Panama Canal

16 July

After the RVs were inspected by the Police and driven back safely to the street in front of Balboa Yacht Club (not nearly as nice as you are thinking and slow restaurant service with weird math totaling your bill) we waited around some more for more Norm required paperwork and were eventually picked up by a Norm arranged tour.  The tour was originally slated for 4 hours, but time crunch meant only 3 hours for the bargain 4 hour price at $85 per person.  This did include admission to the $15 admission to the Miraflores Lock viewing area and museum.

Statue to first female President of Panama.  She started her working life as a maid.

Roger and I at the start of our tour, before we found out how much it was going to cost.

Miraflores locks.

One ship headed towards the Pacific.

-- The US construction of the Panama Canal began in 1903 after the French abandoned the effort due to malaria.  It was completed in 1914 and on 15 August the country will be celebrating the Canal's 100th year of operations.
-- The waterway is a roughly 40 miles long depending where you start measuring from and runs from Colon on the Atlantic to Balboa on the Pacific.
-- There are 3 lock sets:  Gatun, Pedro Miguel, and Miraflores.  The locks are gravity flow water locks, with two section gates.  The height differential from one end to the other is 26 feet, in altitude east to west.
-- The shallowest part of the canal is 8.5 feet deep and sometimes cargo has to be removed and trained to the other end, before the ship can pass just to lighten its load and draft.
-- Each lock has two lanes for traffic.  Typically traffic goes one way during daylight operations, because it is the quickest way to move the most ships.  Generally 40 per day.  During evening hours traffic can go both ways but it makes it slower to transit the passing ships due to limited space in the deeper sections of the canal.
-- A new wider and deeper canal is under construction.  Completion is scheduled for 2015.  The investment was made, because the size of container ships have gotten wider and deeper, due to advancement in naval architecture and propulsion plants.

After we left Miraflores, we were in a car wreck.  I left the scene to go pick up our laundry, which apparently was the smart thing to do.  Roger, Ben and Sandra limped through the Old City at 5 mph, since the van had a badly bent left tire rod.  The travel agent gave us a whopping $10 discount for the frustration.  Oh boy.

New Panama City from Old Panama

When Roger, Ben and Sandra got back, they were tired and frazzled.  I had used my time wisely and had put away the laundry, made the bed, emptied and cleaned the refrigerator.  We spent a long night getting the RV ready for shipping, with some time spent looking for the second set of keys.  I had forgotten that I had put the spare set safely by my book and hat which were going with me after we left the RV.  Dooh!