February 10, 2012
It's only 25 nm from Portobello to Colon so we heaved up anchor at 0800 hrs and were in Colon at Shelter Bay Marina in the early afternoon. Now comes the hectic part of making arrangements for a transit through the Panama Canal. Like everything else in life, there is an economical way to do this and a more expensive convenient way. Assessing the situation at hand, I had to act quickly in order to have John and Karin as line handlers in the transit. It's Friday afternoon and the Admeasure's Office will be closed until Monday. This is the first step in setting up a transit: get the Admeasurer to work out all the calculations. Fortunately, I ran into a most excellent agent named Roy Bravo at the Shelter Bay Marina. He offered the following solution for a scheduled transit. Pay the overtime and have the Admeasurer come out to the boat on Saturday: 2 hr min @$85 per hr = $170. If I were to do this, I could get the boat scheduled to transit the Canal on Tuesday. The agent's fee will be $400 and the Transit will be $650 plus sundry other expenses. The final tab for all expenses was $1501 Here is what has to be done to transit the Canal:
1) Get the boat measured: length, beam, draft, tonnage
2) Have four 125' lines: these can be rented @ $150.
3) Have at least four tires for fendering: agent provided these "free"
4) Have four line handlers onboard: I had John, Karin, Phyllis and had to hire the extra line handler at $60 per day for two days. Line handler sleeps onboard and has to be fed.
5) Once the scedule is set, the vessel is anchored in the "F" anchorage and awaits an "advisor" at a designated time. Advisor and Line Handler are to be fed and provided nourishing drinks.
6) Get "zarpe" (Clearance Permit from Colon to Balboa)
7) Mariners Visa
So I paid the overtime to the Admeasurer and received a tentative transit time of 1600 hrs on Tuesday. We left Shelter Bay Marina at 1345 and dropped anchor in the "F" anchorage. The "Advisor" boarded Solstice at 1600 hrs and we heaved up anchor and proceeded to the Gatun Locks. Gatun Lock has three chambers that pick up the vessels to a total height of 85 ft. In each chamber one is lifted about 28 ft. We entered behind a large ship and took a "center chamber tie up". This means that the four line handlers are thrown light lines which they tie onto the bigger 125 ft lines which are hauled up onto the lock walls by dedicated lock personnel. This holds the vessel in position while the locks are being filled. This is "up locking" and the most difficult. Our line handlers, John, Karin, Phyllis and Eric, will keep taking up the slack of the lines as directed by the Advisor. The water is turbulent and fast so tension has to be kept on the lines: haul in, haul in, haul in. As long as tension is kept on the lines all is well. Should a line break the Captain will have to use the boats engine to hold position. In our case all is well. We have a good advisor, center chamber tie up and good line handlers. After each chamber is filled the gate is opened and the big lines are taken in but the smaller ones are still attached and are walked along the locks on the port and stbd. sides by dedicated lock personnel. This is repeated in the next two chambers. In the last chamber that feeds into Gatun Lake, the small lines are detached from our bigger lines and when it's time to exit a horn sounds and our lines are thrown off and we exit the lock into Gatun Lake.
Gatun Lake feeds the fresh water for the locking system. It is an artificial lake that huge and deep: 20 miles long and many miles wide. It has enough water to keep the Gatun Locks operating 24 hrs per day 365 day a year: millions and millions of gallons on water.
Once we exited the last lock we are taken to an overnight anchorage. The Advisor gets off and goes home. The line handler stays and sleeps onboard. Total time for picking up anchor in the "F" anchorage and locking through the three chambers of Gatun Lock and dropping anchor in Gatun Lake was 2 hrs 24 minutes. The actual locking through the three chambers took only one hour!! Had we been a big ship they would have had locomotives pulling the ship through the locks: 4, 6, or 8 locomotives per side depending on size. This provides perfect control of the vessel.
Day 2
The Advisor arrived at 0615 this morning. We heave up anchor and proceed to the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks. It takes about four hrs to motor through Gatun Lake and Galliard Cut before reaching the locks. Sometimes they are in a hurry and you have to push the engine to make the time. In our case it was a very easy slow paced affair. Gatun Lake is beautiful and we enjoy the scenery.
We enter Pedro Miguel Lock at 1200 hrs. Once again it is a "center lock tie up". Down locking" is much easier since one is letting out line. Pedro Miguel lock drops us down thirty feet. It is a single lock. Once the gate opens, we motor about a mile to the Miraflores Locks. Depending on the Pacific Tides which can exceed 16 ft, there are two chambers that drop the boats down about thirty feet in each chamber. The procedure is the same with the line handling but line is payed out instead of heaving it in. Miraflores lock has a camera that views all ships coming through. If one knows the approximate time of entering, they call tell their friends and relatives anywhere in the world and they can access the Miraflores website and watch the ships coming and going. We did'nt know the time and had no internet access.
We exited the Miraflores Lock at 1312 hrs and dropped anchor in Las Playitas anchorage at 1430 hrs. Las Playitas is just off the main Canal channel about five miles outside of Panama City.
