{"id":78644,"date":"2024-04-15T14:19:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T21:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=78644"},"modified":"2024-04-27T07:38:11","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T14:38:11","slug":"we-passd-thru-the-canal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=78644","title":{"rendered":"Day 11 – We Passed Through The Canal And Heading For Cartagena Columbia!"},"content":{"rendered":"
Panama Canal Adventure: <\/b> Day 1 Departure<\/a> | Day 2 Sailing Off Baja<\/a> | Day 3 Cabo<\/a> | Day 4 Eclipse<\/a> | Day 5 At Sea<\/a> | Day 6 Huatulco <\/a> | Day 7 At Sea <\/a> | Day 8 At Sea<\/a> | Day 9 Costa Rica<\/a> | Day 10 At Sea<\/a> | Day 11 Panama Canal<\/strong> | Day 12 Cartagena<\/a> | Day 13 At Sea<\/a> | Day 14 Grand Caymen<\/a> | Day 15 At Sea<\/a> | Day 16 Ft. Lauderdale – Savannah<\/a> | Day 17 Soddy-Daisy<\/a> | Day 18 – Tracy TN<\/a> | Day 19 – Chattanooga<\/a> | Day 20 – Memphis<\/a> | Day 21 – Graceland & Home<\/a><\/div>\n

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Today will be full of surprises; we cross between continents in a matter of hours!<\/p>\n

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Did You Know?\u00a0 The Panama Canal has 12 locks, with six sets in the new and six in the old sections.\u00a0 Each set of locks has a series of steps that allow ships to move up or down in elevation.\u00a0 The locks are built in double, with two independent transit lanes, and each lock has horizontal sliding gates that can overcome the difference in level between the oceans and Gatun Lake.\u00a0 The new locks allow transit of more extensive New Panamax ships, which have a greater cargo capacity than the previous locks were capable of handling.<\/p>\n

There are two independent transit lanes since each lock is double-built.\u00a0 The size of the original locks limits the maximum size of ships that can transit the canal; this size is known as Panamax.\u00a0 Construction on the Panama Canal expansion project, which included a third set of locks, began in September 2007, finished by May 2016, and began commercial operation on June 26, 2016.\u00a0 The new locks allow transit of more extensive New Panamax ships, which have a greater cargo capacity than the previous locks were capable of handling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

We were up at 6:00 am sharp to prepare for the transit, my fourth and Mary’s first!\u00a0 The sun was coming up over the bay surrounding Panama City.\u00a0 We saw many ships awaiting their turn to make the transit, but we got priority because we were a passenger ship.<\/p>\n

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Panama City’s skyline was pretty in the early morning.\u00a0 However, the city does not attract many cruise ship visitors because its docks are too small to handle the influx of people easily.<\/p>\n

When is it time to paint another coat on a pirate ship?\u00a0 When its timbers be shivering!<\/p>\n

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Good morning, Panama City<\/p><\/div>\n

The first sight was the Bridget of the Americas.\u00a0 The Bridge of the Americas (Spanish: Puente de las Am\u00e9ricas; originally known as the Thatcher Ferry Bridge) is a road bridge in Panama that spans the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.<\/p>\n

Designed by Sverdrup & Parcel, it was completed in 1962 for US$20 million, connecting the North and South American land masses (hence its name), connecting the American Continent.<\/p>\n

Two other bridges cross the canal: the Atlantic Bridge at the Gatun Locks and the Centennial Bridge.<\/p>\n

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Bridge of the Americas ahead.<\/p><\/div>\n

The announcer told us not to be worried; we would clear it by a few feet!<\/p>\n

Why do pirates have such a hard time remembering the alphabet?\u00a0 They get lost at \u201cC\u201d.<\/p>\n

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We made it with six feet to spare!<\/p><\/div>\n

The new gates came out from the side of the canal instead of swinging open and closed.\u00a0 The new gates were made in Italy and weighed about 3100 tons per gate.<\/p>\n

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The new locks are built parallel to the existing ones, and side basins are used to minimize water consumption.\u00a0 The gates are a dual system, implying that two independent gates are servicing the entrance\/exit of each lock.\u00a0 This improves the reliability and maintenance of the lock system since it is possible to maintain operations while one gate is serviced.<\/p>\n

The new locks are 55 meters wide, 427 meters long, and 23 to 33 meters deep.\u00a0 The Gatun locks have a total lift of 85 feet, while the Pedro Miguel locks have a total lift of 54 feet.\u00a0 The new gates for the Panama Canal weigh\u00a0 an average of 3,100 tons each. The final gate, which weighs 4,232 tons, is one of the heaviest.<\/p>\n

The Panama Canal is about 50 miles long and crosses a ridge on the Isthmus of Panama.\u00a0 The canal’s water system supplies an average of 165,000,000 US gal (625,000 m3; 137,000,000 imp gal) of additional water annually, enough to provide an annual average of approximately 1,100 additional lockages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The gatehouses are quite modern and are controlled from a central control room.\u00a0 They use hydraulics to move the gates open and close.\u00a0 Read here for more information.<\/a><\/p>\n

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The gates are ten feet wide and can be maintained from inside the gate itself.<\/p><\/div>\n

How does sit work?\u00a0 We asked YouTube!<\/p>\n