The passage along the canal is the highlight of this cruise, as the inner passage was the focus of our Alaskan cruise.
We are awake early about 5 am. After another time change forward an hour, it has been a relatively short nights sleep. On deck by 5.30, it is first light. Panama City is off our starboard side, a city of 4 million, almost half of Panama’s entire population live here. We are surprised by its size and the unusual variety of high rise buildings.
The Infinity has a scheduled entry into the canal and we pass numerous ships already waiting at anchor. We pass under a large bridge, not dissimilar to our own Harbour Bridge. Then onto the first locks at Miraflores to start our passage from the Pacific to Atlantic. Our passage of 50 miles through 6 locks and Gatun Lake will take 9 hours. We pass numerous other ships at surprising close distances along our journey. We are also astonished to note that our passage through the canal has cost Celebrity over US$300k!
Rather than rave on about the detail, it is probably more appropriate to just consider the wonderful engineering achievement the Panama Canal is, especially given its was completed before the US entered WW1. We recommend it for your bucket list. Time for an afternoon nap, before happy hour !
