October 15, 2003
We spent a very busy 11 days at the Balboa Yacht Club acquiring provisions and supplies, socializing, and getting ready for our transit of the Panama Canal. Phil�s brother, John, and his son Brad flew in the night of September 12 to transit the canal with us on Sunday, September 14. On the 13th we took them to the Panama Canal Museum where it was fascinating to look at the early motion pictures made during the building of the canal, especially as we had all read the book, The Path Between the Seas, by David McCullough covering the creation of the Panama Canal.
Our transit through the Panama Canal was a day we will always remember. John and Brad spent Saturday night onboard as we were told that morning by the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) that our canal advisor would be arriving on Sunday at 6:30 a.m. To be ready to transit on time, we awoke at 4:30 a.m. To transit the canal, one is required to have a helmsman and 4 line handlers. Ray and Eileen, cruisers off another sailboat, came along as our additional line handlers. Upon calling the PCA Flamenco Signal at 6:15 a.m., we were told that our advisor would be arriving at 7:30 a.m. At 7:30 a.m. we were told that our advisor would actually be boarding at 8:20 a.m. as we were now scheduled to go into the Miraflores Locks at 9:20 a.m. Well, so much for schedules!
At 8:20 a.m. we undid our line to the mooring ball at the Balboa Yacht Club and waved goodbye to the other cruising boats there. We were the first of the cruising boats presently at the Balboa Yacht Club to transit. As we maintained a minimum boat speed, the PCA launch came alongside, our advisor jumped aboard, and off we started on our transit of the Panama Canal. Prior to our transit, we had studied and read all that had been written concerning the transit of the Panama Canal by a small vessel and the potential problems and accidents that have occurred to small boats while in the locks. Pat, our Canal advisor, was a young tugboat captain for the Panama Canal and very knowledgeable in all aspects of the Canal operation. We felt very lucky to have him as our advisor. Pat definitely made us all feel relaxed. He told us that we had been given our first transit choice which was to go alongside a PCA tug. |
