ALONG THE PANAMA CANAL — Nina and Fred Fenton have gone on 40 cruises, including five times through the Panama Canal since 1998, but they keep coming back.
While aboard the Norwegian Sun on their latest journey into the storied waterway linking two great oceans, the retired couple from Lincoln, Calif., mused at the simple — yet very efficient — workings of the century-old engineering wonder.
“This is a true marvel,” said Nina.
“It’s amazing how they were able to do what they did back when it was built, and it is still functional today,” added Fred.
My wife and I met the Fentons during a 15-day cruise from Los Angeles to Tampa, Fla.
On one sunny (and very hot and humid) fall morning, throngs of passengers leaned on deck railings to watch as the ship slowly edged into a series of canal locks lifting it 85 feet above sea level for entry on the Pacific side and lowered it the same amount as it sailed into the Caribbean Sea at late afternoon.
Twenty-six million gallons of water can flow into a lock in just eight minutes. Gravity fills the locks with water from Miraflores and Gatun lakes, which are located on the continental divide between the locks in this 48-mile-wide isthmus.
Electric locomotives attach cables on both sides of ships to ensure they are centered while slowly motoring on their own power through each lock. Our huge cruise ship had just a few feet to spare on each flank.
“It’s a fantastic experience,” said Ronny Borg, captain of the Norwegian Sun. “I never get tired of it, and I’ve been through the canal maybe 20 times.”
Borg said the shortcut between oceans, which cost Norwegian Sun a $379,000 transit fee on this trip, saves ships three to four weeks that otherwise would be spent going around the southern tip of South America.
My wife, Gina, and I had earlier been on cruises in the Caribbean, Alaska, the Mexican Riviera and Hawaii. We were looking for something different, and the day-long journey through the Panama Canal was truly fascinating.
Most major cruise lines and some smaller ones offer lengthy Panama Canal trips from one U.S. coast to the other, primarily in the drier September-April period. Ships on shorter cruises go into the canal, turn around and return to their ports of origin.
As our cruise ship nudged through the locks, we had a bird’s-eye view of other in-transit vessels in the next lane. The daylong journey also offered a glimpse of the massive construction project that will add an adjacent third lane of canal traffic, allowing even larger ships to use the shortcut in the future.
Existing locks are 1,000 feet long, 110 feet wide and 45 feet deep. The new locks will be 1,400 feet long, 180 feet wide and 60 feet deep. A Panama Canal Authority spokesman said the project should be completed in late 2015 or 2016. Construction of the existing canal was finished on Aug. 15, 1914.
Norwegian Sun is one of the largest ships that can transit the canal, Capt. Borg said.
“We are the widest ship today that can go through,” he said, explaining that the vessel measures 105 feet at it widest point.
Although there were no port stops during canal passage, we earlier docked at the Mexican ports of Puerto Vallarta, Huatulco and Puerto Chiapas, as well as Puntarenas, Costa Rica. After leaving the canal, we stopped at t Cartagena, Columbia.
Each stop offered a variety of activities, from scenic tours to zip-lining, and from shopping to simply being beach bums.
Watching the ocean on a sea day, I spotted a whale spout (unfortunately not the whale), several dolphins, dozens of flying fish and a 4-foot shark.
While crossing a suspension bridge in the Costa Rican rain forest two days earlier, Gina and I were stung several times by a swarm of aggressive bees. While painful, it was a small price to pay for an unforgettable trip that took us from one side of the Americas to the other and turned the clock back a century, for a special day in the tropics.
BY THE NUMBERS
85
Number of feet ships are raised in the locks to travel the canal
36
Current number of tugboats assisting ships through the canal
110
Number of feet in width of current canal locks
180
Number of feet in width of the new locks, which are scheduled to be completed in late 2015 or 2016
