May 30, 2010
We spent the morning preparing ADVENTURE for the trip though the canal. We changed the oil and filters on the main and check the other fluids and vitals in the engine room. With this out of the way, we spent the rest of our time lounging around the pool awaiting the arrival of Dracula and Rudy who would be our line handlers going through the canal.
The way passage works, is you await clearance from Canal Authorities. Once this is received you are instructed to head to the area known as the flats. This is a staging area where you wait for a pilot captain to board your vessel.

Once on we had our Pilot Captain onboard we made our way up to the first set of locks. We were informed that we would make the entire transit at night which was a big disappointment as we wanted to see the interior of Panama during the day. We were further informed we would have to raft up to a sport fishing boat and lock through together. This was made difficult as the people on the sport fish spoke very little English. Fortunately for us our line handlers spoke fluent Spanish and English. The rafting process was also made difficult due to the dissimilar size and power of our boats. Fenders were put down on the starboard side of ADVENTURE and port side of the Sport Fish. Once both vessels were tied securely together, we powered into the lock using the sport fisher’s power to carry us in.

Locking through is pretty straight forward and much the same as it is on the Mississippi River. You basically have three options locking though, Wall tie, rafted to a tug or center chamber tie. The best option is a center chamber tie because the tubulance from letting water into the lock could cause damage to your boat by slamming it into the concrete walls. We had a combination, rafting/center tie. Once inside the lock chamber the crew on shore toss a Monkeys fist with a line attached down to your boat, you attached your lines to the end of the line with the fist and they pull your heavier lines back up to a cleat. Once secure you either let line out or take line in to keep your vessel in the center of the chamber.

Once we were though the first of the three locks we were informed that because of the speed of our boat, we would not be able to make it to the last set of locks so they informed us we would tie up to a mooring ball for the evening and make the rest of the passage on Sunday. We were all pleased with this turn of events as we really wanted to cross the interior in daylight.