Panama Canal transit Part 2

VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Tue 13 Mar 2012 00:19
Here is the second installment, delayed by computer problems.
Yachts also go through the canal under their own power held by lines, but in our case, handlines. As you approach the lock two guys on the island throw monkey's fists (a weighted rope ball attached to a light heaving line) at the crew of the boat nearest the centre wall, very accurately. You catch these, attach your mooring line to them and the heavy mooring line is pulled up and attached to a bollard. The same procedure is followed on the land side, and then the raft of three boats is securely held in the centre of the chamber. Here are two guys throwing the lines (perhaps still visible in the photo, snaking through the air):
 
 
Behind them is one of the locomotives of which there are dozens and dozens. And here we are in the first chamber with the lock gates closing on our last view of the Atlantic Ocean for a few years:
 
 
The guy in the striped shirt is our pilot, Roy. Alison is steering, but she's ducked out of sight. Behind us you can see the swing bridge below the lock closing. This is a busy road, often closed for an hour at a time. And right in the distance is the next ship waiting to use our lock.
And sadly, for me at least, here is my last photo as bad light stopped photography; we have entered the second lock leaving the first full behind us and the gates are about to close to raise us again:
 
 
We had no serious incidents in the canal, but it does need to be treated with respect. The most exciting moment came as we entered the last lock, the sealock down into the Pacific. This lock is the lower of a staircase pair. The upper lock empties into the lower on. Normally a canal staircase is 'balanced', with each lock holding the same amount of water. However on this side of the isthmus there is a 5m tidal range, so the volume of water required to fill the lower lock varies enormously depending on the state of the tide. In our case the tide was in, so there was a vast excess of water to get rid of as the upper lock empties into the already half-full lower chamber. This creates a substantial current well in excess of 2 knots. Stopping the boat in these conditions is very difficult (our boat weighs about 35 tonnes, and slamming it in reverse runs the risk of the stern swinging out into the current and causing us to pirouette down the lock out of control to certain disaster). Stopping is therefore accomplished, with a bit of an adrenaline rush, by placing a big rope around a passing bollard and jerking to a halt as the boat crushes its fenders hard against the lock wall. Not for the faint-hearted.
 
But now we're in the Pacific and the Galapagos beckon - but first, tomorrow we're going back to Shelter Bay to act as crew for our friends Bob & Sue who crewed for us.