How many times do you get to sail through a country? Exactly! Today was pretty awesome, even though I spent most of it doing homework. I woke up crazy early (0450) to see us arrive on the coast of Panama and the sunrise. We sailed down a river a bit until we got to the first gate. For those of you who don’t know how the canal works, its engineering genius at its best – nearly 100 years old too! (It opened in 1914). There is a lake on the top of the mountainous area that traverses the short length of Panama. Essentially, we dammed the lake to control for rainfall and its fluctuations and created several blocks on either side to raise and lower the ships. So, the first two gates end up raising the ship 85ft to be at the lake level. The first gate is at sea level when the ship enters. Then they let the water flow from the second area to the first until they equalize (it flows in tubes underneath the gates). They open the gates and let the ship pass through. Then repeat with the lake providing the water and the ship enters the lake. After sailing through the lake (which is the largest manmade lake in the world), you do the reverse on the other side. Simple, yet brilliant. Our ship had only a few feet of space on either side when in the gates, but we passed through easily. It was really an awesome experience.
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