A first-person YouTube travelogue by Nate and Kara Buchanan documenting their Panama Canal experience over two days. They ride by bus and small boat through the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks into Miraflores Lake, observe large cargo ships (one described as holding up to 13,000 containers), and note lock operations (tugs, train-like locomotives, and chamber filling/draining). The video explains the canal's engineering: rather than a sea-level cut, builders dammed rivers to form large lakes (Gatun/Miraflores), raising vessels roughly 85 ft via three lock chambers; individual lock drops cited at ~31 ft. Practical facts given include approximate transit durations (single lock transit ~15 minutes; an entire planned transit ~4 hours) and quoted canal tolls (one ship paying over $200,000; a 13,000-container ship paying over $700,000). The tone is enthusiastic, observational, and explanatory.
Questions this video answers
Pedro Miguel lock and Miraflores (Miraflores) lock
31 ft
Approximately 85 ft above sea level
About four hours
About 15 minutes
Chapters
The more I learn, the more fascinating it becomes. When you learn how hard it was to build, how many people had to die for this to, like, become a reality? And then to watch it all working today, it's just like, it's really cool to be here.
Good morning. It is day nine of our round the world cruise that we're only doing two weeks up, and today we woke up in Panama.
We've just pulled into the port of San Cristobal, which sits right outside the Panama Canal. And over the next three days, we're going to be having the full Panama Canal experience.
So this morning we jumped on a bus that took us about an hour to the town of Gamboa. And the way that I understand it, we basically just drove around the big lake that sits in the middle of the Panama Canal. So we're now kind of on the bottom part, and there's two locks that separate us between the lake and the Pacific Ocean. So we've just gotten on a smaller boat, and we're actually going to be transiting through the two locks. So this morning we got off of our ship that was in the Atlantic Ocean. We drove about halfway down the Panama Canal, and this afternoon we're going to end up in the Pacific Ocean.
How cool is that?
The big cargo ship that we just passed by, we learned, could hold up to 13,000 containers. It was massive. It felt like it was taking up the entire canal.
So we're just coming up on the first of two locks that we're going to be passing through today. The first one is the Pedro Miguel lock, and then from there, that'll lead us into the Mire Flores Lake, and then we'll pass through the Mire Flores Lock, and then ultimately we'll reach the Pacific Ocean. If all this goes to plan, it should take about four hours. But our boat isn't big enough to justify, like, filling up or draining the lock. So we're gonna have to wait for a bigger boat to come into the lock with us before we can actually go through.
So we found a much larger friend who is now behind us in the lock so we can start going down. So when we came into the lock, it was actually completely filled with water. And the lake that we're going to is 31ft below where we are now. So now that we're all in here, they're going to drain all the water out of the lock, and we're going to end up right at the level of the lake. It was incredible to watch them bring this big ship in because the ship doesn't actually drive itself through the lock. Instead, as soon as it entered, there are these, like, four train, like, train tugboats that sat on the side of the ship, and they are actually what pulled the ship through the lock. There's also a little sailboat that's tied up here beside us, and we're just all, like, going through as one big party.
We've successfully made it through our very first lock of the canal. It was actually surprisingly fast. Like 31ft of water. Happened very quickly, and it didn't even really feel like we were moving. And now we are in the Miraflores Lake. Also, I've been given captain duties for the rest of our time here. Say hello to Captain Kara Boss. Just kidding.
So we've made it through Miraflores Lake. It only took about 15 minutes. We have our friends, the sailboat and the cargo ship following in behind us. And now we are in the second lock. And I'm not sure if you can see this orange building that's back behind me, but there's actually hundreds of people there watching us go through the lock. We've learned that this is actually the closest lock to Panama City. So if you're coming to see the Panama Canal and you're not on a ship, then this orange building behind me is probably where you're going to end up.
Your captain has successfully navigated us through the second and final walk of the Panama Canal, and we are now at sea level on the Pacific side. I don't think we're in the Pacific Ocean yet, or we might be, like, in a river that's taking us there. Either way, way, we're really close. Also, another fun fact. The giant ship that's been following us, we just learned from our tour Guide paid over $200,000 to go all the way through the Panama Canal. And the other giant ship that holds 13,000 containers paid over $700,000. Crazy. Apparently, the way they measure it and charge people is by tonnage and cubic meters. So that's why it makes sense that this tiny boat doesn't really make sense.
To go through on its own.
They wait for a giant boat that's going to pay the big bucks, and then we just kind of sneak in with them. Hope you've enjoyed this experience, too, with your captain, Cara. I should have never given me this hat.
All right, and now we're about to jump on a bus that's going to take us back to the other side of the country, the Atlantic side. And then tomorrow, we're going to do it all again.
It's about 7:30 the next day and check out how cool this is.
Yesterday we had to get on a bus and then get on a boat to experience the Panama Canal. And this morning all we have to do is walk outside of our balcony with coffee. We are currently passing through the first lock. How great is this? Just hang out on the balcony, have a coffee and experience the Panama Canal.
Sam.
We made it.
So we've made it through the first set of locks and we are now up on Gatun Lake cruising towards the Pacific Ocean with all the other cargo ships that are passing through the canal today. Also, I realized that yesterday we didn't give you the overarching concept of like what makes the engineering behind the Panama Canal so incredible. So when they originally planned to build the Panama Canal, the plan was just to dig a trench through the entire country and just build a sea level canal. The French tried, then the Americans tried. They used millions of tons of dynamite trying to blow up the mountain that sat in the middle of the country. Both of us failed. So they had to come up with a plan B. And what they did was they dammed up one of the rivers that was in the middle of the country to make one of the biggest man made lakes in the world, which is the lake that we're currently floating on. Now the problem is that lake sits 85ft above the sea level. So that's where the locks come into play. The locks that we came into this morning, there were three different chambers and that rose us up 85ft to the level of the lake. So now we'll go across the lake and then we'll go through the same set of locks that we went through yesterday to get back down to sea level and end up in the Pacific Ocean.
I think this means we might have a problem. It's been a good morning.
So we are back in the same locks that we were at yesterday, but today we're getting to see it from a totally different perspective. Yesterday we were down in the canal looking up at all the people who were here to watch. And today we are right at eye level with everybody here in the orange building behind me.
Y' all sound quite excited to see us.
Okay, we've made it into the Pacific Ocean and this is definitely one of the best views that I've ever had from a treadmill if I don't fall on my face.
If you ever had the chance to transition the Panama Canal on a cruise ship, you should definitely do it because today has been so much fun. We got to hang out on the ship, enjoy all of the amenities, but at the same time, I felt like I was accomplishing something. I was going through the Panama Canal, and every window you looked out of, you always got to see something new. Yeah, today's just been a lot of fun.
Sun's coming. Cruise ship. And then we're gonna do it all again tomorrow, but on a much bigger boat. Ship, ship, ship. It's a ship. This is where hundreds of people are going to come.
