The Panama Canal!    Sunday, 02/04/2023

What an experience! A very successful, albeit tiring, trip through the Canal on Friday 31st March.

We left Linton Bay Marina on Thursday morning for the almost 30-mile sail to Limón Bay, a natural harbour at the Caribbean end of the Panama Canal which is protected by breakwaters. Into Shelter Bay Marina for several hours, and then mid-evening went out and anchored in a place where the pilot would join us in the morning.

It was an early start: we were all up at 03:30. The pilot arrived and we then motored closer to the entrance of the Canal. And at 06:15 into the first lock we went…

We were behind a large cargo ship – the bulk carrier Seastar Valiant (a large ship: length 180.4m, beam 30m, draught 8.8m, gross tonnage 23,000 tonnes. It was sailing from Santa Marta on Colombia’s Caribbean coast to Buenaventura, Colombia’s main Pacific port).
There were three yachts and we rafted up, with Skyfall on the port side of the raft. We then passed two lines, bow and stern, to handlers on shore, with the starboard boat doing the same. I was on the bow line. In this way, the raft is held steady in the centre of the lock, preventing any of the boats from being damaged on the walls as water surges in. Getting through the three locks took about an hour and three-quarters – we were out just gone 08:00.

The total length of the canal is 50 miles/80 kilometres. However, the term canal is really a misnomer: the three locks at each side are relatively short, each set spanning a distance of about a mile. Apart from the approaches at each end, quite a lot of the distance is accounted for by Gatun Lake (15 miles) and then the Chagres River (5 miles). Simply put, the height of Gatun Lake is about 87 feet (26 metres) above sea level. So each of the three locks at each end is lifting/lowering boats an average of 29 feet (8.7 metres). (Sea level at the Pacific side is actually about 8 inches (20cm) higher than that at the Atlantic (Caribbean) side, due to differences in water density and weather). There are two sets of locks – the original ones (1050 feet long and 110 feet wide) – and wider, newer ones: 1,400 feet long (427m); 180 feet wide (55m); 60 feet deep (18m). On each downward lock cycle, 100 million litres or so of water is lost to the oceans. 

The journey across Gatun Lake was scenic. There are numerous islands (what was high ground in the landscape flooded to create the lake. It took us about 3 hours to traverse the lake. We then waited for about an hour to let several large ships pass before we entered the Chagres River. And then along through the Culebra Cut and into the first lock at about 13:30.

Out of the first lock and on about a mile to the two Miraflores locks (the most well-known: sight seekers from Panama City come to Miraflores to witness the canal in operation, so most photos you will see online are taken here). And then out through Balboa Harbour and then the 8 mile (13km) exit channel to the Pacific Ocean (the Gulf of Panama) – entering the sea to the south side of Panama City. A quick motor around a long spit of reclaimed land took us into La Playita Marina. All tied up by 16:30, which was a relief – it had been a long day.

It was fascinating to actually see – with my own eyes – a transit of the Panama Canal. So much better than relying on the reports of others or YouTube videos. What was apparent is that there is not really anything that is technically difficult – a couple of times, a bit of manoeuvring when decoupling from the raft of boats, but nothing particularly challenging. This does not mean that the whole process is not stressful for the captain: he is absolutely on duty for a good twelve hours. Tom was responsible throughout – unlike me, he could not go below and take an hour’s snooze as we transited Gatun Lake! For the rest of us – Annick, Patrick and I – our efforts as Line handlers were effectively limited to the times we were going through locks. The pilot who comes on board is really an adviser; he does not take over steering the vessel (unlike pilots who guide large ships into harbours, who take over the steering and supervise the docking). So the captain of the boat is on duty and fully responsible at all times, which means a dozen hours of intense concentration. That is tiring – Tom’s relief was palpable when we cracked open the beers, safely tied up in a marina…