We spent seven days in the Shelter Bay marina, waiting for our transit of the Panama canal.  The World ARC group of 32 boats was split into three groups for the canal transit.  The transit window for our group of 11 boats was February 3 to 5 but it took until February 6 before it was our turn and others were not so lucky.  Overall, the fleet was delayed by several days crossing the canal which meant people had less time in Panama City to provision for the long treck across the Pacific and fix any issues with their boats.

There was plenty to do in Shelter Bay.  Guglielmo and Elaine left and Almut, Rainer and Achim – who were part of the “Dream Team” from the 2023 ARC - joined the boat for the trip to Galapagos.  Udo stayed on for the trip through the canal.  Three big shopping runs were executed and a lot of care was taken to stow all provisions.  For example, all paper packaging had to be eliminated because of the danger of cockroach eggs being embedded in it.   All items stored had to be reflected in the stowage plan, etc, etc. 

We also hauled Kincsem to touch up the bottom paint, which meant spending one night on the hard.  And then there were the various tours organized by WARC.  My favorite was a tour to see a traditional village of the Embera Indian tribe, which required us to take a dug-out canoe for about 1 hour, first through a lake where the trade wind kicked up quite a bit of chop and then up a river.  Luckily the canoe had an outboard engine and we did not have to paddle.  The canoe was leaking quite badly but our guides were unfazed and thanks to their constant bailing, we did not sink.  Additional comfort factor:  There were no crocodiles in sight.

Big welcome with drum sticks whirling and voices singing.  It is a bit strange to watch these Indians sing and do their traditional dances for us, with children and the elderly joining in.  But then they’re really just performers – they perform their traditional lives for us.  I only wonder whether they bring out the TVs, iPads, motor cycles and hot tubs once we’ve left?  We didn’t see any evidence of that, however.    In response to my question regarding electricity I learnt that there was none except a solar panel for the school.  The school is provided by the Panamian government and all children are required to attend.  The government pays the parents for the loss of their children’s labor as a result of time spent in school!  All Indians are exempt from income taxes as long as they live in one of the traditional villages!  There is one cell phone for emergencies but making a connection with the outside world requires a long hike up a mountain.

The Chief.  The tatoos are just painted on and need to be renewed every week.

The plastic tubes are not authentic ….

The medicine man

Note the bag made from  banana leaves which serves as a bowl for meals

These kids willingly posed for a picture because they wanted to see themselves on the iphone! 

We were served a meal of Tilapia and fried plantains for lunch, in a basket woven from plantain leaves.  Novel for us and not bad.  The fresh pineapple was spectacular.  Of course there was the usual tourist stuff for sale but better buying it here in the jungle than in Panama City from a store.  I bought a monkey mask made of straw, which now adorns Kincsem’s salon. 

The obligatory dance ….

I also enjoyed the “jungle walk” which wasn’t, because, technically speaking, there is no jungle around Shelter Bay, just forest.  Shelter Bay is located on a former US army base which was vacated when the canal zone was handed over to Panama in the 1999.  We did see some interesting flora among some dilapidated bunkers and concrete structures left behind by the US army.  There were also some howler monkeys and other creatures to be seen.    

Howler monkey

Bats in an old US Army bunker

Castillo de San Lorenzo, another excursion

February 6 was the big day of our canal crossing.  The evening before we received four, 40 meter long, floating docking lines and 3 large ball fenders from the canal agent WARC has hired for the group, which we were to use in the locks.  We left our dock in Shelter Bay at 0445 to anchor just outside the marina.  Our advisor Daniel showed up before the allotted 0530 and we were off to the first set of locks at Gatun.  We were to go through in a “raft” of 3 WARC boats tied together as a unit:  Nakula, a massive, 60 ton, 70 foot catamaran owned by a syndicate of Japanese, Mulan, a 45 foot cat owned by Jan, a German, and us.  Both Mulan and us had “advisors”, which are only permitted to guide boats less than 65 feet long, but Nakula had a “pilot” for big ships since it was more than 65 feet overall.   

The advisor/pilots decided hat Nakula was going to be in the middle, Mulan on the left (windward) side and us on the right (leeward side).   Nakula was to move the raft into and through the locks using its engines and the pilot on Nakula was in charge of directing the maneuvers.  Our raft was overall less than 20 feet narrower than the locks and there was a bit of wind blowing left to right, so precision was going to be required.  Mulan and us were to use our docking lines to tie the raft to the sides of the locks so that the raft was in the middle of the locks.  On each side of the lock there were going to be two line handlers ashore - one for bow and one for stern lines - who would throw a thin throw line with a “monkey fist” at its end onto the decks of our boats and after we had tied the throw lines to a large loop in the dock lines, would haul the dock lines ashore and place the loop on big pollards on the sides of the locks. 

Approaching the first of three locks at Gatun

We shared the first three locks with MV Graciela; Nakula on our left.  The ship high above us is in the parallel lock going down

First signs of trouble appeared when we saw Mulan come alongside Nakula, drifting sideways with the wind towards the first lock.   Two attempts were needed for this simple maneuver.  When we joined in, it became evident that it was very difficult to maneuver this raft, in not insignificant part because the advisor/pilot trio did not coordinate well and apparently did not understand how the wind affected the raft.  The pilot on Nakula who was calling the shots maybe didn’t have the experience with small craft, being used to large ships whose lines are held and adjusted by large locomotives on both sides?  By contrast, once the dock lines of Mulan were placed on the pollards, there was no easy way to shorten them to get the raft pulled to windward so the raft was in the middle of the lock – all had to be done by engine power.  Of course, it would have been advantageous to enter the locks close to the windward wall but our advisor trio directed the raft so we were coming in on the leeward side, and then tried to get to windward by turning the raft to the left to get back to the middle.  Luckily, Kincsem has a strong bow thruster and engine with a powerful prop so this could be accomplished and our fenders protected us from the rough concrete of the lock walls.  Unfortunately, Mulan was not so lucky because in one of the maneuvers orchestrated by the trio they got squashed at the windward wall (!!!) and suffered a long gash on their port side because their fenders were not well positioned.   The disarray/incompetence of the trio was exacerbated by the fact that Nakula had only one English speaking crew which was not the skipper.   

After Mulan’s damage in the Gatun locks, the trio caucused and decided that Nakula was going to be dropped from the raft for the locks on the Pacific side of the canal.  This eliminated the pilot but the two advisors didn’t do much better.  They decided that the 45 foot Mulan, weighing only 14 tons vs the 26 tons of Kincsem, and its advisor was going to be the lead and maneuver the raft of us and them because its two engines had 150 HP rather than 110 HP for Kincsem.  Another, big mistake!  The props of Mulan, made for a 14 ton boat, were whirling at full revs but still had difficulty maneuvering the 40 ton raft of Kincsem and Mulan.   This time we were on the windward side and again, Mulan’s advisor directed the raft to enter the outer locks on the leeward side.  To make things yet more distressing, the line handlers on the windward side did not have throw lines!  (What is the use of line handlers without throw lines one might ask …..). So Mulan ended up on the leeward wall but this time its fenders seemed to work.  After much screaming in Spanish and a few minutes, one of the line handlers managed to produce one throw line (not two) which was used to haul Kincsem’s bow and stern lines to the windward side of the lock.  Now, of course, the question was how to tighten these dock lines to haul the raft into the middle of the lock as required.  Our advisor Daniel – a big macho individual - tried his best to pull our lines by hand but no dice.  So our bow thruster, engine and an electric sheet winch had to come to the rescue.  I had suggested that we could use the anchor winch as well but that suggestion was rejected by Mulan’s advisor.  On to the next lock!  Again, the same game but this time there were no line handlers at all on the windward side!  Once two finally showed up, again the raft had to be maneuvered free from the leeward wall but this time, Mulan’s advisor gave a patently wrong command and Mulan suffered another gash on the wall.   Unbelievable!  One understands completely why all owners and captains of boats using the canal have to sign liability waivers!

 

Get out of my way!

The Kincsem crew in the last lock before the Pacific!

THE way to curl up those docking lines so that they can be returned to the agent

It came as quite a relief to pass the last lock to the Pacific in the late afternoon and drop off our advisor Daniel on a launch.    It took a while for the launch to appear and I joked with the crew that maybe the canal authorities didn’t want him back.  Daniel was not amused!  After passing through the unimpressive “Bridge of the Americas” we tied up in Marina La Playita on a narrow peninsula off the impressive skyline of Panama City.

Bridge of the Americas

Panama City

There was a shortage of dock space in the marina so we could stay only two nights to make room for other WARC boats crossing the canal after us.  We did not mind as it was hot in the marina and the facilities were run down and dirty.  We made the best of the one day in Panama City and managed to do one final shopping run before leaving Panama City a couple of days ago.  At the suggestion of one of the yellow shirts, rather than anchoring outside the marina we anchored at Taboga Island, a beautiful island just six miles away, for the night.  To get there we had to weave our way through tens of anchored commercial ships waiting for their passage of the canal.

Taboga Island

After a short stop outside La Playita the next day to clear out of Panama, we sailed here and anchored among other WARC boats.  Contadora is the most developed of the Las Perlas Islands and it has a small air strip.  A sign next to the runway informs that it costs just $50 for the hop to Panama City.  The number of luxury homes under construction was still surprising.

Walking Contadora Island

The fleet at anchor at Contadora

Tonight is the farewell party and tomorrow at noon is the start of the leg to the Galapagos.  Yet as of mid-day today, only 12 of the 33 boats have arrived in the Las Perlas.  Some people apparently have lots of work left to do!  We are ready, I think.  Last thing on the to do list: This morning, Rainer cleaned the bottom of Kincsem one final time to ensure we meet the strict environmental entry requirements of the Galapagos islands.  We are crossing our fingers that it will be enough!