Panama Canal Transit

Up very early this morning (before the sun!) to watch the pilots come aboard on the Caribbean Sea side to guide us through the Panama Canal locks, and across Gatun Lake to the Pacific Ocean.

The gigantic Norwegian cargo ship, Bow Summer was passing through the Gatun Locks just ahead of us. You can see how very little leeway there was between her sides and the lock walls! Those little engines running along the dock are called "mules" and they help keep the ships steady laterally when they are in the locks. What an incredible piece of engineering! It amazes me that the same gates are in use today as 100 years ago when the canal was built.

Amazingly, we were passed in the middle of Gatun Lake by the Singapore Express  headed the opposite direction -- the same boat we followed through the Canal last year!