The Centennial Bridge which is done but awaiting completion of the highways leading to it. The bridge will open in another year.

The freighter is now waiting for the doors to finish opening.

Now we move to the Pedro Miguel locks.

We will watch from another location on the front of  deck 11. The green helicopter pad is on Deck 5 near the bow. (Some plastic shielding causes the glare.)

As the Summit moves slowly forward, notice the change in the position of the nearby Oosterdam as it also moves forward.

Looking over the edge it is easy to see how much the level of the ship must change. This little bathtub holds millions of gallons of water.

Notice the levels are now the same and the doors are ready to open.

Looking back we see the freighter now ascending. Remember that the length of the lock is 1050 feet and 110 feet wide.

The guidance system is quite simple. Just line up the signs and move forward until the next set of signs appears further up the canal.

As we move under the bridge, the next set of guidance signs appear in the distance on the right.

This part of the canal was blasted from the rocks.

Dredging and widening occurs all the time. The equipment is very large.

One of these cranes were moved here from Germany after WWII.

In the midst of Gatun Lake - the largest man-made lake in the world.

At times the canal is not very wide. Large ships do not pass in the narrow parts.

The two way street.

I counted at least 1200 containers on this ship as it passed.

A large tanker. The very large supertankers are too large to fit into the Panama Canal. About 10% of the ship in the world are too big.

Approaching the Gatun Locks at the Atlantic (Caribbean) north end of the canal.

Watch as the first ship now descends 85 feet through the three sets of locks.

It was very hot and Joyce and I both had umbrellas to block the sun a bit. We waited our turn about a mile from the lock entrance.

Notice that the first ship has almost descended out of sight. Only the top of the stack can be seen now.

Now you see the life boats on the side of the Oosterdam................

..........and now the lifeboats are at street level.

The first ship has left the Canal and in the Caribbean Sea.

The freighter has moved ahead of the Summit. This helps show us the process with a different frame of reference.

Note the light blue of the main deck well above the concrete wall.

As the Summit approaches, the two persons in the rowboat come out to meet us.

They are now "towing" the Summit.

Bob and Joyce

The freighter now one level below.

Note the light blue well below street level

Moving forward as we move into the first lock

Now the doors come together. Joyce and I are now on the bow of the Summit (near the Helicopter pad on Deck 5)

Now the water flows from the lock with our ship into the lock recently vacated. This transfer of millions of gallons of fresh water takes only a few minutes and uses no pumps ... all gravity fed.

The water has risen to full level so that we can enter. Meanwhile the other ship now begins the next descent....watch the light blue and red paint disappear.

Note the double locks and the cluster of locomotives. We used four on each side.

The red paint is gone as the ship has reached its low point.