It is time to say good bye Atlantic and hello Pacific!! That means the
Panama Canal, an amazing civil engineering project that even 100 years later
seems huge from the deck of a small boat. Our transit was uneventful (which
is a good thing) thanks to our expert line handlers (crew) and helpful
advisors - of course all seamlessly organised by World ARC so that the
yachts went through together in a convoy and not with commercial traffic and
on the right day.
Some fun facts
- From the Atlantic you head West to East to enter the Pacific
- There is a spot in Panama where you can see the Sun rise over the Pacific
and set over the Atlantic
- * the number of vessels allowed in the lock is a calculation of the
overall length and not width (max 730ft) this could be made up of a number
of yachts or ship and a yacht. Even if yachts are rafted they still
calculate the length of the 3 yachts (150ft) even though they only take up
50ft of the lock's length. Without this restriction the whole fleet could
fit in a single lock, instead of multiple transits.
- The country of Panama was formally a province of Colombia, that was
persuaded to secede by the USA to get favourable terms for building the
Canal. In return the USA would recognise the new government and protect its
interests.
- The canal was envisioned by a Catholic priest in 1534 - who surmised
'There may be mountains, but there are also many hands - and for the King
of Spain few things are impossible' - but given the tools of the day they
sensibly made a road instead, which later became a railway.
- A French company began the canal in 1879, but after spending 1.4 Billion
Francs and killing 20,000 workers they went bankrupt - the cost and human
toll was more than any venture known to have been undertaken, except war.
- After a failed 2nd French attempt, and the independence of Panama, the
American government took control in 1903, and after $400,000,000 investment
and 75,000 labourers, the Canal opened in 1914 - amazingly this civil
project was under budget and ahead of schedule.
- The Panama Canal was transferred from US ownership and control to the
republic of Panama on December 31st 1999.
- The recent expansion of the Canal and new locks is now complete and open.
- 52,000,000 gallons of fresh water for each transit.
- The costs are determined by size, cargo and destination - Skyelark costs
around $1000, a cruise ship $300,000
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