"LIVE" - Legend of the Seas - Panama Canal 12 November 2013

[PCWalton1]

Was that Ruben Blades providing the vocal accompaniment?

 

No it is someone named Luiz Rodriguez Argumedes, also known as Azuquita.

[Rassa]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7357/1...93dfdc80_b.jpg

 

What is this guy called - very cute.

[BillB48]

No it is someone named Luiz Rodriguez Argumedes, also known as Azuquita.

 

Thanks, had me fooled... very similar style. Maybe I need a salsa refresher!

[PCWalton1]

The Panama Canal is a system of artificial and natural rivers and lakes dug across the isthmus of Panama to connect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. A boat can go through the Panama Canal in about half a day, compared to an 8,000 mile journey around South America.

 

The mountains are too high to just dig a ditch like the Suez Canal. So rivers were dammed up to create a lake the ships could sail across. However the lake was not as sea level hence the need for the locks to raise and lower the ships to get across the isthmus.

 

The total lift (the amount by which a ship is raised or lowered) in the three steps of the Gatun locks is 85 ft (25.9 m); the lift of the two-step Miraflores locks is 54 ft (16 m). The single-step Pedro Miguel locks have a lift of 31 ft (9.4 m). The lift at Miraflores actually varies due to the extreme tides on the Pacific side, between 43 ft (13 m) at extreme high tide and 64.5 ft (20 m) at extreme low tide; tidal differences on the Atlantic side are very small.

 

I took pictures of the entire transit through the Gatun Locks so I will primarily post pictures of that portion of the transit.

 

Pilot boat arrives.

 

 

 

Waiting our turn as a container ship enters the left side locks.

 

 

Arrow showing which side we are to enter.

 

 

 

The bulk carrier Isminaki precedes us through the locks. A bus takes advantage the closed lock to cross to the other side.

 

 

Isminaki enters the next lock.

 

 

Dawn breaks as we approach.

[PCWalton1]

Note the turbulence in the water outside the lock doors as the water begins draining from the first lock. Water movement is all done through gravity, no pumps are used.

 

 

Our electric mules are lined up ready to attach lines to the ship.These mules are used for side-to-side and braking control in the locks, which are narrow relative to modern-day ships. Forward motion into and through the locks is actually provided by the ship's engines and not the mules.

 

 

Gates to the first lock begin opening.

 

 

 

 

Time for Legend to enter.

 

 

You can see how the mules help guide the ship. There are mules on both sides of the ship working to keep Legend centered.

[PCWalton1]

Legend is now in the first lock.

 

 

Isminaki is now moving into the third lock.

 

 

 

 

 

Water begins draining from the middle lock into our lock, raising Legend up.

 

 

 

 

Gates to the middle lock begin to open.

[PCWalton1]

Legend begins moving into the middle lock.

 

 

 

 

As Legend moves into the middle lock, Isminaki moving out of the third lock and into Gutan Lake.

 

 

 

 

Exit gates of the third lock begin to close.

 

 

[PCWalton1]

Goodbye Isminaki.

 

 

Now that the exit gates are closed the water begins draining from the third lock into the middle lock once again raising Legend up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the water has leveled out, the gates begin to open to allow Legend to enter the third and final lock.

 

 

[PCWalton1]

The container ship that was in the left set of locks enters Gatun Lake.

 

 

Once Legend is in the third lock and the gate is closed, water begins flowing from Gatun Lake into the third lock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The gates begin to open to allow Legend to enter into Gatun Lake.

[PCWalton1]

Legend begin heading out into Gatun Lake.

 

 

 

 

These are employees of the Panama Canal who came aboard to handle the line connecting Legend to the mules.

 

Legend moves out into Gatun Lake and completes the transit through the Gatun Locks.

 

 

[Clarea]

Bill, how long did it take the lock to fill up?

[edjny]

Anyone who is interested in seeing close up how the locks work and not spend a LOT of money to cruise the Panama Canal, can see it on the Erie canal in NY. We went on a cruise through one of the locks on the Erie Canal at Herkimer, NY. The cruise boat company is Erie Canal Cruises. While it is a lot smaller than the Panama Canal, it works exactly the same way. There are a few photos of the boat entering/in the lock on the web site.

 

It was a fun couple hours for relatively little money. I think that they are closed down for the season, but will start up again in the Spring.

[PCWalton1]

Bill, how long did it take the lock to fill up?

 

They said 6-8 minutes. The line I heard numerous times was it took less time than filling a bath tub. It was quick.

 

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2

[Clarea]

They said 6-8 minutes. The line I heard numerous times was it took less time than filling a bath tub. It was quick.

That is faster than I expected. I like how the entire operation is done by gravity, no pumps.

[BillB48]

From another Bill… The easy and standard answer is 8 minutes to fill or spill a chamber. One million gallons of water per foot or an average of 3¼ million gallons per minute.

 

What follows hopefully won't be too much in the weeds and of interest. Each of the lanes has their own culvert in the side wall which is dedicated to that lane. The two lanes “share” the center wall culvert, to share the culvert means that the center culvert will be used by one side or the other and not used simultaneously by both lanes. The 8 minute fill/spill figure is based using both the center and side wall culverts simultaneously to fill/spill a chamber. If only the side wall culvert is used for the fill/spill, the operation will take about 15 minutes.

 

As to the decision which ship will receive 2 culverts for their respective fill/spill a there are some considerations. The first of which is… who is in the chamber first. Then there are other considerations… In general “up” lockages receive preference for 2 culverts over “down” lockages. The reason for this is when only the side culvert is used for a fill there is a pronounced surge towards the sidewall, making the ship harder to hold. As strange as that sounds, less water going into the chamber causes in effect more turbulence. There are also has a number of factors which must be considered such as size and draft of the ship, number of locomotives used etc. In spite of all the foregoing it can come down to which ship can use the 8 minute fill/spill the most. Doesn’t make much sense to expedite a ship if there is nowhere for them to go, so the preference should go to whichever vessel can make the most use of the faster fill/spill.

 

All done as noted by the law of gravity, water doing what comes naturally.

[Clarea]

From another Bill… The easy and standard answer is 8 minutes to fill or spill a chamber. One million gallons of water per foot or an average of 3¼ million gallons per minute.

 

What follows hopefully won't be too much in the weeds and of interest. Each of the lanes has their own culvert in the side wall which is dedicated to that lane. The two lanes “share” the center wall culvert, to share the culvert means that the center culvert will be used by one side or the other and not used simultaneously by both lanes. The 8 minute fill/spill figure is based using both the center and side wall culverts simultaneously to fill/spill a chamber. If only the side wall culvert is used for the fill/spill, the operation will take about 15 minutes.

 

As to the decision which ship will receive 2 culverts for their respective fill/spill a there are some considerations. The first of which is… who is in the chamber first. Then there are other considerations… In general “up” lockages receive preference for 2 culverts over “down” lockages. The reason for this is when only the side culvert is used for a fill there is a pronounced surge towards the sidewall, making the ship harder to hold. As strange as that sounds, less water going into the chamber causes in effect more turbulence. There are also has a number of factors which must be considered such as size and draft of the ship, number of locomotives used etc. In spite of all the foregoing it can come down to which ship can use the 8 minute fill/spill the most. Doesn’t make much sense to expedite a ship if there is nowhere for them to go, so the preference should go to whichever vessel can make the most use of the faster fill/spill.

 

All done as noted by the law of gravity, water doing what comes naturally.

Really interesting, thanks! As with many processes, much more complicated than it appears.

[PCWalton1]

From another Bill… The easy and standard answer is 8 minutes to fill or spill a chamber. One million gallons of water per foot or an average of 3¼ million gallons per minute.

 

What follows hopefully won't be too much in the weeds and of interest. Each of the lanes has their own culvert in the side wall which is dedicated to that lane. The two lanes “share” the center wall culvert, to share the culvert means that the center culvert will be used by one side or the other and not used simultaneously by both lanes. The 8 minute fill/spill figure is based using both the center and side wall culverts simultaneously to fill/spill a chamber. If only the side wall culvert is used for the fill/spill, the operation will take about 15 minutes.

 

As to the decision which ship will receive 2 culverts for their respective fill/spill a there are some considerations. The first of which is… who is in the chamber first. Then there are other considerations… In general “up” lockages receive preference for 2 culverts over “down” lockages. The reason for this is when only the side culvert is used for a fill there is a pronounced surge towards the sidewall, making the ship harder to hold. As strange as that sounds, less water going into the chamber causes in effect more turbulence. There are also has a number of factors which must be considered such as size and draft of the ship, number of locomotives used etc. In spite of all the foregoing it can come down to which ship can use the 8 minute fill/spill the most. Doesn’t make much sense to expedite a ship if there is nowhere for them to go, so the preference should go to whichever vessel can make the most use of the faster fill/spill.

 

All done as noted by the law of gravity, water doing what comes naturally.

 

Yeah, what he said. :D

 

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2

[DazyMae]

Legend begin heading out into Gatun Lake.

 

 

 

 

These are employees of the Panama Canal who came aboard to handle the line connecting Legend to the mules.

 

Legend moves out into Gatun Lake and completes the transit through the Gatun Locks.

 

 

Bill,

 

This is by far the best (and easiest for me to understand) explanation/pictorial of a canal transit that I have seen. I feel as though I have just completed the transit. We have an aft balcony so I am also planning where I should be during any particular phase. I t doesn't look like to me that the balcony is the best place to start the transit. I'm thinking more forward.

 

Thank you so much.

[DazyMae]

Anyone who is interested in seeing close up how the locks work and not spend a LOT of money to cruise the Panama Canal, can see it on the Erie canal in NY. We went on a cruise through one of the locks on the Erie Canal at Herkimer, NY. The cruise boat company is Erie Canal Cruises. While it is a lot smaller than the Panama Canal, it works exactly the same way. There are a few photos of the boat entering/in the lock on the web site.

 

It was a fun couple hours for relatively little money. I think that they are closed down for the season, but will start up again in the Spring.

Since we live in the northern part of PA doing the Erie Canal cruise is doable. I will put this on my bucket list. Thanks for the idea.

[tnfcruise]

Bill,

 

This is by far the best (and easiest for me to understand) explanation/pictorial of a canal transit that I have seen. I feel as though I have just completed the transit. We have an aft balcony so I am also planning where I should be during any particular phase. I t doesn't look like to me that the balcony is the best place to start the transit. I'm thinking more forward.

 

We had an aft balcony on Celebrity Infinity last Nov. through the Canal. We opted for room service breakfast and sat on our balcony all through the Gatun Locks (we, too, had east-to-west itinerary.) The audio came through just fine with the balcony door open and we glanced at our TV (closed circuit from the front of the ship) when the onboard expert was pointing out something up ahead. We thoroughly enjoyed our "rear view" and were up close and personal to the gate closings, the temporary bridge traffic, the "Mules", lock workers and 180 degree vista. Wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else during those first locks.

 

For the Pacific portion, we spent a bit of time on a lower deck (one you could get outside) to watch as the side of the ship slipped down to the next level, then to a higher deck bow view as we went by the Milaflores viewing area and the other locks. We were also on bow of one of the highest decks as we went under the

[tnfcruise]

Oops, hit the send button by mistake... as we were going under the Centennial Bridge. Bottom line, we spent more than half that day on our balcony and it was exciting but less hectic than dealing with the crowds up on deck.

Here are a couple of shots taken from our balcony of the Gatun locks.

[cruisingrightalong]

That is what we usually do also. Aft balcony with TV turned to see the front during the first set of locks....then down to deck 5 or whichever is on level with the lock. Then higher as you said for the bridge then to the front for the second set of locks.

 

Lou

[travelgoddess1]

Bill,

 

This is by far the best (and easiest for me to understand) explanation/pictorial of a canal transit that I have seen. I feel as though I have just completed the transit. We have an aft balcony so I am also planning where I should be during any particular phase. I t doesn't look like to me that the balcony is the best place to start the transit. I'm thinking more forward.

 

Thank you so much.

 

That is what we usually do also. Aft balcony with TV turned to see the front during the first set of locks....then down to deck 5 or whichever is on level with the lock. Then higher as you said for the bridge then to the front for the second set of locks.

 

Lou

 

Yes, that is also what we do, and did on this sailing. This was our second time through the canal on the aft balcony, and now I am spoiled for any other location. We had an unobstructed view, shade, and a place to sit and relax. You really can't tell from our photos whether we are coming or going. :D

[tnfcruise]

I've gotta add the fact that we are aft balcony junkies--no matter what the itinerary. We always spend a lot of time out there, particularly relishing port arrivals and departures. Our budget (and limited vacation time) allowed for fewer cruises because of our "balcony fetish". Now that we're both retired, and time is not an issue, PCWalton makes some pretty compelling points for cruisin' more and paying A LOT LESS...sorry for the mini-hijack...back to the original theme.

[DazyMae]

Yes, that is also what we do, and did on this sailing. This was our second time through the canal on the aft balcony, and now I am spoiled for any other location. We had an unobstructed view, shade, and a place to sit and relax. You really can't tell from our photos whether we are coming or going. :D

So Karen, you spent the whole transit on your balcony w/the TV? You didn't go to higher/lower "ground"?

 

I am doing the west to east transit. Do all of you think your methods would work in this direction as well?

 

Thanks for any replies.