Day 7 - Traversing the Panama Canal

This morning's wake-up call came at 5:30 a.m., because we were scheduled to traverse the first locks -- Gatun Locks -- by around 6:00 a.m.

The Panama Canal itself is an engineering wonder. It doesn't use any water pumps, any hydraulics -- only gravity. Secondary to the engineering, the ship has, at most, maybe two or three feet on either side of it. Craziness.

Evidently, other passengers' wake-up calls came earlier than ours -- because the front of the ship was three people deep.

After we got through the first set of locks -- which takes around an hour (to fill up and rise at each stage), we anchored near the entrance to the man-made Gatun Lake for a couple of hours. The Canal's...canals aren't all wide enough for two ships to pass in opposite directions (North or Southbound). So we had to wait for the "traffic" to pass.

The region around the Canal is simply gorgeous with rainforest terrain on all sides. Beautiful.

Think of the Canal like a giant toll booth. For our ship to pass, we had to pay over $330,000 -- which is based on your vessel's weight. In contrast, American adventurer Richard Halliburton swam the canal in 1928 and only had to pay 36 cents.

One thing that comes to mind when staring from the ship rails is how incredibly lush the Canal's shores are. Different gradients of green in the trees that seem to go on and on for miles.

Even more interesting is to consider that the tree tops we were staring at were -- at one point -- the tops of mountain ranges that are now covered with dammed river water.

As we sail through, it's taking around 9 hours to go from the Atlantic side to the Pacific side of Panama, we're finding it highly difficult to snag a lounge chair on the sunny top deck. So instead of fighting the leathery orange people, we elected to relax in the same chaise loungers on the Promenade Deck. Quiet, shady and unparalleled views.

The Canal has three sets of locks -- Gatun, Pedro Miguel and Mira Flores. And at each one, passengers crowded the decks to watch as the ship rose and fell -- 85 feet up, and then down again. It's truly amazing to watch as water's gravitational pull raises a ship weighing 92,000 tons in the matter of minutes.

It's even more captivating when, while inside on Deck 5, you look out the window only to see pure stone walls that are nearly 100 years old.

On our Alaska trip, when sailing out of Vancouver, B.C., we passed under Lion's Gate bridge. There's something "world-traveler-romantic" about sailing under a piece of architecture so monumental. And this day, we sailed under the Centennial Bridge and then the Bridge of the Americas -- marking the end of the Canal and entry into the Pacific Ocean.

At the last set of locks -- Mira Flores -- we made sure to wave around our homemade "From Panama with Love" sign. Ours read: "Dear Panama, Canal we stay lil' longer??" Unfortunately, I think all but two gentlemen actually recognized our pathetic play on words. We thought it was clever anyway...

As we passed under the Bridge of the Americas and into the Pacific (where we anchored for the night), we were slapped with the reality of the day's trip. It was made possible by one engineer -- and thousands of other men... One hundred years ago, where we were sailing wasn't a river, it was a series of mountains. That was a crazy realization.. for me at least... especially as the skyscrapers of Panama City slowly creep into view over the treetops.

For dinner, we skipped over appetizers since during the transit a fruit buffet was available:

Emma

Salad/Soup: Caesar salad

Main Course: Filet and shrimp

Dessert: Crepes with chocolate cream

Ryan

Salad/Soup: Chicken wonton soup

Main Course: Red snapper

Dessert: Sache torte

At dinner, the lady sitting near our table leaned over and told us her favorite part of the day was when she was done with dinner and would walk out of the dining room without paying. And she's right. We didn't pay extra for the day's sights, music, food, bedroom or sloppy entertainment. And that made it easier to escape completely from our reality.

We're now anchored outside Panama City, where the sunset and the lit skyline is quite the impressive sight to end our night.

Photos from the Day

Video from the Day

Tomorrow: Fuerte Amador, Panama