Lake Gatun is 85 feet above sea level. There are three locks that are used to raise (or lower) the ships from the Caribbean to the lake. Anytime a boat is in motion in the canal it is required to have a canal pilot on board. We were going through the locks with another boat. It is a slow process. We followed the red boat in the picture towards the locks. The white boat was exiting the canal from the other set of locks.
The locks, which define the size of the Panamax, the largest boat which can fit through the canal are 110 feet wide, 1050 feet long, and at least 39.5 feet deep. The boat ahead of us was big enough that it had a tug bring it into the the lock. Then it was attached on the front and back on both sides to what are called mules which are mini train engines which stabilize the ship in the lock and help to move it forward when necessary. The small boat is bringing out the cables to the boat to attach the mules which are visible on the left of the picture.
The lead boat is now nearly fully in the lock. The end of the lock is just past the rise in the terrain.
The gates weigh 700 tons and are opened and closed using two 25 horsepower motors. Once the gates are closed water is added the lock from the bottom (gravity fed) and in about 5 minutes the boat comes up roughly 30 feet. Each lock holds about 30 million gallons of water. Once the boats were raised, we moved forward into the next lock and the process is repeated. It took about an hour from the time we entered the locks until we exited. It is an incredible process, well orchestrated and managed.
The tolls for the Canal vary based on vessel type, potential capacity (not what they are carrying but what can be carried) number of passengers, and other factors. Years ago they allowed a man to swim the canal and he wanted to be treated like a normal entity transiting the canal. They calculated his toll based on their algorithms and came up with $0.36. A Panamax cruise ship fully loaded will be charged about $420,000. The toll for our ship was $3,200 plus some extras for the additional pilots we were required to have. (We spent two nights in the canal and each time the ship was repositioned we had to have a canal pilot.
Once we exited the locks we sailed into Lake Gatun which was made by the dam on the Chagres river.