08:54.848N 079:31.273W Panama Canal Transit
Shaya Moya
Don & Susan Smyth
Fri 3 Jun 2011 00:16
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We are finally here at the gateway to the Pacific,
the Panama Canal. We arrived in Shelter Bay Marina on the 16th May. This is a
very nice marina, concrete pontoons, a small restaurant, supermarket, chandlers
and a swimming pool. A good place to provision from the nearby Rey supermarket
and organise the transit.
We had arranged with our Shipping Agent Peter
Stevens for the admeasurer to visit us on the 17th which he duly did. What this
entails is measuring the overall length breadth and draft of the boat, advise us
what we needed for the transit and prepare us for what to expect. They
then give us a Ship Identification Number that is on their computer records so
that if we should ever return we do not have to go through all that
again.
A short history on the canal. The French started to
build the canal in 1880 under the supervision of Ferdinand de Lesseps who had
built the Suez canal. The design was similar being a basic ditch across the
isthmus of Panama, then owned by Columbia, to link the Atlantic and the Pacific
Oceans.
This was a dismal failure and after another aborted
attempt the Americans took over the construction of the canal in the early
1900's after the citizens of Panama declared independence from Columbia and
signed a treaty with the USA. The canal, with triple locks at either end, and a
man made lake in the centre was opened in 1914.
The process of transiting the canal has been well
thought out for small craft. We would get an advisor who would instruct us on
where to be and what to do. We needed to provide 4 line handlers each with a 125
foot line that could reach the lock walls, and we would need adequate fenders in
case we had a bit of a fender bender. Our agent Pete organised all of this for
us.
  No trouble to Reece in his usual effervescent style
he talked his way onto a boat doing the transit the day before usas a line
handler. This was great as it would mean we had someone on board who knew
the ropes(so to speak). Off he went to return late the next evening having taken
some 4 hours to get back the Atlantic side with a taxi. Lucky he had made
friends with another skipper who was doing the same thing so they could share
the time and cost. This turned out well for us as Ollie his wife and child
joined us on our transit, which meant we only needed two extra line
handlers
Pete our agent advised us that our scheduled
departure had been delayed some 10 days or so as there was a shortage of
advisors. We took this opportunity to sail up to the San Blas Islands which
Reece described in our previous blog entry. They really are picture perfect from
the boat, until you go ashore that is! Enough said on that issue.
We got back to Shelter Bay on the 23rd May
anticipating our transit to be on the 25th. This was not to be and after another
two days wait we finally slipped moorings at 13h30 on the 27th May and motored
across the huge Colon Bay to an area called The Flats to wait for our pilot
advisor and the two line handlers. There was another smaller yacht also hanging
around there waiting to transit. That looked like it. We waited about an hour
and then it all started to happen. First the handlers arrived with the last few
plastic wrapped car tyres to make up the 16 we needed to protect our sides and
two more heavier handling lines to add to the 4 they had dropped off the day
before. Then the pilot advisor, Francisco arrived. We were to wait for a large
container ship and to then follow it through the Atlantic locks into the Gatun
lake where we would spend the night
  It is awesome to watch such a huge ship, barely able to fit in the locks
having its lines taken up to 4 locomotives, one on each side for and aft, and
then being gently pulled into position in the front of the lock. We rafted
up with the smaller yacht, which means we tied him to us and we did the motoring
and manoeuvring for both of us. Quite a story this yacht had. Eduardo the owner
and skipper, together with his wife and another couple are just finishing a one
year circumnavigation. They will be back in their home port in El Salvador in
two weeks time to a host of news and TV coverage as the first Salvadorian yacht
to ever complete an around the world trip. As if that's not amazing, Eduardo
proceeded to tell us its his second circumnavigation. The last one was 17 years
before in a single engine light aircraft that he piloted himself. Quite an
adventurer
  The rafted set of yachts carefully pulled into the
space behind the ship in front which was in fact much easier than it looked, in
the first of three sets of locks called the Gatun locks. The most amazing
part is the men on the lock docks who throw what is called a monkeys fist, a
hard ball attached to a light line, onto the waiting yachts
below. Our line handlers then attach this line to a
loop in the heavy rope that is then pulled up to the lock side and under the
instruction of the pilot advisor put over a bollard and pulled in tight. This is
done for all four corners of the rafted yachts. Our line handlers then have the
task of keeping the tension on these ropes to prevent us swinging into the lock
walls when the water surges in to fill the locks. The Gatun lock set is a rising
set of locks as the lake is higher than the Atlantic ocean we are leaving.
 The lock gates are then closed and the sluice gates
open with thousands of gallons of water rushing in. Amazing to watch us rise up
some 30 feet with theship in front of us. Once we have reached the required
height the front gates are opened and the ship infront gets pulled out of the
lock by the locomotives. Sometimes the ship is too heavy and it needs to give
some assistance by using its motors. This of course sends a huge swell back into
those behind which can be a bit hairy. No worries with our four though and we
were soon moving forward into the next set of locks. This repeated itself three
times raising us up some 84 feet. Each chamber is 110 feet wide, and 1000 feet
long with the entire Gatun lock system being 2 kilometres long.
  Once we were through Francisco directed us to the side of the exit where we
untied Eduardo and proceeded on our own steam to the buoy we would tie up to for
the night. This was a large orange buoy that became the smokers platform that
evening. Our pilot Francisco left us here and another pilot advisor would join
us the next morning at 0700. It looked like rain was coming so we put up
the side awnings so that the two line handlers from Pete could sleep on deck
while the rest of us bunked down below. Reece made us a lovely meal and before
too long we were all in our pits
 At 06h30 the next pilot, Roy arrived and took us through the Gatun lake to
the Pedro Miguel locks which is one set, then a small lake and then into the two
sets of the Miraflora Locks. These are the down setting locks and they lower the
vessels to the Pacific. The Miraflores locks are the tallest as they have to
compensate for the large tides(14 feet) in the Pacific. Reece was skipper for
the day and took us through the lake and down the lock system. We rafted up with
our round the world travelling friend Eduardo again and were soon in the
locks
As Reece had done the transit already he had warned us that there were web
cameras that family and friends could watch us going through the locks
here at Miraflora. At first it was a bit difficult to get everyone logged in but
it was great once they could all see us. The canal authorities kindly zoomed in
and we were watched from Switzerland and Cape Town, isn't technology
wonderful
 Once through we dropped the pilot, our two hired line handlers and the
ropes off at the Balboa yacht club and motored on down to Flamenco Marina where
Peter Stevens our agent had arranged a berth for us. What an amazing experience.
Although I have tried to describe the procedure and the magnitude of the Panama
canal system it has to be experienced to really appreciate it as one of the
modern wonders of the world. We are now in the Pacific the largest Ocean in the
world, about to set off on a great journey through some amazing atolls, islands
reefs and who knows what else
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