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Miraflores Locks, Panama Canal This is the first set of locks situated on the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal. The locomotives maneuver the ships through the locks prior to being raised or lowered 27 feet per chamber. Twenty six million gallons of water is transferred in only 7 minutes and all done by gravity. Your bath tub doesn't drain that fast. There are three sets of locks in the Panama Canal. On the Pacific entrance are Miraflores, with two chambers, and Pedro Miquel with one chamber. On the Atlantic is one set of locks with 3 chambers, the Gatun Locks. Ships are raised a total of 87 feet above sea level into Gatun Lake and then lowered at the end of their transit into the other ocean. A common misconception is that one ocean is higher that the other, but they are both at sea level. Panama receives as much as 200 inches of rain per year. This was a determining factor in placing the canal there since 52 million gallons of fresh water is lost to the ocean on each transit.
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