The Admeasurer was supposed to turn up today and we laid bets as to when he would arrive. I won both bets. I said 12:15 and she guessed at 11:45. 12:15 came and went and therefore my guess was closest.
We re-bet and Fliss said that he would arrive at 13:45. I said that he would not turn up and I won again.
Anyway, I filled the day making a wooden structure to hold the auto-pilot so that it would drive the windvane in light winds. This saves power and stops the autopilot from heaving and grinding in rough water. I hope my hours of effort actually work because we have not yet tested-out the theory.
28th March 2007
Today, we rang the scheduling people here in Panama and they promised that the Admeasurer would turn up. He arrived at 10:30 and simply measured length and breadth and told us to meet him in the Yacht Club bar in 30 minutes to do all the paperwork where we signed away all our rights to sue the canal and received our transit identification number.
Next stop was to the bank to pay for the transit so we rang Agent Ellerton who gave us a ride there and we shelled out the $850 plus retainer. The retainer is just in case we get engine problems or somehow take longer than expected to make the transit – the theory is that they shred the credit card slip once we are through.
That done, we rang the scheduler again and got allocated our slot for Saturday the 7th April and we then retired to the Yacht Club bar for a bit of socialising. We met with a great group of people including Otto who was delivering a new Moorings catamaran from South Africa to Baja California. He was on passage with mate Rob and had accumulated two other crew in Colon – Kenny, a Canadian and Kyle a German. He suggested that it would be a good idea if we had a preview of the transit and invited us to join them on their boat the following day. Of course, we agreed.
29th March 2007
I left Fliss on Nadezhda and took our empty gas container to be refilled. Otto hailed me from his boat that was in the marina and told me to tie the dinghy to the back of the boat to save paying dinghy dock charges – two beers-worth. He also needed to re-fill gas so we took a taxi to the re-fill station and, since Otto needed his cylinder back the same day, we went to the main petroleum works. We were promised the cylinders back at 13:00 and with a departure time of 15:30 Otto was leaving things extremely tight.
Anyway, we did eventually have our gas re-filled, provisioned with a couple of cases of beer and I fetched Fliss from the boat ready for our Transit.
Rob received confirmation from the scheduler over the VHF radio and we were ready to motor out to the “Flats”, an area just outside the marina to await delivery of the Pilot/Advisor. Otto rang the scheduler “just to be sure” and he said that we had been delayed to the next day, so he called them back on the VHF only to be told that a mistake had been made and, yes, we were going tomorrow. Great organisation here!
So another evening was had in the Yacht Club bar and we retired to Otto’s place for a couple of night-caps. Alongside Otto was another delivery Catamaran with party animals on board and we eventually went back to Naz before things got too messy.
30th March 2007
We got up late and had breakfast in bed around 13:00. There was a knock on the hull and Rob appeared saying that he had swum from his boat. The distance from the marina is a long dinghy ride away and Rob does not look like an outdoor marathon swimmer – he is an airline pilot in his other life. It transpired that they had moved the Catamaran onto the flats and were moored right next to us. I think that this was because Kenny & Kyle had almost missed the boat the day before.
Moorings 43 on the Flats
The holding in the flats is very dodgy and there have been many instances of dragging anchors and so I laid out a second anchor since we would be leaving Naz alone for the night. We then joined Otto and crew onboard at 15:30 and were also joined by Bolivar, a professional line-handler before we upped-anchor and dithered around waiting for the Advisor who, of course, was 45 minutes late.
We were to transit with another catamaran “Rush” with Alan and Marilyn on board – another great couple that we had met in the preceding days and it was good that everyone knew each other.
This boat is sailed by a Hungarian. He is having trouble getting his transit. Imagine 4 line-handlers, skipper and an Advisor on board!?!? He plans to cross the Pacific - check-out the bend in the mast!
The Advisors were delivered to each Cat from a heaving and rolling solid-steel pilot boat without mishap and we made for the first of a set of three locks that would raise us the 85 feet to Gatun lake. We soon left Alan and Marilyn behind – Alan was having worries that his 9.5hp outboard would be up to the job of maintaining the necessary speed but he still managed 6-7 knots. It’s amazing how fast catamarans will go compared with our deep-draught boat.
Pilot boat recovering a pilot.
So we ended-up waiting at the locks but had the opportunity to watch the two alligators, one in, and one out of the water. The one in the water was somewhere between 10 and 15 feet long.
When Rush arrived, we waited for a container ship to pass down the locks and we rafted the two cats side-by-side and Otto manoeuvred both boats in through the first gates with his two 50hp engines. Otto is a professional delivery skipper but learned a trick from the Advisor who told him to simply use the one port-hand engine and to steer the boat with the rudders – it worked a treat and the Advisor proved his worth on many other occasions. We have great confidence in their professionalism.
The locks from sea-level
Kenny
So, the score is that you run into the locks and two guys each side throw a “Monkeys-Fist” attached to a length of twine down to the boat. The monkeys-fist is a ball of lead wrapped in string – dodge it! We attached our heavy rope to the string and when we are properly positioned in the middle of the lock, the shore-side guys haul our ropes up and loop them over bollards before we pull them in tight. As soon as this is done, the gates close and 4 million gallons of water fill the lock in the following 10 minutes –awesome! The turbulence is quite strong with boiling water all around and the line handlers on each boat have a job to keep the lines taut and the boats mid-lock.
Kyle (left), Myself and Otto (right)
"the line handlers on each boat have a job to keep the lines taut and the boats mid-lock"
Once filled, we took our heavy lines back but held onto the monkeys fist and light line – the guys ashore then simply walk alongside as we proceeded to the next lock and repeated the process. All went smoothly and we emerged in the dark to the lake where we moored alongside a large buoy, had supper (Otto is an ex-chef!) and a few beers. Otto, Fliss, Marilyn and myself were not sleepy and stayed up late, when we did go to sleep we were soon woken by the families of Howler Monkeys in the trees a few hundred yards away – they start-up howling at about 5 in the morning and go-on for about half an hour.
Fliss…..
I had a great passage, I really was a true passenger! My rope handling skills were not in demand as they had loads of men who were willing & able. My role was official photographer so I spent most of the transit behind a camera lens.
I don’t think that Pete mentioned that the lock water levels drop by 85 feet and its amazing looking up at the local line handlers legging it up steep steps whilst holding onto our lines.
Spicy chicken and rice for supper of which our skipper/navigator & cook prepared for us, you really do have to give Otto his due as he really is a top guy!.
At 3:30am we all decided to retire to bed and Pete & I slept on the trampoline at the front of the boat, actually, very comfortable!.
31st March 2007
Fliss…..
At 5:30am all were up waiting for the pilot to arrive. Marilyn and Dave (line-handler) went for a swim and I thought they were totally mad as it was common knowledge that the alligators swim from one side of the lake to the other in the morning.
The pilot boat appeared and told them to get out of the water straight away I’ve never seen people swim so fast! I personally like my legs where they are so I gave a morning dip a miss!
Pete…….
Gatun lake is dotted with islands and surrounded by unspoiled thick jungle. The journey through is about 25 miles until the channel narrows into the Guilard Cut where the hills have been cut away to provide the access to the Pacific-side and the locks to take us back down to sea-level. Again, we were well ahead of Rush and so tied-up to await their arrival.
Our Skipper - Otto
The Guillard Cut
Mexican sail-training ship coming from the Pacific
The outbound trip runs pretty much the same as the inbound except that there is no turbulence in the locks as they empty and suddenly we had crossed a continent and were in the Pacific Ocean.
We re-fuelled and re-watered and we were encouraged to stay on-board for a little celebration in the anchorage. We eventually gave-in and decided to stop for the night and were joined by Alan, Marilyn, Mad Aussie Cameron + Family and other cruisers for another boozy night.
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