Early in the morning we approached the Panama Canal from the Pacific side. The first pictures are of Panama City
on the Pacific side of Panama. It was amazing all the ships waiting their turn for the canal. The Captain
said that a ship typically pays $75,000 for transit, but might wait 3 to 4 days in the queue. Our ship payed
$375,000 for priority to bypass the queue. Supposedly we were the first cruise ship to transit the canal
since the start of the pandemic.
There are two sets of locks on the Pacific side, then the large Gatun lake
in the middle and a final set of locks on the Atlantic side. We finally emerged from the canal
at about 3 that afternoon near the city of Colon.
(Click on a picture to see it larger. Opens in a new folder.)
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