Through the Panama Canal on a Sailboat

Our sailing friends, Gaston and Gloria, invited us to crew on their sailboat as it cruised through the Panama Canal. We accepted and flew to Panama City late February, 2008. We boarded La Danseuse, Gaston and Gloria's 46 foot aluminum sailboat, on a sunny Monday morning. We met Oscar and Define, who had also specifically flown to Panama, in their case from Miami, to crew for this historic crossing. Our international crew (Mexican-American, Cuban-Canadian, Cuban-American, French and us) seldom settled into any one language, instead we comfortably commingled English and Spanish with splatterings of French.

The anchored La Danseuse bobbed up and down in the open bay of the Panama Canal Yacht Club in Colon, Panama. On Monday we mostly hung out at the club, and only ventured into the dangerous port town of Colon to buy groceries or run urgent errands.

Tuesday morning, after a leisurely early morning breakfast and refreshing swim in the bay, our crew completed the preparations for the crossing. This included receiving deliveries of especially thick, strong, 125 foot lines (ropes for us non-sailors) and ten old tires (no, not to roll on but to hang around the boat for protection.) All would be needed to transverse the 6 locks, 3 lifting us up to Lake Gatun and, once across the lake, 3 more locks to drop us back down to the Pacific Ocean.

Paul carefully studied the material Gloria gave him about the crew´s responsibilities during the crossing. The main risk was in the locks. If the lines fail, come untied, slip off, or otherwise free up the boats while water is entering or leaving the locks, the boats could get smashed into the lock walls. Our captain and crew had to be alert, strong and capable. Paul passed muster by quickly tying the essential knot, a bowline.

Crossing regulations require that a boat be ready to sail at least two hours before the official advisor boards. He boards about two hours before the boat is scheduled to enter the locks. We met the schedule which allowed us a couple of hours (4 to 6pm) to relax. Gaston took a catnap figuring, correctly so, that he had a long, intense evening ahead. Gaston would be working closely with advisor-pilots and at least one other sailboat captain.

Edwin, our advisor, boarded around 7pm. As we motored to the entrance of the locks, we served him and our crew a tasty dinner of roasted chicken, black beans and Greek salad. No fine wine, in fact, no alcohol was allowed during the crossing.

Just outside of the first lock we nestled next to a similar sized sailboat. For our crossing there would be three sailboats bound together like one big raft. The French captain of the center boat had charge of maneuvering us all through the locks.  The French captain spoke good English, but he and Gaston worked comfortably together mostly in French. The third sailboat, the Pegasus, was owned and operated by Brits whom Gaston and Gloria had previously met in another port. All three crews were anxiously ready for the crossing to begin.

We waited. And waited. We were scheduled to enter the first lock at 8pm. After passing through three locks we would anchor for the night in Gatun Lake. We were looking forward to our 10ish arrival, giving us time to celebrate and bathe in the fresh water lake followed by a good night´s sleep.

Well, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

We waited and waited some more. We saw no boats either coming or going. Finally around 12:30am our adventure began.

It was pitch dark as our elegant raft of three sailboats motored into the first lock. We tucked in behind a not-too-large Hong Kong registered container ship. Our crews set up to secure the boats in the center of the lock. Four Panamanian shore linesmen tossed fist-sized lead weights attached to heavy twine to our linesmen. Our capable crew knotted our lines to the twine lines and the Panamanians hauled the lines upward to the canal wall and wrapped them around bollards.

Secured in the locks, the massive lock doors slowly closed. Water poured into the lock and our linesmen pulled in the lines when they seemed loose. We were gently lifted up about 30 feet in about seven minutes. Remarkable. The lock linesmen released our lines. We readied to motor into the second lock. Train locomotives pull the mega ships from lock to lock. When the locomotives need more power, the ships turn on their motors or even just the movement forward can create turbulence for smaller boats from the large ship propellers. We prepared for the turbulence but luckily we had calm waters. We were grateful. Whew. First lock transversed perfectly.

Lock number two....same-same. Lock number three...we were experts by now. Of course each lock took a good long time from start to finish. After leaving the third lock, the sailboats separated from one another. We headed a little ways into the lake and finally anchored at 3ish in the morning. We bid Edwin good by. Our crew celebrated our success with a nightcap and at 4am dropped dead tired into bed.

As daybreak shimmered on the calm Lake Gatun waters, our next advisor, Ernesto, clamored onto La Danseuse. Ernesto, overly proud, boasted that we just might be talking to a future Panamanian President. Him. We respectfully acknowledged him, we had read the importance of treating the advisers well! However our focus was on pulling up anchor and waking ourselves up with a strong, hot cup of coffee.

Anchor up, we crossed the lake, about 30 miles, to our next destination, the series of locks which would drop us into the Pacific. Rather than motor directly across, Ernesto guided La Danseuse through the ¨Banana Cut¨. This short-cut gave us a close-up view of the lush, Panamanian tropical forests.

We arrived at the locks in plenty of time for our noon appointment. We greeted our sailing companions and recreated the wide, stable raft. Our sailing raft motored to the front of the locks. Our crews secured us to the center of the canal. This time our crew would be letting out line as water emptied out of the locks. Ready to go, we waited. And waited.

Two three-story tourist passenger ferries would share the locks with us. Due to traffic jams the bused tourists arrived late. The whole system shut down to accommodate the late ferries. Incredible.

Once the ferry boats finished tying their lines to the lock walls, the daunting heavy steel doors closed behind us. As the water rushed out we observed the container ship in the neighboring lock rise. He was headed north, to the Atlantic. The Panama Canal runs North and South!

Our awesome decent began around one in the afternoon. Our linesmen did a great job releasing our lines as our boat dropped about 25 feet. The lock doors slowly parted and tucked into the lock walls. We motored in the Miraflores lock. We waved at the tourists in the multistory observation tower and we waved at the online cameras. Cameras film all ships passing through the Miraflores lock. Anyone can watch in real time, we were told, but I have had no luck watching ships being raised or lowered in the lock on the Internet. To see an accelerated version of ships going through the locks click on: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/232538/accelerated_webcam_miraflores_lock_panama_canal/

We entered the last lock. We dropped to sea level in seven minutes. Once again we thrilled at the opening of the majestic lock doors. We glided into the calm, Pacific Ocean waters. The tourist boats announced to their passengers the opportunity to buy a certificate authenticating their historic passage. Yes, certainly a memorable moment. I marveled and felt grateful for my good fortune to be included in our friend´s grand sailing adventure through the Panama Canal on February 27, 2008!

love, Vicki