Crossing the Panama Canal

We all awoke at 0300, left the slip and arrived at the designated buoy where a pilot boat dropped off our two advisors (one was in training). The boat came close enough that they could step onto our deck yet never made contact. We were immediately off to the first locks, passing the Balboa shipyard, under the Bridge of the Americas and right up behind a huge tanker in the first MIraflores lock. In these first minutes, the coffee pot was spilled into the sink and the grinder was knocked over, spilling fresh grounds all over the place. A few minutes later we were passed at high speed buy a pilot boat, whose wake knocked over a gallon bag of spaghetti sauce, adding to the mess in the sink. As Tess always cooks for an army, there was still another bag. When Tess went to clean up the sink she found that one of the advisors had left the bathroom sink running full blast, dumping 150ish gallons of water in the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps these were omens of things to come???

The monkey fists (weighted balls for heaving, carries the lightweight messenger line to the boat) were thrown to us, we attached our much heavier lines which were then hauled back up and placed around bollards to hold us in place. The rear gates closed and then…OMG the current! When they open the valves underneath each lock to let the water in (approx 32 million gallons) it comes in with force! The water was boiling and our four line handlers, all family members, struggled to hold us in position because the lines are not tied off on our end. They must be pulled in slowly and steadily as we rise with the water level. Much harder to do that you might think and it definitely requires strength. About ten minutes later all is calm as we reach the level of the next lock, the huge doors in front open and we motor slowly forward while canal workers walk our lines the 1200′ to the next bollards. There is another difficult time as the huge ship right in front of you starts its engine to move forward, creating another round of strong and swirling currents.

In the second MIraflores lock, John’s father was seriously injured when his ring finger was crushed between the line and the cleat of the boat while the lock was filling. He simply said, “I need a hand here” and when John, at the helm, and the advisor went to help, it was immediately apparent this would require emergency care (tendons and bone were visible). Arrangements were quickly made and, after we moved out of the final rising lock at Pedro Miguel, a pilot boat came out and deftly took Johnny and St Barbara (Theresa’s mom) off to an ambulance on land. He was bandaged and, because no ambulance was available for transportation, our canal advisor, Erick, personally came and drove them to a first class hospital that even took US medical insurance.

Meanwhile, back on FKL, we were now well behind schedule and told we may have to spend the night in Lake Gatun. Our advisor stepped in to handle the line through the Pedro Miguel lock and then we motored for hours across the lake at full speed, regularly passed close by huge ships of every kind. We got regular updates on dad’s status (ultimately just 25 stitches, not broken and no infection – miraculous given the water in the locks) and eventually yet another pilot boat showed up and a professional line handler came aboard to take us the rest of the way. Sebastian was great! He immediately took charge and redid all the lines in a better way. He helped everyone as we went down the three Gatun locks back to sea level and out into the Caribbean Sea. Of course, going down in the locks is quite peaceful and it’s easy to pay out the line as the water drains out without any turbulence at all. Along the way, we tied off to a lock wall while waiting for a ship to do its thing and we all got to touch the 109 year-old walls of the original locks. As luck would have it, when the very last doors of the last lock were to open, the right one got stuck! Took about 20 minutes and a couple of tries but it finally agreed that we had had enough and let us pass. The two pilots were taken off by another pilot boat and Sebastian left us when we got to Shelter Bay Marina. Dad and St Barbara were delivered by Erick just before we arrived so the whole crew was back together.

We were all exhausted but enjoyed a nice dinner at the marina restaurant (and a few drinks may have been consumed…) Not the passage that we had expected but all’s well that ends well. Dad has since seen a specialist back home in Michigan and is expected to heal up without further ado.

Some other interesting stuff:

Before you can cross there are a million forms. It went online just a month before so no more in-person measuring days in advance. We used an “advisor” (Erick Gálvez) as the paperwork shuffle and multiple places to pay the various fees, nevermind the changing rules and language barrier were something we just didn’t want to do. He charged $325 plus the roughly $2600 in total fees. He also supplied the large lines and fenders that are required and picked them up on the other side. All of this can be done on your own but would take a few days and add a few gray hairs. And in our case, he was a savior arranging and then personally driving my dad to and from the hospital. Thank you Erick! (The multiple extra pilot boats, line handler and transportation were extra of course.)

You have the option of using anyone for a line handler but you must have four in addition to the captain. There are professional line-handlers, like Sebastian, and they are $120 each. We obviously chose to have family join us and fill these roles but in retrospect, we would have hired two professionals, one for the front and one for the rear. James and Tess were fine but she is over 50 and we’ve honestly said that maybe 50 should be the cutoff unless you have experience.

Then there is the food. You are told in advance that you must provide hot meals to the advisor upon request. There are suggestions, dos and don’ts, and our advisor was clear: feed me at 0900 and 1200. Tess served up great chow but made the mistake of asking, as she served lunch, what they usually get. He was clear about what he likes versus what he usually gets. Not a big fan of non-Panamanian dishes…

The experience is quite amazing and I highly recommend you read “Path Between the Seas” by David McCullough beforehand as it is the definitive history of the canal. You will get much more out of your crossing if you understand what it took to build.