Panama Canal: Our cruise ship made a partial transit for half of the Panama Canal for a round trip Panama Canal transit through the Gatun Locks to Gatun Lake. There are three locks at Gatun that raise ships a total of 85 feet, to the height of Gatun Lake . At 262 square miles, this is the largest man made lake in the world. Vessels from around the globe were at anchored, waiting their turn to descend through Gatun Locks. This was priceless.
Old Panama City Tour: We travel on a tour bus from the Atlantic to the Pacific on a scenic drive through the rain forest to Panama City. We toured the ruins of the old capital city, founded in 1519 and later destroyed by buccaneer Sir Henry Morgan. Continue to Casco Antiguo, the old colonial city founded in 1673. See the historic Cathedral Square and strolled the historic Las Bovedas, a walkway whose walls are lined with an illustrated history of the French attempt to build a canal. Our tour ended at Cristobal where we returned to our ship after it when back thru the 3 locks. This was a 3 hours drive tour and we do not recommend.
