Quote Originally Posted by Arizona Scot View Post
Very cool James, what a great way to travel. How long does it take to go through the canel?
Our cruise was 14 days, but the actual crossing of the canal takes most ships is around 18 hours. A big part of that is waiting in line, as there is constant, day and night traffic, going both ways.

They are starting on a new canal, which will be wider and fewer locks, but who knows when it will be completed.

They announced the shortest total time for a speed boat, and it was five hours, I think.

There are three sets of locks, and that part of the passing can't be hurried. Each lock takes about 50 minutes to get through.

Here's a pretty good web-site.

http://www.pancanal.com/