Gatun Locks

I have crossed Gatun Locks by vehicle many times but never once stopped for a good look at the Locks themselves. This, despite Gatun Locks being the grandest of the three original locks of the Panama Canal. (Additional locks are being built as I write this.) So, on this past trip, I made it a point to correct this matter.

Gatun Locks gets fewer visitors than Miraflores Locks. This is easily understood. Miraflores is near Panama City which has many tourists. Gatun is near Colon which is avoided at all costs. As such, Miraflores gets a grand visitors center, while Gatun gets a smaller but still respectable viewing structure. Meanwhile, poor Pedro Miguel Locks gets hardly a notice, with only two or three concrete benches behind a chain link fence provided to the intrepid traveler.

View to the Caribbean.

A ship coming in from Gatun Lake, headed to the Caribbean.

A "mule," which pulls ships through the Locks.

In the late Seventies I drove across Gatun Locks and saw one of the chambers drained of water for maintenance. That was an impressive sight. The photo I took of it does not capture the size of the chamber, so I will not post it here.

We left Gatun Locks and drove to nearby Gatun Dam. This was my first visit. Gatun Dam was once the world's largest earthen dam, and Gatun Lake once the largest artificial body of water.

An earthen section of the dam. The ships in Gatun Lake await
transit through Gatun Locks.

The concrete portion of Gatun Dam.

The dam spillway, with the Chagres River flowing to the Caribbean.

We left the dam and headed to Fort San Lorenzo. On the return trip, we had to stop and wait for a ship to transit Gatun Locks.

Ship transiting Gatun Locks.

Passing a gate as we cross a chamber.

The ship we waited for, headed to the Caribbean