14 day Panama Canal Cruise....part 3... the Panama Canal

Good morning.
After 2 days at sea, a daytime stop in Cartagena, we arrive the next morning at the Panama Canal.
We were scheduled for a daytime passage, and we lined up bright and early. There is a bay that leads to the first locks. Here's a pic of me as we were getting close to the locks....

As we arrived at the first lock, we are tied up to these little 'trains' so they can slowly guide us through.
The captain said we were the largest cruise ship that could go through the original locks. We had 2ft clearances on each side.

There was another smaller cruise ship following us. I'm assuming we didn't use the newer larger locks, as they probably cost more.

They had a little folding bridge that they opened while we were waiting for the lock to fill with water. It allowed cars and trucks to get from one side to the other, but only one way at a time. In the pic above, you can see a bridge in the distance. It was still under construction, but will eventually let traffic over the canal at the Atlantic side without waiting.

There were 3 locks total at each end. They were very similar to the locks at Sault Ste Marie, but more complex.

They were busy! They had ships going in both directions. The captain said they have around 33 ships per day that pass through the locks one direction or the other.
Below is the lake that was created when they dammed the river. We were told that the ships sitting in the lake were waiting for slower/cheaper times to go through the locks.
It's all about the money right?

The bridge above was about 2/3 the way through the Canal. The stepped slopes you see was the mountain they had to cut out called the Culebra Cut through the Continental Divide, to let the canal meet the pacific side.
And, President Woodrow Wilson sent the telegraph that signaled the destruction of a dam that let water flow into the Culebra Cut allowing the Atlantic and Pacific to be joined. What date was that???
October 10, 1913.   :-)

And near Panama City, as we went through the last 3 locks, there was a massive audience. Quite the sight! We found out later that people had come from all over the world to see us go through the locks...................Just kidding.
The Pope was scheduled to be in Panama City that week, and this was just a side excursion for some of them as they waited for the Pope to arrive.   :-)
The canal is a fascinating engineering marvel. Happy we did the entire length.
Now we have another day at sea, and then Costa Rica.