The Panama Canal

Well, we did it. We crossed over to the other side. It is the first big benchmark of our journey so far and it was really very enjoyable.
We had previously been visited on our boat by a measurer from ACP (Authoridad Canal de Panama) who took down the dimensions of our boat and ensured that we had the correct number of lines (4 lines 125’ long) and were aware that we needed lots of fenders on the sides of our boat and a minimum of 5 people on board (4 line handlers plus the helmsman). The ACP official also wanted to know, on the day we were to transit the canal, what we intended to feed the Advisor for lunch. We said we hadn’t thought about it yet, it’s a month away, why? He said they don’t like tuna sandwiches so we promised we wouldn’t make him eat any.
We needed 3 more crew members for the passage so we hired 2 professional line handlers and had our friend Tony from Australia join us as well. Lots of cruisers would take backpackers who would do it for fun but we did not want to trust the handling of our boat to non-boaters. Tony is delivering his boat from the eastern Caribbean to New Zealand and wanted to get the experience of the Canal before he took his own boat through and the line handlers were fabulous. Eddy and Danio were 18 year old local Colon boys who had both transited the Canal 25 times. We didn’t even have to tell them what to do. They knew better than we did.
The day before we left, we decided to raise the anchor to ensure that we would not have any problems at the time we needed to go. Thank goodness we did. The anchor was more than double its original size encrusted with barnacles. It would no longer fit through the windlass that pulls up the anchor. I spent 4 hours chipping the barnacles off the chain with all sorts of contraptions. Luckily the barnacles only went down about 40 feet of chain which is good because we had 180 feet of chain out. It would have taken me 2 days to clean off 180 feet worth. After we saw the state of our chain, we thought we better look at the bottom of the dinghy too because it was going to have to be stored on deck for the passage. It was covered in barnacles too. If we didn’t scrape them off, they would stink as they died and rotted in the sun. Not a pleasant thought.

We left Colon the next day around 6pm on Monday the 23rd. The Advisor was dropped off on our boat by a tug boat and we motored towards the canal with 2 other sailboats that were scheduled to go through the locks at the same time. It was about 5 miles to the first lock. We were surrounded by big freighters coming and going from the canal. Steve took a picture of the radar. Each dot is a big freighter nearby.
Just before we entered the first lock, we rafted (tied together side by side) with the other 2 boats. The largest boat was in the middle and now became the control boat. It motored forward into the locks and the two outside boats only gave an occasional burst of forward or reverse to straighten out the group. By this time, it was quite dark and the canal looked quite pretty all lit up.

Once inside the lock, two line handlers that were way up on top of the lock threw down a “Monkey’s Fist” to the 2 line handlers on the two outside boats. A “Monkey’s Fist is a small lead ball covered in rope attached to a small rope. The line handlers on the boat tied the small line to our big heavy lines and the line handlers on the lock pulled our lines up to the top of the canal and tied us off, two lines on each side so that the raft of boats was centered in the middle of the canal. As the water filled the canal, the line handlers on the boat took up the slack until we were at the top of the lock and then we exited the lock. The boat in the middle of the raft didn’t do anything.
We went through 3 locks the first night and then tied up to a mooring ball in a fresh water lake for the night. It would have been nice to swim in a fresh water lake it was full of crocodiles so we didn’t. At night we could hear the howler monkeys in the trees which sounded like lions roaring in the distance. A bit spooky until the advisor told us it was just monkeys. The advisor was picked up by a tug boat and the 5 of us had a big pot of chili and went to sleep (except for the 2 line handlers who talked on their cell phones to their girlfriends for a long time). I had prepared beds for everyone but the two guys wanted to sleep in the cockpit and it was a lovely evening.
The next day, the advisor arrived about 6:45. Shortly after, it started to pour and continued to pour for about 2 hours as we motored through the lake to get to the next set of locks. It was coming down so hard that it was difficult to see the markers. At one point, the advisor told Steve to turn and luckily Steve was watching the chart on the computer because the Advisor was wrong and we would have gone aground. When the rain finally cleared up, we could see the mountains around us with mist rising out of them. It looked like a beautiful lush rain forest.
We went through 3 more locks, going down this time. Sometimes we were in the locks with other rafts of sailboats. Sometimes it was with a cruise ship of a huge freight ship. It was cool to be that close to the huge freighters. Generally we try to avoid them. On the second to last lock, the fresh water of the lake hit the salt water of the Pacific Ocean and created a lot of turbulence as we exited the lock.
Once through the Canal, a tug boat picked up our advisor and the two line handlers started getting all cleaned up (obviously had hot dates) . We picked up a mooring ball at the Balboa Yacht Club and the line handlers were off the boat like rats off a sinking ship (after they got paid of course).
The Yacht Club is a cement pad with a tin roof over a bar, a couple of washrooms and a laundry room. (See photo…I’m not kidding. This is the Balboa Yacht Club.) And for this, we pay $0.50/foot/day ($20). There are probably 100 boats moored here on the Pacific side. There is a free water taxi service to take you to shore.
Our first night on the Pacific side was great fun. We met lots of old friends at the bar who had transited the canal the week before. The next day however, I got VERY sick. For 3 days, I had a fever (up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit at one point) and other assorted symptoms I won’t bore you with. Steve took very good care of me, mopping my brow and keeping me hydrated. After three days, I decided I’d had enough and went to see the doctor. He said it was a parasite and gave me some pills to kill it. They worked.
While I was recovering, Steve was busy restocking the boat for our trip to the Galapagos. We filled up on water, diesel fuel, some more food and we are good to go. We expect to leave on Wednesday or Thursday (May 2 or 3). There is no wind at the moment between Panama and Galapagos so we expect a slow trip. The 900 mile trip will hopefully take 7 to 10 days and be rather uneventful. Hopefully we will catch some fish for entertainment.