The Panama Canal, completed in 1914 by the United States and handed over to Panama in December of 1999, facilitates unprecedented marine travel between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean across the Isthmus of Panama. Prior to the opening of the canal, travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific required going around the southern tip of South America, a feat in itself adding days and thousands of miles to the voyage. Today, ships can cross the channel in less than a day with approximately forty miles of travel.



A journey through the canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean entails travel from the northwest in a southeastern direction across the isthmus. The canal utilizes three sets of locks on each end, which raise and lower ships to the appropriate levels for passage. Ships seeking to reach the Pacific side from the Atlantic drop anchor and await their passage in Limón Bay. A specially trained pilot working for the canal then navigates the vessel about seven miles to the first set of locks, located at Gatún Lake. There, other workers attach mooring cables made of steel to the ship, which are connected to powerful locomotives and help steer the ship and hold it steady as the locks fill with over fifty million gallons of water. As the water rises to 85 feet above sea level, the ship becomes level with the waters of Gatún Lake. Here, mooring lines are detached and the ship continues for another 23 miles.

The next set of locks, called Pedro Miguel locks, will lower the ship to sea level in stages. At this stage, mooring cables are once again attached to the ship to guide and hold it stable as the water level is lowered about 31 feet to the level of Miraflores Lake. The ship then proceeds to cross Miraflores Lake, a journey of just over a mile before entering the last set of locks that will lower it to the sea level at the Pacific Ocean. The canal employed pilot departs at Balboa Harbor, at which point the ship continues to the Bay of Panama, a part of the Pacific Ocean where ships await their turn to cross the canal in the other direction to the Atlantic Ocean.

In all, the journey through the Panama Canal takes approximately eight to ten hours, not counting the time spent waiting for passage.