Starting at 6AM, Coral Princess got ready to enter the Gatun Locks and finaly entered the Gatun Locks at 7:58AM. Gatun Locks has 3 chambers and our ship has to go through each chamber one at a time. The Gatun lock systems lifts a ship up to 85 feet to the main elevation of the panama canal, then the other 2 locks (Pedro Miguel Lock and Miraflores Lock) lower it down to sea level again. Each lock chamber requires 26,700 US Gal of water to fill it from the lowered to the raised position. The same amount of water must be drained from the chamber to lower it again. Embedded in the side and central wall are three large water culverts that are used to carry water from the lake into the chambers to raise them, and from each chamber down to the next, or to the sea to lower them. The water is moved by gravity and is controlled by the huge valves in the culverts. A lock chamber can be filled in as little as eight minutes. The gates separating the chambers in each flight of locks must hold back a considerable weight of water, and must be both reliable and strong enough to withstand accidents, as the failure of a gate could unleash a catastrophic flood of water downstream.
There are two independent transit lanes, since each lock is built double. According to the guide, there are 2 scheduled time slots for ships going from Atlantic side to Pacific side and 2 alternated scheduled time slots for ships going from Pacific side to Atlantic side. For the ships paying premium, you will be fitted into one of the schedules on the same day. For a lot of commercial ships who try to save some cost, they may be docked outside the locks waiting for 48 hours or longer to get the passage through the canal. Fei/Tony did witness a lot of commercial ships are waiting outside the Miraflores Lock.
In order to guide the ship through the lock chamber, electric locomotives known as Mules are used to control the ship proceeding into a lock. For large ship, 8 Mules are used for precise control of the ship. When our ship got into the chamber, it had less than a feet at each side of the ship to the chamber walls. It is considered a engineering wonder and we were so lucky by having the opportunity to witness how it works.
At 9:12AM, we finally exit the Gatun Lock.
Princess only allows passengers who purchased their excursions to get off the ship for touring Panama. Therefore we all have to join a Princess excursion. Some of us want to experience the full transit of the Panama Canal, therefore, Fei and Tony joined the Panama Canal & Locks Transit by Boat excursion to see the other 2 locks. Corrina/Edward, Sophia/Jerry and June/Ben joined the Authentic Embera Indian Village excursion to have a cultural visit to Embera village in the heart of Chagres National Park. They had to take dugout canoe in high speed to reach the Embera village and the canoe ride provided a lot of excitement.
There are two independent transit lanes, since each lock is built double. According to the guide, there are 2 scheduled time slots for ships going from Atlantic side to Pacific side and 2 alternated scheduled time slots for ships going from Pacific side to Atlantic side. For the ships paying premium, you will be fitted into one of the schedules on the same day. For a lot of commercial ships who try to save some cost, they may be docked outside the locks waiting for 48 hours or longer to get the passage through the canal. Fei/Tony did witness a lot of commercial ships are waiting outside the Miraflores Lock.
In order to guide the ship through the lock chamber, electric locomotives known as Mules are used to control the ship proceeding into a lock. For large ship, 8 Mules are used for precise control of the ship. When our ship got into the chamber, it had less than a feet at each side of the ship to the chamber walls. It is considered a engineering wonder and we were so lucky by having the opportunity to witness how it works.
At 9:12AM, we finally exit the Gatun Lock.
Princess only allows passengers who purchased their excursions to get off the ship for touring Panama. Therefore we all have to join a Princess excursion. Some of us want to experience the full transit of the Panama Canal, therefore, Fei and Tony joined the Panama Canal & Locks Transit by Boat excursion to see the other 2 locks. Corrina/Edward, Sophia/Jerry and June/Ben joined the Authentic Embera Indian Village excursion to have a cultural visit to Embera village in the heart of Chagres National Park. They had to take dugout canoe in high speed to reach the Embera village and the canoe ride provided a lot of excitement.
Fei/Tony went through Prodro Miguel Lock and Miraflores Lock, and finally reach to La Playita in Panama City (at Pacific Ocean side) and took bus ride back to Colon to board the Coral Princess again.
Fei/Toy boarded a ferry tour boat at Gamboa which is a small village lies in the heart of Panama's 55,000-acre Soberania National Park. With the smaller size of the ferry tour boat, we had to wait and pass each lock chamber with other 4 ships in difference size to go through the lock. It is designed to minimize the waste of the 26,700 Gal of fresh water from Gutan Lake. In addition to see the wonderful lock system, we can also feel the lock system's camber wall by touching it.
By the canal near Gamboa where Fei/Tony boarded a ferry tour boat, the guide spot the house where Noaiga is in prison now.
Our guide also told us that it costs Princess $350,000 each passage of each ship going through the Panama Canal. A small boat will pay $800+ for each passage. The only ships do not have to pay are Panama Navy ships. However, for 2013, there were only 3 Panama Navy ships passed the canal.
Panama used to be a part of Columbia. When Columbia shown no interest to follow US’ suggestion to build the canal, US persuaded Panama to become independent. Panama then commissioned US to built the Panama Canal in 1904. To meet the requirements of letting bigger ships to pass through Panama Canal, there is a undergoing project to build a wider canal.
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