$.36 For???

As you know in order for us to get to South America we need to transit the Panama Canal…. Which exudes such sacrifice from so many and yet triumph too. Tom Galtz a very interesting lecture on the canal.  We have been through the canal three times previous to this transit and each time we have had lecturers all providing us with insight and interesting facts.  It still is one of my favorite experiences and this time did not disappoint us.  

Panama gets 9 feet of water per year!!! For those of us in Arizona this is almost unimaginable!   We barely got an inch this monsoon season. If you had been traveling  from New York to San Diego before the canal was built it would have taken you 90 days by ship going all the way around South America.  Transiting the canal cut off 8000 miles!!  When you think of fuel, food, time and shipping costs let alone transporting anything fresh you can see why countries were desperate to establish this canal. But there were four main obstacles in the 1860’s that created perilous hardships: mountains, rain and forest flooding, yellow fever and malaria.  The French spent millions of dollars and lost thousands of workers do to unsanitary conditions with the mosquitos.   They had no real plan for the canal or engineers that were trained to attempt such a project.  At the time of the canal building Panama was part of Columbia.  So what things were happening in the US at this time?  In 1869 we were building the transcontinental railroad, in 1891 automobiles were being built, in 1898 we annexed Hawaii and then there was the Spanish American War. Sea power makes for a strong nation with the capability to trade and improve commerce along with protecting the inland areas. Our military wanted this power for protection and access. Initially when Roosevelt stormed into the area and made a treaty with Columbia they had a 6 mile wide  swath of property.  The first year into the building the US spent $120 million dollars. At the height of building there were 54,000 workers. First the US built housing and supplied great stocks of food and then they tackled the sanitation.  Then there was transporting workers and bringing equipment. The US did purchase equipment from the French when they gave up and ran out of money.  Houses were built with screened in porches and roads were paved; all areas were sprayed for mosquitos regularly.  After three years no one died of yellow fever. 

Ninety two countries were represented in building the canal.  5600 people died in the process. Slides were common which killed many people and set construction back but the US hauled out thousands of tons of dirt and rock. At the time there were no mandated safety or labor guidelines.   Today we are still dredging the canal. If you might be interested a wonderful PBS video was made in 2011 about the canal. 

Panama finally became independent of Columbia. They very much wanted the canal to be their property.  When Jimmy Carter was president he decided that for goodwill and to improve our image worldwide he would give the canal back to the Panamanians.  It would  take more than 20 years but in 1999 the deed would transfer. It was time for the umbilical cord to be cut for us. 

We still have some leverage there with military forces. A new section of canal was built to accommodate larger container ships at a cost of $5.25 billion dollars. This new section tripled what a cargo ship can haul. 

The cost for some of the biggest cargo ships to now pass can be as much as $829,000!  And for the cheapest toll ever charge?  $.36 to swim through the locks!!

Folks on our ship watching as we enter the locks. You can see a vessel in front of us. We never had another ship coming from the opposite direction. 

These are the original gates and locks 

It was a very hot and humid day with rain threatening us all the way.  We started the transit at 6 am and everything runs like clock work. It’s seems smooth and seamless but it takes a force of many men and machines to make this work. 

You can see the gates opposite our channel and the “ mules” as they call them that gently are roped to our ship and keep a tight rein on us to keep from hitting the sea fed of the locks which would damage us and the locks. 


All along the area is jungle.  We didn’t many critters except for a few small deer.  All the grounds around the area are manicured and there is tight security. 

These are the rail lines for the mules.  They have to be able to go up and then return for the next ship 

We passed this building with visitors who pay to watch ships go through.  They were waving and yelling to us and they had a fellow on a speaker pointing out people on our ship whether they were on balconies or the open decks saying “ wave to us lady in the yellow shirt!!”  They are building two more large viewing stands that are shaded for more visitors. 

This was a side view from our friend’s balcony which shows how close we are to the sides of the canal.  You can see how green it is and many buildings and homes in the background.  It should be noted though that there has been a drought here and Gatun Lake is low.  Lots of sea going ships float in the man made fresh water lake to drop their barnacles.  The fresh water causes them to fall off and gives the tankers much better mileage without so much drag!  


Here is our ship front where they painted South America & Antarctica Grand Voyage!!

Here’s an exciting movie!!

And a rapid transit through the canal!!