08:56.365N
079:33.471W
We got to the Flats off
Colon in good time on Saturday evening. Our Canal Adviser – Elvir, a canal
engineer acting as an Adviser on his day off – was put aboard Rumpelteazer from
a pilot boat at around 6.45pm. We set
off for the Gatun Locks - the four of us plus Elvir and
our fourth ‘line handler’, Stuart Mossop (owner of Nomad, a Rival 41
parked near us in the Shelter Bay marina).
 
Going through the Gatun Locks was an incredible
experience – our night-time pics don’t really do it justice. We went into the first lock at around
8.45pm, rafted up with a Swan 51 in the middle and another
catamaran, Maverick Dream, on the other side. There
was a Moldovian freighter ahead of us in the
lock.
 
When the three locks filled, we were buffeted by the
incoming streams of water – more like being in a Jacuzzi than in a lock. From time to time, Rumpelteazer swung
worrying close to the huge concrete walls of the locks, but our main
line-handlers (Andy and Max) and Captain Robert kept their
cool.
 
 
We stayed rafted up with the other two yachts for
more than two hours until leaving the third Gatun lock at around
11.15pm. In
total the three locks took us up 85 feet from sea level.
Elvir left us once we got through the final lock and
were anchored in the Gatun Lakes for the night.
The water is incredible deep (80ft) and we had to anchor close to the
shore (and the jungle with lots of mosquitos) in 40ft. Fortunately the mosquitos mostly kept
away during the night. We were up again early yesterday morning and
Andy decided to take a swim, bravely defying the alligators. Another Adviser – Jose – came on board
at 6.45 to take us through the buoyed passage across the Gatun Lakes and
ultimately through the three locks before Panama City.
 
It seems incredible that there is so much (fresh)
water up here, and in the midst of dense jungle. From time to time, HUGE container ships
or car carriers passed us on their way north.
 
At one
stage we were travelling at speed along a straight stretch of water before we
got to the first of the final locks, when a dredger began hooting at us. We assumed this meant ‘slow down’ or
even ‘stop’, so we did the latter.
Ten seconds later an enormous explosion took place under the water about
200 yards ahead of us, sending a spray of water 30 feet into the air. We were glad we had decided to
stop. [Note to Max's mum - he's
fine!]. There's just a lot of work going on widening the
Canal
 
We finally entered
the Pedro Miguel lock at 12.30pm, rafted up with a smaller catamaran which made
life much easier than with the ‘three-abreast’ formation of the previous
night. Going ‘down-hill’ was
anyway much easier than going ‘up-hill’ - the water drained out of the locks
much more gently than it had come in.
After a short trip along the canal, still connected
to our new American friends on the 35 foot Fountaine Pajot Mahe catamaran, we
went through the two Miraflore
locks.
 
 
 
Once through the last of the locks, we motored under
the Bridge of the Americas and out into the
Pacific!
 
But before we set
off, one final provisioning trip was required to a big supermarket for our
fresh meat, and a visit to the huge Panama City fruit & veg market ….. to keep scurvy at
bay. We were hugely helped by Elvir's introduction to Roderic Quiel
who runs a big provisioning business at the fruit market and who, with
Francisco, sorted out our entire fruit and veg list and delivered it all to us
on the jetty of the Balboa Yacht
Club.
 
We are leaving in an hour .....Galapagos, here we
come!
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