See the Panama Canal at Miraflores Lock
Panama gets busy at the canal - and if you don't normally have canal visits high on your holiday to-do list, make an exception just this once. For this really is the stuff of marvels, one of mankind's great creations, a 80km long waterway that spans the Central American isthmus to unite the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Ships that would have previously had to round the Horn can save themselves some 12,000km by using the canal, and watching the monolithic structures navigate the improbably narrow channel and complex system of locks retains the capacity to inspire wonder in onlookers. Enormous container ships and small boats mingle on the waters like whales swimming with sardines, each waiting their turn to enter the Miraflores Lock and let the rising and falling waters carry them one step closer to the next ocean and journey's end.