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Published: December 2nd 2010
Me and My Mom
The cargo ship behind us is squeezing into the lock.It was 5:45 in the morning and we were approaching the canal. A pilot boat came along side us to drop of a pilot to help us go through the canal. Our first set of locks were the Miroflores locks. When we entered the lock we had a cargo ship in front of us. We both were in the lock as the water slowly filled up the lock. When we were even with the next set of locks we proceeded. While we were in the lock we had to tie up to a tug boat because there was a lot of turbulence in the lock as it filled up with water. When the water finally got even with the water on the other side the lock gates slowly started to open. Then we cast off of our tug so we could proceed into the next lock. When we got there we went through the same procedure. When the water finally gets to the point were we can go bells ring and in 1 minute it is flat calm, the next the engine of the cargo ship goes on like a small bomb in the water. Then we proceeded into Miroflores lake
which was about 28 miles. When we got to the lock the line handlers on the lock threw ropes to our line handlers and on the front of the lines there were little rock like things on them called monkey fists. Our line handlers would tie a rope to the monkey fists and the handlers on the lock would pull the rope up and would tie it around a cleat. As the water filled the lock our line handlers would pull on the lines so we wouldn't swing around too much. When the water got even with the water in the other lock the line handlers on the lock threw us our lines so we could proceed in to the next lock and repeat the procedure. In that lock when the line handlers got the lines they were all tangled up so there was some confusion and it slowed us down a bit, but it wasn't a big deal we still were tied up by the time the turbulence started coming in. After the gate opened we proceeded into Gatun lake, the largest man made lake in its time. On the beginning of the lake there were 2 large cargo
My Family
The water in the lock is draining. ships waiting until it was there turn to cross the lake. After about 1 hour we saw an old sailing clipper ship that was coming through the canal the other way. When we were almost to the other side of the lake our pilot said we could take a short cut through the banana channel (which later we realized why it was called that) which the big ships couldn't go in because it was too shallow. After we got through I figured out why it was called banana channel because it looked like a banana. In the locks we were going down instead of going up. Behind us the ship was squeezing into the lock and you know how the ship gets bigger as you go up, going down in the lock will scrape the sides of the hull. That ship was carrying fuel and the canal usually doesn't put those ships in with small boats like us in case it explodes, but they did it anyway. As we kept going down we could hear it scraping against the ships hull. When we were down and the water was even we proceeded into the next lock. When we were coming
into this lock there was another ship in the other lane that was already down and it looked like it was going off a cliff from the angle I was looking at it from. In this lock it was the last lock before we touched the Atlantic ocean (the first time I had touched it).
The Panama Canal
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Susan
non-member comment
Wow
How exciting to take your own boat through the Panama Canal. Loved the pictures and the writing and the explanation of how the locks work. Sharing a lock with a boat full of fuel would not be my first choice--who needs a kabooooom????? What was the total cost of the passage? We are now in Florida after spending a month crossing this country. We had a lovely, easy trip with no breakdowns, accidents or problems. We stayed with Judy for a few days and then visited my oldest sister Roberta in Green Valley, AZ for a week and then spent Thanksgiving in New Orleans with my third sister, Linda and her family. We played lots of H&F and Rummykub. We took our first beach walk yesterday on Ft Myers Beach--beautiful white sand and warmish water. We're going to do some day rentals of boats in the next few weeks. Continue to enjoy and let's try skyping again.