The panama canal

The island that we are on is actually the top of a mountain that was flooded when lake gatun was created for the panama canal. The canal was built between 1904 and 1914 and it is 45 miles long. The canal lets ships pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. Before that, ships would have to travel an extra 8,000 miles and go around the bottom of South America. The canal has three locks and it takes about 15 hours to go thru the whole canal. From the Institute, we can see ships going towards the canal or away from the canal. I'm leaving right now to hike to the eastern edge of the island where you can see ships close up.