Panama to Jamaica

Ralph left for Panama in January in order to get the boat ready for our cruise into the Caribbean. In addition to painting the bottom in the sweltering heat and humidity, he spent sometime de-mildewing below decks after 8 months in the jungle. He washed EVERYTHING and it looks great now. Meanwhile, I was at home watching the snow in Albuquerque!

For the passage from Panama to Jamaica, Ralph was joined by our friend, Tim, who sailed down the Baja with us last year. They reported wind/currents on the nose for the first 36 hours. It was slow going with not much sailing at first. After that, they were glad to report favorable winds for the next three days and until they arrived in Jamaica. Ralph got the boat up to a speed of 11.9 knots which is smokin' for a sailboat. Total trip was 5 days, 4 nights, 600 nautical miles.

In addition to being a congenial crewmember, Tim is a great fisherman (as long as the fish jump onto the boat and are not too big). I have to thank Tim for taking this segment of the trip, as I was not really very interested in the passage.

First stop in Jamaica, Port Royal. This is on the Kingston Harbor and when the guys awoke the day after their long journey, they found themselves in what was once called "the richest and wickedest city in the world" until it was partially buried in the sea by an earthquake-timing is everything.

Atlantic At Last

Here we are at the final lock with our line handlers preparing to enter the Atlantic (in the background).

We arrived at our destination in Shelter Bay around 6 p.m. Ken (who had a flight back to Seattle on 5/2), Junior, and Alphonso were all picked up for the trip back to Panama City. Ralph and I stayed as there was much boat cleaning to be done. We completed our work and the boat is now stored in Shelter Bay for the hurricane season. We have no pictures of the sights around Shelter Bay and Colon because we had no Ken! We missed you those last two weeks, thanks for all of it, Ken! We returned to New Mexico on 5/12.

Canal transit completion

We loved some of the freighter's names.


Ralph did an excellent job of driving the boat - both in the locks (our advisor complimented him on his skill when we were tying up each time) and between the Pacific and Atlantic locks.

You may not be able to read the name of this freighter, but it is Seattle! The water in Culebra Cut looked muddy. This reminded us of the stories of all the landslides that occurred while the Canal was being constructed and that continue today.

Usually, it just takes one day to transit the Canal when going from the Pacific to the Atlantic. However, due to decreased traffic on that route, ACP started the boats coming in from the Atlantic so early on our transit day that we had to spend the night on Lake Gatun at this buoy. We subsequently found out that this has happened to about one-half of the boats that recently transited. Cacique anchored nearby. They asked if we had a deck of cards (they had not planned on a two day passage!) which we did and which we were happy to give them. Fortunately, we had enough food for all those extra meals. We also got to know Junior and Alphonso better - thank goodness they were so pleasant. In addition to getting to know about their lives, we discussed their views on the upcoming election, on all the high rise apartment buildings in downtown Panama City, and on the economic downturn. It rained so we all slept below decks on the boat which got pretty stuffy! We were at the buoy about 24 hours due to this re-scheduling.

Francisco went home for the night, however. The ACP boats deliver the advisors and picks them up at the end of their shifts. We would see Francisco the next day when he was assigned the Cacique! The guys on Cacique offered us the deck of cards back and we told them to keep them. We also gave them each a Snicker's bar which produced very happy smiles all around! On 4/30, our new advisor was delivered to our boat about 3 p.m., we were tied up with Cacique at the first lock by 4 p.m. and through all three locks at 5 p.m.

Transit part deux

Consultation before moving out of the second lock.


We were following a relatively large freighter - you can see that there is not alot of room on either side! The car on the lock to the right of the freighter is called a mule. There are two attached to each freighter on both sides. Mules ride on tracks and control the freighter's progress through each lock. When the locks were originally built, there was concern that the whole system would be out of commission if a large boat ever rammed a lock while tying up - there can be quite a bit of churning water especially on the uplocks. The mules were the solution to that potential problem.


Tied up to Cacique in the third Lock.

Leaving the third lock on the Pacific side at Pedro Miguel which is also the location of the Continental Divide. This area, and the Culebra cut, features prominently in the history of the Canal's construction as these were especially difficult areas with lots of slides. The story of the construction of the canal from the French attempt to the completion by the U.S. is remarkable. The consensus is that David McCullough's book is the definitive one.

Once the three Pacific Locks have been navigated, boats then have 27 miles of the Culebra Cut and Gatun Lake to travel until arriving at the three Atlantic Locks. The Culebra Cut is like a two way highway with its steady stream of boats. It seemed very strange to be so close to these huge freighters, as you generally provide them a wide berth on open water.

Panama Canal Transit

In years past, it could take up to a month to get scheduled for a canal transit. Due to decreased traffic, we were scheduled to leave in two days. We had to hire two line handlers because sailboats require 4 line handlers (Ken and I were the other two) in addition to the captain (Ralph). On 4/29, Alphonso and Junior arrived at our boat at 5:45 a.m., as scheduled. They were absolutely delightful from the first minute aboard - what good luck! The first task was to tie tires onto the boat to protect the sides and organize the lines to secure us to each lock or to whatever vessel we would tie up to while in the locks. We left our dock around 6:00 a.m. for the trip to the waiting buoy where we were scheduled to get our transit instructions at 7:00 a.m.

As we were waiting, we spotted this fishing boat, Cacique. We thought it would be perfect to end our trip by transiting with them since we had been looking out for fishing boats and fishing lines since we left Ensenada six months ago! On the up locks from the Pacific, the boat order is for a freighter to tie up first and then smaller boats to tie up behind the freighter depending upon how much room is left in the lock.

The ACP provides a trip advisor whose job it is to remain in communication with command central during the transit. He instructs us on how fast to go and how to tie up in each lock. Francisco, our advisor, was originally scheduled to be on board at 7:00 a.m. But, he was sent out an hour late. Here Francisco is confirming that we are to follow the fishing boat into the first lock. Hooray! However, since the freighter ahead of the fishing boat had trouble positioning itself into the lock, we ended up driving in circles for 2 hours until we were allowed into the first Miraflores Lock at 10:00 a.m.

Finally, we are in the first lock at Miraflores. Here you see the freighter at the front of the lock. The tug behind the freighter is tied to the lock wall. Cacique is tied to the tug. Junior is preparing the line which will tie us up to Cacique.

Once we were tied up, the lock doors were closed and we were on our way! We are not in the Ballard Locks anymore...

Mas Panama

Old Panama City is an area of extensive ruins from the original settlement. This city was burned by the pirate Henry Morgan in the 1600's. Instead of rebuilding the city here, Panama City was re-started at Colonial Old Town for defensive reasons. Old Panama City extends through several neighborhoods and is not walled off from the people. Anyone can walk through parts of it. We saw a soccer game where the fans were sitting on the old walls and people were enjoying picnics on the grounds. On the way home, we spent over one hour in traffic on the Amador Causeway due to a well attended rally for a Presidential Candidate. As in El Salvador, there are party posters and flags in great abundance and the parties are very involved in turning out the vote for the 5/3 election.

This is the guy from the ACP who measured our boat (he is called an admeasurer). Rates are figured based on the length of the boat with the category under 50' being charged less than the category over 50'. We had to stow the dinghy on the deck and fold in the davits to stay in the under 50' category.

Whenever a boat enters a different country, rules dictate that it fly a yellow quarantine flag for identification. After the officials process your boat into the country, you fly that country's flag, called a courtesy flag, in addition to your home flag. In Panama, not until after the admeasurer completed his work, were we able to take down the yellow quaratine flag and put up the Panamanian colors.

We went to dinner at the visitors center overlooking the Miraflores Locks the night before our transit of the canal. Here is a Panamax (built as large as possible in order to still transit the canal) ship. The Panamanians are building larger locks to accommodate larger ships. The original locks will remain in operation once the larger ones are open.

Panama

4/23 - Panama City! We stayed at Fuerte Amador Marina on Flamenco Island. It is on the end of the Amador Causeway which is a wonderful walkway-bikeway-roadway that affords lovely views of the city and of the freighters and other boats lining up to go through the Panama Canal. This area (like many in Panama City) figures in the building of the Panama Canal as it was built up with some of the earth moved during Canal construction. On the 24th, we spent a good part of the day going to the Port Captain, Customs and Immigration - all in different locations. Ralph also checked in with the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) to get the process started for our transit through the Panama Canal. So, we went through a huge ACP campus. The whole area, which also contained many neighborhoods with houses built for workers associated with the U.S. operation of the Canal, had previously been off-limits to Panamanians. We felt there was plenty of residual anger from this time if the Panamanians we met were representative of Panamanians at large.

The next day we needed a boat part and hired taxi driver, Luis, to take us there and point out places of interest along the way (predominately a large shopping center and a large warehouse like area where Noriega stored military items). He also drove us through the very large and jungly Municipal Park which has many walking trails, gardens, and a zoo. Luis said he had never been on a boat before so we invited him to come see our boat and have a beverage. He enjoyed that and walking through the docks and seeing the really big power yachts. He especially liked the three story ones!

Ken and I walked to the Smithsonian's Punta Culebra Nature Center which is just up the Amador Causeway on Naos Island. This tropical interpretive center informs visitors about beaches, shellfish, turtles, fish, and sealife. It also has a path through it with signs that identified indigenous plants and trees and wildlife. We did not see the three toed sloth, but we did see several huge iguanas and heard lots of birds.

On 4/26 we went sightseeing. First stop was Colonial Old Town (not to be confused with Old Panama Town). On the way, our taxi driver locked the doors when we went through one neighborhood close to Old Town. He said that Panamanians do not feel safe there and for sure, we should not walk in that area. I don't know if some of the hostility had to do with the fact that some of the people who lived there had been relocated when the city decided to renovate Old Town...or if it was because it was a very poor area. However, Colonial Old Town is a work in progress. Some of the buildings have been restored and others are in disrepair. It is a lovely spot with great views of the water, streets with pretty plants, two story buildings with wrought iron balconies, a Cathedral with a gold altar, and nice center square.

That's us in front of the Presidential Palace. We also toured the National Theatre and an outdoor monument to the Panama Canal that was built on top of embankments from WWI and WWII. The Panama Canal Museum is located in a beautiful Colonial Building and we spent quite a bit of time viewing its excellent displays. We had lunch in a store that featured crafts from throughout Panama which we learned about in talking with its South African owner.