While GB and I scramble to get our act together for a Canal transit, here are some pics of the EASY way to see the Canal: come to Panama City, and take a day trip by taxi to the Miraflores Locks. They're the first set of locks that vessels go through when leaving the Pacific for the Caribbean. Or the last set of locks if they're coming the other way. They've been fully functional since the day they were built almost a century ago. How's that garage door of yours holding up?
Even non-engineering types like me are impressed with the Miraflores Locks. The scale of the commercial vessels that come through here is large, and the amount of water that the locks move at every go, is immense. Transiting the Hiram Chittenden Locks in Seattle does not prepare you for Miraflores. That giant boat in the pic on the left is the car carrier "Swan Ace," and it's so big it takes up the entire width of the lock. Those 2 little train-like objects on rails at Swan Ace's bow, are called "donkeys" and help pull and stabilize the really large vessels as they're locking through.
I think car carriers and cruise ships are the largest types of vessels that currently transit the Panama Canal. The Canal Authority is building another set of even larger locks, to accommodate the mega-super-jumbo sized freighters that have now outgrown the wildest estimates of the Canal's original early 20th-century engineers for maximum potential vessel size. For now, though, compare how the Swan Ace fills one lock all by itself, to a view of the same lock when smaller vessels are moving throuh and you can still see
some water around them. Down over here on the right are commercial/motor vessels of about 70 feet long or so in front, plus two smaller sailboats way in back - the catamaran is about 45 feet long and the sailboat is a Halberg-Rassy 39-footer.
But wait, there's more to the Miraflores Locks: a 4-story hyper-awesome museum full of well-curated exhibits. An upper-level observation deck that overlooks the 
Miraflores Locks, whence these photos. And! There's a restaurant that overlooks the action with dining both indoors (equals A/C, reserve your table first thing in the morning) and outdoors (equals better view but hope for a breeze). This upper-level restaurant serves an outstanding buffet. Yes, we DID go there. And you will too, if you want to feel what it was like to be a wealthy overseer, dining on scrumptious morsels while heavy canal digging went on beneath you. For full effect, wear your gen-u-wine Panama hat made in Ecuador.
Such lavishness does not come cheaply - the taxi rides to and from the Locks were about $12 each way, the museum fees were $8 and the buffet cost $30 per, but given the quality and quantity of the dining - as well as the informationin the museum and all the views - I'd say this day trip was reasonably priced.
For a look at how a freighter transits all the locks of the Panama Canal from south (Pacific side) to north (Caribbean side), check out this vid in which a normal 8-to-14-hour transit is compressed into 75 seconds. The first locks you see the ship go through are the Miraflores Locks. Awesome.
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