Not once but twice -that's a bonus, and its Centennial Year for the Canal as well.
Its a time consuming process getting accepted for a yacht transit. The company puts up with us small fellas but they don't need us, and with the increased shipping going through I'm picking they will make it even tougher on "handlines" as they refer to boats under 60'. After I get my $870 buffer refunded, for being a good guy and not causing any delays, I'll have paid them a grand to transit the canal and avoid having to round Cape Horn, or truck Whakaari over this isthmus at Gautemala. The average freighter is paying US$300,000 per transit. And there are lines and lines of them at both anchorages waiting to go through.
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| Colon Container Terminal |
No wonder they're spending $5Billion on a second set of locks to double the Canal capacity.
Whatever way you look at it, going thru the Canal is one of those bucket list kinda things to do, and not just for boaties. The history, the tragedies, the politics, the sheer scale of the achievement, the diversity of scenery, the massive size of the ships at such close quarters, the day-night-day experience, meeting and bonding with locals and cruisers, and of course crossing so quickly from one giant ocean to the other.
For a Captain doing his first transit it can be very stressful. The scheduling is fastidious, the advisors constantly giving you speed adjustments, their radios bringing in demands from the controllers -our little boat must work in with the one massive freighter to be in and out of the same lock without causing any delays, and each lock has its own procedures.
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| Our Day 1 advisor (never did get his name right but it meant William), Skip, and Annika |
Whakaari was rafted to a 36' ketch being delivered to its owner in the Pacific. I was hoping we would be centre chamber which is the safest way to transit each lock, but the advisors decided to tie us both to a tug, which meant our linehandlers became redundant for half the lock transits. On two occasions the tug had to move ahead after we had untied from it, and the turbulence from it's propwash was (although forewarned) a surprise to both crews - we were thrown violently towards the opposite lock wall and only frantic response with both engines and helms saved potentially major damage.
Later I was told its protocol to give the tug crew drinks and had we done that they may have moved off a little slower - thanks! didn't get that briefing from the advisors!
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| Rafted-up and centre chamber |
Another incident was a result of us arriving too fast with tail wind and current into the Pedro Miguel locks and the Pancanal linehandlers arriving too late so we missed the bollard sets and we were tied up to one bollard with both fore and aft lines -that was a near disaster - first the bow and then the stern of the inside boat - Whakaari - contacted the steel lock sides. I left the helm with my own long line and had it ran back to the bollard our stern line was meant to be on and the problem was sorted, but I (and the professional linehandlers in my crew) were all astounded how slack the advisor and th e Canal staff were with poor information, slow responses, and on the other boat ,the advisor actually took over the helm (which I'm sure they're not permitted to do) and made things much worse for us. Whakaari took a bad hit on the corner transom which is now repaired but she'll always carry the scar.
Apart from these two incidents, it was a fascinating and enthralling experience, and I was exhausted at the end of it. Some of that exhaustion no doubt due to also provisioning and feeding a big crew, partying and playing music in the cockpit on the overnite tie- up on Lake Gatun, and paddleboarding at 2am on glassy waters infested with very large crocodiles.
While in Panama City I'm definitely going to find out as much as I can about the canal's history and future. There are modern visitor facilities at Milaflores Locks, a museum in Casco Viajo, and opportunities to go back to Lake Gatun to Isle Baru Colorados ( "the most studied rainforest in the world" according to Lonely Planet) through my friend Belkys.
I now understand why the Panamanians refer to their country as " A Nation Divided -A World United" for the canal has been so formative in this place. Only today I heard the new President of Panama announcing funds to restore and improve parts of Colon which has such a dreadful reputation, as part of the investment in attracting the new age of shipping to use the new enlarged canal. And in the same news bulletin a comment from the company that operates the huge "post Panamax" freighters that the new locks under construction are already too small for the future of shipping and they want to see a new canal through Nicaragua!?! So - exciting times ahead for the Panama Canal!
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| Tito with Skip in Shelter Bay Marina -Tito The Happiest Man Alive, donates the fender hire to a local orphanage |
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| Canuk Dylan, our professional liinehandler, and damn fine on the gat. |
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| Columbian and French linehandlers on our raft neighbour |
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| A brief escape from the helm in the Gatun Lock #1 |
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| Birds Eye view on the Chartplotter |
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| Hans - Another happy linehandler at the end of the transit |
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| Overnite Bouy in Lake Gatun -party time! |
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| Pedro Miguel Lock with a Panamax ship |
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| Happy Anniversary! |
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| Entry to Gatun locks from Port Christobal , Colon |
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| Dredges widening the canal for the future expansion |
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Forests, Hills, Habitat - it all has to go,
in the name of progress |
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| Frank Gehry's controversial design for the Biodiversity Museum on Amador Causeway - still under construction |
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| Noriega is held prisoner here, near Gamboa right on the Canal |
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| The Guillard Cut |
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| Two panamerican bridges cross the canal, theyre starting the third at the Colon Gatun end |
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| The Canal Company linehandlers - they throw you their "Monkey Fist" (watch out!) which you tie your line to and they retrieve it and attach you to the bollards. The big boys get Electric Mules. |
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| Ships in both locks, both southbound -that happens every afternoon, |
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| Almost there! |
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| The Pacific! - only 60' below us |
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| Muckin about at Milaflores - There's a 4 storey observation tower for landbased visitors so we thought they deserved a few better photo opportunities. The lads were calling for a moon shot but.... |
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| The lake crossing is 30miles long & slow, can't sail it, and not much else to do but chill |
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| Rick chilling - with over a 1000 transits under his belt it all old news to him |
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| New lock gates just in from Italy -like multi storey apartments |
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| They still row out to receive the first bowlines |
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| Dylan on his 61st transit |
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| Unusual islet on Lake Gatun |
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| Car Carrier heading north |
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| One of many sets of leading lights across Lake Gatun |
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Smithsonian Research Institute on Isla Baru Colorados, Lake Gatun that attracts researchers world-wide,
and my friend Belkys Jimenez works here |
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Old crane from the war years that Russia used to lift their submarines .
Sold to Panama Canal for $1 and about to be put into service again |
