Last night we continued our voyage toward Panama and arrived at the break waters of the Caribbean Sea near the entrance to the Panama Canal at Cristobal, Panama around 8:30am. We had a wait for our turn to traverse the canal. Here is our schedule of transit times through the three different locks.
10:30am | Entrance to Gatun Locks |
Noon | Clear Gatun Locks |
2:40pm | Passing Gamboa |
4:10pm | Entering Pedro Miguel Locks |
4:45pm | Clearing Pedro Miguel Locks |
5:10pm | Entering Miraflores Locks |
6:25pm | Leaving Miraflores Locks |
Today, there are 23 ships going through the canal southbound and 21 ships going northbound. Our ship boarded two Panama Canal Commission Pilots who took control of the ship as we traverse the canal some 48 miles. There are also numerous linehandlers from the Commission onboard who handle the lines that are connected to the electric mules in the locks to pull the ship forward.
Between the Gatun Locks and the Pedro Miguel Locks we cruise along Gatun Lake which was created by a dam and provides all the water to operate the locks without any electricity.
