The main attraction of this cruise was going through the locks of the Panama Canal. We did what is called a partial transit. A full transit would be going through the locks from one ocean to the other. In our case, from the Atlantic Ocean (at the Caribbean Sea) to raise the ship 85 feet up to Gatun Lake, and then through three lock chambers on the other side to lower the ship down to the Pacific Ocean. Our partial transit went through the locks from the Atlantic Ocean up to Gatun Lake, and after cruising the lake for several hours, came back through the same three lock chambers, back down to the Atlantic. This allowed us to experience the locks without actually going to the Pacific Ocean. Gatun Lake was created by damming the Chagres River. This manmade lake provides the water to fill the lock chambers as well as provides a place for ships to wait their turn for the opposite set of locks.
There are two sets of locks on the Atlantic side, the original Gatun locks completed in 1914 and the new Agua Clara Locks completed in 2016, each has 3 lock chambers. The Agua Clara Locks were built to accept larger ships (1,200 feet long and 160 feet wide) while the original Gatun locks allow a maximum ship size of 1,000 feet long and 110 feet wide. At 114 feet wide, our ship needed to use the newer Agua Clara Locks.
Since I opted to go on an excursion in Panama, which left via tender on Gatun Lake, I have photos of the locks transit from the Atlantic up to Gatun Lake only. At the end of my tour, I met the ship at the Colon, Panama cruise port after it completed its locks transit back to the Atlantic while I was on tour. These photos were taken from various parts of the ship, different decks, and even the close circuit monitors, whichever gave me the best view at the moment.
Copyright on All Photos: © 2024 Mark A. Nutting
Created on 6/7/2025 7:05:07 PM
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