Panama Canal: Transiting a Fantastic Feat of Engineering

A Man. A Plan. A Canal. Panama. A perfect palindrome being the same whether spelled forward or backward for a remarkable achievement that still works today almost 100 years after its completion. Can we say the same thing about many modern pieces of equipment? When our 7-year-old convection oven was ruined by a power surge in September, we learned that the part needed to repair the oven and the oven itself were obsolete. Long live the Panama Canal! It's only change in 100 years will be the completion of the expansion for new 6.1 kilometer Pacific Access Channel to accommodate wider and deeper ships, which is set to be finished in 2014, the 100th anniversary of the canal. The new third set of locks will be the size of four football fields. More than one million ships from all over the world have transited the canal since its official inauguration on August 15, 1914. The canal cost more than $375 million to complete, and cruise ships pay more than $100,000 to pass through the 47.9-mile canal, which takes eight to 10 hours. But this sure beats the alternative of going around Cape Horn!

Ken and I have been half-way through the canal twice. Along with Punxsutawney Phil, we celebrated was our third time through the entire canal. Every time the entire canal is transited, the cruise director's staff invites everyone to construct a poster to wave when we pass the grandstand before the second Miraflores Locks near the Pacific side of the canal, where residents and tourists gather to wave at the passengers and crew on the ships. We had decided not to make a poster celebrating Punxsutawney Phil's love for the Panama Canal but the day before I yielded to temptation and gave Phil his just dues with a cartoon caricature of him, expressing his love. Walking around with the poster gave us the opportunity to share the gospel truth about the world's most famous weather-forecasting groundhog. It always amazes me that so many people have never heard about him!

The route through the canal is southeast from Colon to Panama City. We entered the first of the three Gatun locks at 7:20 p.m., sailed through Gatun Lake, passed under the Centennial Bridge, cleared the Pedro Miguel Locks, sailed through Miraflores Lake, waved to the largest crowd of onlookers we have ever seen at the grandstand, cleared the two Miraflores locks, passed under the Bridge of the Americas and exited the canal with an outstanding view of the modern high-rise buildings in Panama City by 4:30 p.m.

If you have transited the Panama Canal, you know that the weather is usually hot and humid. Deborah, our port lecturer, told us that some people have actually developed pneumonia after their voyage because they had spent too much time in the sun and became dehydrated. She warned us to stay out of the sun and drink plenty of water. We enjoyed the most spectacular day ever with warm (low 80s) temperatures and comfortable humidity.

The perfect transit of the Panama Canal had a perfect conclusion at the first performance of the Pacific Princess Singers and Dancers in Cinematastic. For those on the 2010 World Cruise, we welcomed back Stephanie, in her new position of dance captain. The show was originally scheduled for Sunday night but was postponed due to the wild and wicked waves of the sea. That was a good thing. At the end of the production, Stephanie threw herself from a platform into the waiting arms of the four male dancers. On Sunday, we are not sure that they would have been able to catch her and who knows where she would have landed! The show was fantastic with the singers and dancers receiving a well-deserved standing ovation.