Transit Panama Canal: goodbye Caribbean, hello Pacific

 

After ten days of enjoying the peaceful islands of the San Blas, we set sail to Colon, situated at the mouth of the Panama Canal. You can’t think of a bigger contrast than between those two worlds! Suddenly we were in the midst of a busy industrial area, surrounded by loads of giant cargo ships. The one even bigger than the other.
Here our new adventure started: passing the Panama Canal with Yemaya.

 

True horror or just wild stories?

In a cruisers life this transit is a big milestone to be taken and even stress can be detected again in most of us, although this life is normally so much more laid back and relaxed in comparison to life in the stressful ‘sophisticated’ world.
Months before this big happening blogs of fellow cruisers, who already have taken this big jump, are read and discussed with each other. With all the information together, an idea of how things will go is created. What will the costs be, what problems can arise and how on earth do we arrange all this. The first reaction after taking in all the info you can find, is to run away (maybe better say: sail away) far from this drama called Panama Canal Transit.
Stories about major damages on yachts, monstrous advisors, who come aboard to guide you through the canal, but are said to be mostly incompetent and rude, and about dangerous Colon. Because of unsafety it would be better to take an agent who arranges everything for you and to stay at all times in the very expensive marina Shelter Bay. Only with arranged buses you can go to supermarkets, but never walk around alone.
This whole event started to doom upon us as a very expensive and scary project.

Welcome to the real world

It seems that all the stress and excitement about this whole transit are making the stories a bit more adventurous than they are in reality.
With some reluctance we started to make our arrangements in Colon as soon as we arrived. We had made the decision to do everything by ourselves together with two other yachts, Zensation and Bella Ciao. Not to engage an agent and also not to stay in the Shelter Bay marina. Instead we stayed in the safe anchorage at the Club Nautico from where it was easy to arrange the transit.
Everything went unexpectedly smooth. The officials were very friendly and helpful. Everything was straight forward and simple. We all got exactly the dates we had wished for.
After having made all the arrangements and had our transit dates, we went to Portobello, a very pitoresque little village 20 miles from Colon. We enjoyed the nature and beautiful old Spanish forts here.

8th of March, the big day

On the 8th of March we went to the Flats, the anchorage where you have to pick up your advisor. Some stress had flared up again in my body about how this advisor would be. Again wild stories which had told me that they are very critical about the food they get and sometimes order their own food. This has to be brought to the boat and it will cost more than 100$ to arrange this. Of course on our expense. So I had spent quite some time in the kitchen to make nice food, snacks and other goodies.
Victor, our first advisor, was a very friendly and respectful man, who just loved the food I had made for him. Again no problems at all!!

Together with him we went to the first three locks around 17.00, behind which the famous Panama Canal was awaiting us. He told us how to ‘nest’ with another yacht and together with three yachts we went into the locks.
All went very well and when we arrived in the canal it was already dark. Victor guided us to a big mooring where we spent the night and where he left us again.

The next morning we woke up by the screams of the Howhler monkeys. We came outside and were pleasantly surprised by the magnicifant view of the Gatun Lake by sunrise: a huge natural lake surrounded by jungle. We never had expected the canal to be so beautiful!!

After our next advisor came on board ( by the way again a very friendly and competent man), we headed for the other locks, which would lead us to the Pacific ocean. The first 20 miles are natural and beautiful to cross. After that the canal had to be digged out to reach the Pacific side. Thousands and thousands of men lost their lifes during this project because of nasty illnesses as Yellow Fever and Malaria.

After 35 miles we arrived at the three other locks and again with the help of our advisor, we passed them all safely.

 Panama Canal: an unforgetable experience!

With great joy and relief we saw the doors of the last lock opening before us to reveal the Pacific Ocean. It was a magical moment. A new beginning, a new birth!!
No damages, no problems, no horrors had happened to us. We felt deeply blessed.
On the contrary, we had a great time together with competant and friendly advisors and together with our friends, who helped us to bring Yemaya safely to the Pacific side.
With the help of Cindy (Zensation) and Reinhilde (Bella Ciao) it was a piece of cake to serve everybody with refreshments when needed and to finish the endless pile of dishes.
And without Geert (Zensation) and Frits (Bella Ciao) it would not have been such a relaxing experience as they were always just there where needed for the handling of the lines in the locks.
Thank you so much for all your help!!

Next step: 7 days sail to Galapagos.

After some days of rest and doing big provisioning in Panama City, we had to move on again to Galapagos where Loek and Monique will come aboard to explore these gorgeous islands of Ecuador together with us.
Because of the very subtle winds in this area, we were very happy and relieved to find a big genoa for Yemaya. Ok, the sail needed some ‘tender loving care’ and the color is of a very special brown…. But…. Now, being in Galapagos after a perfect sail of seven days with the great help of this big sail, we really fell in love with her. And, you know, brown is a beautiful color for a sail!!