Keith’s Perspective on the Panama Canal Transit / Le point de vue de Keith sur le transit du canal de Panama

The Panama Canal crossing was very tiring. We woke up at around 3:00 in the morning. Our friends arrived soon after. We left the marina at 4:00 to pick up the advisors. I went back to sleep, so I don’t know when they got on board. 

Bridge of the Americas

La traversé du canal de panama était très fatigante. Je me suis levé vers 3:00 du matin. Nos amis sont arrivés juste après. Nous sommes partis de la marina à 4:00 pour chercher les conseillers. J’ai re-dormi, donc je ne sais pas quand il sont arrivés sur le bateau. 

Pulling into the lock to tie up to the wall

Mom woke me up for the first lock. I didn’t have to do anything because we were rafting with another boat, so I just watched.

Here comes the sailboat that is going to nest up to us

Maman ma revealer pour la première écluse. J’avais rien à faire parce que on a dérivé avec un autre bateau, donc j’ai juste regardé.

Taken from the sailboat as they approached us to nest up

After that we did the two other locks up. The only scary moment was when a fender got stuck in a hole in the wall, but we managed to get it out. After that me and mom had to watch the fenders to make sure they didn’t get stuck again. 

Nested up with the sailboat

Puis on a fait les deux autres écluses. Le seul moment effrayant c’était quand un garde boue a été coincé dans un trou dans le mur, mais nous avons réussi à le sortir. Après ça maman et moi devions regarder les garde boue pour être sûr qu’ils ne soient pas encore coincés. 

Everyone is all tied up and ready for the water to fill up in the lock

When we went into the lake, mom cooked us all breakfast. After that we just sat around and looked at the scenery while driving across the lake. 

Me and Mom watching the fenders

Quand nous sommes rentrés dans le lac, maman a cuisiné un petit dejeuner pour tout le monde. Puis nous avons juste regardé le paysage. 

Watching the scenery in Lake Gatun

When we arrived at the 2nd set of locks to go back down to sea level, they said that we arrived too early. So we tied up to a mooring and dad took a nap. The rest of us just sat around again. 

Our advisors, Amado and Thaddeus

Quand nous sommes arrivés à la deuxième paire d’écluse, ils nous ont dit que nous étions arrivés trop tôt, donc nous avons juste attaché le bateau à un amarrage. Papa a dormi, et nous nous sommes juste assis. 

Our advisor Thaddeus

The 2nd set of locks went pretty much the same as the first set, and the gates looked really cool when they opened. 

Taken from the sailboat as they approached us to nest up

La deuxième paire d’écluse était la même que la première, et les portes étaient très cool quand elles s’ouvraients’ou.

Nested up again; waiting for the container ship to come in behind us

After we did those we went into the bay and dropped the advisors off. Then we arrived at the marina and had some dinner at the marina restaurant. 

Lock Gates opening to let us out.

Après être parti des écluses on a déposé les conseillers. Puis on est aarrivé à la marina et on a mangé le dîner au restaurant. 

Kosmos untying from the wall after the lock doors open

The rooms our friends rented didn’t have enough beds, so one of them stayed with us for the night. 

Kosmos driving to the next lock after we’d untied. The sailboat pulled to the side so we could pass them.

Nos amis n’avaient pas assez de place dans leur chambre, donc l’un d’entre eux est resté avec nous pour la nuit. 

Entering Shelter Bay Marina, heading towards our slip.

Note: Thank you Mike, Kim, Brianna, Thaddeus and the crew of s/v Vision for the photos and videos that you contributed to this post!

3 thoughts on “Keith’s Perspective on the Panama Canal Transit / Le point de vue de Keith sur le transit du canal de Panama

  1. Yes, intense was definitely the correct word for the canal crossing! We were really excited when the sailboat sent us the photos/videos they took of us. It was really cool to see what we looked like from their perspective.

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