Panama Canal Adventure from Fuerte Amador (Panama City), Panama 

to Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Interesting start...American Airlines that was to leave San Diego at 10:30 and get unto Miami in the morning was delayed for 7 hours...

After the airlines and the Viking Cruise emergency line personnel worked for 30 minutes, we finally got booked on a flight to Chicago and then will connect with Copa Airlines to Panama City.  (Copa Airlines??  Supposedly a partner to AA.  After doing some research it is a reputable airline which flies to 85 destinations and has been around 77 years).  The upside to this is that we arrive in Panama City almost the exact same time.  

Traversing the Panama Canal: 

So why locks throught the canal?  It's not that one ocean is higher than the other...

Locks were necessary on the Panama Canal because the terrain of Panama includes a significant elevation change between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, meaning ships needed to be raised to a higher water level (via the locks) to cross the continental divide and reach the other side, essentially acting as a "water elevator" to navigate the different sea levels.

So, we entered from the Pacific Ocean side, took 3 locks to rise up to the "plateau" or Gatun Lake area sailed across the Gatun Lake, and then 3 locks to get back down to the Caribbean Ocean (Atlantic).

Sometimes a map (direct link to map rather than this PDF below) helps visualize this.  You will see on the map that, at this time, there are 3 land bridges that cross over the Panama Canal. 

This series if pictures show our entry under the 1st bridge, The Bridge of Americas, entering the locks and the mechanical "mules" that kept us straight in the locks across the Gatun Lake and out the other side of the canal.