Miraflores Locks of the Canal

Visiting the Miraflores Locks

The alarm was set for 0645.  I wasn’t hungry yet but as we weren’t sure of when/where we could eat next, we took breakfast at the hotel at a reasonable price of USD6.50.  It appears Panama isn’t cheap but we’re not going to get a true sense of pricing from a visit that’s less than 24h.

Cindy, our pre-arranged driver, turned up at 0830.  We drove out of the built-up area past the largely domestic airport (which takes some Colombian flights) and then through some grubby areas (similar to the less polished areas of my hometown Kuching) before arriving at Miraflores Locks of Panama Canal at 0900.

Tickets to the visitor centre were USD15 (free for locals) which allowed access to the viewing terrace, a short video and the exhibitions.

As we got to the viewing area, we could see a ship in the locks.  As we headed to the highest viewing platform, I heard over the PA that this was the last ship till around 1430.  A combined sense of disappointment and luck struck me; disappointed that we couldn’t see the operation of the locks properly but still lucky that we hadn’t missed out completely.

Three tugboats needed to get through afterwards and we managed to see the locks in operation, lifting them up one level.  So, even though we didn’t see the most impressive cruiseliners passing through with inches to spare on both sides, we got what we came for.

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We wandered downstairs just in time for the 1000 video presentation which lasted 10 minutes.  It gave a brief overview of the history but there was still mtheuch that I wanted to know.  The exhibitions set over three storeys of the building did little to clarify the questions in my mind.  Kim was getting annoyed with my various questions which he couldn’t answer; time to consult Google later.

After a snack and some tea, we hopped back into the car at 1110 and drove through the city, giving us a glimpse of it’s skyscraper skyline.  We were at the airport before 1200 for bagdrop and was in the landside lounge at midday.

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My Panama Canal questions answered

The three hours in the lounge went quickly with grazing of the simple offerings plus plenty of time on the computer googling answers to my questions about the Panama Canal.  I learnt the following:

• The Panama Canal is around half the length of the Suez Canal but the latter is much simpler as it didn’t have any locks.
• The locks here are necessary to lift ships up and down due to the terrain of the area.  Otherwise, it would have been necessary to cut away hills and mountains down to sea level.
• My reading suggested that there are no passing ships approximately between 1100 to 1500.  In our case today, it was 0900 to 1430!  This is due to changing the direction of the traffic; there is an area further along towards the Atlantic which only allows passage to one ship at a time.  This lull corresponds to the last ship heading to the Atlantic until the first ship coming from the Atlantic.
• The locomotives seen beside the ships don’t pull them but only steady them against side-to-side movement.  There can be as little as 60cm clearance between the ship and the hard edge.  The ships power themselves through slowly.
• Ship captains take a rest while dedicated canal pilots take responsibility for navigating the ships through the area.  Apparently skills for navigating the oceans are different from that navigating the Culebra cut (narrow one-lane passage) and the nooks-and-crannies of the lakes.
• The canals rely on good rainfall to feed the nearby lakes so that water can be gravity-fed into the locks; the water is discharged into the sea afterwards and is “wasted”.
• An expansion of the Panama Canal involved  putting additional two locks, on the Atlantic and Pacific side each.  These are wider than the three original locks (Atlantic, near the Pacific and the Pacific).  I was puzzled as to why the “middle” lock didn’t have a new one in parallel that was wider as well.  How do the wider ships get through the “middle” lock when there isn’t one of the new wider width?  The answer was hard to find but eventually I found that the expansion involved a Pacific Access Channel of 6.1km which served that purpose.

Tips for visiting the Miraflores Locks

• With no traffic, it takes 30 minutes from the city and 45 minutes from the airport.  The travel times in traffic I had read of 1h and 2h respectively seem too pessimistic but I don’t know how bad the traffic can get.
• You can quite safely use Uber both ways and there is wifi at Miraflores to book your return trip.  We had luggage with us so we needed to use the same driver/car and have her wait for us.
• We got to Miraflores at 0900 and saw the last ship of the morning go past.  The visit isn’t the same without a passing ship.  If you have time perhaps you can can check shipping schedules and maybe time it to coincide with a big cruise liner.

Continuing to Buenos Aires

We went airside an hour prior to departure and fortunately there was no bit hold up to get through.  Our flight to Buenos Aires closed up about 15 mins ahead of our scheduled departure which was a little before 1600.  We sat stationary and had a late pushback, followed by a slow intermittent taxi during which the pilot came over the PA twice to explain the air-traffic congestion (due to Copa’s massive hubbing I guess).  We eventually took off more than an hour after closing up.

The plane was getting hot and uncomfortable.  The ventilation was woefully inadequate on the ground but each time the engines surged to move us forward to the next holding point, the ventilation powered up to bring some relief.  Despite being a brand new plane (the toilet seats and bowls were gleaming), it seemed to have the technology of a very bad car I once hired where the air-con was fine until one got stuck in traffic!

Once airborne, we were thankfully much cooler.  We were fed a hot sandwich accompanied  by a very impressive beverage cart again.  It was bumpy for much of the way with the seat belt sign being on.  Many people were busting for the loo.  The stupid new plane didn’t have a free/busy illuminated sign anywhere, so people had to wait outside the toilet because they couldn’t judge when they could go quickly for a release and return to their seats.

Two hours before landing in Buenos Aires, we were fed a hot meal, accompanied by Copa’s impressive range of beverages.  They offered another complete round of beverages after the meal service!  The crew were good too … everytime when you tell them your drink choice they ask if you’d like something else (eg. a water to go with your juice or wine).

Flying Copa Airlines

There weren’t any non-stop options from Ecuador to Buenos Aires and Copa was the cheapest but still pricey option.  We could have booked a seamless connection but chose an overnight of less than 24h to see the Canal.

I’d say they’re as good as any everyday airline with heopful staff, OK food, and new planes.   They were also rated as the fourth most punctual airline in the world!

The run a huge fleet of narrow-body aircraft connecting North, Central and South America through their “Hub of the Americas” in Panama City.  The airport is nice but getting congested.  With a new terminal opening soon, it will be great again I guess.

The airline’s hubbing operation and focus on transit is quite apparent:

• At check-in, when they asked me for my destination, they didn’t take Panama City as the answer.  The response was “and then to …?”
• Announcements at the airport and onboard describe the flight as “to Panama City and connections”.
• Bags to Panama City are tagged with a blue flag.  Most airlines specially identify connections on baggage but I’ve never seen baggage for their hub being tagged specially.
• We noticed both times we were at the airport that passenger went from quiet to super-busy rather quickly.
• Our flight was badly held up on the ground with congestion and the schedule was thickly padded to allow for this.