Miraflores Locks,Panama Canal

Tours on the Panama Canal are currently happening only on Saturdays and Sundays. As this timeline did not work for Heather and Mike, we went to Miraflores.

Miraflores is one set of locks that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The museum here is temporarily closed, however we had previously visited a museum in Casco Viejo that gave a good history of the canal’s construction.

There was security, we had to go through metal detectors and there was fencing all around. This canal provides a vital link for shipping!

Looking east and west.

The locks run 24 hours a day, going half a day in each direction. When we arrived the change over was happening. We had time to go to the Imax theatre before seeing our first ship. Morgan Freeman narrated a 3D movie about the Panama Canal history and operations. It was well worth seeing.

On a Tuesday afternoon there sure were a lot of people to see the first ship through the locks. It was an oil tanker.

Some of those big ships have only a foot of space between the ship and the side of the lock.

There are two channels in the Miraflores Locks that are alternated, with the water going up and down from one side to the other. We next saw a container ship that was in the far channel. It was too big to fit into my picture.