Yet again I am writing this ahead of having any wifi, so I’m not sure how much information John has provided in the ARC daily log. We may overlap.  I type the blog in Word and then cut and paste to the website whenever possible. Anyway, here goes – as best I can.

We arrived at the Shelter Bay Marina just outside of Colon, on the Atlantic side, on the 26^th Jan – just in time for me to be able to speak to Aidan on his birthday. (I was delighted with the timing.) The canal authorities inspected the boat there.  The transit is charged per foot and they physically measure the boats, including bowsprits, davits and anything else that sticks out. You must have at least 4 good mooring lines, 38 meters minimum, without knots or splices.  They inspect each of these. You must have 4 experienced crew as linehandlers along with an experienced helmsman. The anchor, fenders and toilet facilities are also checked. We used 10 fenders – 5 on each side because we were the middle boat.  But I think you need a fender for every 4 feet of boat length. The 2 boats outside us were provided with tyres. One boat needed them on the port side – the other on starboard.  This is as protection against the canal walls. A canal pilot is allocated to each boat and you are expected to provide dinner the first evening and lunch the next day.

Just as a non-nautical aside – it was great to be in a marina after 2 weeks at various anchorages. We made full use of the bar, restaurant and laundry facilities. I indulged in my favourite cocktails and Gavin and I won the ARC table quiz. We were a good combination because Gavin could answer the US based questions and I the European ones.  Also the age mix of young and somewhat older worked well too.

We were allocated an evening transit time and about 3 hours ahead of this we set off – out past the mouth of the Chagres river to a point about 5 miles in front of the canal entrance called the Flats anchorage.  Here we dropped an anchor and waited for the pilots to arrive.  There were supposed to be 11 ARC boats doing the transit but 2 boats had to drop out.  One, because he lost so many sails in the storm coming from St. Lucia to San Blas and the other because the skipper broke his leg when he tripped over his bow line while on the marina in St. Lucia.

Ships waiting to go through the canal

Trompeta & Matilda - our raft partners for the crossing - lining up to come alongside

Once the pilots were dropped off on each of the 9 boats we moved forward to within half a mile of the Gatun Lock gates. There we rafted up in 3 groups of 3 – not as easy as it sounds as there was quite a big swell and wind blowing at about 26 kts. It was all done with the usual shouting and semi-hysteria that seems to go with all berthing and rafting activities in the boating community!! Once that was done the outside boats put the engines on but in neutral and the middle boat did all the driving and steering.  We were the middle boat of our 3. The helmsman is allowed to steer but must follow directions from the pilot. After about 10 minutes we arrived in front of the closed gates.  By now it was dark so you’ll have to excuse the quality of the photos.  Also, it was hard for us to be taking photos and handling the lines etc at the same time. I used the phone, mainly.

Sapphire, rafted to Matilda and Trompeta waiting for the first gates to open

Lock opening

John, Gavin and me

Having a quick break from the work

Lock gate opens, we go into the chamber the gates at the far end can just about be seen

Lock almost filled. Train run along the wall pulling the ships through

Normally the 2 outside boats handle both the bow and stern lines, but since we were so much heavier than the others, we took the 2 stern lines. The canal authorities provide 4 men per raft; 2 took bow lines from the outside boats and 2 took our stern lines. The men on shore were on the canal banks about 15 meters above us. They threw down monkey fists with thin lines to which we attached the heavy mooring lines. These are then pulled up to the canal embankments and as we move into the chamber of the lock the men above walk the lines forward. Once all the boats are secured to large bollards the lock gates are closed and the water swirls in, raising us up about 10 meters.

Line-handler walking the wall dragging bow line using thin line. (Dave drinking tea while holding the line - well he is English!)

Water flooding in in swirls.

It was an amazing experience.  The lock gates are enormous and the water rises incredibly fast. All the crews were both excited and nervous and because we were rafted together it became quite the social occasion.

Once the water was at the correct level the gates opened on the other side of the lock.  We all separated and anchored overnight while the nightshift pilots were collected and new ones arrived early next morning,

With our new pilot on board, we sailed for 3 hours across the Gatun lake. Unfortunately, we were held up for 3 hours on front of the Pedro Miquel lock.  Because we weren’t moving we nearly fried in the heat. On the plus side we spent most of the time learning about Panama from Maria, our pilot. She had excellent English and was delighted to talk politics, history of the canal, where she thinks Panamais going in the short-term, environmental issues etc.

Crossing Gatun Lake

Pau - up the mast of Beatoo - to get better photos

Prison where Noriega is being held (also, palm trees in bloom. See the fluffy tops).

ship being guided across the lake by pilot boat

Pedro Miguel lock.

Eventually we got the go-ahead and repeated the procedures of the night before. Rafting up, handling the lines….This time it all went really smoothly.

The last lock, Miraflores, was just 30 minutes past Pedro Miguel. As the Pacific is lower than the Atlantic, this time we went into locks when full and dropped while the water emptied out.  There was frenetic texting and calling home on all the boats as we had been told arrangements had been made for the lock webcams to point at each boat so we could wave to loved ones. I don’t think it worked out that way.

Screen shot of Miraflores webcam photo - that's us in the middle

Miraflores lock

Spectators

Nearly finished – I’m bored myself at this stage.  Once through Miraflores, we parted from our rafted boats, headed under the Bridge of the Americas and out into the Pacific.  We anchored in the bay in Panama City– exhausted and delighted.

At last - out into the Pacific. My first time.

Bridge of the Americas - Panama City in the background