The “Big Ditch” of Panama travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

The Panama Canal is the 8th Man made wonder of the world and the focus of many of our travelers on our tour packages. Panama City is home to the second largest international banking center in the world next to Switzerland. Panama canal, canal across the Isthmus of Panama, in Central America, that allows vessels to travel between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The waterway measures 64km, including dredged approach channels at each end. The Panama Canal handles a large volume of world shipping and enables vessels to avoid traveling around South America, reducing their voyages by thousands of miles and many days.
A 50-mile long engineering wonder – Panama Canal, connecting the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Completed by the United States in 1914, it runs southeastward from Colon, through the man-made Gatun Lake, to Panama City on the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Panama. The history of the Panama Canal goes back to 16th century. After realizing the riches of Peru, Ecuador, and Asia, and counting the time it took the gold to reach the ports of Spain, it was suggested 1524 to Charles V, that by cutting out a piece of land somewhere in Panama, the trips would be made shorter and the risk of taking the treasures through the isthmus would justify such an enterprise. A survey of the isthmus was ordered and subsequently a working plan for a canal was drawn up in 1529. The wars in Europe and the thirsts for the control of kingdoms in the Mediterranean Sea simply put the project on permanent hold. In 1534, Charles I of Spain ordered the first survey of a proposed canal route through the Isthmus of Panama. More than three centuries passed before the first construction was started. The French labored 20 years, beginning in 1880, but disease and financial problems defeated them. December 31, 1999, Panama ,accept stewardship for the Panama Canal from the United States. As one of the major international trade routes, the continued reliability of the Canal is of critical concern to the United States, Panama and the international maritime community. In 1992 year the Panamanian source is ready for transfer.
The canal can accommodate vessels from small private yachts up to fairly large commercial ships. The maximum size of vessel which can use the canal is known as Panamax; an increasing number of modern ships exceed this limit, and are known as post-Panamax vessels. A typical passage through the canal by a cargo ship takes around nine hours. 14,011 vessels passed through the canal in 2005, with a total capacity of 278.8 million tons, making an average of almost 40 vessels per day.
One look at the immensity of the Panama Canal, and you will understand why a French company with a labor force of 10,000 men went bankrupt trying to excavate it. The project, while conceived in 1534 by Charles I of Spain, began in 1882 and ended seven years later in disaster with over 22,000 people dead from disease and pestilence.
The Panama Canal has been called “the big ditch”, “the bridge between two continents” and “the greatest shortcut in the world”. Panama is the ideal jurisdiction for international investors and businessmen to operate their offshore corporations, banking, investing, finances, and all other areas of international trade!