Panama Canal

Day 1 – Thursday
Arrive Panama

Arrive iinto Panama City and  transfer to your hotel located at the entrance of the Panama Canal.

Day 2 – Friday
Panama Canal – The path between the seas

Today will start with an introduction to the Panama Canal from the top of Ancon Hill from where you will enjoy impressive views of the Pacific Ocean’s entrance to the canal, the mega port of Balboa, Miraflores locks and Panama City.  From Ancon Hill you will drive to the Panama Canal visitors’ center at Miraflores for an up-close view of the locks operation.  Here you will see how ships in transit are raised and lowered in a system of locks chambers which has been operating in pretty much the same way for 100 years since the canal was inaugurated on August 15, 1914.  You continue on am 80 km drive across the Isthmus of Panama to the Caribbean province of Colon.  In about 1 hour you will have crossed the continent, from ocean to ocean, for a tour of the Panama Canal’s expansion works in Gatun where you start out with lunch.

From the vantage point of an observation deck you will have the opportunity of viewing the assembly of one of the new sets of locks being built as part of the project.  The US$5.25 billion project includes, among other tasks, dredging works on both ends of the canal and the route itself in order to increase water depth and the straightening of bends along the route that will allow larger ships to transit through the canal. The most important aspect of the project, however, is the building of two new sets of locks, one at each terminus of the canal, which will increase the waterway’s capacity to move cargo from one ocean to the other by 50% within the next 15 years and will allow the passage of bigger ships (almost 3 times the capacity of Panamax, the largest size vessels currently transiting through the canal).  An astonishing 4.2 billion cubic meters of structural concrete are currently being poured in the excavations where the new locks will be operating soon.  You will experience history in the making as the Panama Canal projections call for another 100 years of successful operation using the new technology that will be implemented.

The return to Panama City will be aboard the Panama Canal Railroad train. The railway follows a similar route as the original train built to transport gold prospectors, the 49ers, in the mid to late 1800s coming from the east coast of the United States across the Isthmus of Panama to continue their journey by steamboat to California. The route was diverted when Gatun Lake was formed to give way to the Panama Canal. The train will take you along the magnificent waterway, flanked by the exuberant rainforests of Soberania National Park. After an approximately one hour train ride you will arrive at Corozal Station in Panama City and will then be transferred to your hotel early evening. BL

Day 3 – Saturday
Panama Canal – Partial transit & Casco Viejo french quarter

This morning, take a 45 minute drive to the town of Gamboa, site of the Panama Canal’s Dredging Division, where you will board a small (250 passenger) ferry. At this point the boat will be on Gatun Lake, 26 metres above sea level.  Today’s canal transit will be southbound and soon the ferry will be traversing Gaillard Cut, the narrowest section of the Panama Canal. The 13.7-km long portion of the waterway was carved through rock and shale over 100 years ago and it is flanked by the backbones of the Continental Divide.  The original width of Gaillard Cut was 92 meters.  The Panama Canal Authority recently completed the monumental task of widening the Cut to 192 meters in straight sections and up to 222 meters along the curves. This allows for unrestricted two-way traffic of Panamax vessels, the largest ships that fit in the Panama Canal locks today. Continuing south the first lock set that you cross is Pedro Miguel, where the ship is lowered 9 meters. While enjoying your lunch on board, you will pass through Miraflores Locks, which are the tallest in the locks system due to the extreme tidal variation of the Pacific Ocean.  In two steps, the ship will be lowered 17 metres to sea level in the almost 2-km long lock set. Here, a transition from fresh water from the lake to salt water in the Pacific Ocean takes place in the lock chambers. Before leaving the Panama Canal and entering the Pacific Ocean you will sail under the bridge of the Americas, which reunites the land divided by the Panama Canal forming a link on the Pan-American Highway. You will disembark at Flamenco Marina in Amador, a former US Navy base established for the protection of the canal.

This afternoon you will visit Casco Viejo, Panama City’s colonial section.  Established in 1671 after pirate Henry Morgan attacked and burned down the city’s original location, Casco Viejo is undergoing a major revamping.  Walk the cobblestone streets while admiring landmarks such as the Flat Arch Church, who some claim it played a role in the decision on building a transoceanic canal through Panama, the Presidential Palace, which once was a Customs storage facility for the Spanish Crown, the Metropolitan Cathedral and the French Plaza, dedicated to France’s attempt to build a canal through Panama in the late 1800s. BL

Day 4 – Sunday
Depart Panama

Transfer to the airport for your departure flight. B