Panama Canal



The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is an artificial 82-kilometre (51-mile) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, cutting across the Isthmus of Panama, and is a conduit for maritime trade. Canal locks at each end lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial freshwater lake 26 meters (85 ft) above sea level, created by damming up the Chagres River and Lake Alajuela to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal, and then lower the ships at the other end. An average of 200,000,000 L (52,000,000 US gal) of fresh water are used in a single passing of a ship. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal

Until last year a ship or yacht required an agent to book a passage through Panama Canal. We booked our transit with the new automated system https://pancanal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/4352-I-202110205753.pdf

Sunday Island has a tonnage measurement certificate so there was no requirement for us to be measured in the new system.

Once the passage is booked through the ASEM system https://asem.pancanal.com/%20 and payment made, the yacht must advise cristobel signal station of their arrival, including their unique SIC number. Then the captain can call the scheduling office and book a date for the transit.

Our pilot boarded at 0420 and we hauled in the anchor and proceeded to Gatam Lock. As one could expect the waters of Panama are very busy with shipping, small boats and old wrecks. We weaved our way to the channel and entered the lock at

The previous day our motley crew spent the afternoon training. We discussed line handling, how our lines would be run from the deck, fender placement, and where we would request the line handlers throw the lines to protect our solar panels and wind generator. The training paid off and our crew looked very professional in our Sunday island tshirts and crew teamwork. Compared to the yacht Titana (not Titania) we rafted alongside there was lots of verbal excitement, where on Sunday island not a word needed to be spoken, everybody knew their tasks.

We entered the first lock at 0600 and the gates closed at 0630. The filling of the lock made supprisingly little turbulence, however When we reached the top of the first lock the Panamax car carrier went slow ahead with her engine creating about 8 kts of turbulence, making the mooring lines sing and creating more verbal excitement from our neighbors.

By 0700 we were in the second lock, 0735 the third and by 0830 we entered Gatam lake to make our transit across the American continent towards the Pacific Ocean. I advised a maximum transit speed of 6kts when booking, but the pilot advised we must proceed at at least 6.5kts to keep up with the schedule or we would be delayed for 3-4 hours on the Pacific side. By the end of the transit the pilots were requesting 7kts as I nervously watched the engine gauges as the old Perkins engine worked harder than ever.

We observed some interesting wildlife during our transit and the pilot sat back and acted as tour guide pointing out the interesting facts and features of Gatam lake. We even saw an alligator!

At 1330 we approached Pedro Miguel lock on the opposite side of the American continent at a racing pace of 7kts. Just before the lock the pilot ordered engine astern, I opted for some quick manouveeing rather than stalling the overworked engine. We rafted back up with our old French friends Titana and began making our decent at 1400.

At 1420 we entered the first of two Flores locks and could see the Pacific Ocean. At 1500 the final lock gates opened and Sunday Island entered the Pacific Ocean. We motored through the channel ecstatic. I could not believe we had transited there Panama Canal in just 10 hours! At 1600we dropped of the pilot, and handed back our rented lines and fenders. We then cracked a beer and proceeded to anchor north of Flamenco Island, enjoying a few sunset drinks, cheese biscuits and dinner.