I woke at 6 am and we had stopped, waiting for our turn to proceed towards the Canal. Boats and ships everywhere, all waiting patiently. We already had pilots on board and documents exchanged for the crossing. For our ship the cost to use the Canal was $225,000.00 - it is possible to swim but that would have cost $800 and the crocs would certainly have had a nice meal!!!!!
It can take anywhere from 8 to 10 hours depending on traffic to pass through the Panama Canal. However if a ship arrives without a reservation it might take as long as several days.
The Panama Canal has 3 locks total, with 3 chambers on each side of the ocean (total six): 3 on the Atlantic Side (the Gatun Lock has 3 chambers), and 3 on the Pacific Side. On the Pacific side, the total of chambers had to be split into the Miraflores Locks (2 chambers) and Pedro Miguel Locks (1 chamber).
We saw many crocodiles. The life boats were secured further in under the deck so as not to protrude - there was a distance of about 3 ft on either side of our ship.
The size of ships that can transit the canal, called Panamax, is constrained by the size of the locks, which are 110 ft (33.53 m) wide and 1,050 ft (320.04 m) long, and 41.2 ft (12.56 m) deep.
Most people were up on deck very early, it was actually lovely, with a nice breeze until around 10.00am. And most interesting watching the whole procedure. It is slow and I don't know how they get all those ships through from both ways as is only set of locks operating.
We are just through the last lock and it's about 4.30 so we are now in the Atlantic. I kept my eye on the rope, Noelene F, made sure it was lifted off the bollard before going down LOL!!!!
Has been a long day, and a hot one! Time for a shower and then a pre-dinner drink with friends.
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