Transiting the Panama Canal
On
Wednesday the 23rd of January, the crew onboard Kind of Blue
(Dick, Anita, Stuart, Annette, George, Jack and Jed) were joined by a
Panamanian pilot whilst anchored on the flats. We weighed anchor and
headed down the channel towards the canal entrance with two other
yachts- a catamaran and a mono-hull. We had to wait for about an hour
while several cargo ships came through and then we rafted together and
motored towards the locks. The lock gates themselves were gigantic and
each weighed over 400 tonnes. The workers at the gates threw
monkey-fists to us, which we tied our lines to ready to moor in the
centre of the lock. When we were tied securely behind a huge container
ship, the pipes were opened and massive amounts of water came gushing in
from below us. The slack from the lines
was rapidly brought in, within five minutes the lock was filled up, and
we moved into the second lock…
The next
morning we woke up, tied up next to a mooring that we had arrived at the
previous night. A new pilot came aboard and we headed off across the
lake through the banana cut, followed by the two other boats, and
keeping a close lookout for crocodiles. After a while, we re-joined the
main channel and motored side-by-side with some of the enormous cargo
ships. Soon, we passed into the Gilliard cut where there were loads of
machinery and vehicles, all working to widen the channel. There were
lots of plastic pipes stuck into
the
ground and we learned that they were for placing dynamite to remove the
rock.
When we
neared the other end of the canal, we passed underneath an enormous
suspension bridge that crossed the Gilliard cut. Once again, we rafted
up to the mono-hull and moved into the lock, closely followed by the
Liv-1 crew who were helping aboard another yacht. The gates closed
behind us and we began to get that sinking feeling as all of the water
was sucked out of the lock. After the Gilliard lock, we crossed a small
lake (still rafted up) and went into the Miraflores locks, at which
point, Jack was hoisted up the mast to take some photos!
The final lock gate opened and we entered the Pacific Ocean, untying from the other yacht and motoring down past the Panama City boat-yard towards the yacht club. The pilot boat came along side and our pilot jumped aboard, ready to go and lead another boat through. We picked up a mooring buoy outside of the yacht club and settled back for a beer and a quick swim for the boys!
It was a sad moment when we had to leave Kind of Blue, and we all waved goodbye to Dick and Anita from the shoreline as we carried our bags (and the tyres!) across.
