Today we exited the canal into the Pacific Ocean. Our canal pilot joined us about 9:00 AM and we headed for the locks on the Pacific side. We sailed through the rest of Gatan lake. This bridge for the train and for cars goes over the Chagres river which was dammed to form the lake. Just on the other side of the this bridge, they had to build a large levee to protect the Calebra cut from the lake waters as it was filling.
The Calebra cut, also called the Gaillard cut was were the heavy dirt moving had to be done. The highest spot on the canal was originally 350 feet above sea level. The water level is about 85 feet above sea level and the channel is at least 40 feet deep. So they had to move lots and lots of dirt to make the channel. The rain caused and still causes landslides and it was very hard to make the cut and keep it dirt free. You can see the work going on to stabilize the cut after a recent landslide. It was the biggest single challenge in building the canal. The original French vision for the canal was a sea-level canal. When the US committed to build a canal, that version had proponents. Others knew that was nearly impossible and the current canal was proposed and built. The bridge is close to the Continental Divide, which is essentially the end of the Rocky Mountains. The bridge is one of two permanent bridges over the canal.
After the Gaillard cut, we came to the three locks on the Pacific Ocean side. We went through these locks with three other boats, a small sailboat, a larger catamaran, and very nice sailing yacht. In the picture, the three other boats are tied to the sides of the locks and are prepared for the water to be lowered by about 30 feet.
In the second set of locks we were the first boat so we got to see the gates up close and personal. This particular lock had two sets of gates which opened into the lock. In this picture the lock is still full and we are waiting for the other boats to enter and to be secured. There is a web cam on the antenna that pokes up over left edge of the red-roofed building. When I found that out, I sent text to Lukas (our son) and told him to look for us. After finding out what lock we were in (the Miraflores lock), he said he could see the boats behind us, but we were out of camera range. How amazing is that. I can notify someone thousands of miles away to look for a live picture of the canal, find us, and actually email me a screen shot of what he saw.
Screen shot of the Web Cam.
Octavio (one of our guides) our traveling buddies, Jon and Jeanne, and Caroline.
After the last lock, we sailed into the Pacific Ocean.