When we finally made the decision to get a date for the Panama Canal transit, the scheduler said: "Today....." and my heart seemed to stop beating. Until he continued "we don't have any slots" and I could almost breathe normally again. We could have gone through two days later, but I asked to be scheduled for Wednesday, 20. December 2006. Three days to find two more line handlers, buy polypropylene rope to hang the ten tires all around DHARMA BUM III, get the food shopping and preparation done, make space for all the people aboard, plus a multitude of smaller chores.
We agreed that all would go under the motto: LET'S PANIC!!!!
But somehow we stayed reasonably calm until just before and when the anchor came up without any major trouble, the line handlers and the advisor were on board, things were almost relaxed. One of the reason was the advisor Rick, of Chinese ancestry, and making a very competent impression right from the start. He explained everything beforehand, made drawings and asked questions to check that we understood. Helmut from Austria had gone before, while Darrel and Loretta Smith from the Privilege 37 catamaran CANKATA were as new to the canal as we were. Of course, it had become night by the time we took off. Normal for a transit from the Caribbean to the Pacific side.
First we waited for a cargo ship, but it came in so slow, that we went to the lock first. When the ship was in, we approached the starboard wall, picked up lines, repeated the procedure on the other wall and as soon as we were secured the bell rang, the gates closed and water began to pour in. The turbulences were impressive, but we were secured by our four heavy lines center-lock behind the freighter. It went as smooth as a commercial. The next two chambers were exactly the same and in no time at all we were in the Gatun lake, where Rick switched on his pocket-GPS and guided us to the huge mooring buoys.
The pilot-boat shone their big searchlights onto the buoys and Darrel jumped across to fasten our lines. Not as easy as it sounds, for although they are about three meters across, they are also covered with "Pelicanite" (guess what that is), which gets very slippery when wet and exudes fumes that make one wish for an oxygen-probe or at least a canary.
All went well and we had a nice dinner in the cockpit. Around midnight everybody was asleep.
At 5:30 the next morning, I went into the two engine rooms, to top up motor- and transmission-oil, check the belts and the water. Our speed in the canal was an average of 6.5 knots, but the Panama Canal Authority ACP insists that the boat must be able to make 8 knots when going full speed. An Irishman we met in Colon had to pay an extra US$ 850, as his boat was so slow that he couldn't transit the canal in the required time. I had no intention of emulating his experience.
About an hour later, an elderly advisor and a young trainee, both of African ancestry, jumped on board carrying with them all kinds of dirt on their shoes, for it had just rained heavily. The stench from the mooring buoy got almost overpowering. Unfortunately, things went steadily downhill from there. The trainee was polite and friendly, but whenever he gave me instructions, the advisor countermanded them. Rick had told us, that we should always stay inside the channel on the starboard side, as it was ACP policy that all vessels should pass port to port.
This new advisor, however, had us sometimes on the starboard side, sometimes on the port side and at other times completely out of the channel. He was fond of short-cuts and continually urged me to go at full speed, even when already inside the lock, only to say a second later that I should reverse. He was definitely getting on everybody's nerves, probably most on those of his trainee.
The trip through the lake was beautiful, as the drowned jungle with wisps of mist and cloud looked positively enchanted. We sighted one alligator, which swam close to shore and we really enjoyed that part of the passage through the canal.
At around 11:30 a.m. we arrived at the downhill locks with no other boat or ship in sight. To our great surprise, we didn't have to wait at all, but went through all alone, which didn't quite go as smoothly as with our previous advisor Rick. First, the new advisor wanted to persuade me to go down along the wall, which I refused. Fortunately the captain of a vessel has the final say in all these decisions. That didn't please the advisor and when we went in the lock, something didn't work out with the communication between advisor, trainee and the line handlers on shore. We were tied up at an awkward angle, so that I constantly had to reposition the boat with the help of my two 40 HP Volvo-Penta engines. Good to have in moments like that. When sailing, we don't use them at all, as the solar panels and the wind generator supply all the electricity we need.
While we were in the last lock and everybody was busy as hell, the advisor announced repeatedly - and with a louder voice each time - that it was time to eat and created quite unnecessary stress that way. Needless to say, he ate at least twice the amount of his trainee or anybody else on board.
Still, we made it to the Pacific without mishap and by 2:00 p.m. we dropped anchor behind Flamenco Island. You can't believe how happy we were to be back in the Pacific one more. The change was almost startling. Not only are the tides extremely high on this side, but when you look at Panama City with its skyscrapers, wide avenues, trees and parks, you can't quite believe that it belongs to the same country as slum-like and outright dangerous Colon.
After a couple of days, we re-anchored on the other side of the causeway, because it is a lot more protected. Also there are a lot more boats at La Playita de Amador. Here we ran into Dennis and Linda from DREAM MAKER, who are taking care of our sails which got badly damaged in the storm off Colombia.
We made a trip to the Balboa Yacht Club, which is booked out for two weeks and were put on a waiting list. While Dennis, Liping and Aurora Ulani went food shopping at the local REY Supermercado, I talked to my family back in Flensburg. They had already started on their Christmas dinner.
When it was dark, Santa Claus came to DHARMA BUM III as well. Aurora Ulani ripped off the gift wrapping from her bicycle - she is riding it in the spacious cockpit right now - and the brown furry rabbit, the boat got a foresail made of Mylar, Liping got a nice dinner ashore and I finally got a speargun. Karl and the delicious dinners of Big Eye had convinced us, that a speargun was not only a necessary survival-tool, but helps to enrich the food supply considerably.
So we made Christmas in the Pacific after all and if we get the visa for French Polynesia in reasonable time, we can soon take off for the Marquesas and the South Seas. We really are looking forward to that trip!
Latitude: 08°54.61'N Longitude: 079°31.54'W
