Panama Canal 2025

Events of January 26, 2025

My last post was running long so spared you the picture of Laurie and I in our dress up costumes at that time.

This shot s taken by a crew member who happened to be passing by and he gave us all kinds of advice on how to pose, etc. but didn't notice we weren’t centered in front of the artwork.

Check out that bow tie.

Where are we going for 71 days?

This is our itinerary spanning 17 countries. The “Where are we” on the TV in our cabin still has us in Cozumel. There is another monitor by reception which has the following:

So why can’t they put this on the TV in our cabin? They communicated with corporate. That explains it.

As you’ve seen, this is my second full transit of the Panama canal although the my first time from the Gulf to the Pacific and first full transit on a large ship. My perception had been that Silver Ray is long but narrow but based on the open space on the sides of the ship she is wider than I thought although not pana-max size. That NCL ship dwarfing us in Cozumel transited through the new canal, we, through the original, tried and true. It’s fun every time and I take lots of picture but most are unremarkable.

You can see the NCL ship transiting the new canal in the distance.

We had a beautiful day and I cancelled my morning exercise class to enjoy the show.

I enjoyed my breakfast with a view. This ship passing by the other way was preceded by the Niña, the Pinta.

Here we are approaching the second set of locks on the Gulf side. Note the arrow in the center telling us which side to use. I know, it’s not too prominent. The ship in front of us just entered the third lock and will be on the way up to Gatun Lake in the middle of Panama. You can see that the lock is full so that will drain, the doors will open and in (and up) we will go. The whole system is gravity fed requiring no pumps to lift these giant vessels. It is all fed by the Chagres river which fills the Gatun Lake and has dams (and locks) on both sides.

The silver “mules” power the ships through the locks, two on each corner of our ship.

It is different on a private vessel and a cruise ship. With a private vessel you have to supply your own lines which your ships crew is responsible for pulling in or letting out to keep your boat centered in the lock. For the cruise ship, ship crew tossed a line to the canal staff who tied a steel cable from the mule to the ship’s line which was then pulled aboard and fastened to a cleat onboard.

These steel cables were released by our ship and will be drawn back into the “mule.”

Canal staff have a little fun with novice boaters. There is a weight called a monkey fist on the end of a thin line they toss to the ship’s crew then they pull the ship’s line to attach to the mule. The fun part (for them) is they use you as a target and try to knock you over when they toss you the monkey fist. I learned this first hand.

He is preparing to toss a line to retrieve the cable from the “mule.”

This ship is being lowered toward the Caribbean.

This shot is from the “Bridge Cam” and shows us entering the third lock and about to be raised to the level of Gatun Lake for our transit to the Pacific side.

These are navigational guides throughout Gatun Lake. When they are lined up they keep the ships heading in the right direction. The ship follows one set until the next set comes into view and line up. A pilot is on board every ship, large or small. On Living the Dream, Joel kept the pilot occupied with a movie in the salon as we cruised through the lake.

The Chagres river feeds Gatun Lake from this point and has the unusual distinction of draining into two oceans through the locks.

This is part of the Culebra cut also known as as the Gaillard cut, named after the engineer who supervised much of its construction. It runs for 8 miles and was the most difficult part of construction of the Panama Canal. Millions of cubic yards of material were excavated, plagued by landslides.

Here is the dam on the Pacific side. You can see the total drop which will be achieved through two locks. We have already descended through one lock from Gatun Lake into Miraflores Lake.

This is a viewing area for tourists who are not transiting the canal but want to see ships passing by and using a lock.

These tourists are known as “big shots” because they have a private view.

After exiting the final locks on the Pacific side we pass under “The Bridge of the Americas.” Sorry for the bad view.

This is where we “cooled our heels” waiting on Living the Dream for 6 days to make our transit. Actually we took a side trip to some nearby islands where we passed a group of soldiers dressed in black with big guns. I did not take their picture and tried to be invisible. The tide is very large on this end and the walk down to water level at the end of this pier can be quite steep. Not many boats waiting here today. There is a water taxi to take you from your boat to the pier for a small fee. That is Panama City in the background. It’s funny, for my first trip to meet Living the Dream I had no idea Pamana City was so developed and toted all kinds of supplies, so much so that I was immobile when the taxi dropped me off at this pier. We later visited a Costco like super store with our agent.

There are 3 people in the back seat. Needless to say, the trunk is stuffed. That’s an inflatable fender behind me.

All of this fit into that tiny car with 5 people.

Here is a better picture of the Bridge of the Americas in 2000.

I hope you enjoyed my two trips through the Panama Canal which should qualify as the eighth wonder of the world, if you asked me. I think it has made a larger impact on our world than the previous 7 wonders.

We had a day at sea today which allowed me to catch up with my postings.

Coming up: Manta, Ecuador and a Cacao farm with Chocolate Workshop.

Regards,

Steve & Laurie

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