crossing the panama canal, for the first time

we decided to prepare all the canal paperwork ourselves instead of using an agent, and therefore save over 500 dollars (which we can use to pay the canal fees).... for this reason we helped a friend bring his 50 ft. gulf star sailboat from the pacific to the atlantic and gain experience to then do it ourselves. we left bocas on january 26 by bus to panama city; there we waited a few days at the balboa yacht club on board of their sailboat tabasco and then, we crossed the canal on january 30 and 31. we crossed the miraflores and pedro miguel locks the first day, and spent the night at the gatun lake in a beautiful and calm anchorage next to huge freighters. on the next day we crossed the last set of locks; gatun; and we exit the canal in colon, on the atlantic side. we spent two nights in shelter bay marina in colon and then sailed back on tabasco for 30 hours to bocas del toro.




the crossing itself is an experience; all vessels must have 4 line handlers on board to manage the lines on each end of the boat. all these people plus the canal advisor, the boat’s captain and whatever additional crew is on board need to be fed at all times. that was part of my duties on this first “learn how to cross trip”. esteban and i were line handlers and we also were in charge of the kitchen and generally helped with whatever was needed on board.




panama was part of colombia but when colombia rejected US plans to build a canal, because they wanted more money than what was offered, the americans supported a revolution that led to the independence of panama in 1903 and signed a treaty with the newly independent country to build the canal. Nowadays the management of the canal has been turned over by the US to the panamanians and even though the canal has continued to operate, the facilities and constructions surrounding the canal zone have not been kept in the same good condition. we heard many stories of the difference of management and how it used to be very efficient and now is not. currently a vessel can request to go center chamber only to be placed against one of the walls or along side another vessel at the end. vessels can also be scheduled to cross in one day and in the middle plans may change, just as it happened to us when we crossed.

at the end the experience was a good one, and after having done it once we are not afraid to do it again with puerto seguro. in fact we now believe is not as complicated as we had thought.

still in bocas del toro, but not for long.....

bocas del toro has been an amazing place. we have met very cool sailors and enjoyed the beach and all surroundings. recently we went to the zapatillas cays and we snorkeled in isla popa; all different islands of this great archipelago. we have also been working on the boat. the regular maintenance plus changing the winches for self tailing ones to make our life's easier, specially mine, and installing the solar panels on top of the bimini to free space on deck. all these will hopefully make our pacific crossing a more comfortable one! we are now getting closer to the panama canal crossing towards the pacific so we will restart our trip south very soon.

le di, le di!!!!!

finally the day arrived!! esteban caught his first fish! with the spear gun, and those were his words: "le di, le di...!" it was a monster barracuda, but no worries, it was free of ciguatera, or at least we were told so about the barracudas from panama. we had enough food to have dinner with lobo and his family, and later a second dinner for us, and left over's in our fridge and erika's as well!!!!!! i have to admit it was a bit chewy but very very good. and the experience of seeing esteban in action was memorable to say the least!

boca del drago

we sailed around the almirante bay and went to the westernmost entrance of the bay called boca del drago. this place is close to the costa rican border on the atlantic side. we spent the night at anchor with my parents and woke up to a delicious breakfast in a place called starfish beach full of star fish, as the name suggests!! we then finished the day with a very relaxing sail with wind from the stern!

the cave

a real cave with huge bats and an underground lake and water fall. the water level was up to and over our heads at some points. it was a bit scary to be walking in such a dark place where you only see the stream of light from the flash light and walking over rocks and mud and full of water. who knows what is under there...maybe it is good that the visibility is so restricted. other than the bats i saw two very big spiders. this large cave system was discovered not too long ago by one of the locals and to get there is in itself an experience, boating up through a small and rather shallow stream, and then walking through jungle and finally arriving to this place. the inside pictures came out terrible so we only have a few of us coming out. my father went inside with us almost all the way... i actually did not finish the trail and did not go as far as esteban. i must admit the darkness and the bats flying so low was not the nicest of feelings. very cool and exciting though!

happy 2010

back in panama for the new year!!!!!! we arrived back to bocas del toro on the 30th of december and cleaned the boat and prepared to receive the new year in the marina. my parents came to visit us from colombia and spend new year's eve with us. we received the year playing ping pong in the marina and with a very good bottle of champagne we had brought back from argentina with us. we spent the first days of the year at the beautiful red frog beach and cruising around coral cay, another beautiful area of bocas del toro!