Our first, and so far only, experience with the Panama Canal was on our cruise on the Island Princess. We were up early, well before dawn, and looking out on the bevy of ships waiting to transit. We were among the first to go through the Gatun Locks into the lake, where we anchored. We got off the ship and transferred to a smaller boat (about 100 to 200 people) and continued on to the Pacific, and around the islands at the other end, viewing Panama City in the distance. We then bused back to the ship. Seeing the canal from that level is quite impressive, being in a lock with giant container ships and small sailboats at the same time. We'd do it again, and would like to do a complete transit on a cruise ship sometime in the future.

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