We did the entire tour of the Panama Canal, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. We chose to do the entire tour, however, if you want advice, I would say do just the first 3 locks and get off half way and visit the rain forest, or do some other activity. It is a LONG day on the lakes. We were with the same cargo ship as we entered each lock. It truly is an amazing experience. We were surprised we did not see any cruise ships, just large cargo ships, and many ships in line waiting their turns to enter the canal. Food on our tour was mediocre. I would buy food before I get on the full day tour and have your own delicious meal. The tour sold beer and wine, which we did purchase. Half of the ship participants got off at the half way point. Our ship had 200 tourists for the month of July. Going thru the locks was the BEST part of the entire day. Buses meet you at your final location an take you back to the origination Marina. A LONG LONG day, but we can scratch it off the bucket list!

This was high on my bucket list and I’m so glad I got to experience it.

We hit the Atlantic side at 9am on the old locks. We had 2 ships coming out and one ship on the lock in front of us.

It hard to imagine how it all works but it worked so well. Our ship had a foot clearance either side.

The sight of the ship rising was amazing.

The lake above took 4 hours to navigate going slowly along in line.

The decent is more sedate with 2 x locks of 1 decent followed by a gap then another 2.

I really do feel it’s something you have to experience yourself. Films I’ve seen don’t seem to convey the magnitude.

Just do it.

Visited the Panama Canal, Mira Flores Locks on August 6, 2018. This was on my bucket list...glad I went. Was able to see two ships going through the canal. The short film/docementary was very informative; and the museum/exhibits very educational.