Here’s a couple of videos from the canal passage!
This blog was written by David Tranter who is sailing with us to Galapagos with Sue his wife. It is unabridged and unedited!
After one day of shore mains power so air conditioning on the boat at Shelter Bay Marina we left to start our transit of the Canal around 4pm 11 Feb. Yachts go though rafted up, i.e. usually three boats fastened together with two line handlers on each of the outer boats to make sure there’s no colliding with the lock!
We started off like that as we approached the lock with our pilot on board, then a change of plan and we went through the first flight of three locks, going up around 85 ft in total, alongside an old tourist boat, allegedly once owned by Al Capone! By then it was dark and we made our way a little distance down the lake which follows onto a big mooring buoy along with other yachts in the vicinity.
At 5.30 the next morning we were up to wait for our next pilot – who arrived an hour later. Meanwhile we had listened to howler monkeys a really scary sound – and watched the dawn. Then off down the lake through rain forests and Jungle which then turns
in the the canal channel. Very odd to be going down an inland lake with huge container ships going the other way.
Around midday we came to the next sets of locks – a pair followed by a single lock a mile later then out into the Pacific having been rafted up with two other boats through the locks. Overall an amazing experience. Thanks to the intervention of our pilot we managed to get onto a mooring buoy – i.e. we’re fastened on to a concrete block on the sea bed – in a small marina. So much better than an anchor, when you always have the slight worry that it might drag.
We’re right next to the shipping channel so there is a steady procession of huge commercial vessels only a few feet away, plus the odd cruise ship. Most make very little wash – just occasionally something goes bump in the night!
Our arrival co-incided with Carnival so we went to see what happens on a couple of nights. Saturday was the start and was really quite low key but by Tuesday evening there was much more on the go – quite a few floats, marching bands, loads of people dancing in the main street – Via Espana – everyone throwing confetti, consisting of hole punch roundels – which, when you’re hot
and sticky – which is all the time in this climate – sticks to you like nothing! Also aerosols of foam and other stuff, loads of things to eat and
drink – copious beer stalls – 75c per can – we left before it got too rowdy – which it inevitably was going to! So different to how any such an event would happen in the UK – imagine a street for a parade with floats etc with no crash barriers to keep people of the actual street!
Other things we’ve done while we’ve been here include the inevitable jobs to do with a boat which is going long distances – provisioning – in a mega way – the next chance will probably be in Fiji so every possible space is going to end up full of bottles, tins, packets and cartons – enough to feed a family of four which has currently grown to six, will go up to seven then to five over the next 2-3 months. Also there have been things to mend and get mended – including sails and cleaning and maintenance which can only really be done when close to major facilities and a marina – again the next real chance for this will be when the boat reaches Australia, which will be July
Even a chance to have showers and do washing on shore. Although there are these facilities on board – even a washing machine – it’s easier than at sea when we are reliant on a watermaker/desalinator plant (made in Romsey)
We have however managed to see some of the sights in and around Panama City – a city of tremendous contrasts – an amazing cityscape to rival New York and Chicago – but significant slum dwellings but a number of shopping malls to rival those we’ve seen in California. We visited the old town- a combination of old colonial buildings and squares, some urban regeneration and slums, various waterfront locations, the Smithsonian Marine Institute, a huge Metropolitan Park – which is basically a rain forest close to the city centre with trails running through. We also had an excursion to a rain forest resort in the middle of the isthmus – a ride in a cable car at rooftop height through the forest – lake beside the Chagres river, close by crocodiles and turtles.
We’ve seen a range of other different wild-life, though you have to either be up early or around at dusk to see much. We have however seen howler monkeys, sloths, iguanas, a porcupine, many butterflies and birds as well as the varied fauna of the rain forests. It’s nearing the beginning of the rainy season, which starts in about six weeks time. Despite this everywhere is still surprisingly green.
We plan to leave here on Tuesday after yet more provisioning, taking on as much water and fuel as possible, then to the Las Perlas islands – for something completely different – very few are inhabited and hopefully it’ll be blue seas and beautiful scenery – then off to the Galapagos reaching there around 9 March.
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