103) Panama

Colon, Panama

Panama Canal Yacht Club

9° 20.939 N 79°  54.189 W

Shows track from Columbia, San Blas Islands, Portobelo and thru the canal.

Our route thru the Panama Canal.

When the agent returned with our stamped passports yesterday I was very relieved.  With the tires attached as fenders and the many 125’ dock lines onboard we were ready to transit the next morning.  Glomildo did not show.  I think he had too many responsibilities and could not leave.  John did tell him that they were going to take his passport to the US Embassy in Panama and verify its validity as well as that John was in charge onboard and maybe those things didn’t sit well.  At least we had Eric as an ace in the hole.

Eric, a hired line handler, showed up around 7am well in time for the proposed pilot pick-up at about 9.  Eric has transited the canal over 1,200 times in 22 years.  He was a good guy and well prepared before anything happened.  He was a great help to relieve those of us with, uhm, concern.  After all, we were going in close quarters with ships, tied to concrete walls and supposed to slide up and down them.  I have heard too many stories of freighters breaking free in the lock and running over yachts.  Small vessels are being phased out soon and will eventually be loaded onto a barge so they can move thru like the bigger vessels.  The large ships go thru in the first part of the day and small boats get to share the lock with them.  Then later in the day the smaller ships go thru.  Vessels transit 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  The canal is also in the initial stages of widening the narrowest gap so that ships can pass thru simultaneously.  All in the name of progress and the almighty dollar.

Eric on the left, not the pilot on the right.

We followed this freighter into the chamber.

Going up

We left the dock and headed over the to ‘flats’ where the small boats anchor and that is where we were to pick up the pilot.  He would be on a launch and they would approach us to make the transfer.  Since a pilot was hired the transit happened quickly.  If Amor Fati took an advisor the transit would have been in March.

 

                                     We lost a tire and some maintenance workers on the gate retrieved it.

First chamber on the Atlantic side heading west.  Looking east towards Colon in the background to the right.

Most of this canal transit has been hurry up and wait.  To up-lock (gaining altitude to Gatun Lake) we have to wait for the freighter to tie-up first.  Then the tug went in and we got to side-tie to it.  We were prepared to tie to the wall and side-tying to the tug was the easiest way to transit.  Lots of bells and horns and whistles later and the doors closed.  The water intake is 18 feet in diameter and filled the tank in about 10-15 minutes or maybe less.  The tug had to keep pulling in dock lines as we climbed. After doing it 3 times over about 2 hours we were at lake level.  We were finally able to make way and did so at almost 8 knots.  We were required to do that speed in order to make it in time for the locks on the other side.  We took a couple lanes across the lake that were different than the freighters and it was odd seeing them in the distance between the islands in a tropical freshwater lake.

Gatun Lake

Passed by a freighter in the lake.

 There was some confusion after we entered the lake, though.  We unloaded the first pilot on the pier and he forgot his cell phone.  Then a regulatory vessel came out to us to get the phone.  Then we got pulled over by another regulatory vessel because he thought we did not have a pilot on board.  Eric and the new pilot exchanged words with the guy and he left still pissed off.  We were legal and back on our way.  Our biggest concern was being able to maintain this speed in order to go 28 miles and get there on time.  But, the pilot wasn’t too concerned.  He said if we didn’t make it with the boat we came up with we’d just tag along with another ship.  So much for the strict guidelines we heard and read about.

Prop wash from the freighter made us heel and bump into the tug.

Locking down was a bit different.  We were required to go in the lock first and be ahead of the ship.  I’m not too clear on why.  When they spin the prop to leave the chamber while locking up we are affected by the prop wash and it is quite severe. The boat heels over, bumps into the tug and strains the lines.  While locking down we are able to avoid this situation.  

Tugboat exhaust, ugh!  Yuck!

Going down

The deepest cut and the new suspension bridge.

Where’s Waldo?  Only small boats can touch the wall by hand.

                                                                         

Beyond The Bridge of the Americas is the Pacific

  

 When it was all over and we dropped off the pilot we realized that it wasn’t as difficult as it sounded.  We were lucky and got to side tie and that helped.  But, we were tired mostly because of nervous energy.  It’s a busy, noisy and dirty operation transiting the canal but quite rewarding seeing and touching a part of world history up close.