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ESCAPE.COM.AU . SUNDAY AUGUST 5 . 2018
CRUISING ® PANAMA
MIRAFLORES LOCKS
TAKE A SHORTCUT Cruisers can marvel at one of the world’s most famous engineering feats RODERICK EIME
A
man, a plan, a canal, Panama. Contrary to popular myth, that famous palindrome does not sing the praises of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the renowned French engineer, diplomat and designer of the iconic Suez Canal, but rather a US Army general, George Washington Goethals, who picked up where the French disastrously left off and saw the monstrous feat through
to completion. In 1881, French engineers led by de Lesseps began construction, but were eventually defeated by the enormity of the task. By 1894, some 20,000 workers had died from accidents and tropical diseases and the project was all but bankrupt. The Americans bought out the French in 1904, 10 years after de Lesseps’ death, and amid much controversy over the expense and hardship, completed it in 1914.
Rivalled only by the Suez in grandeur, the Panama Canal is arguably the world’s most famous and resulted in a whopping 13,000km being lopped off the journey between New York and San Francisco, with the added benefit of negating the treacherous passage via Cape Horn at the bottom of South America. Today, the 10-hour, 80km transit through three massive locks is a gold medal for all serious cruisers, if only
for the historical significance. The French had originally planned a sea level canal, but that idea was abandoned in favour of the lock and lake design of today. Cruise ships make up barely 7 per cent of all canal traffic, but the 294m Norwegian Pearl enjoys the distinction of paying the highest toll: $US490,000 (about $663,000). This is calculated on the base rate of $US5.10 per net ton, but numerous add-ons,
like pre-booking fees quickly add to the overall cost. The minimum costs for any vessel (such as private yachts) is currently $US800 and the lowest cost ever paid was 36¢ by Richard Haliburton who swam the canal over the space of a week in 1928. For this transit I am aboard Lindblad Expeditions’ new, 72m, 100-guest National Geographic Quest, fresh from its debut season in Alaska and now vacationing in the warmer climes of Central America. Quest is one of a pair of identical vessels ordered by the New Yorkbased company which can trace their expedition cruising history back to 1966 when the patriarch, LarsEric Lindblad, chartered the first vessel to Antarctica for private passengers. Quest’s twin, Venture, will join the 14-vessel fleet in October before a premium ice-class ship arrives in 2020. Most often, cruise ships of our size must make the transit at night while the priority Panamax ships (built to maximum canal dimensions) are the ones allowed to travel during daylight hours for maximum visibility. But Lindblad Expeditions has secured a coveted daytime slot, so we’re all out on deck soaking up this once-in-a-lifetime experience while our guide gives us a running, statistically rich commentary. Our canal expedition begins at the northern (Caribbean) end at Colon and concludes 80km later at the
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AT THEIR BEST OVATION SYDNEY TO HONOLULU OVATION OF THE SEAS 17 NIGHTS • 17 APRIL 2019
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CARIBBEAN, RIO CARNIVAL & THE AMAZON
NORWEGIAN SPIRIT 17 NIGHTS • 11 JUNE 2019
QUEEN ELIZABETH 25 NIGHTS • 01 APRIL 2019
• 18 night cruise from Sydney visiting Brisbane, Alotau, Rabaul, Boracay, Manila and Yokohama • All meals and entertainment onboard • 6 night/7 day fully escorted tour of Japan during Cherry Blossom Season from Tokyo to Osaka • Highlights include: Great Buddha of Kamakura, Mt. Fuji, Lake Yamanaka, Fushimi Inari Shrine, Osaka Castle Garden plus so much more! • Flight from Osaka to Sydney Oceanview upgrade from $169
• Return flights from Sydney • 2 night stay in Fort Lauderdale • 50 night cruise from Fort Lauderdale visiting Key West, Curacao, Bonaire, Aruba, Port-of-Spain and Scarborough (Trinidad and Tobago), Grenada, Barbados, Devils Island (French Guiana), cross the Equator to Icoaraci (Belem), Recife, Maceio, Salvador da Bahia, Ilheus, Vitoria, Ilhabela (Sao Sebastiao), Rio de Janeiro (3 days/ 2 nights during Rio Carnival), Fortaleza, cross the Equator and cruise the Amazon River, Santarem, Boca da Valeria, Manaus (2 days/1 night), Parintins, Alter Do Chao, Cruising the Amazon River, St. Lucia, St. Maarten and Fort Lauderdale • All meals and entertainment onboard • 1 night stay in Fort Lauderdale
• 15 night cruise from Sydney crossing the International Dateline to Papeete, Moorea, Bora Bora, Maui and Honolulu (Oahu) • All meals and entertainment onboard • Gratuities onboard the cruise are included in the price • 1 night stay in Honolulu • Flight from Honolulu to Sydney Balcony upgrade from $259pp
• Return flights from Sydney • 3 night stay in New York • 11 night cruise from New York to San Juan, Charlotte Amalie, Basseterre, St. Johns, Philipsburg and New York • All meals and entertainment onboard • Gratuities onboard the cruise are included in the price • Flight from New York to Las Vegas • 3 night stay in Las Vegas
• Return flights from Sydney • 2 night stay in London • 12 night cruise from Southampton visiting Stavanger, Trondheim, cruise Svartisen Glacier, Hammerfest, Honningsvag, Geiranger, Flam, Haugesund and Southampton • All meals and entertainment onboard
CELEBRITY CONSTELLATION 24 NIGHTS • 01 APRIL 2019 • Return flights from Sydney • 1 night stay in Singapore • 15 night cruise from Singapore visiting Phuket, Colombo, Cochin, Goa (Mormugao), Bombay (Mumbai - 2 days/ 1 night), Muscat, Dubai and Abu Dhabi • All meals and entertainment onboard cruises • Gratuities onboard the cruise are included in the price • Flight to Kathmandu • 7 night escorted tour of Nepal from Kathmandu to Chitwan and Pokhara with English Speaking guides • Highlights include full day tour of Kathmandu, Royal Chitwan National Park, Seti Gorge, Gupteshwor Mahadev Cave plus much more
ms VEENDAM 55 NIGHTS • 02 FEBRUARY 2019
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30 ESCAPE
SUNDAY AUGUST 5 . 2018 . ESCAPE.COM.AU
CRUISING ® PANAMA
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ESCAPE ROUTE
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GETTING THERE
Panama Canal locks, through which the NG Quest passes, are gold for history buffs; and wildlife on land is another magnet.
Lindblad Expeditions’ National Geographic operates expedition cruises in Central America from November to April annually, visiting Panama, Costa Rica, Belize and Guatemala on 100-guest NG Quest. expeditions.com, ph 1300 361 012 Panama Canal, pancanal.com
PICTURES: ISTOCK, SUPPLIED
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southern (Pacific) lock at Miraflores where a fascinated, stadium-sized crowd watches us from the modern, multi-storey museum and admin centre. Seeing the big ships squeeze in and out of the 104-year-old, 32m-wide concrete compartments, each filled with more than 100 million litres of water, is quite a spectacle. Attendant “mule” electric locomotives work the ropes to guide the vessels safely through. And to think this whole shebang was designed more than a century ago with nothing but slide rules and pencils. For 100 years, the size of the canal dictated the size of the world’s merchant and naval fleets. Called “Panamax”, these were the largest
dimensions any ship hoping to make the transit could be built to. In 2016, a larger set of locks was opened at each end, creating a new a standard for shipping dubbed “Neopanamax” and doubling the capacity of the canal. But we’re not heading straight through just yet. Lindblad Expeditions has, through wellestablished back channels, obtained a landing permit for Barro Colorado Island. Once just another hilltop in the valley, it became a 1560ha island as the massive Gatun Lake slowly filled during the flooding of the canal. Wildlife sought refuge on the outcrop as the waters rose and as a result, created a natural sanctuary for the animals that once inhabited the now submerged jungle floor. It became a formal nature reserve in 1923. In the 1960s, the Smithsonian Institute arrived and
TO THINK THIS WHOLE SHEBANG WAS DESIGNED WITH NOTHING BUT SLIDE RULES AND PENCILS
dock near the station where we are divvied up and assigned guides for our jungle tour. During our walk we come upon Prof Margaret “Meg” Crofoot from the University of California (Davis) and her small team engaged in a study of primate interaction. “There are some interesting behaviours among the troupes of capuchin monkeys who live here,” Meg explains as we rest along the steamy path, “the distinct communities sometimes socialise and at other times clash. We’re studying the factors that might influence group decision-making.” Further along we find Roland Kays from the University of South Carolina who is also studying mammals. With impeccable timing, he is about to release a cat-sized kinkajou sporting a new GPS collar. The animal bears a resemblance to our own ring-tailed
established its tropical research station which now hosts more than 200 scientists and researchers working year round on various ecological and zoological projects. As is the norm for expedition cruising, Quest’s fleet of rugged Zodiac tenders ferries us to the tiny
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possums, or even a cuscus from PNG, but that’s where the zoological similarity ends. The little guy waits timidly inside the cage for his release and when the trap door opens, he gingerly sneaks out and makes his way into the undergrowth without the slightest sense of urgency. Panama and indeed the entire Central American corridor is a magnet for bird lovers, or “twitchers”, who come to tick off such curious species as the vivid rufous motmot or the bold green and red slaty-tailed trogon, both of which are endemic to the region. It’s easy to imagine these sweet, musical birdsongs of the Panamanian jungle soothing the many souls lost in the making of the canal.
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