Mules, Locks, and a Bang!: My Panama Canal Adventure
The travel adventure continues, as the ship hits the side of the lock
It has been a while since I last posted on Solo Travel Life, and I have the perfect excuse. Well, I think it’s perfect!
For the first two and a half months of 2025, I have been on an extended cruise—65 nights away, travelling on sometimes choppy waters and covering over 15,000 miles.
There are stories of passengers stranded onshore in Brazil, as a walkway to the ship collapsed. I visited more than a dozen new-to-me countries, with destinations in Africa, Europe, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.
The highlight, if I were pressed to choose just one of many, would be a trip 900 miles up the Amazon. I’ll write the story of Manaus — and the collapsing walkway — later. In the meantime, let’s start the story where all the best stories begin: in the middle.
Having left Southampton in the UK in early January, with visits to African islands, South American ports, and several spots in the Caribbean, the next highlight was to be entirely onboard the ship.
The Grand Tour – Day 38: Panama
A quick rewind to Day 36, when the P&O ship Aurora was speeding towards the port of Colón, Panama. The itinerary stated that we would arrive in Colón at around 7 a.m. on Tuesday, day 37.
However, a fellow passenger had been taken seriously ill the previous day and required urgent hospital treatment. Aurora was too far from land for a helicopter rescue, so the captain ordered more coal for the boiler and metaphorically put his foot down. Steaming at some 22 knots, Aurora arrived in Colón at around 6 p.m., over 12 hours ahead of schedule. The unfortunate passenger was rushed from the ship by ambulance to the local hospital. Their condition was never communicated to the passengers, so I cannot report the outcome. Let’s hope it was positive.
A day was spent in Colón exploring the area. After breakfast on Day 38, the ship left Colón and headed towards the Panama Canal for a partial transit. On this occasion, we would not be travelling all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The plan was to transit three locks into Gatun Lake, a large man-made lake in the centre of the country. Further locks on the other side of the lake lead to the Pacific.
The canal was built in neutral land over a ten-year period, opening to traffic in 1914. After an agreed-upon period, full ownership passed to Panama. The locks can accommodate ships of a certain width and up to 1,215 feet in length, so a small percentage of the world’s vessels are unable to take the shortcut between the oceans. Aurora was able to fit into the locks—just.
A commercial ship was ahead of us, and we watched it being lifted in the first lock before the gates in front of it opened to let it into the next chamber. Water was released from the now-empty lock in front of Aurora, and when the gates opened, the ship moved very slowly into the space. On each side, there are land-based tugs, known as mules, on rails — a little like trains — which pull the ship forward using its mooring ropes.
When the gates closed behind us, we slowly rose as water was released from the lock in front. This process was repeated twice more, and after about 40 minutes, Aurora was released into the central lake, where the ship moored for around three hours.
There are two sets of locks, one used in each direction. After some time at leisure on the lake, the return journey began, back towards the Atlantic.
Pulled in by the mules, Aurora moved slowly forward — when, in the third lock, there was a huge bang! that shook the entire ship. Aurora had hit the side of the lock. This is not supposed to happen. Why we hit the side was never explained, but we sat in lock three for about half an hour while safety and other matters were investigated.
Eventually, we moved forward and out of the canal, heading back towards the Atlantic.
It was the following day, when we arrived in Costa Rica, that we could see an enormous blue paint scrape down the starboard side of the ship. Many pots of paint would be needed to cover the evidence, although fortunately, there appeared to be no other damage.
A partial transit of the Panama Canal is a special experience.
I hope to do a full transit one day; however, that will be for a different trip.