Panama Canal

Bought some coffee beans from the local mart in Costa del Este a few days before departing. I should have buy more coz it was good.

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The company sponsored our tickets to the Panama Canal. 

Me & my colleagues from other regions went there on one of the weekday evening. We left the office early and the company driver chauffeured us there....yay! Feels like school field trip 😂😀

Weather was hot, but windy. The temperature is similar to Malaysia, and it hasn't rain for weeks!

Panama canal - one of the greatest manmade-canal of the last century, connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

This is the original canal (aka Panamax Route) which is narrower for smaller size vessels.

The visitors can only watch from the viewing platform.

From afar, there's a bigger cruise ship sailing on another canal for bigger size vessels (aka Neopanamax Route).

'Brisk business' there....the vessels continuously coming...non-stop

The canal uses a series of locks to raise and lower ships between sea level and the elevation of the canal.

Atlantic to Pacific (or vice versa), here is the process:

Gatun Locks – Raise ships ~26 meters to Gatun Lake.

Gatun Lake Transit – Ships travel ~33 km across the lake.

Culebra Cut – Narrowest section, carved through mountains.

Pedro Miguel Lock – Lowers ships ~9 meters.

Miraflores Locks – Final descent to sea level (~17 meters).

I only witnessed the Miraflores Locks process as the others are located elsewhere along the canal. Pedro Miguel Lock is located 1.5km away and is not clear from the viewing platform.

[Below] A picture for remembrance.