Nothing official was scheduled the next morning at the Melia Panama Hotel in Colon. Some of us walked around the grounds with one of our guides to look at flora and fauna that we never see in the Midwest. Others enjoyed their time at the large colorful swimming pool. Some did both.
After lunch we boarded a bus and went to the Agua Clara Locks Visitor Center. On the way we passed the partially constructed Atlantic Bridge. Our boat trip through the canal passed through the original locks that first opened in 1914. The decision by the US to make the locks much larger than originally planned by the French helped to maintain the useful life of the canal. However, as the size of newer ships increased, soon only about half of the world’s cargo-carrying vessels could fit the 115 feet wide, 1050 feet long and 41 feet deep locks. Additional locks constructed by Panama opened in 2016 are 180 ft wide by 1400 ft long by 60 ft deep and can handle about 80% of current cargo-carrying vessels. At Aqua Clara we could observe larger vessels passing through the new locks.
It was difficult to tell just by looking that the new locks are larger than the old. However, there were a few differences that were obvious. The new locks have no mules to keep the ships in the center of the locks. Tugboats are now used for that job. One is tied to the bow and another to the stern and they move together from one lock to another. Also, those great old miter gates that swing open and closed are no longer part of the design. The new locks use two separate rolling gates that slide into or out of pockets in the lock walls. Finally, because of the addition of the new locks, much more water is required to operate the canal. This raises concerns about having an adequate supply of water during the dry season. To address this a new dam was built to create an additional lake to store more water. Holding basins were also added next to the locks. They can store and reuse some of the water from each lock passage rather than flushing it all out to the Atlantic or Pacific.
When we left Agua Clara the bus drove us through Colon to the Panama Canal Railway station. The train returned us to Panama City where we dined to Panamanian music and dance.
It was a very good vacation indeed.