Miraflores Locks
I went to the stern again on Deck 10 to watch our passage through this last set of locks.
To our side was the other ship from the Pedro Miguel docks. It was about 15 minutes behind us through the locks.
There was a spillway on our port side and this gave us a better view of the skyscrapers of Panama City away in the distance. We had been catching glimpses of these buildings during the latter part of the transit.
Once in the locks the other ship caught us up in the other set of locks.
On the port side was a building with a stepped viewing platform. We were told this was the only place that the public could watch the workings of the Canal.
Then we were in the last lock of the set.
Looking back at the locks there was a swing bridge for the railway.
Then we were out of the locks and we could see the Bridge of the Americas in the distance.
Bridge of the Americas
Once we were out of the last lock I moved to the bow on Deck 10. This was so that I could get my first views of the bridge.
The bridge looked quite high and was carrying lots of traffic. We learnt that the largest new cruise ships were too high to get under the bridge. The new locks were big enough to carry them but the bridge remained a barrier.
We had more views of Panama City as we crept towards the bridge.
After some apartments on our port side was a busy container port and on our starboard side there were quays and harbours.
As we came closer to the bridge there were more ships.
Then just before the bridge were these advertising hoardings and junk covered beaches.
Then we were at the bridge.
Once past the port and the bridge, the canal opened up and we had moored yachts at our side as well as even better views of Panama City.
This was the end of our first transit through the Panama Canal.