Panama Canal

[dodger]

Hi Chaps,

This may be of interest to some, the construction of the new canal to take the larger ships,

http://micanaldepanama.com/expansion/

I have followed this project on and off for many years and often look at the Web Cam at Miraflores Locks which updates all the time it is Live, you can find the camera if you look along the top of the Panama Canal Home page.http://www.pancanal.com/eng/

Cheers,

Roger.

[DaveB]

I didn't realise it was being expanded Roger

Never got to go through it during my time in the RN. My dad did after the war on Rangitiki http://www.cbfsim.co.uk/cbfs_bb/viewtop ... &start=100

ATB
DaveB

[petermcleland]

I went through it in a party of yachts...We were rafted in line abreast in fours. I handled the bow line on the leftmost yacht of our raft and it involved catching the "monkeys fist" thrown by a Lock Walker and attaching his line to the bowline on our bow warp...He then pulled up our line and walked it to a suitable bollard on the lockside. The same thing was happening, on the other side of the lock, to the rightmost yacht of our raft.

I've forgotten how many four yacht rafts there were in our party, but we all got into the lock and proceeded in the same way through all the canal locks from Colon and exited in the Pacific. We had one nightstop in one of the lakes on the way.

My wife and I then crewed the yacht across the pacific, calling at various islands including the Galapagos and the Marquesas, then we flew back from Tahiti. I must say, I enjoyed the Panama Canal experience.

[dodger]

Hello Peter,

That must have been a great adventure,

I always hoped to go though the canal on a Cargo ship but it never happened, what with one thing and another and now i'm too old it will be interesting when they finish the new Canal and seeing these larger Ships going though,

It certainly is great engineering that's for sure.

All the best,

Roger.

[Paul K]

I went through it, from Atlantic to Pacific, in 1976. We went down to Peru, then back up and I paid off the ship in Panama city and flew home.

[airboatr]

I've never been , but I have been through the Soo Locks in Sault Ste Marie Michigan ( that's in the U.S. ... ok big whoop )



Interesting update Rodger, Thanks for posting.

[cstorey]

My wife and I then crewed the yacht across the pacific, calling at various islands including the Galapagos and the Marquesas, then we flew back from Tahiti. I must say, I enjoyed the Panama Canal experience.

What an adventure , Peter. Had you done a lot of ocean sailing before then ?

[petermcleland]

Yes Chris,

I had crewed an Atlantic westbound and another on a different yacht eastbound...I learned to use my sextant on the first. I also took my own yacht (a Fisher 30 Motor Sailer) to the Azores and back. My wife crewed for me on that one. The leg back from the Azores to the Helford river in Cornwall took 14 days and for five of them we were more or less accompanied by a bunch of Fin Whales...They visited us each day and on their last visit they circled us as we were hove-to and putting in a reef...That was pretty exciting