Another celebrity sails through panama.

1. Bill Gates Visits the Panama Canal
Published in Panama Simple, June 24, 2013 | By Dennis Smith
Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his family recently took a hush-hush trip through the Panama Canal.
No, not to buy it but to see most famous waterway in the world firsthand.
The Gates boarded their boat on the Pacific side of the Canal and were transported the Miraflores
Visitor Center at the Miraflores Locks. There they viewed the locks and were allowed to see how the
Canal operates. And Bill got to push the button to open the gates. (While at the Center, Gates was
happy to point out that the Panama Canal Authority uses Windows-based computers to operate the
waterway.) From Miraflores, the family visited the Panama Canal expansion construction site on the
Atlantic side of the Canal. The whole trip took around seven hours.

2. Gates later published details regarding his visit on his TheGatesNotes.com site under the title
“Taking the Family to the Panama Canal” and said how much he liked his visit to Panama. Regarding
the reason for the trip, Gates said, “Melinda and I recently took our kids on vacation to the Panama
Canal. I know it’s not exactly a typical vacation destination (and we did spend a few days at the beach
afterward). But we had fun learning about how the canal was built – that in itself is an amazing story
of ingenuity and hard work – and what it takes to keep things running smoothly today.”
Gates published an online video to show what he saw along the way and said, “Of all the interesting
things around the world, I’d put the Panama Canal in the top ten because you are there with all the
commerce. It is this unbelievably unique thing. I wish that everyone had the chance to go down and
see it.”
Interestingly enough, Bill had just finished reading David McCullough’s definitive book about the
construction of the Canal (both the French and American attempts) The Path Between The Seas when
he arrived in Panama. Bill stated that it was an eye-opener to the history, politics and investment
made on what he calls “the biggest civil work ever.”