Saturday March 8th, 2025 Panama Canal Transit, Panama
We’ve spent the last two days steaming north off the coast of Ecuador and Columbia; the weather has been warm with clear skies and the sea practically dead calm – yesterday we once again crossed the equator. This morning the Queen Victoria is at the pilot station, which is really just a spot in the ocean, awaiting our turn to head through the Panama Canal.
We did our first transit of the canal in 2023 going north to south, from the Caribbean to the Pacific – today to are going in the opposite direction. For special events like this the captain opens access to the forward area of deck 5, normally reserved just for crew – we got up early and headed down at around 6:30AM and managed to snag a couple of seats at the rail on the starboard side. I’ve covered the details and history of the Panama Canal in the 2023 World Cruise Blog, so please check it out if you want the details. One significant change from 2023 is that the daily capacity used to be 37 ships but now, after 3 years for drought, it’s 27.
Around 7:30AM Queen Victoria began her approach to the Bridge of the Americas – not the prettiest bridge in the world but still it has the distinction of connecting two continents. Off the starboard side we could see the City of Panama with its glitzy, modern, skyscrapers like jewels in the crown of Central America. I noticed a small flock of frigate birds, easily identified by their long forked tails, effortlessly gliding on the updraft generated by the front of the ship – like puppet birds with invisible strings. My experience with large ships going under bridges is amazingly consistent; there is a lot of impatient waiting as the ship slowly inches forward and then whoosh, the ship has passed under the bridge before you even realize it.
The Miraflores Locks are the first set on the south side as you transit north; again the ship moved forward at an agonizingly slow pace – the Panama Canal Authority pilots who were conning the ship, taking zero risk. Just off to the north we could see a really large freighter in the new, wider, canal. Approaching the first gates I noticed a tiny rowing boat push off from the side of the channel, bringing the mule rope over to the ship – the mules are small but powerful electric trains that run on a funicular track either side of the canal, they assist with keeping vessels in the center of the canal. Off in the near distance I could see the Centennial Bridge over the canal, much more pleasing on the eye than the Bridge of the Americas. With door closing behind us, the ship was now safely trapped in the lock and after a few minutes we began to rise as water was pumped in; it’s amazing how effortless it seems to raise a huge ship up 25 feet in about 10 minutes. A second lock at Miraflores and then a single lock just a little further along, at Medro Miguel, enable a total lift of 85 feet.
As the ship was rising on the first lock we could take the heat no longer, as the sun had made its blistering appearance – so we gave up our seats and headed for breakfast. Following a quick breakfast we made it out on to the promenade deck as the ship was moving out of the 2nd Miraflores lock; we first encountered this lock many years ago when we crossed the isthmus of Panama by train on a shore excursion from the Queen Mary 2 – part of this trip included a stop at the Miraflores Visitor Center with its huge balcony overlooking the locks and we joined the crowds waving to the ships going through the locks. Now we are seeing things from the other side, on the ship looking back at the visitor center. Sadly the original visitor center looked to be in the process of being dismantled, I could not tell if it was being refurbished or demolished. However, a new standalone visitor platform structure was in use, and we could see people avidly waving to us, including a group of school kids.
The canal transit breaks into three distinct phases; the beginning and end phases with the locks, and the central phase as the ship crosses the Gatun Lake. The lock phases have a real industrial feel to them, but the lake phase is entirely different - it feels more like a nature reserve. As the ship wound its way around many densely forested islands that were teaming with wildlife like crocodiles, caimans, sloths, monkeys, and a host of birds – I found myself wishing we could stop and commandeer one of the ships boats for a quick bit of jungle exploration. Then a gigantic container ship steamed past, alarmingly close, and I snapped back to reality.
Around 2:30PM the Queen Victoria began her approach to the Gatun Locks, a series of 3 locks that will lower us back down 85 feet to the Caribbean Sea. The slow passage through the lock system was smooth and efficient; the teams that operate the canals really know their business – to us on the ship it seems wonderous and amazing, to the workers on the lock side it all seems so very routine. I watched in the lock adjacent to ours as a smaller sized container ship shared the space with a 60 foot super yacht. We’ve passed super yachts before and it always seems like the passengers are all teenagers – certainly not like my teenage years, the best I got was a ferry across the River Tyne to North Shields.
It took 2 hours to transit the Gatun Locks, making our total transit time from the Pacific to the Caribbean about 9 hours. Passing under the Atlantic Bridge officially marked the end of our transit – this modern suspension bridge is quite spectacular if a bit controversial as it connects the busy area near Colon to a practically unpopulated wilderness on the west side of the canal.
We’ve had a great trip through the Panama Canal today, next stop Aruba. Unfortunately, as the day progressed, I developed quite a bad cough and later in the evening it had progressed to full flu symptoms – hopefully I can get over it pretty quickly.
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