Panama City & Canal

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About halfway through our cruise we called into Panama City prior to going through the canal. We were advised that Panama was a dangerous place and that we should not venture out alone; we opted to join a tour visiting the old and new parts of the city together with a couple of museums. Honestly we did not see any danger and in future we planned on ignoring these warnings which seemed to have been made to help with the sale of tours.







These are the ruins of the old capital, Panama La Vieja, dating back to 1519, they are about three kilometres from Panama City. The city was looted by Henry Morgan in 1671, the Spanish Governor then ordered the powder store to be burned resulting in what remained of the town being destroyed. The new capital was built a couple of years later where Panama City is today.












This is the older part of Panama City, later we would see areas similar to this when we visited Havana, Cuba.






Originally, there was competition to attract finance to build a canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Routes considered included Nicaragua, Panama, or the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico. Panama used the above archway as an argument claiming that in either of the other countries it would have fallen down during earthquakes.






We noticed many footpaths (sidewalks), with patterns similar to this.






Floral archway leading to a hotel.







Street vendor, she was working very hard to achieve a sale. The population of Panama is made up of the newcomers since Spanish settlement along with eight indigenous tribes; although they had very little contact with each other before the arrival of Europeans, they do worship the same god, the American Dollar.


The two museums that we visited had no exhibits, just mounted photographs with captions and descriptions in Spanish. I don’t think that anyone on the tour could speak or read Spanish and the tour guide had very little English.






Back on board we could see other ships waiting to enter the canal. We had a definite time for our crossing because it had been booked and paid for just over 12 months ago. The average waiting time for a ship without a booking is about 28 hours but this is still a good deal when compared with going round the cape.






A couple of large liners waiting with us for transit the next day.






We are now heading towards the canal entrance.






These windows probably gave us our best view of the canal, wish that they had have cleaned them for the occasion.










Approaching canal entrance.








Entering the canal.






The locomotive at the side are to guide ships through, they do not actually pull the ships. Our liner went through using its own power but there was a tug stood by if needed.






We are almost in the first lock.






The lock is now full.










Opening the lock gates ahead of us and our Captain driving in the last shot.






The adjacent lock.






Filling the lock behind us.






This pelican seemed to be following alongside us.






Entering Gatun Lake.






Next ship heading to adjacent lock.








A Madonna’s bra type of bridge.






Cargo ship






Next ship just leaving locks.






Second lock, the arrow signals which lock to use. They seem to use the locks in alternate directions to save water.






Still following us.






Leading to the main part of Gatun Lake.






Widening part of the canal. Much more widening work is proposed, this should divide the canal to make it like a dual carriageway or divided road. The cost of the proposed widening is huge and there will be a referendum on this before it goes ahead.










Construction vehicle looking like huge Tonka Trucks.






A tour was able to visit this island on the Caribbean side of the canal. All that there was to see would be a craft sale and some locals in native dress who could be photographed for one US dollar; those returning told us that one enterprising young lady was posing topless for two US dollars.









We decided not to visit San Blas Islands, the journey was 15 minutes each way on one of our ships lifeboats. We had done this so many times at other ports we did not think that it was worth the effort.



Travelling on a ship is definitely the best way to experience crossing the Panama Canal but it may not be the best way of photographing the event. To record it fully you need several video cameras at strategic points. It was an experience that we will never forget, if you get the chance go for it, you won’t regret it. Some cargo trips do take a small number of passengers the length of the canal and give them a slap up meal for US$70-100, that would be a good way to see it.

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