The Panama Canal
Rich's 2025 World ARC PatBon Blog
Richard Hurd
Fri 7 Feb 2025 22:27
We’ve finally made it into the Pacific! It’s been a frustrating few days for the ARC fleet since we arrived in Shelter Bay Marina, which is on the Caribbean side of the canal, due to the fact that the Panama Canal authorities have been drip feeding the boats through for some unknown reason. We had initially been split into 3 groups of 10 yachts to transit together, but only 2 yachts at a time were permitted. As Shelter Bay marina was located in the old US military base of Fort Sherman and far away from any town or life, there was very little to do. We ate our way through the small restaurant’s menu and Nathan arranged for volleyball games + the inevitable beers and G&T’s. This did give us time however, to lift Pat Bon and get her hull cleaned and repainted ready for the strict bio-security restrictions for entering Galapagos. We also had time to visit the Embero Indian tribal village, which was located some distance away in the jungle. A good day out including voyaging up the river in a traditional dugout canoe.
At last we were given the day for our transit, Wednesday 5th February and we were going through in a day; a very early start at 0400 and maybe not getting through until 1900 or 2000, depending on other traffic in the canal. The alternative was an overnight stop in Lake Gaton, when you’d depart in the afternoon, moor up in the crocodile infested lake for the night, and then leave in the morning and arrive in Panama City by early afternoon. All yachts must have an ‘advisor’ aboard, unless you are over 65’, when you require a pilot. Apart from eating you out of house & home, these guys are there to assist the skipper and advise on how to transit the canal. Our chap Victor started his day with Val’s special fry-up, followed by biscuits, then a large helping of pasta bolognaise for lunch! After saying that, he clearly knew his stuff and guided us carefully through all the locks, which we shared with massive cargo ships! We also rafted together with our friends aboard One Distraction and another independent yacht joined us for the 3 exit locks.
As the final lock gates opened, the vast Pacific Ocean lay ahead. It really does feel that we’ve taken a great step on our voyage to Australia. We pass under the Centenary Bridge and then the Bridge of America’s and find our way to a small marina called La Playita. Due to the ARC fleet following behind us, we can only stay for a couple of days, so its a rush to provision the boat for the journey to Galapagos and further into the Polynesian islands, as this is really the last place where we’ll find well stocked supermarkets for all the basics. We’ve also managed to fit in a city tour organised by ARC and best of all, I’ve picked up Paula from the airport, as she’s joined the crew for the next leg to Galapagos. As usual, I was late in getting there; hey-ho some things never change😂. Nathan and Steve from 1D (One Distraction) are heading back to Shelter Bay tomorrow to help Chris, Tracey and Zoe aboard Mageia through the canal, but they are leaving in the afternoon, so will have to overnight in the Lake and will arrive back in La Playita on Sunday. Val and Paula are plotting a shopping visit to the largest mall in Latin America and Peter and I have various maintenance jobs to do aboard Pat Bon. Of course there is an important game of rugby that might need to be watched too!
Our next stop will be the Las Perlas islands (The Pearl Islands), which lie about 34nm west of Panama City. We were hoping to leave on Sunday, but as we can’t be sure when Nathan and Steve will return from their second canal transit, we’ve decided to probably delay departure until Monday. Sadly we’ll only get a couple of days in these beautiful islands, as the fleets planned departure to Galapagos is 1100 on Wednesday 12th Feb. Nathan and I had hoped to get a couple of dives booked in with the 1D guys, but we’ll probably just have to arrange last minute, if time permits.
The Gatun Locks, with a large cargo ship and the Atlantic bridge astern of us.
A Neopanamax ship that can carry 14,500 containers. These ships have to use the new wider locks recently built.
Pat Bon’s crew, with Tracey, Zoe who helped us through and Chris who helped 1D though the canal.