January 18, 2026

The Panama Canal

Weather mostly sunny in the 80’s (feels like the 90’s)

Around 7 the Pilots came aboard followed by the crew that managed the Mule lines. We passed under the Atlantic Bridge and saw an old ship that had seen better days.

Thoughts about the Canal

We have been through many locks in the US, in the Germany and Portugal as well as on the Danube. So the mystery of them was old hat. What wasn’t was the scale of these massive structures. Couple that with the expertise of the operators and what we saw was a highly efficient operation. And to think they were built over 115 years ago!  Here are a few pictures:

I took a 15-minute video of the Viking Mars going through the first lock. It took a bout 2 ½ hours to get to Gatun Lake where we anchored for a time. I saw many ships in the bay and around the harbor waiting to enter.  I counted 24 off the port side early on.  Then once in the Lake, there were many more. Enormous container ships were queueing up to enter the new PanaMax locks.

Gatun Dam

Entrance to the new locks


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