Category Archives: Cruising Guide

Information for other cruising boats. Our experiences finding places to anchor, dealing with officials, provisions, etc.

Flying Back to Panama and the Ocean Posse Party

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On Saturday, January 25, we all woke up before 0600 PST, despite going to bed so late. Even though we were in San Diego for a week, our body clocks never fully adjusted to the time change, and we felt off-kilter all week. We mostly focused on taking care of “life chores,” the most exciting of which was getting Keith’s braces removed.

On Friday, January 31, we flew back to Panama via a red-eye through Miami. We had been warned that Panama will not allow people with a one-way plane ticket to fly into the country. Like many countries, they welcome tourists, but they want proof that the visitors don’t intend to overstay their welcome. We were told that we’d likely be forced to purchase a ticket back to the US prior to boarding the plane. 

Prior to leaving Panama, we’d gotten a letter from the marina stating that Kosmos was docked there. Eric attached it to our US Coast Guard vessel documentation showing that Eric and Christi owned Kosmos, along with a crew list with Keith on it. 

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

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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.

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Panama Canal Transit Part 5: Finishing the Transit

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continued… It was exhilarating when the last Gatun lock doors opened into the Caribbean Sea. We did it! And with no damage to the boat and no injuries! Woo hoo!

We quickly untied and drove forward into the northern portion of the canal, which was located in the protected waters of Bahia Limon (note, we can’t edit the really old posts, so we want to note that the proper translation for limon is lime, not lemon). While we were in the locks, we’d been mostly protected from the wind, so when we emerged, we were a little surprised about how windy it was. Even in the protected bay, there were whitecaps.

Shortly beyond the locks was the Gatun Bridge, which hadn’t existed when we’d gone through the canal fifteen-years ago.

Brianna and Keith near the Gatun Bridge
Brianna and Kim taking a selfie near the Gatun Bridge
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Panama Canal Transit Part 4 — The Gatun Locks

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Continued… As we drove towards the Gatun Locks, we were told that this time, the large ship would be tied up behind us. That was fantastic news, as it meant we wouldn’t have to deal with the turbulent waters created by the ship’s prop wash this time around. We were also told that we would again be tied to the wall on the starboard (right) side with the sailboat nested to us on the port (left).

Maneuvering into the lock and tying up went smoothly.

Since Kosmos was already at the top of the lock wall, our line handlers simply handed the lines to the canal workers, who tied them to the walls — there was no dramatic throwing/catching of the canal’s lines, and no fears of tying the knot wrong and our line untying from the canal’s.

Jan and Mike
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Panama Canal Transit Part 3 – Lake Gatun

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Continued… Once we exited the lock, we were officially in Lake Gatun. We needed to cross the 26 miles (33 km) lake to reach the set of locks that would take us back down to sea level. Fifteen years ago, we had started our canal transit in the afternoon, spent the night in the lake, and finished the transit the next morning. While we weren’t exactly excited about starting at 0400 today, we preferred an early start over spending the night in the lake (primarily due to lack of bedding for everyone onboard).

Lake Gatun is an artificial lake 85 feet (26 meters) above sea level. When the French had first started building the canal, they were attempting to dig a trench through the mountains so that the entire canal was at sea level. Due to the mountains being solid rock, the propensity of the mudslides in the areas that were not rock, and the propensity for flooding in the rainy season, a trench wasn’t viable. The French company went bankrupt. When the Americans took over the canal, they re-engineered it to be a gravity-fed lock system powered by water from this artificial lake, which was created by damming up the Chagres River. At the time, it was the largest artificial lake in the world.

As soon as we untied, Christi started making breakfast for the crew. None of us had eaten before leaving, and everyone was happy to celebrate successfully navigating the most difficult part of the locks (going up) with a meal.

Christi starting on breakfast

Eric had previously set a course through the canal, but the advisors weren’t happy with what Eric had set. They wanted him to run very close to the green buoys to leave lots of space for the faster traffic to pass us. This video was originally taken to document the vessels passing us.

But as you see in the video, Kim happened to catch the moment that Christi and Keith spotted birds fighting in mid-air over a fish. If you look very closely at the birds flying away, you can see the fish dangling from one of their mouths.

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