Shelter Bay Part 2 & Panama Canal Transit

Not a Howler monkey, but a Capucin I believe

We left the howler monkeys of Shelter Bay last Thursday to make our transit of the Panama Canal. We had spent about a week and a half there getting Brio ready for the next leg of her journey and doing the administration required for the Canal transit. The marina at Shelter Bay is a very comfortable place to be – the restaurant has excellent food at equally excellent prices, there is a very good grocery shop there, they have a swimming pool (which unfortunately we didn’t have time to use) and the marina is bordered by national park. We met some wonderful people during our stay there and the place is teeming with Aussies making the trek back home.

We had Brio hauled out so we could clean and antifoul her bottom and do some other ‘out-of-the-water’ jobs including the biggest head job I’ve done in my life. For those not familiar with nautical terms, the head is the toilet, so I will spare you the details of what the job actually involved.

To transit the Panama Canal several things are required: first you need to hand over your wallet! We used an agent, Erick, to make our transit arrangements which felt worth it to us so we didn’t have to run around to the various offices getting bits of paper copied, stamped and signed. They just love paperwork in Panama! Every boat needs to have a Skipper and four line handlers. John, our Canadian friend, and I (Louise) were two and we had a German couple with us as our other two line handlers. Dani and Jens had left their yacht in Cartegena, Columbia while waiting for a new tiller pilot to arrive and were seeking a transit to get some practice before they transit themselves. They were really great and it was a pleasure to have them aboard.

I (Louise) did a transit as a line handler with another boat a few days before we did our own transit. This is recommended and I found it really beneficial to do. I went aboard Cornelia that is skippered by a lovely young Dutchman Marc, and his girlfriend Vanessa. Marc casually mentioned that when he was 28 he decided he wanted to do something ‘a bit special’ so he circumnavigated the globe solo, non-stop in Cornelia. It took him 7 ½ months. That’s what I call a bit special!

Every Canal transit is different it seems. Whether you raft up with other yachts in a lock, hug a sidewall or get put next to a huge sports fishing boat depends as much on the speed of your boat, as it does  the weather and the frame of mind of your Advisor! Our transit began with us motoring from Shelter Bay Marina across the channel to an area called The Flats to wait for our Advisor to board. Every boat transiting the Canal must have an Advisor on board. Advisors know the Canal and lock procedures intimately. They issue instructions to the skipper and line handlers to ensure we manoeuvre correctly and quickly. Our Advisor (another Ivan!) boarded at 4.15pm and we upped anchor and motored off towards the Gatun locks – a series of 3 locks through which we would rise up 26 metres - about 2 miles away. Two other yachts followed us and we had a huge refrigerated cargo ship in front and other huge ships coming up behind. There is a constant stream of traffic in the Canal.

Waiting to go into the Gatun Locks

We had quite a long wait before we could enter the locks which meant we had to keep motoring around in circles to make sure that we didn’t get ahead of the carrier in front of us. There is quite a current there and we had a breeze blowing from behind. It was a bonus to spot a crocodile on the shore. Finally we were instructed to raft up with the other two yachts – Brio on the port side, an enormous French catamaran in the middle and a large monohull on the starboard side. For protection (from each other and the lock walls) we all had a dozen or more car tyres hanging against our hulls as well as our own fenders. It all happens very quickly in the lock with men high up on the wall throwing lines down to our boat which we, the line handlers have to attach to our lines so they can be hoisted back up and placed on bollards. Then the gates closed behind us and the water started swelling in. Ivan was constantly instructed to motor forward and reverse in order to keep our raft of yachts straight while we line handlers had to bring in the lines as they slackened. All went well for the 3 locks.

We then motored as fast as our little Brio could across the 38 km (20 nm) of the man made Gatun Lake. By this time it was well and truly dark so mostly what we saw was a very pretty row of red and green lights marking the channel, and the occasional eerie looming black mass of a ship passing us. Yacht transits in the Canal have recently changed, so rather than spending the night moored in the Lake and then descending the locks into the Pacific the next day, pleasure craft are now required to complete the transit all in one go. It certainly takes the tourism element out of the transit as we don’t get to see the famed forests, sloths, birds and crocodiles of the Lake. On the plus side though, it’s not hot - a very good thing for Brio as our shade arrangements are not the best.

Well wouldn't we all love that!

The Lake narrows into the Culebra (or Gaillard) Cut; arguably the most well known part of the Canal due to its black history of deaths through landslides and other accidents, malaria and yellow fever while its 14km (7 nm) length was being cut. Transiting here we passed a number of dredges in operation and caught glimpses of work proceeding on the excavation of the new Canal. At this point we knew we were going to be able to complete our transit (and not have to stay the night in the Lake and be fined a huge amount for doing so) because there was a bulk carrier somewhere behind us that we could go through the descending locks with. Being a relatively small vessel with a small engine, the other yachts had left us for dead in the Lake and we therefore needed to make sure there was at least one other vessel that we could go through the locks with as the canal authority will not open the locks for pleasure craft only.

entering the Miraflores Locks

We entered the Pedro Miguel Lock ahead of the dry bulk carrier Sujitra Naree. As we were the only other vessel in this and the next 2 locks apart from the Sujitra Maree, we did what they call a ‘centre chamber’ which as you might imagine is where we are attached by all four of our lines to the lock sides so that we descended each lock in the centre of the lock chamber. We descended the 9 metres of the Pedro Miguel Lock and motored the mile or so to the Miraflores Locks. All went relatively smoothly apart from the last lock, known for its strong currents as the fresh water of the canal mixes with the salt water of the Pacific. John and I were at the bow dealing with our lines so we missed seeing the events that led up to Brio skewing to one side and thumping her starboard stern against the lock wall. According to skipper Ivan what happened was that the man on the stern port side of the wall was too slow to throw us his rope to attach to our line and then when he drew our line back to himself he attached it to the wrong bollard. Because the line was too slack there the currents pushed Brio to the side and her stern connected with the wall. The only damage done was some paint removal and once again we knew there was a good reason Ivan had insisted he wanted a steel boat.

Where will John fit on Sapphire all the new gear he bought?

On exiting the last lock we did the fastest speed we had done all night due to the strong current – 8kts – for a couple of hundred metres anyway! It was then another hour or so of motoring, passing under the beautifully named Bridge of the Americas (which looks like a mini Sydney Harbour Bridge), before Ivan our advisor was spirited away by a speedy pilot boat and we finally dropped anchor at La Playita anchorage. It was 4.15am, exactly 12 hours since our transit began (or 15 if you want to count from when we left Shelter Bay Marina). We had a quick toast to the transit/canal/Pacific/good teamwork and great line handlers and then got some much needed shut eye.

John has now gone back to Sapphire in the San Blas Islands and Daniel, Ivan's son, has joined us for the trip to the Galapagos Islands.

Shelter Bay

We bid a fond farewell to our friends and helpers at Marina Carenero on Saturday afternoon, leaving somewhat later than we had anticipated as we discovered the engine's alternator had seized and needed replacing. Not a huge problem as we had a spare alternator available, but a hot and sweaty job for Ivan as access to our engine is verrrry squeezy. Anyway, a few hours and many curses later we were on our way.

Leaving Marina Carenero, Bocas del Toro

We hadn't planned on going too far anyway, just a little closer to the open sea to be able to leave reasonably early the next morning. We motored over to Isla Bastimentos and spent the night anchored off the village there. For dinner we hiked up the hill by torchlight to the Thai restaurant only to find they were ully booked. So we hiked back down the (very muddy) hill and ate in Ca Venice, a place that focussed on Italian style food because that's where the proprietors are from.

We left Isla Bastimentos at around 9.30am the following morning heading towards Shelter Bay at the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal. We had a "jolly lively time of it" as Dick from the Famous Five might say as the winds were fair and there was a bit of swell. I think we were averaging 6 knots over the 130 mile passage. We arrived at Shelter Bay somewhat bleary eyed as we had to hand steer all the way because the tiller pilot and the wind moitor both decided not to work.

Tomorrow we haul Brio out of the water to remove the seafood salad that has grown on her in the past 6 months, put a new coat of anti-foul on her and do a few other out-of-the-water jobs.

Back to Bocas

Well it's been a long time between posts, but as most of you know anyway, we have been back home in Australia enjoying the summer with family and friends. It all went too quickly and now here we are again in Bocas del Toro aboard Brio.

John & Marilyn with Cole and Huck the dog

We arrived here a week ago, having spent a lovely few days on the way over with our friends John and Marilyn who live in Los Angeles. As always, they were incredibly welcoming and we were lucky enough to be with them while they were babysitting their grandson, Cole, for a few days. He is just a magic little bundle of energy and laughs.

We arrived at Marina Carenero in Bocas just as the weekly 'pot luck' was happening (this is the saturday night communal dinner for people staying at the marina where everybody brings a dish to share). It didn't matter that we had just stepped off the plane and had nothing to offer, we were made to feel extremely welcome and got to say hello again to some folk who were here when we left 6 months ago, and got to meet lots of new people too. Since then, our Canadian friend John has joined us and we have been working at getting the boat ready to sail over to Shelter Bay marina at the Carribean entrance of the Panama Canal. Brio seems to have sat contentedly in her berth while we were away, so most of the work has been trying to remember what sails and sheets go where...oh and the small matter of evicting a few pets (weevils!).

John hamming it up in the main st of Bocas

The weather during the past week has been unseasonally wet and windy so no boats have been moving anywhere, but it looks like there is a break in it and we may even be able to get going tomorrow.

Our little dinghy finally has her name 'Miss Allie' put on