China: Cruising on the Three Gorges - Oct, 2025

 

The Three Gorges (San Xia Zhi)

Our river cruise ship was Victoria Sabrina.  Built in 2020, it is one of Victoria's newer ships.   The ship is 150 meters long and width of 21.8 meters.     Sabrina has passenger capacity of 690.  

Victoria Sabrina

The 3 gorges are on the Yangtze River (ChangJiang):

The first gorge, the Xiling Gorge is between 66 to 76 km long, and is the longest of the three gorges.   The famous 3-gorges Dam is located in the middle of the Xiling Gorge.    The dam has submerged the upper part of the gorge, taming its once notorious rapids.

The second gorge, the Wu Gorge is about 45 km long.  Wu gorge is famous for its elegant, misty beauty, and the bizarre rock formations of the Wushan Karst mountains.  This gorge is most renowned for its Goddess Peak (1,020 meters) - 10-meter tall rock formation known for its resemblance to a maiden.  The Summit Peak (1,388 meters) which we later visited is the highest point of the 3 gorges, and its panoramic view overlooking the Qutang Gorge.

The Qutang Gorge is the shortest, at about 8 km long.  Though shortest of the three but is known for its dramatic and manificent scenery due to its narrow width and towering peaks.    

The water levels in the Wu gorge after the dam was built rose by average of 60 meters.   The higher water levels submerged many ancient villages, towns and even cities, which had to be relocated to higher elevations.  The famous "ghost city" of Fengdu was one of these. We have been on river cruises previously - the boats would go up / down the river locks.  

The Sabrina did not enter into the river locks on the Yangtze which means that we only travelled up river from the Three Gorge Dam onwards.   

The water levels rose by about 60 meters on the Wu gorge, after the dam was completed.

The boarding tram at Zigui Terminal, Yichang.

At disembarkation in Chongqing, porters helped carry out heavy luggages up to the road level at Chongqing where our cruise ended.  The price was RMB60 per passenger.

View from the Three Gorges Summit (3 gorges peak) over the Qutang Gorge

"The Peak of the three gorges".

The peak stands at 1,388 meters or 4,554 feet.

Observation deck

Rest pavilions.

Fall foliage photo from the peak.

Reached top landing of the summit.

Height marks 1,388 meters of the Peak.

Picture Map of the Peak.

Inscription of San Xia Zhi on the granite upright stone. The 3 gorges dam was mainly constructed out of granite stones.

The Three Gorges dam 

The Dam sits in the middle of the Xiling Gorge.   The other 2 gorges are on the upriver side of the dam.

The 3 gorges dam.

Apparently, NASA confirmed that the Three Gorges Dam in China, due to its immense water holding capacity, shifted the Earth's axis by about two centimeters, and slightly shortened our days by approximately by 0.06 microseconds.  This is the first I heard of this!

From the bus landing point, we had to take 6 escalators to reach the top.

The observation tower offers a grand view of the Three Gorges Dam and its surroundings.

Model of the dam.

Photo picture of the dam.

The ridge (where we are standing) has elevation of 262.48 meters over the 3 gorges project.

The cruise "started" from Yichang's Zigui Port Passenger Transport Terminal.   The day One activities were all at the Xiling gorge.  This is where the Tribe of the 3 gorges village show was held.   The Xiling is the first gorge and the "village" its is on the side of the downriver dam.   

The Sabrina did not sail till the evening of day One.   The down river flows all the way to Wuhan, Nanjing, and finally Shanghai.    The other 2 gorges are on the upriver side, the Wu and the OuTang gorges, and flows to our destination port of Chongqing.     

Yangtze River (ChangJiang).

In the 1800s ships travelling up river were pulled by ropes by tow men or trackers.  This is no longer the case as modern vessels are well equipped with marine engines to power themselves against the currents.

This was depicted on a Chinese scroll.

Sturgeons spawn on the Yangtze River - so when they hit the 3 Gorges dam!

According to the Sabrina's 3 gorges expert's presentation, the pink river dolphins became extinct, and the sturgeons' homing route were disrupted.   Some sturgeons communities were transferred to their natural spawning grounds further up-river....?

Tribe of the 3 gorges village tour

Sunny, our guide with "George".  She identified herself as s Tu-jia ren.

The "show" starts...

Boat men working their oars.

The singing lady on the boat.

Washing clothes on the banks.

Tu-jia (minority group) wedding procession (A show).

The bride plays the reluctant role.

The bridal couple.

Match-maker, complete with face mole, at work

Bridemaids dancing to welcome the groom.

The waters are clear - shadows cast on water bed.

Emergency exits - during rain/tide deluge.

A famous Li Bai poem 

A police patrol boat on the downriver near the 3-gorges village.

Shennong creek reservoir

The Shennong creek shows the beautiful karst mountains and cliffs in the area, including ancient hanging coffins strung up on many crevises in the rock cracks.

Happy as buttons.

A Karst cave

Some hanging coffins.

Highway crossing overhead.

More hanging coffins.

The Wu and QuTang gorges (sailing on the Victoria Sabrina)

Zhuge Liang is reputed to have an historic encounter at this lodge.

At about 11.30am, we crossed the Chongqing/Hubei border.

River traffic.

The Goddess peak in the Wu Gorge, at 1,020 meters. 

The overlapping mountains.

Enjoying the cruise on deck.

Sabrina's top deck

The dragon image of the Victoria cruise line.

Life boats for emergency deployment.

Our friendly waiters: Brandy, Dexter & Jason.

Our dedicated table for the whole cruise duration.

Captain's dinner and farewell toasts

Captain's farewell toasts.

Sabrina docked at Chongqing Chaotianmen Dock 15.

To catch the MV Sabrina, we took a train from Chengdu Dong station to Yichang.  It was 900-km ride and took 6 hours.  Yichang is in Hubei, and Chengdu is in Sichuan.

Why is everyone covering their ears?