colon, Panama

We had two days of great sailing from Isla de Providencia to Colon, Panama. The winds were 10 to 20 knots on the beam. The Caribbean Sea had a 6 to 8 foot easy swell with very little wind driven waves. This made for a very gentle passage. We did have a dozen rain squalls pass by us in the night hours. We were lucky enough to avoid them all. We were exited to see 3 whales swimming in the opposite direction to us.



We arrived in Colon a week ago. Colon is a large city with a high crime rate. Our Lonely Planet guide calls it a “dangerous slum”. We know nothing about the history of Colon but from appearances it looks like a city that was in decline for probably a couple hundred years.





Before any boat can go through the canal, “admeasurer” comes out to the boat to measure it’s length and width and makes sure you have the required number of lines (4 lines 125 feet long). He is delivered to your boat from a pilot boat which is quite a feat in the choppy waves. Boats are required to maintain 8 knots of speed under power through the canal, if you cannot you are charged additional fees ($800 extra for us). If you are found to not meet the 8 knots they theoretically could fine you, but don’t. So most skippers are advised to lie to the authorities and say that they can maintain 8 knots (a physical impossibility for our boat and any other displacement hull with such a short waterline length).

The smallest sailboat that is here that it to go through the canal is a 19 foot sailboat from Hungary. Every boat has to have a minimum of 6 people on board….one paid advisor from the Panama Canal Authority, 4 line handlers and the a helmsperson. It is a two day trip through the canal and 5 of the 6 people will sleep on this 19 foot sailboat. (the pilot goes home at night and comes back in the morning). We will have to find 3 people to help us with our lines.

It is the beginning of the rainy season here. The humidity in the air is stifling. In the morning, there is sometimes a dense fog/smog hanging over the water obscuring the huge shipping cranes on the shore not far away. It rains a couple times during the day and also at night.