How transiting the Panama Canal is getting easier

Transiting the Panama canal was an epic milestone for Andy and Julie Pag. It required practical seamanship, bureaucratic navigation and help from onboard guests

The journey started two months before our transit date, logging on to the website of the canal’s Small Craft Service, ASEM, to register the boat and request a transit date. I wanted to be sure we reserved a specific date as we had guests joining us for the transit and their schedule didn’t give us much flexibility.

The website requires you to upload photos of your boat from various angles. It’s glitchy and slow, and I had to make a few calls to the helpline to get it to work. In some ways, the site was harder to navigate than the canal itself.

In the past, the only option to pay for the trip was depositing a chunk of cash at a bank in a sketchy neighborhood of Colón, with expensive ATM fees. It is now possible to do it by bank transfer, but because many retail banks have restrictions on sending money to Panama, ASEM provides details for a bouncing money transfer which routes money via New York.

I found a simpler and cheaper way was to use my Wise account, an online bank and exchange service, that can transfer cash directly to the Panamanian account. ASEM doesn’t publish the full details of this account, and getting it took a few more calls.

The cost of the transit is just over $3,000 USD for any boat under 65ft. However, you get about $1,000 back two months later if you don’t cause any delays or need assistance in the canal.

The new system means there’s very little reason to use an agent anymore. Once paid up, we uploaded the receipt to the website and the next day called the scheduling department to confirm our date.

Ready and waiting

A few days before the transit, we arrived in Shelter Bay Marina to prep for the journey.

There’s an anchorage just outside called The Flats, but in practical terms, the marina charges so much for mooring a dinghy and picking up passengers that it’s a false economy not to come in for at least one or two days despite their high prices.

There’s a fantastic WhatsApp group managed by a couple of long-stay residents. Useful items are advertised, usually at bargain prices, and a wealth of great information is shared on where to source everything from flares to flags to fridges.

Cruisers also organise a weekly barbecue and evening sundowners. The marina is set in the forest and bathed with the sound of howler monkeys and birdsong. One of the security guards, Carlos, runs a guided nature walk where it’s not unusual to see sloths.

However, it’s far from anywhere, so there’s a twice-daily, free shuttle bus into Colón, and this was our chance to do a big provisioning run for the Pacific transit.

The water and electricity at the marina were irregular, and I heard complaints about bad fuel, both diesel and petrol, from the fuel dock. As you’ll need fuel to motor for about 15 hours through the canal, it’s good to plan ahead.

The other thing we needed to pick up were lines and fenders. ASEM stipulates that each boat needs four hefty lines of a given length and diameter. We rented these along with four large fenders from one of the agents. Stanley delivered them to our boat in the marina, and they were easy to drop off at Playita Marina the day after our transit.

You also need four line handlers to manage the lines as the boat rises and falls in the locks, but two days before they were due to join us, the Campbell family was snowed in with canceled flights from the US.

They were able to rebook, arriving 24 hours late. I called the canal scheduler and was amazed to find that not only was there space on the next day, but we would be the only boat on that day. January is typically the high season for yacht transits.

Boats usually go through in pairs or trios, rafted together. Ironically, the other two boats due to raft with us on the 18th also rescheduled for different reasons. Being alone in the lock presented a new problem. Rafted boats only need two active line handlers each, and a boat in the middle of the raft doesn’t need any. I’d counted on only needing two active line handlers, but now we’d need four.

Using the WhatsApp group, I was able to find a dock-walker, Lorena, to join us, and Melvin from the Campbell family eagerly volunteered to do the fourth corner, notwithstanding his 75 years and slender frame. Other skippers from the WhatsApp group often make willing volunteers too, as it’s a good way for them to prepare for the transit with their own boat.

Making a start

The day before the transit, the scheduler confirmed we’d be on a two-day passage, spending one night in the lake tied up to a buoy just after the Gatun locks. Sometimes boats are sent through in one day with a 0400 start.

We met Eduardo, our adviser, whose role is like a pilot for yachts. As we motored under the Atlantic Bridge towards the locks, we could see the Barrington Island, a refrigerated container ship, hauling up its anchor and starting its turn into the channel behind us.

This would be our first lock buddy in the three consecutive locks up to Gatun Lake. We slid over to the side of the channel as 600ft of steel hull glided past us and was maneuvered by a tug into the lock ahead of us. As we followed it in, two canal workers from either side launched thin lines to us propelled by monkey fists as hard as cricket balls.

I’d covered the solar panels with a spare mattress to protect them, and we signaled for them to throw to the front of the boat. I saw a large target wall used by them to practice their throws, but despite this, their lines went everywhere and almost broke a hatch.

The next day, one guy managed to miss the boat completely to the howls of laughter from his colleagues, even though I’d motored over to his side of the lock to make his throw easier. Our line handlers tied Stanley’s thick blue ropes on with recently learned bowlines, and the workers pulled them up and fastened them to the high dock wall.

As the water level rose, their job was to pull in the lines to keep the boat central. It’s an easy task with just the width of one boat to manage, but with a raft of three, it’s important to watch the line on the opposite side and work in tandem. The water level rises slowly at first as it equalizes with its counter-lock and then faster as it floods from the lake, but the whole process is leisurely.

It was dark by the time we exited the first three locks into the lake. This is the highest our boat has ever been. Eduardo guided us to the buoy and organized the fenders and lines for the side-tie process, something I’d never seen before.

Swimming isn’t allowed in the lake, and there are crocodiles, but people often take the risk and jump into the fresh water once the adviser has left.

Across the river

The next morning, after a relaxed breakfast, a different adviser, David, joined us and we started the four-hour motor across the lake sticking tight to the starboard side of the channel as we passed and were overtaken by huge ships carrying the world’s produce back and forth. We weren’t allowed to sail, but with 14 knots of wind behind us we managed 7 knots at an easy 2,000rpm.

We had an early lunch on the move and matched our speed to the progress of Red Diamond, a bulk carrier who started the day in the Caribbean Sea and would be our lock buddy on the way down into the Pacific. The larger Panamax ships can only pass one at a time through The Cut, an amazing channel dynamited through the mountains at the cost of many lives to both accidents and malaria.

It took decades to forge but it only took us four hours to reach the downward locks.

By now our line handling skills were working with military precision. On the way down it’s really important not to lock up a cleat as you pay out the line because the consequences can be damaging, but again the pace is slow. I carried a knife in my pocket on the off chance we needed to cut away a locked line.

The Miraflores locks present an extra challenge with strong tailwinds and eddies between locks. There’s also a crowd of tourists watching on.

In a raft, the central boat does most of the engine work, and I was glad not to have that pressure of boats latched on either side in these light but quirky currents.

On the way down, sailing boats go in front of the container ships so you have to gather in your floating lines fast as soon as the gates open and motor out of the way promptly.

It was a bit wrenching to see the gates close on the Caribbean, which feels like a safe, comfortable second home after a few years cruising there. A new ocean induces apprehension and excitement, and when the Miraflores lock opened onto the Pacific, I felt both relief we were safely through, as well as disappointment the canal was over.

Lorena and the Campbell families were an invaluable help, and Julie and I are still glowing with pride at the accomplishment.

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