The Panama Canal is not as big as I expected it. I should clarify that. The canal is 77km long from the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean, but the Miraflores lock area is not as big as I expected it. It is very narrow, with only one passage each way made up of a system of 2 lock chambers that are 35.5m wide taking 2 steps up (or down). For very large vessels, only one can pass through at a time. The largest ships built specifically to pass through the canal are called Panamax, They are 35.5m wide, 320m long and 12.5 m deep and believe me – it is a very tight fit! Only 40 ships cross per day and approximately 13 000 per year.
This photo of the container ship moving into the lock was taken from inside the simulator in the museum.
For smaller vessels it is possible to fit several in at once, as seen when I visited. I saw a cruise boat and three yachts tied together pass through. One yacht was sporting an Australian flag, which made me quite exited.
The visitors centre is well set up with exhibits showing how the canal was made, 
including the sad failed attempt by the French that began in 1881 and cost the lives of 22 000 people! Staggering! Malaria, yellow fever and many fatal landslides and other accidents finally saw the French give up after going bankrupt in 1893. They had tried to build the canal at sea level.
The Americans took over in 1904 in what was to be the largest and most difficult engineering feat ever undertaken at that time. Intuitively one would think going from one ocean to the other would not require locks – all oceans are at sea level! But for Panama the only way was to incorporate the Gatun Lake which is a fresh water lake that lies at 26m above sea level. It doesn’t sound like much, but it is a very big step! It meant less excavation and also an important 
water supply for the lock system. As well as hydro electricity generated from the reservoir damns built around the lake, gravity is also used. Gatun lake is a freshwater lake, so it is also very important in for the environment, a factor that lead to Panama creating many national reserves of surrounding forest to protect the water supply. Each crossing uses 52 million gallons in the locks, and more than half of this is lost to the sea.
It is interesting to note that work on the Panama Canal lead to the confirmation that mosquitoes transmit yellow fever and malaria. With this knowledge, many preventative measures were put in place in sanitation, treating stagnating water to prevent mosquito breeding and providing netting. Despite this, 5 600 workers died of disease and some due to accidents.
The Canal was completed in 1913 an officially opened in 1914 in the same month WWI
broke out. The cost of the Canal was about $375 million, which today would be equivalent to over $8 billion. In 1999 the Americans handed over the canal to The Republic of Panama after much lobbying.
The cost of crossing the Panama is high. A vessel carrying 4 500 containers is charged about $450 000. A Disney cruise ship pays about $300 000. For a private yacht it can cost about $1300 (depending on size) if you book ahead, or $2800 if you rock up and wait (which could be days or weeks).
One man paid 36 cents to cross! How? Richard Halliburton swam the canal in 1928 and was charged per tonnage! Hah! He was a travel writer and adventurer and his life story is fascinating, including his mysterious death, and resulted in providing me with many hours of distraction on the Internet and ordering a couple of his books.
The new expansion project that will double the capacity and allow for bigger ships (Post Panamax), is underway and estimated to cost over $5 billion. Being able to handle bigger ships also means having to deepen the canal, so a massive dredging process is also underway. The new locks will work alongside the existing ones but also allow for some important maintenance work to be done on the old locks. The new system is estimated to be completed by 2015 and will allow for 60% of the water used in the locks to be recycled.
All information is from the Panama Canal Museum at the Miraflores Locks.
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