Feb 14th Valentines Day!
Ransom is sitting in a windy, rolly anchorage in Balboa, which is the western end of the canal. We finished the transit this afternoon and Tim is on shore dealing with the immigration folks to get us cleared out of Panama. We are all pretty tired after the excitement and 'hurry up and wait' of going through the canal over the last 2 days. A lot of boats make the crossing in one day and it's good we did not do this - it would be a very long day.
Ciao! Panamá City
We started the trip at Shelter Bay, picking up our one local line handler, a young guy called Marcos who has crossed the canal 500 plus times in his career so far. It appears line handling is how the local boys make their extra money.We also picked up 8 tires wrapped in plastic (fenders) and 4 100ft dock lines, rented from the same people who brought us Marcos.
Then we motored off to The Flats, which is a staging area for the eastern locks. There we waited around till our course advisor Astro (can't call them pilots yet because they do not have the required level of training) showed up. It was blowing about 20knots and the delivery launch came in pretty fast. As they pulled away they hooked a stanchion and bent it. Luckily it didn't stay hooked.We got a briefing from the advisor about what to expect then picked up the anchor and took off for the first lock. More waiting, this time for the chemical tanker we were scheduled to be locked with to pass us, then we rafted up with 2 other boats and headed for the gates. It was dark by this time.
Cargo ship going in front of Ransom inside lock Rafting with Blue Wind and Chapter 2
Ransom's position "+"
Shelter Bay Marina, Panamá
Advisor getting on board
Entering first lock, Gatun
Ransom's advisor Astro
Big ships are moved through the locks by line tugs that run along rails ontop of the walls and small boats like us are handled by line walkers. They throw you a messenger line with a monkey fist on the end, and these guys can throw so you have to watch out. The boat handlers tie the long lines to the messenger and send it back to the line walkers who drop the loop over bollards up on the walls. The first 3 locks raise the boats up about 43ft each so the line handlers on the boats are constantly taking up slack and holding the raft centred in the lock. The raft is moved through the locks under the power of the middle boat, in our case the catamaran Chapter Two, and the line walkers carry the lines up and onto the walls of the next chamber. Each lock takes approx 30 mins to clear.
We made it through the first 3 locks by about 8.30pm, broke up the raft and headed for the mooring field in Gatun Lake, which is the supply reservoir for the canal.Its not possible to anchor in the lake as its about 75 ft deep and man-made so the bottom is covered in dead trees. The moorings are designed for large commercial vessels so the technique is to nose up to one slowly and either jump onto it to secure your line or lasso the fittings on the top. Then other boats will raft up to you. So we put the advisor off onto another launch, had a quick meal and went to bed.
The course advisor showed up at 6am the next morning and we took off to cover the 28 miles across the lake to get to the second set of locks. The channel is constantly dredged to keep it open so there is a lot of activity on sections of the channel, though it's also common to see iguanas and crocodiles cruising around. It was pretty surreal to be motoring along in this watery jungle atmosphere and suddenly a monstrous tanker comes round the bend. Thankfully AIS gives you warning nowdays; one can imagine drifting into the centre of the channel while looking at something and being rudely surprised.
We had to wait some more just before the first of the western locks so we took another mooring for 45mins and ate lunch. Then we rafted up again with our group and went through the gates. Same sequence except that this time we started at the top of the wall and dropped down, so the line handling was easier - easing steadily.
Finally we came out in the Pacific and found the rendevous to put Marcos, the advisor (who was very nice but talked constantly), the tires and lines off onto launches, and we came down here and dropped the hook.
Going through the canal, or what will soon be known as the old canal, is a very cool experience. It's amazing that it was completed in 1913 and runs without interuption unless there is so much rain ( not uncommon here) that the pressure from the lake is too great and the spillways are opened.
We are waiting(!!!) for an electrician to come onboard and deal with our charging issues and then, maybe later today, we are headed for The Galapagos.
Last of three Locks
Pacific Ocean
Approaching Balboa, Panama
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