A man, a plan, a canal: Panama

I've now finally managed to get to Central America, specifically to Panama (Costa Rica is next). We started in the Atlantic Ocean, went up 3 locks to the altitude of 26 meters (82 feet). Then disembarked via tender to get to the shore of the lake for our tour and kayaking.

The canal itself is fascinating. Step one is to wait in the queue with the other boats for one’s slot to transit through the canal. Suffice to say that passenger ships are not considered high priority, though on the plus side passenger ships pay a lower toll – approximately $140 per passenger/crew room plus extra fees for the common areas of the ship; our ship’s tool was about $500,000….which must be paid in cash. Step two is a tightly choreographed dance between the ship and several tugboats – our ship had at least 3 tugs, perhaps as many as 6 – to get the ship safely into the first lock and tie it to the side of the lock. Two tugboats remain in the lock with the ship. The lock closes and water flows into the lock effectively raising the ship to the level of the next lock. Eventually the lock opens, and the ship moves to the 2^nd lock to repeat the process, and then repeat it again for the 3^rd lock. Finally, the ship enters the manmade Gatun Lake. That’s as far as our ship got, though to reach the Pacific a ship would need to traverse Gatun Lake, then repeat the process going through 3 locks to return from 26m to sea level and into the Pacific.  

It’s possible to have two ships transporting at a time – one in the 1^st lock and the other in the 3^rd lock.  

Once we finally disembarked (a process that could use significant improvement, though the ship we were on was not interested in hearing anything about that), we boarded a bus to go to the Visitor Center. I should mention that “we” at this point was 4 intrepid cachers who chose to kayak rather than go on a walking tour.  

The best part of the visitor center was getting to see a liquefied gas tanker enter the first lock and watch it close to begin emptying the water to lower down toward the Atlantic Ocean. This included 6 tugboats – one in front of the boat, one at the rear, and 2 on each side – helping navigate the boat straight into the lock with sufficient space on either side of the boat. A bit more complicated than parking a car. All 4 of us watched at least part of this process, the 2 geekiest (guilty as charged) watched the whole process.

Quick history lesson: We saw a short movie that described building of the canal which France began in 1881 then abandoned, and the US resumed in 1904 until completion in 1914. It started at the beginning showing how the isthmus allowed animals to migrate between North and South America. This theory seemed plausible…at least until they showed lions and great apes (I think baboons) as examples of animals migrating between the Americas. Oops, so much for fact checking. Following a treaty Jimmy Carter signed in 1977, the Canal Zone was returned to Panama in 1999. John McCain was born in the Canal Zone (his father was stationed there), The canal was expanded from 2007 to 2016 increasing from 2 to 3 lanes of traffic and introducing a wider/deeper channel that accommodates larger boats.

After leaving the visitor center we crossed a bridge to get a view of the canal from there, then turned around. As part of this side trip a vehicle in front of us had stopped and encouraged our driver to stop. Seems a three-toed sloth had gotten into the road so they picked it up and moved it to the side of the road. We disembarked and got to see it scurry away from the road back into its habitat.  

Finally, we went kayaking. It was lovely to be on the lake and admire the lush scenery. We got to see a couple of howler monkeys and various birds but my notes are limited since my phone was in a dry sack. I will say that the guide was a nice guy who spoke pretty good English, but his leadership of the kayaking left much to be desired – the “briefing” consisted of asking if everyone knows how to swim, period end of story. It somehow missed nuances such as asking about any previous kayak experience, demonstrating how to sit or adjust the seat, showing how to hold or use the paddle, how to ask for help from the support boat, or anything else.

It turned out there was a lovely couple from Shanghai, China, who spoke limited English and were kayaking for the first time; needless to say they struggled so Dave (the cacher who agreed to share a kayak with me) was generous enough to show them a bit which was rather interesting given the language barrier. Eventually we showed them how we stroked in unison and changed “one – two – one – two” to show left, right, left, right. It appeared that the woman generally understood but the man didn’t seem to get it.

Conveniently, there was a bonus of 2 caches within a short walk of the dock which added to the cachers’ fun.

My favorite piece of trivia about Panama is that it’s the only country where it’s possible to watch the sun rise over the Pacific Ocean and set over the Atlantic Ocean. There are plenty of places where it rises over the Pacific such as Australia and New Zealand and plenty of places where it sets over the Atlantic such as the British Isles and several European countries….but nowhere else is it possible to watch both.

Glad I came, enjoyed my little taste and looking forward to more next year, but probably don’t need to spend significant time in Panama in the future.