According to Wikipedia, construction of the canal started in 1881 by France with the lead architect Ferdinand de Lesseps. I’ve had the opportunity to chat with some folks from France whom are on the ship to see the canal and they are very proud of this fact. There were many challenges and problems during the construction, with an estimated 22,000 workers losing their lives. In fact, during the early days of construction and the devastating impact of yellow fever, new hires would arrive in Panama with their own coffins.

Eventually, the French company ran out of money and abandoned the project in 1899. It was in 1907 that the U.S. took over, and continued the construction, completing the project in 1913. The locks were turned over to the Panama Canal Authority in 1977, an independent organization, to manage the canal. A second set of locks were completed in 2016, allowing larger “New-Panamax”-sized ships to utilize the canal.

The distance from the Atlantic Ocean, through the locks to the Pacific Ocean, is 51 miles and it took us 9 hours today. It took a little longer than normal due to the fact that they needed to pump water from one chamber to the next (instead of “new” water in each chamber), to conserve water. You may have heard on the news that Panama is experiencing a drought, so bad that they’ve had to close the canal for several days in the last year. It has caused a significant hardship on the Panama Canal Authority, losing millions of dollars in revenue and lost wages.

By afternoon, the rain had come and it came down hard. We continued through the canal to the Miguel lock and then to the Miraflores lock before passing under the Bridge of the Americas and the Pan-American Highway. We did have an exciting situation when Marsh locked me out on the balcony and then went to the spa to get his planters fasciitis worked on. But have no fear, I yelled up to the cabin two decks above and got the good folks to call security. They rescued me before Marsh got back. Good thing it wasn’t raining any longer. Just saying. By the time we completed the transit, the skies had cleared and the sun was peeking through as we headed into the Pacific Ocean. We’re ready for the last 10 days of our journey.

Next stop in one day: Puntarenas, Costa Rica