It took us about one hour to motor to the Miraflores Locks from the Balboa Yacht Club. The Miraflores Locks were the first set of chamber locks that we were to go through as our boat was lifted up from the Pacific to the Continental Divide. We were to share the lock with the ship Wani Falcon, a dry-bulk carrier. Upon arriving at the locks, we waited almost another � hour before finally entering the first chamber. As we were �uplocking�, the ship went first into the chamber guided by the tug. Once the tug was tied to the side wall of the lock, we went alongside and tied to the tug. Ray was in charge of throwing and retrieving the two bow lines, Mary was in charge of throwing and retrieving the stern line, and Phil was the helmsman. Once our two bow lines and stern line were secured, we passed and secured two spring lines to the tug. There was much horizontal water turbulence as the locks quickly filled, taking about 12 minutes to fill the entire chamber. Once filled, a bell signal rang. The ship started its prop and moved slowly forward into the next chamber guided by locomotives. When given the signal from our advisor we detached from the tug, moved away so that the tug could proceed first into the next chamber, and then attached Kuhela once again to the tug after it was secured to the wall in the second chamber. In the two chambers of the Miraflores Locks, we were elevated a total of 54 feet. After completing those two chambers, it was amazing to look back at the Pacific at a much lower level.
We proceeded slowly behind the tug and Wani Falcon the mile across Miraflores Lake to the Pedro Miguel Locks. Here, the same identical procedure was used as before. We rose 31 more feet in the single chamber of the Pedro Miguel Locks, making the total elevated height 85 feet. We now had arrived at the Gaillard or Culebra Cut, the narrowest stretch in the Panama Canal covering 8 miles and crossing the Continental Divide. The carving through the rock and shale in this stretch was the most formidable obstacle that had to be overcome during the construction of the Panama Canal. Even now there are landslides in the area.
After passing through the Gaillard Cut, we traveled across the main shipping channel in Gatun Lake until we arrived at the entrance to the Banana Cut Channel. With the approval of our advisor, we turned right and took this shorter and more picturesque route to the Gatun Locks. While traveling along the Banana Cut we were treated to a couple of Howler monkeys swinging among the branches in the nearby trees, and it almost looked as if they were waving us on in our journey. The main shipping channel from the San Pedro Miguel Locks to the Gatun Locks was 29 miles, and the Banana Cut saved us about 3 miles. |
