Panama Canal Locks

We've tried to take it easy this weekend, adjusting to the time change and the humidity. It is rainy season (but the real question is, "when is it NOT rainy season?" since rainy season lasts for about 9 months of the year!) so even though the rains came down this afternoon, we headed out to see the Panama Canal Locks. It takes about 10 hours for a ship to get through the Panama Canal and all its locks. We were able to see one set in action. It took about 8 minutes for the water to level out and then the ship could proceed - talk about patience as there are 3 sets of locks (total of 6 steps) that they must go through. Each lock has 2 chambers, doubling the amount of traffic that can flow through it (in the picture, one ship is passing through the lock at the back, while a ship just passed through the front chamber and the lock is closing behind it).