Houn's Journal: GETTIN’ THRU GATUN

Along with most of the ship we got up early so as not to miss any of the transit through the old locks. It was overcast and intermittent showers, but not a problem except for photography. On our approach from the bay, we passed by the towers that will form the bases for the bridge that will replace the tiny crossings over the locks. It’s a huge project that is years away from completion. As we passed between, we could see the eastern terminus of the new locks (left channel) and the old Gatun locks (right channel) which we would be going through. Through the gloom, you can see a ship coming out of the new channel on the left.

We moved over to the right channel and crawled our way up to the beginning of the old locks. I think we were going only 2-3 knots, if that, and of course slowed down to almost nothing as we got closer in. The ship uses its own power to move forward, even while in the locks themselves. The old locks are actually two lanes, side by side, so traffic can go both directions simultaneously. In the pic below, both sets of gates are closed in each lane, and the two ships are riding higher in the elevated second lock of three in a row.

Here’s a closer shot showing the gates closed, with the two ships in the last of the three basins, which are at the level of Gatun Lake. For scale, note the two figures walking across the near right gates. The 100-year old gates don’t close precisely enough to avoid some leakage, as you see in the left gates.

Obligatory long-arm selfie. It was after this trip that I broke down and bought a selfie stick, which I have yet to use. Guess I just washed my hair and can’t do a thing with it!

Vehicles wishing to cross over the canal have to wait for predetermined times when the gates will be closed and the bridge lowered, and the delays can be lengthy. Once underway, it’s one-way traffic only over the old, narrow bridges.

Looking back as we enter the first lock, another ship is being lined up by the tugs to enter our channel. The towers for the future bridge are visible on both sides.

Looking down on a ship heading east in the other channel. The donkey engines on both sides are keeping it straight in the lock.

We went down to a lower deck that was right at the level of the lock. Look at the near-zero clearance between the ship and the side of the lock! In the background, the donkey engine in the distance is climbing the hill to the next lock’s level. The covered areas in the foreground are maintenance bays for the engines. Closest on the right edge is the rail line on our side that the engines travel on. The hill up to the next lock level is at the extreme right. The viewing structure behind the thick pole at center is where we visited on our tour yesterday.

While almost all other measurements at the Canal are in metric, for some reason they have retained the old “feet” markings to show the distance to each end of the lock. Preserve a bit of history?

According to Loni’s notes, we had a fairly fast transit of the Gatun locks, about an hour and forty-five minutes. At the exit end, we prepared to go out into Gatun Lake, which is the waterway through the center of the Isthmus to get to the western locks at Miraflores. We still have a ways to rise in this lock before they can open the gates to the lake.

Off to our right (marked by the arrow) is the Gatun Dam that holds back the lake and provides the water level necessary for the ships to travel on the lake.

Before we exit the third lock, a look back from the stern towards the first two locks and the next traffic coming into and exiting the Gatun lock. Note the turbulence from our props as the ship is under its own power all the way through.

At this point it might be helpful to see a map of the situation. It’s hard to wrap your mind around the fact that to go from the Caribbean to the Pacific, which in your head is east to west, you actually are travelling southeast. On this map you can see the area of the Gaillard Cut, which was the downfall of the French effort and the bane of the American one. This is where they had to carve out the mountainsides and remove megatons of dirt in order to create a channel big enough for the ships. Lots of landslides took lots of lives.

As we were exiting Gatun, an eastbound freighter was coming in from the lake. In the background are other ships awaiting “the call” for their turn to enter.

As we were passing out of the old locks, across the way we could see a mega-freighter on its way out of the new locks and into the lake. Above the ship you can see a flying saucer structure which is the visitor center where we were yesterday morning observing the operation of the new locks.