Panama Canal Crossing and into the Pacific

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After leaving the San Blas it was full steam ahead so to speak as far as organising our transit through the Panama Canal and onwards into the Pacific. Fortunately, the guys of Ghost were a bit ahead of us and had arranged for Stanley the Agent to meet us at Shelter Bay Marina and he was the agent we were going to use to help us organise customs and immigrations into and out of Panama as well as arranging the transit through the canal which involves having our boat measured to see how much we have to pay, the time and date of our transit, the renting of four very big ropes and 8 tyres that have been wrapped in black plastic which we use as fenders. That was pretty well organised the first afternoon we arrived at Shelter Bay after side stepping our way through all the ships laying at anchor outside the Colon Harbour.

So now that we had the agent acting on our behalf it was time to get down to some serious provisioning planning as we pretty well had to sit down and work out what food we wanted to take and how much food we could take on the boat for the next six months or as long as it will take us to get home to Australia. Of course you can buy provisions at some places on the way home but the feedback we have is that those opportunities are pretty few and far between as far as the variety on offer and of course the really high cost of buying food in remote and exotic places on our route home.

Debs is a genius as far as provisioning is concerned and those skills are only topped by her uncanny ability to find every nook and cranny on the boat to stow it away. Debs and Kat from Ghost headed into Colon to sus out the different supermarkets and the prices and goods on offer and then came back and started the pretty big job of preparing the 'shopping list'. It is hard enough just preparing a list to go to Woollies and do a shop for a couple of days, imagine what it is like doing one for 6 months. On top of that, we just cant go and jump in the car and head down the road for a couple of minutes, do the shop and be back home pronto.

At Shelter Bay Marina, they very kindly offer a courtesy bus into Colon that heads into town twice a day and of course returns twice a day as well. You just have to make sure you get your name on the list to make sure you get a seat. So then you have to make arrangements with the supemarket to bring home the mammoth amount of groceries that you intend to purchase and get them to drive them the hour or so back to the boat. All is well of course depending on your fluency in latin american Spanish!!

Well happy to say that after spending about $2500 USD we ended up with a boat jam packed with just about every non perishable food type that we all like that should see us home, that of course plus a few bottles of wine, a few bottles of rum, a dozen or so slabs of beer, coca cola, sangria and whatever else we can shove into the bilge.

The shopping and packing took us a good few days and our 'slot'for the transit was originally arranged for the 28th of March but then we decided to work a bit of a deal out with the guys on Ghost to add some crew to their boat to help with their transit and they could reciprocate a couple of days later when we were going through. So Lukey and I went on board their boat on the 29th and did the transit with them and we caught the bus back to Colon from Panama and got our boat ready for our transit on the 31st of March which is of course our Wedding Anniversay 😊

The marina at Shelter Bay is the real meeting place of boats getting ready to transit from the Atlantic side to the Pacific side and some boats call in their on the reverse transit as well. The marina is pretty well a long way from nowhere but it does have pretty good internet in a very nice airconditioned room ( IT IS very, very hot in this part of the world) It also has a swimming pool, onshore elecricity and pretty well unlimited water. They also have really good private bathrooms (love those normal size crappers!!) and shower heads that would cover a dining room table.

We caught up with quite a few boats we knew at Shelter Bay and regular catch ups and beers were great. It was, in some ways, a bit like getting ready for the ARC, people getting their boats organised and trying to work out what spares and other bits of kit they need to get before they leave Panama for the Pacific. Word was that Panama does not really cater for sailing boats which seems a bit incredulous (but turned out to be true). We decided to bite bullet and get ourselves a Waeco Freezer to help out with having fresh meat, especially on the long passages on the way home as well as getting some alternative power sources to help with our pretty big power demands. We had thought long and hard about a tow generator and we also bit some more bullets and decided to get one of those as well. All of this of course meant getting the stuff sent down from the U.S.A and our first try was to engage another agent who assured us all would be achieved with the minimum of fuss and our order would be with us in Panama faster than you can say rrribbaaaa rrriiiiibbbbaaaa rrrriiiiibbbbbaaaa.

Well that all seemed to be in order so back to getting through the Panama Canal. The transit that Luke and I did on Ghost was incredibly exciting but of course, nothing like doing it on your own boat. We filled up our boat with water and fuel and headed over to an area called the flats, just off the main Colon Harbour where the àdvisor'comes on board. The adviser is the guys that essentially controls the shots on board. Generally, as was our case, three boats go through the locks together. The biggest boat, in our case, us, is in the middle and the two outside yachts raft up to us. We then provide the propulsion and steerage for all three boats as you make your way into the lock and then the other boats take over and provide the stability for all boats by having the big ropes secured to their cleats and then up to the side of the locks where the Canal Staff manage them from the land side.

We got rafted up and sorted out and headed toward the locks on the Atlantic side. This is known as the up locks for boats transiting to the Pacific and the up locks are a series of three locks that raise your boat 85 feet within a distance of about a kilometre. With the up lock system you normally end up behind the big cargo ships that transit in massive numbers throughout the day and night as opposed to when you are in the down locks, they are behind you.

We entered the lock system, all really bloody excited (See Debs, the places I take you for your wedding anniversary) and then the on shore line handlers through two lines to each boat on the port and starboard side and those lines are then used to connect the bigger lines which are taken back to the shore and secured.

Once all the boats are secured and the advisers are happy with the situation, the call is given for the locks to be filled. The water literally floods in and whilst there is a bit of turbulence, it is pretty easily managed if the on board line handlers are on the ball. It takes literally minutes for the first lock to fill and then you head off to the next one to repeat the experience, a total of three times. The canal operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and the amount of shipping that transits the canal needs to be seen to be believed. As the demand for products around the world continues to increase, so do the demands on the canal and as such, a further canal is being constructed as we speak, this one able to take the biggest ships that are being made at the moment and provision for the super ships of the future.

We got through the up locks all safe and sound and it was a truly brilliant and memorable experience. We then headed into the Gatun Lakes where we moored up to stay the night, awaiting our continuing transit the following day. Of course, being our wedding anniversary, a bottle of nice cold champagne was opened to celebrate the crossing and our 17 years together as Mr and Mrs Alsy and Debsy Sparkes 😊

The adviser arrived at 7.00am the next morning and it was up and at em nice and early to make our way across the 24 miles or so of the lakes to the down locks. This time the big cargo ship was behind us and it made a pretty awesome sight, having the bow just metres from our stern. We cracked through into the pacific just after lunch, cheering and flag waving as we cleared the Miraflores locks.

We dropped off our line and fenders we had rented and then made our way down to the anchorage to meet up with the guys from ghost for some more beers and story swapping. Unfortunately the anchorage does not really suit being able to drop in and have a swim off the back of the boat and the heat and humidity here is pretty hard to deal wtih.

Unfortunately, our plans to have our new freezer and tow gen sent down didnt work as planned so we gave the agent the flick and set about doing it ourselves. This process involved arranging an account with a company in Panama that allows us to use their mailing address in Florida and then they ship it to Panama, clear through customs and get it to our boat. Simple process when all said and done and very happy to report at the time of writing we now have on board our new freezer, tow generator, operating in wind generator mode, some more of the precious sea legs anti seasickness medication and some other great bits and pieces we were able to get from WestMarine in the U.S. The continuing good news is that we were able to have quite a lot of fresh chicken, beef mince and cubes and pork pieces packed and frozen by one of the supermarkets here in meal size portions so our little freezer is also packed solid with what we hope will be sufficient fresh meat to get us as far as the Marquezas in the Pacific.

So what have we been doing while waiting for these new bits of kit? Well, there just happens to be a place called Allbrook Mall and that is THE biggest shopping mall we have ever seen, it would have to be about 15 times the size of Park Beach Plaza, maybe even more and Debs and the girls have been on a bargain hunters frenzy with clothes and accessories here being simply dirt cheap. I thought there was no room on the boat for anything apart from food but the girls have happened to work miracles and found space for their nice new clothes that they are just in love with. Literally it has been over a year since we have been able to go to places like this and they have made the most of it. Panama City has, like most cities, the beautiful areas and the not so beautiful areas. We get around by cab and the fares are all negotiable depending on the driver and the areas you want to go to.

We happend to jag a driver called Junior, who despite speaking no english at all, has been a great mate getting me around all over the city sourcing things for the boat that we have had to get as well as helping us do final provisioning. While some may think we are a bit loco spending so much time here, we have really enjoyed our time in Panama. Obviousy because of our proximity to the South Pacific, we dont have the same requirements for spending more time there than here and who knows, we may never get back to Central and or South America so I guess we have just made the most of the time we have had to wait. A couple of days over at Tobaga Island, about 7 miles from the anchorage were great, apart from the rolly moorings, we could get off and head to the beach for a swim whcih was a really welcome relief from the oppresive heat in our anchorage.

So it is now Friday the 23rd of April, Debs's birthday is in two days time and we plan to head for the Galapagos on Monday. We think we might have to push pretty hard to the south, along the coast of Equador to try and miss some windward weather and then duck under that and then try and reach across to Galapagos. I know the kids are going to miss the malls and everything we have come to like so much about Panama but it is time to move on, still a lot of miles to go before we can sit back and share a beer or rum or vino with you guys. Try and blog ya from Galapagos.

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