WorldTravelReynolds

Under the first bridge – The Bridge of the Americas

While the sun was rising, and people were beginning to gather, we sailed under The Bridge of the Americas around 6 am. We had a somewhat decent spot on the helipad of the ship, so the view was good. In order to be able to travel though the locks, the engineers designed locks because the tides on the Atlantic coast is much different than the Pacific coast.

Here we go! Finally

It will raise us up in two steps (locks) and down in one step (final lock). While waiting around for our turn in line we watched dolphin and flying fish around the ship. We could barely see them but a huge pod off in the distance. Some people got up around 2 am to see the whales but they only saw some sea turtles.

3 Locomotive mules

The ship had to slow its speed to about ½ its normal traveling speed around this timeframe to avoid hitting whales. While waiting around and mingling we ran into a great group of people from Michigan. We had so much fun hanging around them. We also met some new friends from Florida, Susan and her mother-in-law Janet.

These are called locomotive mules. There is one on each side and they have ropes tied to our ship. The make sure they stay aligned and the ship doesn’t bang the side of the lock.

Such nice people all around. We enjoy meeting people from all over the world! There are two canals. The first one opened in 1914, the original. And the newest one built in 2016 allowing for larger ships to cross through, was to our left, north of us. It was so close you could almost touch it.

The first lock – Miraflores.

Upon entering the first lock, we had some locomotive mules on each side of us. They look like the caboose on a train.  We went through the first of the 3 locks pretty fast even though, when we decided to take a break, it was almost noon. That’s a long time and man was it miserably hot after the sun came up! 

Water moved in quickly, about 15 minutes later the gates opened.

The first lock was Miraflores lock and we had to be raised up quite a bit. The locomotive mules, well people too, threw ropes to the ship and they hooked up on both sides of the ship to help guide the ship. There is only 2 feet of distance between the ship and the canal walls. It’s really close!

The mules make sure the ship is kept in place as they travel along a railroad track. They are on both sides and have a bell that rings periodically to let the other mule on the opposite side know where they are.

Behind the ship the locks close and lock in place while the water rises at the beginning of the canal eastbound (Pacific) and lowers at the last lock to drop us in the Atlantic.

We moved very slowly into the lock and then the gates closed on the back. After they were satisfied it was ready, thousands of gallons of water rushed in to fill up the lock and raise the ship. I took a timelapse video that was so cool. I’ll try to post it at the top of the page. We got settled into the locks at 7 am.

As the water rose to satisfaction, the gates opened, and we moved to the second lock about 100 yards that was part of the same Miraflores Locks that raised us up a few. This process completed around 8 am and then we traveled to the second locks just before Puente Centenario bridge, a beautiful cable bridge with 6 lanes of traffic.

These cargo ships were mostly on the new canal. This one was waiting to get in line.

About 45 minutes later we entered the Pedro Miguel Locks. Not as impressive in depth but all part of the plan to get us up a little higher and on to our next lock. After this lock we were emptied out into the open waters with all the other ships. The new canal was built north and parallel to this one and we watched them move, much faster as they didn’t have to go through locks. We reached the Gatun Lake bridge about 9:40 am and exited into the open waters of the Gatun Lake.

The last bridge leaving the canal – Gatun bridge

We will now have a few hours until we get to the Gatun lock. We went to the room and took a shower and a much-needed nap! Around X pm, we reach the final Gatun locks. Our entire journey took 8 hours and 40 miles. Some delay around the Gatun Lake for other container ships passing and some rain showers but we finally made it! What an amazing adventure getting through that canal! 

May God bless you and keep you safe!

Chuck & Lea Ann