Across the hills and through the jungle to the Pacific.
CuriousOyster
Steve & Trish Brown
Tue 26 Jan 2010 12:37
First there were only jungle trails known to Indians, then tracks cut
through the jungle to enable the Spanish to transfer gold and silver from
their possessions in South America to the transit ports on the Caribbean
coast, where French and English pirates waited to pounce on their ships.
Then in 1850 a railway was built at a huge financial cost and with great
loss of life to ease the transit of men and materials to the Californian
gold rush.
It is incredible to think that 300 years after the Spanish first conceived
the idea of a canal across the narrow bridge of land that keeps the Atlantic
and Pacific apart the French were granted the rights to construct a sea
level canal. At a cost of over 1.4 billion francs, the financial destruction
of countless investors and over 20,000 lives lost to disease, accidents,
inter racial strife and at one point a full blown civil war the French
effort was doomed to failure. Using their political, military, financial and
industrial might, the USA stepped in to take over the task of building the
canal that opened its lock gates to traffic on August 15th
1914..............
After 10 days in Shelter Bay Marina spent preparing and provisioning the
boat for 9 months in the Pacific we have achieved a long held ambition to
cross the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific. Having read a little of the
history and technical background to the Panama Canal it was always going to
be fascinating to be able to take Curious through from the Caribbean Sea to
the Pacific Ocean a passage of less than 35 miles but saving 1,000's of
miles on the alternative route around the tip of South America.
The three Gatun locks raise the vessel 26 metres (84ft) from sea level in
three chambers and from there we spent the night with Curious, for the first
and probably only time in her life, moored in fresh water on the edge of the
Gatun lake. Going through the Gatun locks in the dark was an amazing
experience. Rafted to one other yacht on each side of us we were placed
directly behind a large heavily laden bulk carrier who could only enter and
exit the locks with the assistance of a tug and the specially built trains
that ease these massive ships through the locks and then keep them located
centrally as the water lifts them effortlessly in less than 10 minutes in
each section.
Formed by damming the Chagres River, the Gatun Lake now covers an area of
116sq nautical miles. Waking at first light to the sound of the Howler
Monkeys and Tucans greeting the new day, we had a magical journey as the sun
rose across the lake, picking out the 100's of islands that were once the
tree covered tops of the surrounding jungle hills.
Once across the lake we entered the Culebra (snake) Cut because of its
original winding path but is now commonly referred to as the Gaillard Cut
after the engineer who was responsible for excavating this section of the
canal.
As we exited the cut we motored under the relatively new Centennial bridge
to the Pedro Miguel lock and then on to the two Miraflores locks that took
us back down to sea level. From there it was a short passage under the
Bridge of the Americas and out into the Pacific Ocean where other adventures
await!!!!
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