Panama Canal transit
Marita3
Mark & Helen Syrett
Thu 23 Feb 2012 13:49
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On the 21 & 22 Febrauary we transited the
Panama Canal--an amazing experience.
We had on board Bruno & Vera Marquart (Tom's
in-laws) who travelled light for the two nights on board
 and Walter Stocker an employee of the shipping
agency we used to deal with the endless paperwork and bureaucracy. An amazing
coincidence was that Walter's father worked with Bruno in Panama 30 years
ago and knew each other really well.
 Our ''advisor'' (pilot) came on board at the area
known as The Flats at about 1500.
We were going up through the three Gatun
locks at about 1600 and were sharing lockage with this boat that was
steaming in from the anchorage.
 We were in a raft of three sailing boats, a
catamaran in the middle, a red hulled boat tied to it's port side and Marita
tied to it's starboard side. We entered the lock behind the cargo boat (approx
600ft long)
 Marita and the the red boat had forward and aft
lines to the dock side which were contolled by line handlers on our
boat----Helen and Vera on the bow and Walter on the stern. First they had to
catch the monkey thrown by the dockers and tie a bowline so that the handlers on
the dock could haul our 150 ft lines in to the lock walls. Bruno was on stand by
in case of a catastrophe, as he put it!
 The line handlers work was strenuous as they always
had to keep tension on the lines both as the boat went up in the lock and later
as it went down. Three lock rises later Marita entered the fresh water of the
Gatun lake----? first time ever in fresh water?
We said farewell to Elvira (the advisor) and
anchored for the night.
 Next morning a new advisor called Ricardo came on
board at 0700 and we motored about 40 miles across the Gatun Lake to the Pedro
Miguel lock having firstly negotiated the Gaillaird cut. Very narrow and not a
lot of room when the big ships pass.
 Going down through the locks the sailing boats are
in front with the big boats behind---and they are big. We shared a lock with a
650 ft long, 105ft wide boat called Sanko Titan. The locks are 110 ft wide so
only 2.5 ft either side.
 They are held and pulled forward by the mules, as
they are known, which weigh about 80 tonnes each.
 We the went through the two locks called the
Miraflores locks and then out into the Pacific passing under the Bridge of the
Americas
 The flags indicate the following: 20 was our boat
transit number, Charlie indicates small boat, Alpha for overnight stay, and
Hotel for pilot on board. If 'H' is at the top then one is north bound and if at
the bottom then southbound.
The pilot boat came out to collect Ricardo. Mark
had just had a long talk with Ricardo about the difficulties of transferring
between boats. He was not nimble and as he crossed from us to the pilot boat the
person on the other boat receiving Ricardo let him slip and splash in he went
between us---all rather dramatic but he bobbed up in his life jacket and was
hauled aboard the pilot boat holding his mobile in the air.
 ...and then we were in the Pacific moored off
Balboa Yacht Club. More photos to follow from Helen.
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