Anseth Family Adventures: Let’s go see the Canal.

Saturday, March 23rd started with a buffet breakfast at the Hilton in Panama City. Fruit loops was favored over fresh fruit by some (Grace). We met our guide Jorge and our driver Alexis. From there we headed for the Panama Canal.

The view from our room before we left.

The Panama Canal is 50 miles in length. 51 miles if you believe Wikipedia. A series of locks lift the boats up and down from Gatun Lake. The Pacific side is right by Panama City (Port of Balboa) and you can see it from different vantage points. The Caribbean side at the Port of Colón.

We left at around 9 AM hoping to make it to the other side of the Canal and to the Caribbean where the Fort of San Lorenzo is located.

During the week you can take a train but on the weekend it is car or bus only. Our guide, Jorge, did a great job of entertaining us (mostly me) with stories about the Canal. 5 miles on either side of the Canal was the sovereign territory of the US. If you were born within these 5 miles you were a US Citizen. There were also military bases within the five mile stretch.

On the way we saw this sloth sleeping in a tree. He sleeps harder then KT on a Saturday morning.

He is high up and very comfortable.

We continue on our way making good time until we got to the ferry crossing. We ended up waiting in line for about 1 hour to cross the Panama Canal by ferry. The actual ferry ride might only take 10 minutes. Somehow everyone keep their composure. The banana bread helped A LOT, dulce de Guinean!!!!

Eventually we made the ferry and crossed the freaking Panama Canal!!!!!! I found this to be a very cool thing. Others in my party were less enthused.

The girls and our guide Jorge.

Looking up the Canal. The locks are too small to see.

Looking out toward the Caribbean. If you blow this up you may see many ships either leaving or waiting to come through.

On the ferry.

Now that we were across the Canal our path to Fort San Lorenzo was uninstructed. We only stopped to check out some Howler Monkeys 🐵.

Howler monkey female with child on her back

Howler monkey mania

Once past the Howler monkeys we arrived at Fort San Lorenzo.

Around 1560 Spain used the Las Crucas Trail to bring the gold and silver it plunder in Peru to the Atlantic end of the the trail which was primarily the Chagres River. Fort San Lorenzo was establish to protect the Spainish port from pirates. From 1587-1599 it was a sea level battery. In 1670 the pirate Henry Morgan left San Lorenzo in ruins and used it as his base to launch his attack on Panama City. Henry Morgan has a special relationship with the Magistrates in Jamaica and would raid Caribbean settlements from there. His likeness can be seen on a handle of Rum frequently enjoyed by my friend Wade.

The fort we toured was rebuilt was built 80 feet above the water in 1680 and had a dry moat with a drawbridge.

Spain abandoned the port in the 18th century preferring to sail around the tip of South America. However in 1849 the California gold rush reinvigorated the area briefly. It has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 1980

Inside Fort San Lorenzo

The girls at San Lorenzo

Looking out to the Caribbean

Top of the fort in B&W #artsy

Cannons at the Fort

Some cannons still have the Spanish seal.

After Fort Lorenzo we grabbed a quick bite at the marina. According to Jorge, most of the ships we saw were planning on sailing through or had just sailed through the canal as they continued on their voyages. Some ships are stored at the marina because the are no hurricanes in Panama. (We May need a fact check on this one.). So it is much cheaper to store your boat here then anywhere else in the Caribbean.

The most interesting thing at the marina was this.

It is a lighthouse and I think Jorge said the only working on on this side of the Canal. It was designed by...wait for it.....Gustave Effiel.

Yep, Gustave Effiel who built the Effiel Tower he built and designed that lighthouse. Gustave only worked on the French Canal project for a short time around 1877. The finances were not there and the French abandoned the project. They had wasted a lot of time trying to build a sea level Canal which was completely impractical.

From the marina we headed home but this time we drove across the Panama Canal locks.

Huge container ship headed to the Caribbean through the canal.

Another huge ship through the other channel.

The swinging door locks on the old side of the canal. These are the original doors from 1914. The gear system has been changed out for a hydraulic system to close the doors.