The spillway of the Gatun Dam is in the center of the picture. The hydro-electric plant at the dam provides power for the canal zone.

As we approach the Gatun Locks, our captain manuvers the ship off to the side an drops anchor. They tell us over the p.a. system that we will have to wait to go through the locks.

This gives us some time to look around and see some scenery from the front of Baja Deck. We see several other ships at anchor awaiting their turn in the locks. Looking past the container ship below, we get a good view of the lake and ships going about their ways. Next to us we see a Holland America cruise ship waiting, just as we are. They are anchored closest to us, so perhaps they'll be next after us.

Here's our neighbor ship that has been just ahead of us all through the canal transit.
They move into position to enter the first lock chamber.

When it was finally time to get in postition to enter the locks, they had a heck of a time hoisting anchor. I don't know what's on the bottom of that lake, but we were stuck for a while. They rotated the ship to try to break it loose, and it took several tries before it finally worked.

Now we're approaching the Gatun Locks. Notice the left pointing arrow on the building at the end of the causway. That's the technology that tells the ships which side of the locks they are to use. Two men wait in a row boat for us to get within range to toss a rope. This is how they attach a line between the ship and the first locomotive (mule) that guides the ship to stay centered while navigating the locks. We can see the pathway to the sea in this picture.