Transiting the Panama Canal
8th - 15th Jan 2025
Fuerte Sherman & Shelter Bay marina
The week prior to visiting Guna Yala/ San Blas, we had made a stop in Shelter Bay Marina close to the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. Our intention was to make this a brief provisioning mission but with our freezer recently out of action, our stay was extended in order for a technician to re-gas the unit and to resolve some out standing jobs. Shelter Bay was formally part of a US Army base known as Fort Sherman, responsible for protecting the entrance to the canal. The base was handed to the Panamanian government along with control of the canal in the 90’s and the military buildings have been left largely unused ever since. Shelter Bay Marina was established in the early 2000's, and now serves as the principle spot to prepare sailing vessels to transit the canal.
Once again the Panamanian wildlife did not disappoint. A 5 minute walk from the pontoon put us in the jungle with Capuchin and Howler monkeys, along with hoards of Coati. Coati are curious creatures, some with an almost domesticated nature. They forage the undergrowth digging with large incisor teeth and running about in packs. They were quite at home in the military base, as we snooped around the various abandoned barrack structures.
Deeper into the forest and more densely overgrown, lay the reinforced concrete structures of Fuerte Sherman. This accommodated heavy mortar artillery guns and comprised of vast underground magazines and a reinforced concrete tunnel connecting various rooms. With Trump recently taking office and having made bold statements in relation to control of Panama, it was a interesting time to be exploring a former US base.
Panama City
To kill some time and satisfy our curiosity, I hired a car to drive to head across the width of Panama. Compared with roads experienced elsewhere in Panama, Belize and Mexico, we were spoilt with ribbons of new tarmac and what felt like the most overkill bridge we'd ever come across.
The new suspension bridge, Puente Atlántico, replaced a car crossing adjacent to the original locks and was constructed in tandem with the Panama Canal expansion project. The project saw 3 new locks constructed which could fit far larger container ships than Panamax ships that would squeeze into the existing locks with just a few foot clearance either side. Nearly crossing the entire country in less than an hour, we arrive at the Mitaflores locks visitor centre. Here an IMAX 3D cinema shows a documentary in which Morgan Freeman paints a rosey picture of the canals conception and construction. Unfortunately the truth is somewhat darker than depicted with an staggering 25,000 lives lost during the construction. From the high vantage point of the viewing platform we watched a Panamax tanker and pilot boat lock down through two basins and join the Pacific. This only heightened our excitement to experience a full canal transit.
Castillo de San Lorenzo Real de Chagres
After loosing a drone back in Mexico to Davy Jones’s locker, we took the opportunity to visit the DJI store in Panama City to acquire a replacement. After escaping the absolutely colossal shopping mall (take me back to marine navigation) we returned to Shelter Bay. The following day Ben, Charles and I ventured out to Castillo de San Lorenzo Real de Chagres and the mouth of the Chagres River to the west of Shelter Bay. After being firmly told that we under no circumstances could fly the drone and after exploring the fort on foot, we drove to a landing pier by the river mouth for a test flight. Initially we were pretty chuffed with the performance of the new drone, right up until the point of the camera gimbal having a shaking fit, moving uncontrollably then getting stuck pointing skywards. Piloting the drone back via GPS and eyeballing it only, we face the prospect of another trip across the entire country to Panama City to seek a replacement.
Another two trips later to Panama City and an afternoon spent in the old town Panama Canal museum digesting its extensive history, it was soon time to depart for Guna Yala/ the San Blas Islands. with the same drone that may or may not work after a replacement was refused…
> For more on our adventures in Guna Yala, please see the previous blog post
10th Feb 2025
Transiting on SV Luna
Whilst in Guna Yala/ San Blas, I'd joined a ‘Panama Canal Line Handlers’ WhatsApp group and seeing a skipper reach out for an additional crew member on a convenient day for my onward travel, a brief exchange confirmed I could indeed tie a bowline. I’d secured a transit date aboard sailing vessel Luna and the pressure was on to pack Argonaut away and condense my belongings to backpacking weight.
The French aluminium built Allures 44 was owned by friendly Danish couple Leif and Helle, who jokingly said they could be easily remembered as Life and Hell. They had crossed the Atlantic to the Caribbean and were now looking to continue their travels out across the Pacific. Ben and Alex had found a different ride on yacht Moana Nui departing the day before Luna and were scheduled to sleep a night on the Gatun lake. Our departure was less sociable, convening on Luna at 2am we were told to pick up our canal advisor from the Canal authority at approximately 4am.
Anchored out in a windy Colon Bay, it was amusing to see working wind instruments again after months without, registering up to 25 knots. 4am rolled past and were given a new ETA of 5am. Wired on too much coffee, a pilot boat approaches out of the darkness and our advisor William jumps aboard. Hastily hauling the anchor we fall into formation with two other yachts who will be transiting with us behind the tanker Agia Triada.
Passing under Puente Atlántico at sunrise we eye the first lock gates and prepare to raft up with the two catamarans. The largest is positioned centrally, and will be responsible for providing the majority of thrust and steering with twin engines assisting in tank steerage. We approach the first lock locks and catch lines thrown from the dock line handlers. We quickly tie the heavier lines on and feed them out as we move steadily forward. With the lines fast to shoreside bollards. I'm on port bow, as we tighten each corner of the 3 nested boats and hold them as stationary as possible. Soon the first lock gates are slowly swinging closed behind us and we bid farewell to the Caribbean sea, our home for the last 4 months.
Santa Clara locks
The lock fills rapidly and we heave in the slack and maintain tension on the lines to hold the nest clear of the basin walls as we make the first of 3 ascents to the level of Gatun lake and the main canal. With the water level equal the next lock gates open and we quickly haul the heavy lines back on the boat just leaving the throwing running ashore. We move forward at walking pace with the shoreside walker seemingly walking us like an big dog. We repeat the process twice more with each lock raising us by over 8 metres.
Gatun Lake
Entering Gatun Lake we put the throttle down as we were expected to maintain a minimum cruising speed of 7knots to meet our schedule for the descent into the Pacific. Ben and Alex had helped slipped mooring lines on Moana Nui a few hours previously and are heading through the canal ahead of us. The race was on! Peering aft, we see the sugar scoop semi-submerged, with the fresh water lake providing less buoyancy the the ocean she was designed for.
Soon our canal advisor had fallen asleep, and we seek out shady perches from the intense sunshine for the motor through the lake and canal. With the intense regulated and concentrated shipping schedule, unfortunately we’re not permitted to sail, but we have an opportunity soak up the lake scenery which large comprised of dense jungle, and weave our away around navigational markers and colossal ships which would probably not even register running us down!
Miraflores Locks
Approaching the first of the Miraflores Locks, we are pleased to have just about overtaken Moana Nui. Regardless we must wait our turn, and they take the slot in front of us. With the basin refilled from the last cycle and re-’nested’, we steadily enter and make the boats fast to await a ship entering behind. The intimidating hulk of Cool Eagle looms closer, thankfully stopping only close enough to shower us with the spray of the anchor wash down pumps.
Locking down is far less physical than locking up, and we gently ease lines as the basin empties. A short section of canal later we enter the last two locks. These sit below the visitor centre, and this time it’s our turn to be the zoo animals and look back at the crowds, that is until the Carnival Coral cruise ship enters the adjacent lock and dwarfs us. With the cruise ship blasting its horn to the cheering onlookers, we decend ever closer to the Pacific Ocean,
The last lock gates swing open and we have made it from one ocean to another, in a little less than 12 hours, a journey that would otherwise take months via Cape Horn. I bid farewell and thanks to Luna and her crew as we are approached by a battered skiff to retrieve the heavy lines and fenders used for the transit. With cash exchanged they run me ashore to a nearby pier with my backpacks, only to later have the cheek of claiming I had not paid them to Luna’s canal agent!
Reuniting with Ben and Alex for a cold cervesa and debrief after a long hot day about 4pm, we toast to the next chapter, backpacking South America.
Next stop, Galápagos…
Diving with hammerheads, white tips and an otherworldly underwater experience at Kicker Rock.