Crossing the Panama Canal

At noon on Saturday, December 1st, our hired line handlers had not appeared so we called Erick and he confirmed that they were stuck in traffic, that we should depart as soon as they arrived and that our transit time had been moved back to 1530.  Once Jesus and Roberto arrived we cast off the lines and headed to The Flats (Lat Long??.)  We learned that they spoke no English, but understood a little.  Barb was able to communicate best with them.  Jesus was 31 years old and Roberto was his 17 year old brother.  After a short wait (and rain) the adviser was delivered to the boat at 1545. Barb raised and rinsed the mud from the anchor chain and tied the anchor into its roller.  At 1555 we were on our way under the guidance of our adviser Roy.  As we motored up the channel towards the Gatun Locks a large ship was getting closer on our stern so we were directed to the far right side of the channel for them to pass.

 In their wake was a large sightseeing motor catamaran and we pulled in behind them.  The ship entered the first of the three chambers and the catamaran did too, tying up next to the wall on the right side.  Our adviser was on the radio insisting that we wanted a center tie position in the lock. but the Canal Authority told us to tie up to the tall, metal, ninety foot sightseeing vessel.  As the fresh water filled the chamber there was a good deal of turbulence and Jupiter’s Smile was pushed away from the catamaran and then banged back into it.  I had positioned the fenders on the cap rail but the hired line handlers and the adviser wanted them a little lower, right below the cap rail.  After the “thud” they scrambled to reposition them, exactly where I had them before.  There was no apparent damage to either boat - no harm; no foul.  Once the ship moved into the next chamber, the crew members of the catamaran cast off our lines and we backed to let them move forward and into position in the second chamber.  They cast us off before the turbulence subsided and we ended up backing toward the wall of the chamber, but I used the throttle and the rudder to get us right again.  In the next chamber, we raised the fenders, moved along side the catamaran again and the process began all over again.

I found that with the current and turbulence I was actually feeling pressure against the rudder and so I was able to steer us and keep us close to the catamaran for this and the third lock so things went much better.  The catamaran crew waited to cast us off on our signal and that was better too.  By the time the we cleared the last lock it was 1820 and dark.  The adviser directed us about a mile and a half to the mooring in the lake.  We tied to a sailboat from the Netherlands and the adviser was picked up.  We realized that, in all the hustle and bustle, none of us had eaten anything and the adviser left having not been fed.  Barb put out cheese, nuts, chips and salsa and commenced cooking.  Her meal was wonderful, but to our hired Panamanians I think it was not to their taste and that a piece of mutton, rice and beans would have been okay for them.  Roberto hardly ate anything and his meal went mostly to the fishes.

On our previous passage, three years ago, on S/V So Cal So Good the hired line handlers were both about our age and spoke excellent English.  They were Canal employees and had lots of stories to tell, some historical and all entertaining.  The youngsters we had aboard Jupiter's Smile had little to say and kept themselves entertained with their cell phones.  Vern and Michelle were great company and we had delightful dinner conversation before retiring to bed at about 10:30pm.

Roberto

Jesus

One of 4 long lines

The next morning, my alarm woke me at 0545 and I began to ready the boat to depart at 0600.  The adviser, Carlos, came on board at 0610 and we were underway immediately.  Carlos wanted to steer and so I gave him the helm.

He took us the entire 30 miles across the lake.  He gave up the helm as we approached the Pedro Miguel lock and at 1030, we executed a center tie transit of this lock without incident.  Vern and Michelle agreed that center tie is a much better way to go.  That brought us into Miraflores Lake and then the two Miraflores Locks.  In these locks Carlos called the camera operator and we saw the camera turn in our direction.  I used the satellite phone to call Mother and my brother Larry reported that he could see us on Mother’s computer.  Her Internet is slow, but he captured three low resolution photos of us in the lock.  Very cool.  I have yet to see the photos because the internet connection here is so slow that I can’t download anything, much less the photos.

Near the Bridge of the Americas, Carlos departed to the pilot boat and we continued to the Balboa Yacht Club mooring field.  We saw two moorings and picked the one next another Island Packet.  The club launch came out and offloaded the twelve tires, the four lines, our hired crew, our volunteers Vern and Michelle and not wanting to say adios right away, Barb and I went as well.

Vern relaxing on the bow

The lock gates opening

Throwing the monkey fist

Michelle and Roberto

We tipped the launch pilot $10 and it appeared to me that Jesus gave some money to the dock master.  The tires and lines were left at the dock.  Good byes at the dock followed, but we convinced Vern and Michelle to stay for a beer at the club restaurant to debrief and decompress before getting a cab to their hotel.  They were doing some shopping and sightseeing in the city for a couple of days before returning to Shelter Bay Marina to prepare for their own canal transit later this month on their way to the Galapagos Islands and beyond.

The transit for us was really without incident, but it was not relaxing because it was our home that was transiting, not someone else’s.  That level of concern is appropriate, I suppose, but not relaxing.  Sailing towards Mexico will be a welcome, familiar process through unfamiliar waters in the Pacific.  Wow!  We made it this far!