Panama Canal Transit

We left the marina around 2 pm and headed for the F anchorage, where waited until around 4 PM. We had an adviser board the boat and off we went to the first lock. We rafted with two other boats, us to port, a catamaran in the center and another boat to starboard just prior to entering the lock. As we entered the locks, the line handlers on the walls tossed us a heaving line to tie to our heavy duty 125' lines. They waited until we entered the lock and were almost to the end before pulling the heavy line to the top of the lock. The second, third and forth raft entered behind us and when all were secured, the gates closed. Water rushed in from the bottom of the lock and we rose quite quickly. “When we were at the top of the lock the forward gate opened and on we went to the second chamber and third chamber where the process was repeated. Each time the line handlers would pass the heavy line back to the boat for the walk to the next chamber.

Transiting the canal at night was interesting, as the lights on the canal made it seam like day. The weather was comfortably cool as most nights in Panama this time of the year. After the last chamber, we proceed to the next anchorage area and rafted up to the same boat that we rafted to for the transit. They tied to a quite large anchor buoy with a line from bow and stern to the buoy to allow another boat to tie to the other side. It was a comfortable night but an early rise for the return of the advisers. They were supposed to be there at 5:45 AM but didn't show until 6:45, Oh well! We did make or 11 AM transit at the next lock, Pedro Manuel, where we rafted and repeated the process as before. As we passed through the Miraflores lock, where there is also a tour stand for people to watch the lock operation, I was amazed at all the waving as we passed in front of the spectators. It was as if we all knew each other. Expensive phone calls back home insured that our loved ones back home had seen us on the video cams.

From the last lock we went under the Bridge of the Americas, because it joins North America with South America, and on to our anchorage. Our next goal is to get the boat pulled to fix the rudder.