Thanks Becky Schindorf for this screenshot
Dreams sometimes come true and this was one of mine. Someday, I wanted to take my own yacht through the Panama Canal. This was a once in a lifetime experience that happened twice in one week.
Liana and I sailed in from San Blas Islands on the Caribbean side of Panama after a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday in the Hollandes Islands group. We were to meet Mike and Kathleen on Content (our buddy-boat) at Shelter Bay Yacht Club on Dec. 1st, 2017. Silhouette had not been tied to a dock since Emerald Bay in the Bahamas in early 2017, so docking her was a bit unnerving for us. We had to slip around a 25 million dollar yacht with its stern nearly blocking the channel. Then make a hard left turn into our parking space. We were rusty but we pulled it off without a scratch. Mike and Kathleen were waiting for us and helped with lines.
The four of us poured over options for agents and looked at fees and what it would take to complete the process to transit the canal. We would be line-handlers for Content which would go a few days before Silhouette. Then they would be line-handlers for us. They also had a couple coming from the States to be line-handlers for both our boats. We had read books, cruising guides, articles in sailing blogs, and talked with other cruisers to get prepared. Some used agents and some did their own paperwork but all said the Panama Canal is a bureaucratic nightmare.
We decided to hire an agent. We chose Roy at Emmanuel Services. The website says, God Is With Us – the meaning of Emmanuel. So what is required to hire an agent? – $460. What do we get for our money? A licensed, bonded, Spanish and English-speaking agent recognized by the Panama Canal Authority who makes sure all our paperwork is complete and in order and is given to the proper government agencies and is able to do this much quicker than we ever could. Our transit would also be expedited. This may seem like a lot to pay but it was worth it to us. To do everything on our own would mean several taxis back and forth to Colon, an hour away, trying to understand Panamanians that potentially didn’t speak English and much more time spent at the marina racking up $85/day. We eventually still spent 10 days there. If we didn’t hire a bonded agent we would also have to pay an extra deposit of about $900 to a Panamanian bank to be refunded in 6-8 weeks – if no damage was done and everything went smoothy through the canal.
So we met with Roy and he set up an appointment for both boats to be measured. The fee for this – $55. They call this the admeasure and this person measures the length of the boat to the inch, including bow sprits and dinghy davits. Then they add up what it’s going to cost. This happened the following Monday morning. We are a 50’ boat but measured out as 56’. After measuring three times, Content slipped in under 50’ by one measly inch but saved them $500 on the transit toll. For boats measuring between 40’ and under 50’ the fee is $800. The next range is 50’ to under 80’ (where we fall) and is $1300.
This fee includes an advisor (not to be confused with the agent) who is on the boat the entire time the boat is moving through the canal. They go home when the boat is moored overnight in Gatun Lake and come back early the next morning. We were informed we needed to provide food for our advisor and if the food was not adequate or they weren’t fed they would have meals sent to the boat in transit and the captain would be charged for it. We fed our advisors very well for each meal – no problem.
There is a $130 security surcharge fee for Aero Naval presence all along the canal. Then we needed to rent four 125’ lines of 7/8 diameter polypropylene at a cost of $120. Along with the lines we needed fenders much larger than the 10 we have. These are big bumpers that protect paint jobs. Historically tires were used but they left black scuff marks on the boats so they are not used much anymore. This cost is another $120. The next fee is for clearances – $30. These are transit documents to go from one side of the canal to the other. This goes to the port captain on the other side of the canal, sort of like an authorized flight plan for a plane. We paid a $60 bank commission to pay the transit fee in cash. This would have been $100 if we paid by wire transfer and we would have had to wait at least a day longer for the funds to clear. No credit cards are allowed. This money is what the bank keeps to deposit funds into the official Panama Canal account. The transit fee must be paid and cleared through the bank before being put in the line up. Then we have the mysterious EDCS charge of $75. The last unknown is Petties & Incidentals at a cost of $150. Our minds were spinning and instead of asking we just paid the bill.
Oh, there could have been another fee – $120 for each line handler. It is required to have four dedicated persons whose only job is to work the lines going through the canal. Thankfully, we had Mike and Teresa, friends of Mike and Kathleen. We’re happy to say we now call them our friends too. During the transit one of our advisors told us a story about hired line-handlers. They get paid by the day so after midnight its considered another day. A captain recently was put in jail for not paying the extra day. He said his contract was for the entire transit. Seems the courts here disagreed with him.
The United States tax payers built the canal and gave Panama their independence. Then President Jimmy Carter gave the canal back earlier than our contractual agreement – for free I might add. Well, they did pay a dollar for a crane we took from the Germans after WWII. The huge floating crane is used to lift the mammoth doors for the locks when they need maintenance. At one time, it was the largest crane in the world. The Germans used it to lift submarines out of the water during the war. So the Panamanians got a free canal, independence, and jobs for just about everyone in the country who wanted one. That should entitle all US citizens a free pass as far as I’m concerned. End of rant. But even though this all seems unrealistically expensive the other option is to sail around the tip of South America rounding Cape Horn. Not only is it in freezing, 40’ seas and 100 mile per hour winds regularly, most ships will sustain so much damage if they survive they would be worthless. Then the fact that you must sail thousands of miles just to get there and, well you get the picture.
So Roy came by and we filled out papers and signed contracts and of course counted out stacks of twenty dollar bills. Fees paid, now we wait 24-48 hours. In the mean time we still had money burning a hole in our pockets – not really – but we needed supplies; several months worth of provisions for the trip up the Central American Coast. So we headed to the Reys Supermarket. If you spend $400 on groceries they will deliver you and your groceries right to the yacht club. We had more than enough to meet that requirement. Once that was done we needed to take on 100 gallons of diesel fuel. We were now ready to go.
The following day about three in the afternoon we headed to the canal aboard Content leaving Silhouette tied to the dock. A thunderstorm was just beginning and lightning was cracking all around us. This passage requires two line-handlers on the bow and two on the stern of the boat plus the captain and the cook. That evening Kathleen made the best lasagna I have had in years…it was absolutely delicious. We had to wind our way through a half dozen very large ships and even past a few wrecked ones to get to the advisor pickup point. By the time we picked up the advisors it was pouring down rain and all of us were soaked to the bone.
We were center tied in the locks and squeezed in behind a huge ship. We had to go close to one side of the canal as their line-handlers on the wall threw us a line with a monkey fist attached. These are made from line wrapped around a lead weight. If they hit you, they could knock you out. Content’s solar panels were taken off the day before, just in case. Then Mike steered to the other side and picked up two more lines. Then we tied our lines on the ones they threw to us and sent them back up the walls of the lock. They threw a loop around a cleat on top and it was up to us to keep the lines tight and the boat in the center of the lock. The first three locks are up locks because the boat is raised up to the level of the lake at the top. This is done in three stages. The first time through we learned a lot! Basically we drove in, sent up lines, and waited.
The doors closed and water began flooding the chamber, swirling violently all around. As the depth of the water rose each line-handler took up slack. In about 20 minutes the bathtub filled. It was weird, looking over the edge of the huge doors that we were at the bottom of just a few minutes before. We could now see for miles looking over the doors at all the other ships sitting in the Caribbean Sea down below. Then the doors opened and the canal line-handlers picked up our lines from the cleats and walked with us as we moved forward. Three time we did this. After going through the third lock and entering Gatun Lake it was hard to believe how high we had risen from sea level. All that we had left to do that evening was motor a few miles to a large mooring buoy and tie up for the night.
The night on the lake was very peaceful and in the morning we heard cockatoos and howler monkeys. A pilot boat brought out our advisors and we headed for the next set of locks about 27 miles across the lake. Several times we had to go to the very edge of the channel in the lake to wait for a large container ship to pass. When they did, the whole boat tossed around like a toy, then after the wave went by it was calm again. By early afternoon we made it to the San Miguel locks on the Pacific side. It was pouring down rain again and flashing lightning all around. We were glad for the rain though because it was sweltering hot. Ninety degrees in the shade and Content had very little shade. The down locks were the reverse of what we went through the night before. Now we were up on top and they were draining water out of the locks. The walls got taller and taller as the water went down. We still had to keep centered in the lock but it was hard because of whirlpools. The boat wanted to swing towards the wall.
Mira Flores was the last set of locks. It has double sets of doors in case a big ship damages them. If they actually failed, it would drain the lake. The tidal wave would sink ships in the harbor and the canal would be useless for years while the rain filled the lake back up. When we made it through we all cheered and even popped a few bottles of champagne after we moored at Balboa Yacht Club. After 15 years, Mike and Kathleen had officially sailed all the way around the world. Wow, what an accomplishment. It was fun being onboard to celebrate such a monumental occasion.
The mooring we were given was close to the channel and was very rollie. Mike and Kathleen slept in their cockpit that night. Liana and I slept on the two settees in the salon. Mike and Theresa slept in the only bed on board in the fwd cabin. Plans had changed and Silhouette’s transit was pushed back a day so the van to take us back to Shelter Bay was delayed a day also. The second night in Balboa the rain bucketed down. Mike and Kathleen stayed out in the cockpit until they couldn’t stand it any more. Kathleen ended up sleeping on the galley floor and Mike took the port settee. Liana and I shared the other settee. That lasted until a wave rolled the boat and Liana about fell off. She decided to put cushions down in the salon and sleep there.
The mooring field is filled with big, loud personnel carriers. The engines roar to life with a cloud of smoke as they hit the throttle. All night long they roared past leaving us rolling. Their job is to go out to the supertanker anchorage, pick up passengers and deliver supplies like oil, food and parts.
By morning the four of us look like we were run over by a truck and Mike and Theresa got up all bright eyed and bushy tailed. By the time the van picked us up we’d all had too much coffee but we were feeling better. When we got back to Shelter Bay everyone got settled in to Silhouette for the next few days, each couple with their own bed. Mike and Theresa liked it so much they decided to stay a few more days so Mike and Kathleen could have their own bed on Content.
Letter to my Mom and Dad (edited):
Good Morning,
I started this letter a half a dozen times but life has been crazy the last couple of days. After our transit on Silhouette we pulled into Balboa Yacht Club and picked up a mooring. We have had Mike and Theresa living with us since before we went through the canal, along with Mike and Kathleen. Six people on board means a lot of things going on. We made it, Praise God! Thanks for all the prayers. We needed it.
Saturday we headed for the canal again, this time with Silhouette. We picked up our advisor around 1600 and were enroute to the first set of locks. A big bulk carrier tied up ahead of us in the canal and a big tug behind him. Then we were tied to Smooth Move, a Spencer 74′ custom 15 million dollar fishing boat. It was big and red and very, very shiny. It had two gigantic diesels you could water ski behind. This boat was for tournament fishing Blue Marlin. Another sailboat tied up to the other side of SM. As captain, I did not have to do a thing after we tied up. We only had one stern line to the canal so it was a free ride up and into Gatun Lake. Once out of the locks we parted ways and Smooth Move raced across the lake. Sailboats are not allowed to travel the lake at night so we rafted up on a superbuoy. A pilot boat came by to pick up our advisor.
We had another quiet sleep on the lake and we woke to a perfect sunrise. Two advisors showed up around 0800. They were the best advisors we had on all the trips. Harold gave us pop quizzes about the canal and lots of interesting facts and Jaime told us all kinds of trivia about the making of the canal. He has even written two books about it. The trip across the lake was slow at 4 knots because we had to wait for supertankers to make it through Galliard Cut before we could continue. It’s the narrowest part of the canal and there is not enough room for them and us, so we lazily spent the day going through the lake listening to canal facts and trivia.
Just as we were approaching the Pedro Miguel locks, the sky got black and then rain poured down with thunder and lightning all around. But it didn’t last for long. On this side of the lake we were rafted up to an Italian boat and an old steel tourist boat that was formally owned by Al Capone. This time we went into the locks ahead of a car carrier. Once the canal doors opened, we dropped lines, moved to the next lock and tied up again.
The only part that gave me concern was the last lock, Mira Flores. The incoming tide mixed with the outgoing water from the lock created whirlpool currents. One moment we’d be straight, the next second heading towards the wall. It was a couple minutes of oversteering each direction to compensate. But after that we were home free – almost. We had to outrun a supertanker coming out of the new locks. The advisors threw all navigation rules out the window and had me going 8.5 knots the wrong way in the traffic separation scheme. Kinda like going the wrong way up an off ramp on a freeway when you know a semi is coming. My charts all said we were going to run aground but because of some work just completed it was safe. According to my electronic charts we were driving on land, over docks, buoys and sand bars.The advisors had control of navigation but I was steering the boat. Harold kept saying… relax we’re fine… we actually were fine, but it didn’t feel fine.
We finally tie up and celebrated. Our section of the mooring field was much calmer than Content’s. The next day we played tourists. We shopped, rode a thirty cent chicken bus – one of the loud, colorful old school buses painted wildly. We eventually wound up at a nice restaurant and had a great dinner compliments of Mike and Theresa. We walked along the causeway, had ice cream cones and grabbed a ride back to the marina. We played Sequence – guys against the girls and they whooped our butts. Then we went to bed.
The next morning we got up and headed out to sea towards the Las Perlas Islands. We ended up anchored off a nude beach on Contadora Island….but that’s another story.