January 31, 2013 - February 9, 2013
Sometimes referred to as “the eighth wonder of the world,” the 51-mile Panama Canal is an engineering marvel that cuts across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Work on the canal, which began in 1880, was completed in 1914. The 8- to 10-hour canal passage includes transit through three sets of locks, Gatun Locks, Pedro Miguel Locks and Miraflores Locks through which the water level is adjusted 85 feet. Transiting the Canal from Atlantic to Pacific, a ship enters from Limon Bay at the Cristobal Breakwater, where the channel is 6.5 miles long and 500 feet wide, running through a mangrove swamp, and enters Gatun Locks, 1.5 miles long. The next 23 miles a ship travels through Gatun Lake to Gaillard Cut, formed by an earthen dam across the Chagres River. Pass across the Continental Divide at Gaillard Cut, about 8 miles long and where the major excavation of the Canal took place. Just before reaching the Pedro Miguel Locks, a ship will pass Gold Hill, the highest point along the Canal at 587 feet. Pedro Miguel Locks open to Miraflores Lake, a small artificial lake that separates Pedro Miguel from Miraflores Locks, with the tallest lock gates of the Canal due to the extreme tidal variations of the Pacific Ocean.
