点评:The highlight of my Viking cruise had to be our passage through the Panama Canal! I had to get up early to watch our passage. We passed under the Atlantic Bridge before dawn.
We then sailed into the Gatun Locks. Our ship was guided by four "mules" to keep us from scraping against the sides of the chambers. Note the incline between chambers. The mules travel on a rack system. You can see the ropes which link our ship to the mules. The Gatun Locks consist of two channels with three chambers in each. They raise the ships 85 feet from sea level to Gatun Lake. Lake Gatun is a manmade lake. You will see many ships waiting to enter the Gatun Locks on the Caribbean side and the Miraflores locks on the Pacific side. Note the multiple tugboats that guide the ships to the locks.
Later that day, we sailed back through the Gatun Locks to the Caribbean side and docked at the city of Colon.
I recommend a visit to the Miraflores Visitor Center on the Pacific side to learn more about the canal. The Agua Clara visitor center tells about the expansion project and is also worth a visit. (I wrote separate reviews for these two visitor centers.)
翻译:维京游轮之旅的亮点无疑是穿越巴拿马运河!为了观看我们通过运河,我不得不早早起床。我们在黎明前穿过了大西洋大桥。
之后,我们驶入了加通船闸。为了防止船只刮蹭闸室壁,四匹“骡子”牵引着我们的船。请注意闸室之间的坡度。这些“骡子”是沿着齿轨系统行进的。您可以看到连接船只和“骡子”的绳索。加通船闸由两条航道组成,每条航道有三个闸室。它们将船只从海平面提升到加通湖,高度为 85 英尺。加通湖是一个人工湖。您会看到许多船只在加勒比海一侧等待进入加通船闸,在太平洋一侧等待进入米拉弗洛雷斯船闸。请注意引导船只进入船闸的多艘拖船。
当天晚些时候,我们再次穿过加通船闸回到加勒比海一侧,并在科隆市停靠。
我建议您前往位于太平洋沿岸的米拉弗洛雷斯游客中心,了解更多关于运河的信息。阿瓜克拉拉游客中心则介绍了运河扩建项目,也值得一去。(我分别撰写了这两个游客中心的评论。)