My family has a bit of history when it comes to Panama Canal transits, although we never seem to visit as relaxed tourists….

The color photo to the right was taken on the flight deck of my Navy ship when I went through as a Lieutenant (I was the ship’s Chief Engineer.)

I had an aviator great uncle who served in the Canal Zone in the 1930s.  He was later killed in World War Two.

My grandfather went through the Canal just after World War One; his ship the USS VERMONT was chosen to transport the body of the Chilean ambassador back to Valparaíso for burial.

So, you can imagine how great it was for me to find this short YouTube time-lapse video through the Panama Canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

It must be wonderful to sail through the Canal just as a traveler, soaking up the history and scenery. 

Someday I’ll return and do just that!

Technorati tags: travel, Panama Canal, Navy

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 4:17 am and is filed under Latin America travel, Sheila projects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.