as you can and go through the “crew only” door then through the wooden door. I thanked him and exited the pool.

As we are in the lake, we pass the gigantic crane named “Herman the German”. It’s a massive steel crane that was built by the Germans to service Uboats during WWII. After the war it was temporarily moved to California, but it’s back on the lake.

The Giant crane is still in use.

Once I dry off, the clouds are forming and I head to the forward viewing deck. (Thanks to the pro tip). And it does not disappoint! We are heading to the next and final sets of locks and the clouds make outdoor viewing a pleasure.

The Centennial Bridge is a six lane highway that connects North and South America. A lot of the canal upgrades (bridges and new locks) were done fairly recently. It’s hard to believe that the canal is over 100 years old! Almost 30K people lost their lives – mostly French as they started the initial project unsuccessfully followed by the Americans (350 perished) who hired Caribbean workers (6000 plus perished). Roosevelt commissioned an engineer (Stevenson) who completed the task and Jimmy Carter created a treaty to return the canal to Panama 🇵🇦 which was then independent from Colombia 🇨🇴. Presently it is a contentious issue between America and China.

At this point I called my folks again so my dad could enjoy the ride. He was not disappointed! There was an outgoing ship (the car carrier) that we could watch being lowered as our ship was pulled into the canal.

Once we got into the chamber, we left the viewing deck and returned to our cabin to watch the mules. And again I called my dad so he could see the action as it happened.

So inside the chamber we are lowered by 29 feet. We head got dinner and look out of the windows on deck 6 to see the walls.

We continue the transit as we enjoy Italian night in the dining room. The commentator letting us know it was her longest transit ever. Taking almost 12 hours due to traffic in the canal.

Overall an amazing experience!