Panama City: Canal Day

I took a break from blogging to enjoy a trip to the Seattle area for Christmas. I am excited to finish the blogging from Panama so I can start planning our January adventure! So, here it goes…

We booked a partial canal tour through Panama Marine Adventures on our second full day in Panama. It was about $120 each to do this tour, and it was well worth the money. We left the hotel around 8am, caught a cab quickly (a much easier process on a sunny Saturday morning) and arrived at the Flamenco marina about 8:20am. It was a beautiful morning. The Flamenco marina sits out on Flamenco Island which is the last island of three that are connected via a causeway called the Amador Causeway.

The view of the Panama City skyline from Flamenco Island

We knew there were many restaurants out on the small island around the marina, so we ate a cliff bar in the room before leaving the hotel assuming we could grab something before getting on the bus to start the tour. EVERYTHING was closed. We were so hungry. We had an extra bar and some trail mix and ate those, but by 10 am we were feeling very faint…luckily the view and tour were great and kept our mind somewhat off the hunger until lunch time.

We took a bus from the marina and drove about 45 minutes to the small town of Gamboa which is where we boarded the boat for the tour. We were immediately overwhelmed with the beauty of Panama and the overall impressiveness of the canal.We have so many pictures from this day, and we love every one of them. We entered the canal at the north end of the Gaillard Cut where the Chagres River flows into the canal. The Gaillard Cut was carved through the Continental Divide, which was a really interesting part of the tour. 

A view of the Centennial Bridge and the flag of Panama

The Centennial Bridge and the section of the canal where they carved through the Continental Divide

Throughout the tour it was possible to see the work being done as part of the canal expansion project, which is an impressive seven year project that is slated to be finished in 2014. Right before reaching the first set of locks that we would cross, we went underneath the impressive Centennial Bridge. In the Pedro Miguel Locks our vessel was lowered about 29 feet. 

Pedro Miguel Locks--The arrow tells the ships which side of the locks to enter

 

 

Pedro Miguel Locks

A large container ship waiting its turn to go through the locks

It is a short distance between the Pedro Miguel Locks and the next and final set of locks before reaching the Pacific Ocean, the Miraflores Locks. Here we were lowered 54 feet in two steps. After the Miraflores Locks, we passed under the Bridge of the Americas and back out to the Flamenco marina. It rained for about an hour of the tour, but afternoon rain showers were what we expected and there was a large section of the boat that was covered.

Miraflores Locks and the visitor's center

A great view of Ancon Hill from the canal

The tour company provided a great lunch; I think we ate as we were in between the two sets of locks in Miraflores Lake. They served traditional Panama food, which we enjoyed. We had so much fun on the tour and learned a great deal about the history of the canal and the impressive engineering work that was necessary for this project to be successful in the early 1900's and continue to operate successfully today. 

Looking past the Amador Causeway at another great view of the skyline

Looking back at the Bridge of the Americas

These are ships waiting in the Pacific for their turn to enter the canal. The wait is about an average of 24 hours but can take many days. 

 After we got off the boat, we walked to the next “island” and found a snack there as well and did a little shopping for souvenirs. We decided to get in a cab after our stops and head back to the hotel. At this point we were exhausted anyway and ready to relax for a little while before figuring out what to do for dinner. We got our bathing suits on and went up to the roof top pool planning on sitting in the hot tub for a few minutes. Although the temperatures were in the 80’s every day, the rain really cooled off the afternoons, so sitting in the hot tub actually sounded really nice. Unfortunately the hot tub was as cold as the pool, but we sat with our feet in the water for a little while and enjoyed the view of the skyline. For dinner we wanted something simple and ate at a small Greek place about a block from the hotel. We enjoyed our dinner and then headed to bed early since we’d planned an early start for Sunday as well.