The Miraflores Locks going from the Pacific ocean into Miraflores lake just north of Panama City. On the right, you see a ship entering the eastern canal lock...the process through the 50 mile Panama Canal takes about 24 hours...the locks around 1 hour. 8 hours to pass through the lakes, and another 15 in just waiting.
You can see how far the boat drops in the lock (27 feet), in order to move into the next one. There are two new locks that they have just started on in 2006 (one on the Pacific side and one on the Atlantic) that will cost almost $6billion in order to allow large boats to travel through, helping the Panama Canal remain a major world transportation leader. The toll is payed for 2 to 4 days ahead of schedule; the cheapest toll being by Richard Halliburton who swam across the channel in the 1930´s for less than 40 cents. The most expensive toll was paid last year by a cruise liner of which paid over $250,000.00 to cross the canal.
You can see how far the boat drops in the lock (27 feet), in order to move into the next one. There are two new locks that they have just started on in 2006 (one on the Pacific side and one on the Atlantic) that will cost almost $6billion in order to allow large boats to travel through, helping the Panama Canal remain a major world transportation leader. The toll is payed for 2 to 4 days ahead of schedule; the cheapest toll being by Richard Halliburton who swam across the channel in the 1930´s for less than 40 cents. The most expensive toll was paid last year by a cruise liner of which paid over $250,000.00 to cross the canal.
