TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

During the last week we gathered that the weather had been pretty cold or disturbed all along the western coast of the North Atlantic, with very cold weather in the eastern USA and stormy conditions through the Caribbean. Not only was the rainfall in Central Panama so high that the Panama Canal had to be closed for a day (just as Sea Parents was about to cross) but people died in Portobello and in the Darien as a result of flooding and landslides. One carriageway of the road at the east end of the relatively new Centennial bridge over the Panama Canal collapsed, which subsequently caused traffic chaos with a doubling of the number of vehicles at the Bridge of the Americas in Panama City (the only other permanent bridge over the canal). And all of this in a country used to very wet periods.

It took several days for the backlog of vessels to be dealt with on The Canal so Sea Parents were stalled from a Saturday transit to Sunday. Although Troy and Brady were anxious to get going, none of us was too sorry not to be crossing when the winds were constantly 20 knots with gusts up to 30 knots. Although these are not alarmingly strong winds, about four days of them without much rest becomes tiring at anchor especially when you are reluctant the leave the boat for fear someone will drag into you. During this time we got to meet some new neighbors (who we were glad had held firm on their anchor just upwind of us), a British couple, Dave and Kathy, on a 50ft wooden boat with another British couple for crew. Kathy had worked for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and they had been conducting sea-bird surveys during their passage through the eastern Caribbean so we were fascinated with their stories.

Finally, the weather looked pretty good for a few days and Sea Parents were told to meet their advisor at 7:30 am on Sunday so Randall, Mike (from “This side up”), and I joined them, leaving Greg to keep an eye on our boats at anchor. After picking up Advisor Roy, we slowly motored up the channel to the first locks where we tied up to the side of a day-trip sight-seeing boat. Behind us was a luxury, motor-catamaran which appeared to carry about 50 people on cruises around Panama. And that was it, just us and no big ship. We were the last up-lockage of the morning and everything went very smoothly. One of our stern lines missed the crew member on the tour-boat so we re-threw it to a rather surprised passenger who then passed it to the crew member but we considered that it made a good story for the passenger. The second throw was made quickly before our stern could swing too far away (á la Tuwawi) but it turned out that with twin engines, the stern of Troy’s catamaran could have easily been motored back alongside the tour-boat.

The twin engines gave Troy great maneuverability in the locks but were not very powerful, so our transit into the wind to get across the lake to Gatun locks took several hours. We did not arrive at the moorings until 5 pm and by then our advisor although cheerful was ready to go home. Somewhat to our surprise, we were not scheduled to go down until the next day so we needed to be safe on the mooring for the night. Unfortunately, the cruise-boat catamaran had tied up between the two moorings and had put out a forward anchor so we were in jeopardy of swinging into it during the night. After repeated requests to see the Captain, a grumpy man came to talk to Troy and said that he was where his pilot had told him to stay (despite the fact that all our advisors had said that a boat of that size should have anchored instead). The lake is 80 ft deep with many old tree stumps underwater so it is not a good place for small yachts to try to anchor. In his frustration, Troy said that he was going to call the Canal Authorities to complain and he proceeded to call on the radio and then by phone. Almost immediately, the cruise-boat moved away and anchored elsewhere, and shortly afterwards another sailboat appeared and tied up to the vacated mooring, safely away from us. The catamaran probably moved on seeing the other sailboat approach but we hoped that we would not have to lock-down next to them the following day.

All of Monday morning we awaited news of when we would go down and the arrival time of our advisors kept getting pushed back. We watched with some frustration as several ships that looked short enough for us to share the locks with them went ahead. We played Pictionary and numerous other games with the girls, who taught me at least three new card games. In the end the advisors arrived at 5 pm and it was the two Francisco’s. The younger one had briefly been on Sea Parents on Wednesday morning (before The Canal was closed) so he was happy to be back (he was a tug-boat captain, training to become an advisor…although he only looked about 17). The other Francisco was the first advisor we had had for our up-lockage on Tregoning back in January although he clearly did not recognize Randall with his Christmas beard.

We were finally given the go-ahead in the last down-lockage of the day, learning that we could not go with the preceding ships as they were carrying dangerous cargoes (fuel, chemicals, explosives, etc.). Our descent went very smoothly and we were center-chamber in front of two tugs and a grain-hauling ship. This meant that all four line-handlers had to work their lines but it was relatively easy once our heavy lines had been attached to the monkey-fisted, light lines that the shore-side line-handlers threw to us. My only problem was that I needed help to cleat off my line in the very last chamber when the two tugs came particularly close and were throwing a huge wake at my stern side of Sea Parents causing more tension on my line than I could hold. Otherwise it was fairly simple to ease the lines out as the water level fell and to pull the lines back and forth as the shore-side line-handlers walked from one chamber to the next.

It was dark and rained on and off throughout our descent and by the time we reached the bottom the wind was howling around 30 knots straight towards us. With good-sized chop building up in the harbor it was very slow progress to get to the Flats anchorage to drop off the advisors. It then took over an hour to beat around the north side of Colón to get to the small anchorage near Club Nautico where Troy wanted to drop-off us and his rented lines. When we arrived we found that the small area that was sheltered by a mini-breakwater and could comfortably hold four or five boats already had nine sailboats and two tugs in it. After much debate, Troy anchored on the outside edge of the group just in front of the tugs and right on the edge of the marked channel to the cruise-ship terminal. If the wind stayed blowing the same direction all night we would be fine but if it changed much or stopped there was a risk we would swing into the channel and would have to move.

It was just after 9 pm by the time we anchored and everyone was exhausted so we all soon went to bed. The full transit had taken more than 36 hours. Troy did not get much sleep as the wind and waves pounded all night and one of the tugs, whose anchor was very close to us, moved with much commotion but luckily all was well by morning. In the morning light we could see the inner side of the main harbor breakwater about a mile away and waves were regularly breaking over it (not just up against it but over it) so Sea Parents had no plans to leave Colón until that settled down.

We had not expected to spend a second night onboard but even if we had been able to catch the last bus to Panama City at 10 pm there would have been no way to get back to our boats without calling Danny to pick us up at mid-night. Thus, we got the 7:30 am bus on Tuesday and arrived back at the anchorage around 10 am. Mike was fully relaxed about our delayed return but time was a bit more pressing for Randall and me as we had to move Tregoning from the anchorage to La Playita marina for a couple of nights, do laundry, and get the boat tidied up before Martha arrived that evening. We were also expecting to turn around and the three of us join Greg and Debby who were to be assisting Danny for his transit on Paula Jean. He was planning to leave early on Wednesday morning.

Luckily for us, Danny did not want to cross while the winds were so strong so he delayed his transit until Friday. He had got other two people who were interested in line-handling if Randall and I had had enough but Martha seemed keen of the opportunity to make the passage with us. As it was, I was thwarted by a lack of water when I tried to use the laundry facilities on Tuesday afternoon so I had to quickly hand-wash the sheets and towels for Martha and let them flap dry without any sun on the boat. But the necessary things were done in time and since Martha’s flight was an hour late, I was actually starting to worry that she and Randall (who had gone with Alberto to meet her at the airport) had been locked out of the marina by the time they eventually arrived.

We enjoyed our couple of nights in the La Playita marina (filled up with water, charged the batteries, enjoyed using toilets without pumps, and indoor showers) and then returned to the anchorage on Thursday afternoon. At $1.50 a foot (plus electricity) it was not too expensive although we did have to pay $25 for a quarantine inspection (the leaves on our one house-plant were inspected for insects) because we were tied up to the shore and not at anchor. Randall and Martha visited the Miraflores Locks and Casco Viejo while I got the rest of the laundry done and worked on various baking projects.

On Friday (Dec 17^th) Danny picked us up at the civilized hour of 7 am and we met our advisors at the mouth of the Canal channel an hour or so later. I thought that his Catalina 42 would seem a bit crowded with the three of us, Greg and Debby, Danny, and two advisors but we were all comfortable and for a change the weather was absolutely perfect. One of the advisors was Francisco on his second advisor-in-training transit (having had his first with us and Sea Parents at the Gatun locks) and the other, Edwin, was also very relaxed and friendly.

We went through the up-locks behind three power-boats including a small training ship that gives Panamanians from other parts of the county a brief tour of The Canal. We were center-chamber with Randall and I on the bow lines and everything went very smoothly. There was a strong head-wind so we were rather slow in getting to the locks and across the lake to Gatun but it was a most enjoyable day and we did not have to drive any over-sized boats away from the moorings.

After a peaceful night we waited until 11 am for our new advisors who were Ruben (who just sat and read his book trying to be inconspicuous but ready in case a problem arose) and Francisco who was fully in charge on his third and final transit as advisor-in-training. He did an excellent job but was, understandably much more serious and focused than before during our center-chamber descent in front of a huge bulk-cargo ship. The rain almost held off until we were out of the last chamber but apart from that it was the smoothest and most pleasant conditions we had experienced during our four transits. Going center-chamber may have entailed more work overall for the line-handlers but we found that it was generally much less stressful than being dependent upon tying up to another vessel.

After bidding Danny a fond farewell at Club Nautico (from which we think Sea Parents and most of the rest of the crowd had left on Friday) we had a very straightforward trip back to Las Brisas by bus and taxi where we found all was well on our boats. So having had to listen to all our stories of near disasters or unpleasant, drawn-out conditions on our previous transits, Danny had the smoothest and most relaxed crossing of all, and Martha had a wonderful experience that few visitors to Panama can enjoy without great expense.

Having stocked-up at the grocery store on Sunday afternoon, the winds look promising for a sail out to Las Perlas tomorrow (Tuesday). Greg and Debby will be there also so we are looking forward to a more peaceful spell over the holiday weekend. We will return to Panama City in time for New Year (when we expect to see lots of fireworks) as Martha’s return flight is on Dec 28^th. We really hope that the weather is better for Martha’s trip to Las Perlas than it was for Sue’s visit. So far, it has been pretty good with some stiff winds but also some sunny skies.

Once in Las Perlas our blog and internet access will be limited. So if I do not manage another blog entry before Dec 25^th…and especially if my Christmas emails end up being sent after the event…let us wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, or other Jolly Holidays, and a Happy New Year!