Colon, Panama

Today our port of call was Colon, Panama. The port of Colon is located very close to the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal is an artificial 82 km (51 mi) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal is a conduit for maritime trade and was one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken. It takes 8-10 hours for a ship to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans using the canal and enables them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America via and the even less popular route through the Artic Archipelago and the Bering Strait.

Our adventure today started with a visit to the Aqua Clara lock which was constructed as part of the expansion project in 2016. From here we could also see the original Gatun locks. Each of these lock systems has 3 chambers. During our visit we were able to watch a large vessel pass from the first chamber to the second and another vessel pass from the third chamber to the Atlantic Ocean.

From here we crossed the Atlantic bridge to give us an Atlantic Ocean vantage of the old and new locks.

Next up was a quick visit to a local shopping centre and then a tour through the city of Colon. The city was very devastated with many buildings in ruins.

In contrast, Pam and Gary toured Panama City on the Pacific Ocean which was very modern with a lot of restoration happening in the old quarter.

2 thoughts on “Colon, Panama”

  1. Hello Nancy,

    Locks are soooo cool. Thank for the history…did Colon get hit by an earthquake or are the buildings old and in disrepair?

    All the best,

    Whynn

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    1. Much of the city was destroyed by several fires – the Burning of Colón during the Colombian Civil War of 1885, a massive fire in 1915 and the Great Colón Fire of April 13–14, 1940 which destroyed one-third of the city. Although many of the buildings are dilapidated a restoration project was started in 2014. We did see some parks and one church that had been restored. With the economic decline over the last several years, many people have moved to Panama City.

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