Here we did take a ship’s tour and it appears that this is the only way to get away from the ship in Panama. There is a very good shopping area on the pier but outside of the fence Colon is easily the poorest area we have seen anywhere. The trip we chose was to take a ferry from the Pacific half way through the Panama Canal. This entailed a bus journey of about an hour and a half from Colon to Panama City and our bus ended up being escorted to the docks by the “Tourist Police” after our driver had taken a wrong turning. The staff on the tour from Adventure 2000, were very knowledgeable and I really did enjoy this trip. I had always wanted to take a cruise that transits the canal but on retrospect I think this is possibly the best way to see the canal in operation as, unlike on a cruise ship, we got to meet and pass ships traveling in the opposite direction as we passed through the cut. Like the port lecturer I could warble on at length about the canal but it is best to see it for yourself and you will find that although the Chinese operate the ports at both ends of the canal the canal itself still belongs to Panama.