World Cruise Day 8/152 - A man, a plan, a canal, Panama! (Post 1 of two today)

Cruise day: 8/152
Ports days: 3
Sea days: 5
Countries: 3
Continents: 1
Ports: 3
One of two posts today

In case you didn't notice, the title of this post, at least after the hyphen and before the parentheses, is a palindrome.  This is the first of two posts today.  The second will be dedicated to wildlife.  This one is specific to the transit of the canal.

Someone on a Cruise Critic board nicknamed Heidi13 corrected several of my statements. I added their comments to the end of this post.

Today's adventure was a full transit of the canal - the Panama Canal, from Colon, where we were docked last night, to Panama City.  We entered the canal from the Atlantic around 7:30 AM this morning and exited the canal to the Pacific around 5 PM tonight.

The canal transit consists of passing through three sets of locks for smaller ships like ours, and two sets for the larger mega-ships.  The first, the Gatun locks have three locks and consist of three locks where we step up from the level of the Atlantic Ocean to the level of Gatun Lake.  After that, we passed through the single Pedro Miguel locks and then the two-step Miraflores locks. In both of those locks, we stepped down, ultimately reaching the lower level of the Pacific Ocean.

Here we are passing under the Atlantic Bridge in Colon.  This suspension bridge parks the Atlantic end of the Panama Canal.

There are lots of support vessels for ships that transit the canal.  Here, we see the pilot heading to join us.

Most ports require a local pilot to join the ship and assist in directing the ship in/out of port.  The canal is no different.  Here, you can see the pilot - he's wearing a pink shirt.

The pilot ship pulls alongside, and the pilot literally jumps ship to ship and boards and then proceeds to the bridge.  You can certainly tell OSHA is not involved.  Once done, the pilot hops back to the pilot ship and leaves.

As we approached the Gatun locks, you can see ships already in the lock system.  There are two sets of locks - the historic one that we will go through and the new locks, sized for today's mega-ships.

We noticed this little wave traversing the canal.  We surmised that it was an outcome of water flooding out of the lock.  It was interesting as this wave moved for a very long distance, undisturbed, and passed our ship.

Once into the lock, every vessel is tethered to six electric trains - two on each side of the front of the ship, and one on each side of the back.  These electric trains, called mules, are tasked with centering the ship in the canal to prevent scraping.  They do not move the ship forward.  The ship uses its own propulsion to move through the locks.

Tugs are also used to help position ships and steer them into the locks.  Many times, the tug will accompany the ship through the lock.

This is the door forward of our ship opening, as the water level has been equalized.  This allows us to pass into the next lock.

Other ships were in the lock system, heading in the opposite direction. 

As the ship rises/lowers in the Gatun locks, the mules go up/down hills that are built into the lock.

At the end of the Gatun lock, a single lighthouse stands guard.  This marks the entry into Gatun Lake.

It is amazing to look at how closely these ships fit into the canal.

That was very apparent when this behemoth entered next to us!

There were literally inches of clearance on each side.  It is amazing to see a huge ship pass through the locks.

Once into Gatun Lake, we enjoyed the sites.

We continued into the Chagres River where we got steering assistance from a tug.

We approached the Centennial Bridge that leads to the Pedro Miguel locks.

All the locks use the same electric mule centering system.  Here we see a worked catching the tether tossed from the ship.

The mega-ships went to the right and headed down the new portion of the canal.  They only appear to have a single lock or set of locks to lower them to Pacific level whereas we have two more on the historic side.

This gives you a good visual of how much we drop in the lock.

The lock doors are doubles so one can be taken for repair without affecting the lock operation.  The doors are hollow and filled with water.

We left the Pedro Miguel lock and entered Miraflores Lake.  This leads to the final lock before the Pacific, the Miraflores lock - another two-step lock.

Once we passed through the final lock, we bid the lock system of the Panama Canal a fond farewell.

We followed a massive container ship that had just passed through the final lock on the new side.

We continued to follow it under the Bridge of the Americas.

There were tons of ships queued up to head to the Atlantic.

We were able to catch some nice views of Panama City before heading out into the Pacific and turning north for Costa Rica.

After a long day of watching and photographing our transit of the Panama Canal, it was time for dinner a The Chef's Table and then to watch a little Michigan-Georgia football.  It isn't going well for Michigan as I type this.  We may wander up for New Year's festivities before midnight.

Comments Frome Cruise Critic member Heidi13 correcting and clarifying my comments.

Locks - You mentioned that both Pedro Migual & Miraflores have a single lock, stepping down to the Pacific. The last locks (Miraflores) are actually a double set of locks. These are the locks with the Visitor Centre observation platform. The original Canal has a total of 6 locks - 3 up and 3 down.

 

Pilot Boarding - As a Norwegian Flag ship, she most definitely follows OSH requirements, which are outlined in the Ship's Safety Management System Manual, as required by the ISM Code. When the pilot launch is about the same height as the Shell Door, the boat pushes alongside the ship and holds position. The Pilot then steps onboard, and is flanked by a crew member on each side to steady him. If at a different height than the Shell Door the Pilot steps on a ladder, while the boat pulls away as the Pilot climbs the ladder. If the Pilot falls he lands in the water, where he is hauled out, rather than hitting the boat.

 

Pilot - while the ship has a Pilot, in the Panama Canal, the Master/Pilot relationship is the exact opposite of other ports or channels. In other places, the Pilot provides advice to the Master, but in the Canal, the Pilot assume responsibility for the navigation of the vessel from the Master.

 

Mules - the number of Mules depend on the ship's size. On Panamax sized cruise ships, we used 8 mules.

 

Charges River - you only spend a brief period in the river, as after passing Gamboa you enter the Gaillard Cut, which was the portion of the Canal that was dug out.

 

Tug Assistance - on cruise ships, the tugs are not supplied for steering assistance, as the transit speed is above the ship's minimum steerage. As in many ports, they are provided to assist in stopping the ship in the event of a propulsion/steering failure.