“It will be the worst part of your trip around the world” quoted a weathered single-hander we met while anchored in Brazil. “The town is truly the colon of the world” quoted another group. “Great”, we thought… here we come the infamous Panama Canal.

While sailors, like fisherman, love to tell long and exaggerated stories, the Panama Canal seems to be without peer in the rumour mill. Trying to find accurate information about the canal from previous transitors and supposedly knowledgeable boats, we came up with a few keys facts:

1) Waiting for the canal can take anywhere between 2 and 8 weeks.
2) The price is exactly somewhere between $3000 and $800.
3) You must have to have 3 or 8 people on the boats to handle lines at all times.
4) The canal authorities stay on the boat for the entire trip, or they just jump on and off at each set of locks.
5) The transit will take you one day. Or maybe two.
6) You definitely want to be in the centre of the locks. Or the side is best, or being tied to a tug is best.
7) You have to get an agent (use Stanley). Or you can do it yourself.

As you can see, we knew EXACTLY what we were getting into when we sailed in Shelter Bay Marina, Colon just three days ago.

Colon is the jumping off point for the canal transit on the Atlantic/Caribbean coast and deserves it’s name. A dirty smelly town, which has begun to degrade due to the lack of interest in the northern entrance to the canal. Its major claim to fame is the fact that within the city limits is the largest tax free zone in the world, aptly known as Free Town.

Stanley, our hired agent, outdid himself and arranged for us to transit the canal in just two days ! Before we knew what was happening, we were throwing off the dock lines again and heading south towards the interior mountains of Panama. As the sun began to set off in the west, we began to raft up to two other sailboats and entered the canal. As the biggest boat with the largest engine, we were the meat of the sandwich, with a German boat to starboard and an Italian to port. Fantastic by us, because if things went crazy in the canal, we would have two large “bumpers” between us and the concrete walls!

At about 7pm last night, we entered the first canal just as a huge rainstorm came in and soaked everyone. It was a pretty incredible feeling as we motored up the first lock. All we could see ahead of us, through the rain, was bright lights and a huge wall holding millions of gallons of water in place. Spanish, German, Italian and English all exclaiming the excitement but also nervousness of entering one of the most impressive engineering feats in the world.

In front of our small flotilla, which was easily dwarfed by the monstrous walls on either side, was an 800ft long container ship, increasing the feeling of being very very small boats in a huge pond. On each corner of our 3-boat raft, were dedicated line handlers and they were responsible for ensuring that we remained in the centre of the lock during the course of the incredibly powerful and destructive lock filling procedure. Whirlpools, up-wellings and currents swirled all around our small raft, the dock lines creaked and cracked, Manuel (our canal pilot) calming orchestrating each boat in turn and ensuring everyone remained calm. One can just imagine how badly things could go with three foreign hotheaded boat captains all yelling at each other to do their jobs… thanks be to Manuel for keeping everyone calm and in check.

Slowly, we began to rise with the water level and soon we were looking back over Khululas’ stern at the lights of Colon some 120 ft below us. Incredible, to be on a sailboat, looking over a cliff and seeing city lights BELOW you. Now, the dangerous part starts. As the HUGE tanker ships starts its engines and exits the lock, it creates a extremely dangerous wash of turbulence which rockets towards the back of the lock, and our small flotilla. With Manuel directing, we managed to fishtail our way through the worse of it and escape unscathed. It was not without a little anxiety however as we got within 10ft or so of one of the walls at one point, and the Italian captain looking very worried. After completely the three Atlantic locks, sailboats are required to anchor on Lake Gatun in the centre of the country and spend the night.

Waking this morning at sunrise and setting off for a 5 hour motor across the lake was stunning. Lush, deep dark Panamanian forest comes all the way down to the water, as through the trees are leaning over to take drink of the beautiful fresh water. Black panthers, monkeys, vultures and every imaginable creature prowl these dark damp jungles. To such an extent, that the Smithsonian Institute has set up a study site on one of the flood induced islands to study all the jungle creatures, who sought higher ground when the lake began to flood. Unfortunately, crocodiles also call this lake home and hence we were unable to abandon ship and go swimming.

Entering the Pacific locks, for the return trip to sea level this afternoon, we were greeting the type of torrential rain that only the tropics can provide. For about an hour, the rain fell in warm, clinging sheets as the crew of each boat was steadily working away, smiling and excited to be entering the great Pacific Ocean. Water ran off every sheet, block, brow and smile as we slowly exited the canal and entered the Pacific Ocean. For the other two boats, this was just the beginning of their great adventure into the South Pacific, but to Khulula it was something of a homecoming. Back into the Pacific, all three oceans crossed and connected. From here, we can begin to head north towards La Paz, Mexico (our starting point) and Vancouver, BC (our final destination) and we couldn’t be happier to be back in “our” ocean.

Note: OceanGybe Year 3 has started with next-to-no communication with the outside world. Blogs have been non-existent and web updates has been slowly added to the expedition map. (Note: always check oceangybe.com and the expedition map for our updates – just click on the last marker for a daily report). We have begun numerous blogs but never seemed to get them done in amongst all the other activities. Now that we are back in the Pacific and our mad dash from Trinidad is done, blogs will be more forthcoming and regular.