From Miraflores Lake, between the locks, we had the best view of the new Panama Canal locks under co

Wind whipped the Panamanian flag against the bright blue backdrop of the Pacific Ocean as a small boat gave chase after our ferryboat. We d just rounded the Amador Causeway, and slipped into a pre-determined vacation packages to belize from houston position for transit behind a massive container ship entering the waters of the Panama Canal. Dozens of ships lay at anchor across the horizon.
As our tour guide joked in English and Spanish over the loudspeakers, people milled about the boat, curious about everything that was happening around us. In the distance, sunshine glinted vacation packages to belize from houston off the skyscrapers that define the shoreline of Panama City, towering vacation packages to belize from houston above the Pacific like some science-fiction landscape.
In a country of extreme vacation packages to belize from houston contrasts, on a slender isthmus that is the bridge between continents, the Panama vacation packages to belize from houston Canal remains an object of world curiosity and necessity. In the 1600s, the Spanish used an overland and water route to move the riches of the New World from Pacific to Atlantic. In 1855, the Panama Railroad transported goods and people vacation packages to belize from houston between the seas. A French entrepreneur began the first Panama Canal project along the railroad s route, but the effort ran out of funds. After assisting Panama with their liberation from Columbia in 1903, the United States took on the effort, completing the one of the largest engineering projects ever in the history of the world. It opened in 1914, and was turned over to Panama in 1999.
For a ship to enter the Panama Canal, it s no cheap proposition. Tariffs span from $800 for the smallest of boats to $375,000 for the largest of cruise ships, and are based on a variety of factors, including tonnage, type of cargo, and passengers on board. vacation packages to belize from houston Nearly 15,000 ships of every shape and size as long as they are of Panamax size or smaller, vacation packages to belize from houston able to fit through the locks transit the canal each year. It s a multi-billion dollar operation, and the primary driver of the country s economy. vacation packages to belize from houston Payable in cash, the fee must be wired in at least a day or two before vacation packages to belize from houston transit, after which the ship is assigned its place in line at a specific time.
It took less than 30 seconds for a Panama Canal pilot to disembark vacation packages to belize from houston in the swells and climb aboard our craft. When you transit the Panama Canal, an official pilot must steer your ship. Even the captains of nuclear submarines must give up command to these specially-trained captains, who know both the locks and the vagaries of the man-made and natural waterways along the way.
Entering the Pacific, the Panama Canal doesn t look like a canal at all. In fact, very little of the canal is a straight, narrow passageway. Only immediately around the locks and through the 8-mile Gaillard Cut, which slices deeply through the mountains of the Continental Divide, do you feel like you re in a canal. Most of the route uses natural bays, such as the Gulf of Panama along the Pacific, and rain-fed vacation packages to belize from houston reservoirs that have spread out into large lakes, such as Gatun Lake.
Passing under the Bridge vacation packages to belize from houston of the Americas connecting the continents of North and South America your craft is firmly in the canal route, slipping past sailboats at anchor, dive shanties, vacation packages to belize from houston and massive docks for loading and unloading cargo ships. But you re not committed to the transit vacation packages to belize from houston other than financially until you enter the Miraflores Locks.
After a century vacation packages to belize from houston in operation, you d think that the Miraflores Locks would show their age. Not so. Their thick Portland cement walls show little stress vacation packages to belize from houston and weathering. The double-walled steel doors, forged in Pittsburgh, have a green patina like a bronze statue, the effect of fresh water meeting salt water. This collison of waters is like a sushi bar for the birds, said our guide, as we noted cormorants and ducks diving into the waters vacation packages to belize from houston and frigate birds endlessly circling overhead. A giant arrow points to the side that your ship must enter, as there is a pair of chambers vacation packages to belize from houston at each lock. Ours joined a container ship from Croatia in the thousand-foot lock, with a pair of tugboats between vacation packages to belize from houston us like a giant set of bumpers. For most container ships, there is only a six-inch clearance on both sides of the lock. We had plenty vacation packages to belize from houston of room. To keep the larger ships from banging against the sides of the chambers, pairs of locomotives hold their ropes taut, guiding them in and out of the locks.
To step us up from sea level to the level of Miraflores Lake, fresh water from the lake above flows by gravity through tunnels in the concrete into the chamber, raising the level of the water to fill the chamber within 8 minutes. From our ferryboat, we could watch the water rising up the tiles that marked the depth of the chamber. It can take two steps through two separate vacation packages to belize from houston chambers to reach Miraflores Lake, due to how much the tides can vary in the Pacific Ocean. As our boat rose to lake level, we came face-to-face vacation packages to belize from houston with the crowds on the balconies at the Miraflores Locks Visitor Center. We d been there two days before, watching the transit process from above, so it was even more interesting to be on the other side of the gates.
Gatun Lake a reservoir that spreads through the vast central rainforest of Panama feeds the entire canal transit process, making this engineering vacation packages to belize from houston marvel utterly dependent on seasonal rainfall in the rainforest. To get to Gatun Lake, however, our boat had another set of locks to transit the Pedro Miguel Locks. With no visitor vacation packages to belize from houston center adjoining them (unlike Gatun and Miraflores), they can only be seen on a transit of the locks. While they seem smaller than the locks at Miraflores mainly because they have only one chamber on each side, not two they re essential for that last little boost to 87 feet, the highest vacation packages to belize from houston point above sea level.
From Miraflores Lake, between the locks, we had the best view of the new Panama Canal locks under construction. At each of the three locations along the canal where locks exist, they are creating one more wider, longer lock (180 feet by 1,400 feet) reachable from the same section of waterway. Progress doesn t look to be far along in most spots; vacation packages to belize from houston the original 2014 opening date has been pushed to 2015.
Once above the Pedro Miguel Locks, we cruised under the Centennial Bridge, where the Pan-American Highway crosses overhead, and headed for shore at a dock within the Gaillard Cut. Our half-transit of the canal took four hours.
Panama-based Aventuras 2000 offers both a partial and full transit of the Panama Canal . Ours was included in a larger package tour through Caravan Tours but can be booked separately if you re already in Panama. Unless you explicitly vacation packages to belize from houston request a tour with an English-speaking guide, all narration will be in Spanish. Rates run from $145-205 with half-price discounts for children. Ask whether vacation packages to belize from houston transportation to/from your Panama City hotel is included.
On the Aventuras 2000 owned ferryboat, the journey is delightfully breezy thanks vacation packages to belize from houston to the wind off the water. You re under cover on an open-air deck, so no need for sunscreen or a hat. However, be sure to keep hydrated: an unlimited supply of bottled water and soft drinks are included vacation packages to belize from houston in the price, as well as snacks and a lunch.
One of the biggest vacation packages to belize from houston advantages of the Aventuras 2000 tour is their daylight transit. The direction of transit depends on where their boat is and the direction of ship traffic that day. If you journey through the Panama Canal on a cruise ship, the trip may be after dark, as ship traffic runs Pacific to Atlantic in daylight hours, Atlantic to Pacific evenings vacation packages to belize from houston and overnights. A full transit between oceans takes 8 to 12 hours.
Sloshing about in swamps and climbing sand dunes is all in a day's work for author Sandra Friend, best known as Florida's hiking expert. A world traveler with a passion for exploring and sharing the wonders of the natural world with her readers, Sandra vacation packages to belize from houston is the author of 27 books.
Finding vacation packages to belize from houston Fluorescence at the Sterling Hill Mining Museum, New Jersey Squeezing Through Stones in Seneca Rocks, West Virginia Touring the Gettysburg Battlefield with a Gettysburg Guide On Top of Chicago: Taking in Breathtaking View from Willis Tower Skydeck Exploring the Angkor Archaeological Park in Cambodia by Bicycle Indulging Watery Fantasies at Atlantis in the Bahamas Walking Beside the Orange Trees at Córdoba's Alcazar Admiring Brazil s Traditional Baianas de Acarajé in Salvador da Bahia