Panama with Love

Those of us in the United States like to think that our country built the Panama Canal. However, Panamanians are very diverse because the U.S. brought in people from all over the world to work on the project.

The Panama Canal was completed in 1914 and was operated by our country as a service for many years. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos, the most popular Panamanian to date, signed the Canal Turnover Treaty. In 1999, the canal was actually turned over to Panama, and the U.S. unloaded a whole load of liabilities. If anyone was concerned that Panama could not run the canal effectively, that country operates it as a very lucrative business that has a $2 billion profit annually while the U.S. operated it basically to break even.

Each ship passing through the six locks of the canal requires 52 million gallons of fresh water. With an average of 40 ships per day, that's a lot of water flushed out to the Pacific Ocean! More than 1 million ships have used the canal with an average transit time of seven to 10 hours. Richard Detrich, our destination port lecturer who is a U.S. ex-patriot who retired to northern Panama with his wife, estimated that the toll paid by the Pacific Princess for our transit was $260,360. (All facts and figures in this entry are attributed to Richard or the Princess Patter newsletter.)

In order, the key players in canal traffic are these countries: United States, China, Japan, Chile and Korea. Having sailed around Cape Horn of South America in 2007, we can understand why the canal was so welcomed because it cut the trip from New York to San Francisco in more than half from 14,000 to 5,900 miles.

The major news in the Panama Canal Zone is the Third Lane Expansion Project that will add a third lane, which will be much larger than the two existing lanes. This lane will accommodate the largest container ships built but not the massive cruise ships, including the Oasis and Allure of the Seas. At a cost of $5.25 billion that will be covered by gradually increasing the tolls, the third lane should be completed in 2015.

We have transited the first three locks from the north twice. This was our second trip through all six locks to the Pacific Ocean, and each trip is totally incredible. The amazing thing is that what was built 100 years ago is still working the same way today as it did then. Do you own any appliance that can claim that record?

Because our 6:15 a.m. entrance to the Gatun Locks was delayed to 10:30 a.m., we got to sleep in and enjoy the trip even more. Richard, our destination lecturer, provided a running commentary of our transit. Punxsutawney Phil with his poster (Punxsy Phil loves Panama Canal) was photographed numerous times by us and our fellow passengers. (Phil also has been invited to appear on the Pacific Princess' Wake Show on February 2.) We didn't clear the last Miraflores Locks until 6:30 p.m., which added to the magical quality of the trip. We got to view the lights of Panama City after dark. The weather cooperated beautifully to contribute to our best transit ever.

On Tuesday, we will tour Manta, Ecuador, and Montecristi, the small town know for weaving Panama hats. These are the really good ones that cost between $25 and $500. Look for our next entry late on Wednesday.