Karen Duquette at the Panama Canal
October 29, 2009

The Panama Canal is an artificial 51 mile waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across Panama and is a conduit for the maritime trade. It greatly reduces the time for ships to travel between the two oceans and avoid other hazardous routes.

map showing location of The Panama Canal

Below: Entry sign and photo of Tug Gatun, First Vessel through Gatun Locks
Esclusas de Catun Locks sign Tug Gutun
Karen Duquette Esclusas de Catun Locks hill
sign on rock at The Panama Canal The stairs up to the locks

Below: Before climbing up the stairs AND after climbing up the stairs, Karen Duquette took pictures of the words in the grass.
sign Canal de Panama engraved in grass

Below: At the top of the stairs (shown in the above photo), the wall was full of informative signs.
big sign: Location of 3rd set of locks
big sign:the Panama Canal Route
sign about the Third set of Locks

Below: Karen Duquette on the platform on the back side of the building
Karen Duquette Canal Platform
location of Panama Canal and uses

Below: The middle section where visitors are not allowed.
The middle section of The Panama Canal The middle section of The Panama Canal

Below:  Standing on the platform facing the building shown above, Karen Duquette photographed both the left side of the locks and the right side of the locks. The gates of the Panama Canal locks separate the chambers and are strong enough to hold thousands of liters of water. Here, the canal locks lift ships up 85 feet above sea level to Gatun Lake, an artificial lake created to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal. And of course, then the ship is lowered at the other end.
The gates of the Panama Canal locks viewing left

Below: Looking down at workers on the top ledge of the gate. They did NOT have any safety ropes on because they move around and climb a lot. But they did wear life jackets in case they should fall in the water.
workers on the top ledge of the gate workers on the top ledge of the gate

Below: A map showing the Panama and other locks and the size of ships each can handle.
size of ships that fit in the loccks

Below: Karen Duquette and many other people stood on a platform where they could look both right and left of the gate to take photos.
Karen Duquette looking right from the viewing stands

Below: Looking to the left

Below: Looking to the right
thae gates looking right from the viewing stands

Below: Finally a ship came through the chamber on the far side. Only the top of the ship could be seen from where Karen Duquette was standing.
ship in the chamber ship in the chamber
ship in the chamber ship in the chamber
ship in the chamber ship in the chamber

Below: A little tug boat went through the locks on the far side
little tug boat

Below: Looking to the left of the platform as a cargo ship went through.
a cargo ship a cargo ship
a cargo ship a cargo ship

Below:  A look at the canal gears from the viewing platform
canal gears

Below: Back at ground level, Karen Duquette got a closer look at the canal gears
sign about the canal gears canal gears
canal gears canal gears

Continue on to The Monkey Island Tour and the native dancers