Canal Heresy

I have heard many many people say that, compared to the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal is boring, boring - a mere "ditch" (in the words of somebody famous - Churchill???) This seems to me to be the prevailing Orthodoxy of those who have traversed both.
There is no doubt that the Panama Canal is an extraordinary piece of Engineering and human effort - even more so when you consider the history of it's building and the failures that preceded it's final completion. To pass through it now, although impressive, is very deceiving.You really have to look at what lies below the surface of the water in the locks and the Gatun lake between them to understand. The ship has been showing documentaries of the building of the Panama Canal on the ship's TV system for the past couple of days. It is not until you see these, which include old original movie footage of the work carried out in the later part of it's construction (old steam shovels digging out the Calebra Cut - very early 20the Century) that you realise the enormity of the task and the brilliance and determination of the men who built it.Our North-South passage started around 6AM at the entrance to the first three locks - the Gatun locks. It took about two hours to pass through these, before entering the huge Gatun Lake (created by damming the Chagres River.) This dam was the secret behind the completion of the Canal system - removing the original need to dig a canal along the entire 80 klm route, and providing water to power the locks. This was followed by a rather leisurely passage through the lake and through the Culeba Cut before arriving at the final 3 locks of Pedro Miguel and Miraflores, which lowered us into the Pacific Ocean.  It was a wonderful experience for us - something that we had never dreamed we would be able to do - and we are very happy to have been able to experience it. But here is my Heresy -- if we were given the chance to repeat either the Suez transit or the Panama transit, which one would it be?? For Christine and I, the answer is immediate - SUEZ! I cannot explain here why we say that - too complicated for this short Blog. But we still recommend that anybody who is able do so, should do this transit of Panama - a fantastic experience.

You can watch a Youtube video of some Panama Canal pics here