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Ayama - PANAMA CANAL TRANSIT



Kristofer and Stefan had to work hard on Hugur to fix her in time to be back in the water for the scheduled 3.30 pm departure. It had been an epic for them with parts not arriving, only to be found in a cupboard in the marina office, raiding the scrap for a piece and going through the garbage to retrieve a piece of hose. They made it and Hugur was back in the water at midday.

8 of us left Shelter Bay Marina, motored across the shipping lanes and dropped anchor to wait for the advisors who were joining each yacht. ETA was 17.30 and we had to have a good meal ready for them. Moses arrived about 6.30 pm and there was no rush as our time for the Gatun Lock was delayed. As we approached the brightly lit locks Moses decided he wanted his supper and we all hoped he was a fast eater! We nested up with Hugur and slowly entered the first lock. I was quite nervous about doing the wrong thing with the lines as everything is so huge but Moses was very calm.

2 thin lines with a monkey fists are thrown onto the boat; it’s not advisable to try and catch it as they throw with some force. We tied the thick nylon rope onto them and the guys on the lock haul them in. Fortunately Moses suggested I put my line round the winch because once the water started coming in there was quite a wrench. We then gradually hauled in the lines as we went up. There are 3 chambers in the Gatun lock and we hauled the lines back in to move forward with the guys holding the thin line and then repeated the process. It was much calmer and easier than I expected and I can now put Panama Canal line-handler on my CV!

We motored to the 2 mooring buoys where we all nested again for the night. We are beginning to feel like a family of ducklings. Moses was picked up and it was after midnight so bedtime. Ayama was now at 85 ft above sea level.

Astra, our new advisor, arrived 7 ish and we slowly motored down the Gatun Lake. Our lock entry was delayed so there was no rush. We approached the Pedro Miguel lock (a single one) about midday. Just as we started to nest with Hugur, a catamaran started doing strange manoeuvres to pick up a crew member they had left on a mooring buoy, a large ship with tug escort went past and the wind picked up but all went well. We had to speed into the lock as another ship was coming out of the other channel and would create quite a wash.

All went smoothly going down, we just had to ease out the lines. We stayed nested to the Miraflores locks only a mile away. We all waved madly at the webcam but we were too far away. Then the last lock gates and we are in the Pacific!

Last night we celebrated with the Hugur crew, our fellow nestling . We drank the magnum of champagne we had won for the St Lucia to Santa Marta leg and ate Icelandic delicacies. Kristofer opened the shark meat in the saloon so we all had to get out to the cockpit for fresh air. Shark meat tastes fine at first but then there is this aftershock which is not so pleasant. The dried fish was delicious as long as you smeared plenty of butter to lubricate it as it is quite chewy. Anna had managed to find the Swedish sill which is delicious.

Now Ayama is at anchor outside Las Perlitas marina. Stefan is having a headache with his phone which has died. He’s had a few repairs done on it but they don’t seem to have cured the problem. Unfortunately he has everything on his phone so is feeling a bit lost. There is a crew dinner tonight in a Lebanese restaurant and then we will be heading for Las Perlas.



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