Panama

Between Bonaire and Panama we visited Curacao and Aruba. It was the beginning of April and we were becoming anxious to get through the Panama Canal. We only spent an afternoon in Spanish Water, Curacao, but feel it would have been a good place to spend a few days. We visited Aruba but thought it not worth the visit. The officials there are very nice but the harbor is not designed for yachts and we had to spend a number of days anchored off the airport runway in 25+ kts winds. Unless you just like wind or gambling we'd give it a miss. We apparently didn't take a single picture of Aruba, though the refinery in the sunrise is rather pretty.

The passage between Aruba and Panama has a well-deserved reputation as a nasty stretch of water. When we sailed from Aruba, the wind was almost 30kts and increased to over 45 kts as we sailed west about 100nm off the north coast of Columbia. We would have been in a bad way had we not been running dead downwind, as the seas were at times over 18', which is quite scary when they are looming up behind you.

We arrived in Porto Bello, Panama after 4 days of watery hell. Columbus thought the bay at Porto Bello was a great anchorage and we can't disagree. If we'd had more time we would have stayed there longer.

Here's Porto Bello. The famous Custom's House is in the right picture, just to the left of the church. That's where the gold & silver plundered from the Incas was collected for shipment to Spain. The town was plundered repeatedly by pirates, most notably Henry Morgan.

Colon

As it was, we had a daughter to meet in Colon, so we left for the Canal entrance. When you arrive, the choice is either to anchor on the flats, which is free, or tie up at the Panama Canal Yacht Club, which is definitely not. The Yacht Club is rather seedy but it's convenient and safe. The main attraction for us was electricity, so we could run our A/C and dispense with the generator for a few weeks. It was also nicer for provisioning, as we didn't have to haul dozens of packs of cerveza and 120 liters of Diet Coke in the dingy. Please be aware that Colon can be very dangerous and never, ever go anywhere on foot.

Speaking of provisioning, this is the place to do it, either here or Balboa. While the latter has warehouse shopping venues such as PriceSmart, the cabbies in Colon are much nicer, cheaper and you don't have to pay tips to cart guys every time you buy more than 2 bags worth of stuff.

Transiting the Canal

Like most people we didn't have a clear idea what was involved in arranging a transit through the Canal. We will attempt to describe our own experience; obviously, this is subject to change according to whatever the Panama Canal Authority wants to do in the future.

When you first arrive, you have to check in with a wide variety of officials; this is invariably confusing and sometimes downright mysterious. Your first resource in getting all the paperwork done is one of the cabbies that hang out at the street entrance to the Panama Yacht Club. We would recommend "Joseph" a balding, middle-aged guy with a fringe of gray hair. He speaks good English and is so well-known in the various offices that they let him do much of the paperwork! He will take to you to a business-supply store to make copies of your boat papers. Then you visit Immigration, which is in a nasty-looking part of town (most of Colon is nasty-looking) for your visa ($10?) . Then you visit the Port Captain's office as well as some others I forget, pay about $70 in fees, including a 90-day cruising permit, whether you want it or not, then finally to the Canal Authority office to make an appointment for the admeasurer. The admeasurer is the guy who determines your fee by measuring the official length of the boat. In our case, we had to wait 10 days for someone to arrive.

You hope the admeasurer will be there as expected, but all you can do is call the office, or Joseph will call for you, which he will usually do if you use him to make the arrangements. Large ships take priority, so all you can do is wait and call. As I recall, you need to have your tires and lines when the admeasurer arrives, because he does a cursory "safety inspection". Once again, if Joseph arranges to rent you some lines he will get some on board for the inspection, as well as the tires you need. As I recall, lines were $60, tires $3 each.

The admeasurer will give you a bunch of forms, one of which is your fee. In our case it was about $1700, half of which is a "buffer charge" a kind of deposit, which is refunded if you don't damage the Canal's equipment. You can pay with a Visa card or cash; note that only a Visa card will work, no MasterCards. Take the form along with your payment method and Passport to the bank. Only one bank handles this and the cabbies will take you there. Once they've been paid the Canal Authority will put you on their schedule. If you don't want to wait and have an extra $2500 or so to spend, you can go sooner.

Once you have a transit date, you have to call often to see if you get moved up; be advised that there are heavy penalties for no-shows. Once again, your friendly cabbie/agent can call for you.

Meanwhile, you can go sightseeing and shopping. The bus to Panama City is very cheap ($3?) and air-conditioned. Places nearby include the Castillo San Lorenzo at the mouth of the Chagres river, and Porto Bello.

Here's a pic of Portobello as well as the inside of a public bus. The buses here are works of art, literally. If you ever wondered what happened to old US school buses, they end up in Panama with fancy paint jobs. Anyway, you can visit most local spots using a cabbie, or take the bus to Portobello yourself; the bus ride is an adventure all by itself.

Speaking of shopping, Colon has a duty-free zone where you can save you mucho. Try http://www.colonfreezone.com/ for more info. Officially, you have to pay $60 to Customs to get your purchases out of the Zone, which you can split with other yachties. You could buy something and walk out with it so long as you're not blatant, but most cabbies will refuse to help, since they would get in trouble if they know you're carrying goods out of the Zone. In any case, you can buy most anything in the Free Zone.

OK, back to the The Canal

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