ThumbnailPicPage2

Transit of Miraflores Locks

The Miraflores Locks are the first set of locks encountered when transiting the Panama Canal from the Pacific. The locks are located about 7 miles from the entrance at Flamenco Island, and lift a boat up approximately 60 ft. in two chambers. Leaving the locks, vessels cross the 1 mile long Lake
Miraflores before entering Pedro Miguel Locks. There they are elevated another 30 ft. in a single
chamber to the 90 ft. level of Gatun Lake. We had planned to stop at the Pedro Miguel Boat Club located on Lake Miraflores and you can see those pictures on other pages.

To go back to the previous page click on BACK in browser task bar above,
to go to other pages on Heather K. website scroll to the bottom of this page.

Click on any picture to see an enlarged view

	It is 6:30 AM and we are approaching the Miraflores Locks for our very first time. We is Ed and Norma on board SV Rare Mettle under the command of Guy Pontifex, Captain and Owner. Norma assisted as Temporary Cook (Corae, Guy's Chief Mate and Cook had gone back to her job as cruise director on large ships for the summer) and Ed was the apprenticed linehandler. We show this here since it was our first sighting of a Panama Canal Lock. See the picture page for SV Rare Mettle for more photograps.
	Here we are entering Miraflores Locks on MV Heather K. In front of us is the tourboat Fantaseas del Mar with SV Karina D, a boat we have been cruising with for the past year, just to the right of the tourboat. In the far distance near the lock gates is the tug against which Karina D will tie for the lock transit. Heather K. will tie to the tour boat.
	MV Heather K. tied to the tour boat Fantaseas del Mar for uplocking in the first chamber. The tour boat gets to scrape along the rough lockwall and has to pull in the lines as the ship rises. We can sit back and enjoy the ride. This picture was taken by our friends on SV Karina D and you can see the picture we took of them on their picture page on this website. Each lock chamber in the Canal is 980 ft. long and 98 ft. wide.
	The view over the gate from the second (upper) chamber back towards the inlet channel of the Canal. The water level in the first chamber (behind the gate) is about 30 ft. lower. The water level of the Pacific side inlet, in the distance behind the first (lower) chamber, is another 30 ft. lower. The flat topped hill in the background is Ancon Hill in Balboa.
	A TV camera located at the Miraflores Locks provides a continous display that can be seen on the internet at www.pancanal.com. Here are pictures that were obtained by my cousin Heiko Richler and stored by him on a CD. It shows SV Karina D just exiting the Miraflores Locks followed by the tug and then MV Heather K.
	Here is proof with date and time that we transited the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal. It is an "official" picture taken by the camera of the Autoridad del Canal de Panama.
	You can send an email to the camera operator asking for special views. Apparently one of our friends, to whom we emailed our transit time, sent a message to the operators and they zoomed-in on us.
	The camera operators kept us in their sights for quite awhile. Here you can see MV Heather K. and SV Karina D (we are in line and appear as one boat with a tall mast) to the right of Fantaseas del Mar. We are headed for the Pedro Miguel Boat Club just to the right of the locks. Note the blue-green ship in the lock on the right side and another ship in the parallel lock on the left side. All of the Canal locks have two parallel lanes.

To go back to the Index of Picture Pages, click on BACK in taskbar at top of screen.
To go to another page on the Heather K. website select from menu below.

Home Page - Pictures of Our Trips - Past & Future Cruises
Our Experience with Gear - Meet the Crew - Stories from Our Trips
General Boating Information - How to Contact the Boat - Sign Our Logbook