Arising early, before dawn, we were treated to a spectular view of the Southern Cross, the lights of 50 or so container ships lined up for a slot through the canal (unlike cargo ships, ours was purchased 18 months ago so we had a priority slot) and then sunrise over the Pacific Ocean.
Yep, that is not a mistake - the sun rose in the east, but because of the way Panama has a big S curve, it was over the Pacific. Look at the map.
After all that we headed into the Miraflores locks, a true engineering marvel opened in 1913. We watched as the canal workers rowed out to pur big ship in a little two-man rowboat to throw a line that allowed us to hook up to the little train car called a mule that drags us through the locks.
I will try and include a few pictures of the locks, the infamous Culebra Cut (8 miles of mountain that still continues to slide into the canal today) and some of our fellow ships taking The Shortcut.
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