If you
missed the tiny dot that was us going through the Gatun Locks then have a look
at the great video Phil Swallow made!
The canal
transit was a whirlwind of activity – exciting, exhausting and
fascinating.
We headed out to anchor at
‘the flats’ in the bay at 2pm, with our extra crew, Charlotte, Anne &
Marcus all aboard.
And out across the anchorage
We anchored with a few other boats just after 3pm. Once the kettle was on for tea John looked round to see the pilot boat approaching!
Kettle off, all hands to jobs and our pilot, Francisco, took charge, we weighed anchor and quickly headed for the Gatun locks. In the approaches to the locks we tied alongside 2 other boats –the one in the middle had bow–thrusters and Moonbeam was on the starboard side of her.
A huge variety of ships transit the canal every day
Once we were rafted up we waited for the ship ahead of us to stop in the first lock before we moved in. Mr ‘bow-thruster’ seemed to think that the pilots were superfluous to requirements and kept ignoring instructions to the point where two of them were shouting at him to STOP the engine. As his bow-thruster technique nearly caused us to hit the wall with our stern we did not appreciate then being told by him that we too should ignore the pilot’s instructions!
The line handlers ashore threw their heaving lines to us, we tied them to our long ropes (over 125 feet long) and they walked along the lock to position us astern of the ship.
The line handlers are a long way up!
Once all
4 ropes were tight and the lock gates closed the water came in at a tremendous
rate forming whirlpools and eddies and the 4 line handlers on our ‘raft’ had to
work hard to keep the boats central in the chamber.
Francisco spent a lot of time on his phone!
Each lock chamber is 110 feet wide and 1000
feet long – and ships are raised 84 feet from Atlantic/Caribbean sea level to
the Gatun Lake. When the canal was
completed the Gatun Dam was the largest earthwork dam in the world, the lake
the largest man-made lake and the locks were the largest concrete structures in
the world for many years. At the moment
the canal is being widened & a third set of locks, larger than the current
ones, are being constructed.
The linesmen run up the stairs with the heaving line to the next chamber
'Mule'. On my first transit of the canal in 1975 the crew tried to convince me that it was a cadet's job to get carrots from the galley for the mules ...
Farewell Shelter Bay, Fort Sherman
And out across the anchorage
We anchored with a few other boats just after 3pm. Once the kettle was on for tea John looked round to see the pilot boat approaching!
Kettle off, all hands to jobs and our pilot, Francisco, took charge, we weighed anchor and quickly headed for the Gatun locks. In the approaches to the locks we tied alongside 2 other boats –the one in the middle had bow–thrusters and Moonbeam was on the starboard side of her.
A huge variety of ships transit the canal every day
Approaching our 'raft'
Once we were rafted up we waited for the ship ahead of us to stop in the first lock before we moved in. Mr ‘bow-thruster’ seemed to think that the pilots were superfluous to requirements and kept ignoring instructions to the point where two of them were shouting at him to STOP the engine. As his bow-thruster technique nearly caused us to hit the wall with our stern we did not appreciate then being told by him that we too should ignore the pilot’s instructions!
The line handlers ashore threw their heaving lines to us, we tied them to our long ropes (over 125 feet long) and they walked along the lock to position us astern of the ship.
The line handlers are a long way up!
Gates closing in the first chamber
Marcus keeping an eye on our position in the lock while he tends the sternline
A group of pelicans taking advantage of the turbulence that brings up fish
Francisco spent a lot of time on his phone!
Looking back from the second chamber - the ship you can see is also on the you tube video
The crew on the ships were taking photos of us too
The linesmen run up the stairs with the heaving line to the next chamber
Ships are attached by wire ropes to 6 'mules' which tow them along
'Mule'. On my first transit of the canal in 1975 the crew tried to convince me that it was a cadet's job to get carrots from the galley for the mules ...
The routine of waiting for the ship to be safely stopped in the next lock before we moved was repeated for the 3 locks with us having to haul in our ropes but keeping them attached to the heaving lines, as we moved to the next lock, being lifted up to the level of the Gatun lake.
As we left the locks the lights were lit ready for the night shift
Once we were clear of the locks we untied from each other with some relief - and motored into the lake to tie up alongside a large mooring buoy where the pilot boat was waiting to take the pilots home.
I had prepared a lasagne & salad for supper so we were able to relax in the cockpit for a while, all relieved that the first part had gone smoothly. Francisco said the pilot would arrive around 6.30am so we got up at 5.30, anticipating watching the sun rise with a mug of tea, and the pilot boat turned up soon after 6am on my birthday! The pilot was also called Francisco and he too was helpful and informative.
Francisco 2 watching Marcus letting us go from the mooring buoy
Before sunrise on my birthday & getting ready to cook bacon and eggs for everybody
Anne & Charlotte enjoying the sunrise over Gatun Lake
Off we went across the huge lake, past many hill-tops that are now islands and then through the toughest part of the canal construction, the 14km Galliard cut which leads to the Pacific side locks.
Even after 100 years the islands look strange, and there are dead trees still standing in the water
Birthday cake for morning break
Anne got lots of useful tips from Francisco on bringing their boat, Flow, through the canal
We all took turns at steering the boat
Charlotte modelling John's new tilley hat
Many ships have been converted to do different jobs in the canal expansion
Part of the Galliard cut
We had to slow down near the Pedro Miguel lock and wait for ships to go through before we rafted up to a British catamaran, Juffa, and entered the lock behind 3 other yachts, a tour boat and a large motor yacht.
Going down 30 feet was much more peaceful than going up and once we were at the level of the Miraflores lake (man-made) we remained rafted up to Juffa as we motored across the lake to tie up in the first chamber (of 2) at the Miraflores locks.
Our lovely crew relaxing between locks
There is a large visitor centre here which was packed with people waving to us as we waved to the cameras in the hope that some of you would see us – and amazingly some of you did.
The Miraflores lock gates are the highest of all as the tidal range in the Pacific is about 16 feet. Once we were through and had separated from the raft it was a quick lunch for the pilot before he left us near the gateway to the Pacific Ocean, the Bridge of the Americas.
I had prepared Chicken Marbella (cooked on
Saturday morning), potato salad and salad – once Francisco was safely back on
the pilot boat we all ate as we motored towards Balboa where we said goodbye to
Anne & Marcus who were great crew.
We had to slow down near the Pedro Miguel lock and wait for ships to go through before we rafted up to a British catamaran, Juffa, and entered the lock behind 3 other yachts, a tour boat and a large motor yacht.
Going down 30 feet was much more peaceful than going up and once we were at the level of the Miraflores lake (man-made) we remained rafted up to Juffa as we motored across the lake to tie up in the first chamber (of 2) at the Miraflores locks.
Our lovely crew relaxing between locks
There is a large visitor centre here which was packed with people waving to us as we waved to the cameras in the hope that some of you would see us – and amazingly some of you did.
Miraflores Locks
 |
| The Miraflores visitor centre |
The Miraflores lock gates are the highest of all as the tidal range in the Pacific is about 16 feet. Once we were through and had separated from the raft it was a quick lunch for the pilot before he left us near the gateway to the Pacific Ocean, the Bridge of the Americas.
Approaching the Bridge of the Americas and the Pacific Ocean at last
Anne & Marcus getting a lift ashore
Steering us into the Pacific
We motored
over to one of the holiday islands in the bay, anchored and all jumped in for a
swim – it was freezing! At least 10
degrees colder than the bath-like sea on the Caribbean side. The bad news was that it was clear enough to
see the hull and it was covered in barnacles & weird hairy growths –
totally unexpected after all anti-fouling paint put on in shelter Bay, which we
now know was rubbish.
Off to the beach
So after a
lovely few days with Charlotte aboard we are now hauled out again, have scraped
a vast number of barnacles off the hull, repainted it and plan to launch today. We are doing our last 'big shop' tomorrow then heading off to the Islas Perlas on Monday. A few days there then we sail to the Glapagos.
Being towed back by Oscar from Banana. We have met up with lots of friends here and will keep in touch as we all cross the Pacific.
