The Panama Canal - goodbye Atlantic....hello Pacific!

The Panama Canal is about 70Km long and was constructed 100 years ago - it's an amazing engineering feat.  

From the Atlantic side, Colon, we entered 3 locks and were raised up to Gatun Lake.  We did this at night.  When we arrived in the lake we rafted up to a ships buoy for the night alongside our American friends "Field Trip" who are also cruising on a catamaran.  We had an Advisor onboard and two additional volunteer line handlers - Aussies Keith and Jennifer from the monohull "Jack's Back".  The transit cost us about US$1000 and included 4 long ropes and 10 tyres covered in plastic to use as fenders.  We had watched a few DVD's on the construction and history of the canal as so we were familiar with the landmarks.

On the second day we crossed Gatun Lake, a freshwater lake with Caiman crocs (the less aggressive 'freshies').  It was great having Jol onboard, who in the past was a ranger at Kakadu National Park and offered a lot of croc (information)!  The crocs are very elusive but we managed to see one crossing our bow.  As we motored the 25NM up the passages to the second set of locks we were passed by a number of cargo ships and bulk carriers.  Our Advisor is an American who has lived in Panama 30 years and comes from a family with a strong connection to the canal.  He had lots of great information to share and made a fantastic tour guide along the way.

We saw the Celubra Cut where the first attempt to dig the Panama Canal failed due to constant landslides and floods in the wet season.  30,000 people died in the construction of the canal, mostly to malaria and yellow fever.  When they realised that mosquitoes were the cause of the sickness and took preventative measures progress started to improve.  However, the biggest change was in the engineering plans which changed from attempting a direct channel between the oceans to building a dam on the Chagress River with a system of locks.  Two companies went broke in the process and the canal was finally finished by a US military engineer with experience in railway construction.  We are currently anchored off a causeway made from the spoil from the canal.  

The final set of locks, Miraflores Locks, are close to Panama City on the Pacific Ocean side of Panama.  Here we had to go between a tug and Field Trip as there was no room in the lock for the ship, the tug, and then two catamarans.  Miraflores Lock has a visitor's centre where there were hundreds of tourists watching the show!  It felt like we were in a football stadium!  

Entering the Pacific Ocean marks the start of a new chapter in our journey....

The skipper on Day 1 entering Gatun Locks with gusts of 15-20 knots of tailwind, no stress!

Aussie catamaran "Ooroo"and a French yacht following us through the locks

Showing off Ted's new clothes... proudly sewn by Kara herself

Caiman Croc passing by in the Celubra Cut on Day 2

 

Centennial Bridge and the hardest part of canal construction due to the constant landslides 

Jol with a ship bearing down at the Miraflores Locks

Nested between the American cat Field Trip and a tug with ship looming behind

The real thing wasn't good enough - here the boys are watching us sinking in the lock via the Panama Canal webcam!

GoPro shot looking forward from the mast at Miraflores Locks

For the monkey fists we protected our solar panels with the paddle board and cushions

Sonia at Miraflores Lock, she kept everyone very well fed and watered...

The final lock opening into the Pacific Ocean... we made it!

The Bridge of the Americas (the small coat coathanger!), Panama City

The lock during a bus tour the day after transiting - we watched line handlers getting target practice for their monkey fists!

Our Panamanian Rainforest Experience...

On the passage from the San Blas Islands to the start of the Panama Canal we stayed overnight at Isla Linton and interacted with the Spider Monkeys who are the only inhabitants of the island

We gave this monkey a banana, as you do, but were cautious as we heard that they can get a bit upset when you leave and start to demand more food! 

After rudely tossing our banana away we threw it back to him and he peeled and ate it...

These Spider Monkeys were as tall as Kara and very human-like

Jol (Travis' guitar teacher from Christmas Island) joined us a few days later and  the boys got right into the music

It was time to head for the Rio Chagres to wait for our Panama Canal transit.  This is the river that was dammed to make the canal 100 years ago.  It is a virgin rainforest - and an awesome place to anchor and explore the wildlife

We saw a variety of birds, the eyes of a Caiman crocodile at night, and our favourite - a sloth in a nearby tree.  We watched it for 2 days and got excited every time it moved!

Our resident sloth!  Jol's idea to take it with the iPhone through the binoculars!

A Toucan... 

Beau rowing up a tributary on a quiet nature watching expedition...

Travis, always ready with a fishing line

A family of Howler Monkeys - made a racket every morning and evening

A sneak preview of the canal - this is the Dam wall with a ship in the Gatun Lake heading for the locks.  We were anchored a few hundred meters away in Pristine rainforest - hard to imagine we were so close to the locks

At the mouth of the Chagres River is this 16th Century Spanish fort taken over by Captain Morgan of the rum fame - but he lost 4 ships on the reef at the entrance.  Nothing like having a GPS and Chart Plotter!

San Blas, Panama and the indigenous Kuna Yala people

The Kuna are great navigators in their sailing canoes - their skill in the dugout is amazing! 

Beautiful islands - a Kuna family may live on the island and collect a landing tax

Kuna women and children selling Molas from their dugout canoe... we gave the kids mini Koalas!

The boys sitting outside the shop in a Kuna village while the girls check out the Molas

Kara and Remi showing off their accessories - Mola bags

We enjoyed walking around this Kuna village... this is the Congresso or meeting hall

This Kuna fisherman sold us 7 lobsters for $25, and another fisherman came along and prepared them for us!

Diving on a shipwreck which had become a fish magnet

Their own island - the kids spent 3 days constructing huts from bamboo and palm  leaves

The Elephant Island sailing regatta - Optimist v Bug... Marley the dog is on the bow

Laurie got up from a transom start behind the 15hp dinghy - had to prove he still has it!

Australia Day and Steve's birthday!

Australia Day BBQ hut in the West Lemon group ... a great day where we had a good ol' meat pie and sauce

Australia Day volleyball match with the cruisers

Yacht rescue - pulling a group of Colombian backpackers off the reef, the skipper fell asleep at the helm!

Moana Roa taken from Remi-De

Crossing the Caribbean Sea

Two days ago we completed our longest passage yet, 1000 Nautical Miles diagonally across the Caribbean Sea.  We had our friend from Perth, Steve with us which made the crossing much more manageable as he shared the watches and made the 6 day voyage fun!  The crossing gave us confidence in the boat as we contended with some pretty rough seas off the Colombian coast.  Despite the near gale force winds on Day 4 we were reefed down with a handkerchief for a jib and made 210 miles in the day.  Other days averaged 150-160 miles.

It was great to have our HF radio working well and making radio contact with the cruisers networks as well as other yachts.  Our Australian friends sailing on Remi-De were just behind us and threatening to catch and overtake us but our 210 mile day kept us in front (not that we were racing!),  Remi-De is a lot bigger and faster than us and they actually left the US Virgin Islands after us and did the passage in 4 1/2 days!

The kids handled the journey very well.  Kara usually gets sick on passages and certainly didn't feel great for the first 3 days but after that she found her sea legs, bounced back and learnt a new craft - she got into sewing!  She learnt how to sew flags into small bags, made her own K flag, and even sewed up Beau's shorts for 1 USD!  Travis listened to lots of Harry Potter and music and Beau played games on his iPad between reading books.  They all wrote in their journals.  It was fantastic to have Steve's expertise in sail shape to gain that extra knot and he was also great in the galley and the engine room when we burst a heater hose!  We continued the Happy Hour tradition that Elizabeth introduced, which kept the adults sane with some adult time in the evenings while the kids watched a movie.

At its worst (or best?) we were surfing 5 metre waves from crest to trough and on one occasion we recorded 17.2 knots going down a wave.... that's pretty fast since we usually consider 10 knots very fast.  Our average speed for the whole trip was a little under 7 knots.  The most disconcerting was the buffeting/pounding/slapping of the waves on the side of the hulls and under the bridge deck.  These sounds were loud and the whole boat would shudder.  If a wave hit directly under the main cabin everything on the saloon table would jump and become airborne!

This is the rhumb line from USVI to San Blas, Panama

We needed to stay north of the rhumb line to avoid a notoriously messy sea and gale force winds

Kara concentrating on her sewing

Travis and Beau sharing an earbud to listen to Harry Potter

We saw nothing but endless seas, sunrises, sunsets, moonrises and moonsets for 6 days... oh, and 3 passing ships

On day 5 we had more relaxing conditions

Sonia and Steve kept the good food on the table - here we are abut to enjoy a roast dinner as the swells bear down on us

Kara trying her hand at helming in 25 knots and 3 metre following seas

Daily journal writing... the kids are still on school holidays so no formal school work to do yet