In an average year, 13,000-14,000 boats transit the Panama Canal – around 40-50 per day. After a couple of weeks in Panama, it’s time for Oso to join them.
Large ships are centered in the locks by 4-8 electric locomotives with powerful winches that control wire ropes. Since that’s not practical for smaller vessels, small boats (defined by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) as <65′ in length) are typically centered in the locks using 4 long ropes. This drives the canal requirement that small boats have a minimum of 4 line handlers, one captain, and one Canal advisor (supplied by the ACP) on board. In practice, however, small boats usually transit the locks in groups of 2 or 3, with the boats rafted together and the four centering lines attached to the outboard boats only.
Since there are only two of us aboard Oso, we hire line handlers from our canal agent, along with 8 large fenders and 4 150’/45m thick ropes. After welcoming the line handlers aboard the boat in Shelter Bay Marina, we anchor along with 20-30 waiting freighters outside the marina. Around 5pm, a pilot boat pulls up to Oso, expertly hovering about a foot/30cm away so that the canal advisor can step onboard. We lift the anchor, and we’re off to the first set of locks.
For our transit, we are paired with a single catamaran. About half a mile from the entrance to the first locks, we slowly motor to the side of the catamaran, nestle against their well-fendered port side hull, and secure dock lines to attach the two boats. Since Oso is the larger boat, we take the maneuvering lead and slowly motor into the maw of the waiting lock behind a small freighter and a pair of ACP pilot boats. The prop wash from the other boats, the current from the water level stabilizing in the lock, and the drag of a catamaran lashed to the side of Oso make maneuvering more challenging than normal, and we’re happy when we enter the lock successfully.
Lock workers toss small lines terminated in weighted monkey’s fists down to our line handlers, who in turn attach our thick centering lines to the small lines. The lock workers then hoist the thick lines up to the top of the lock and attach them to large cleats. Then, as the water level in the lock rises or falls, the onboard line handlers can adjust the length of lines from the boat in order to keep the boat centered in the lock.
The doors (still the originals from when the canal was built in 1914!) close behind us, and the water gurgles and swirls as the lock operator opens the valves to start filling the lock. A minute or two later, Oso and her lockmates have been lifted almost 30’/9m. The forward door opens, and the freighter is pulled forward into the next lock by electric locomotives running on tracks along the sides of the locks. The pilot boats follow under their own power, and then the lock workers lower the thick lines down to Oso and her catamaran neighbor. The lock workers walk forward along the sides of the locks with the small lines as the Oso/catamaran raft slowly and carefully drives forward. Once in the next lock, the lock workers pull our thick lines back to the cleats at the top of the lock, and the process is repeated a second time, and then a third in the final lock of the set.
Moving all of the boats in and out of the locks is not a fast process, and it takes about half and hour per lock. So about 90 minutes after starting our approach, the final door of the first set of locks opens into Lake Gatun, about 85’/26m above sea level. Oso detaches from her catamaran neighbor, and each boat motors about a mile into the lake and ties up to a large mooring buoy for the night. A pilot boat retreives our canal advisor, but the line handlers spend the night onboard with us, the calls of tropical birds and shore-based monkeys interrupted only by the occasional wake of a passing freighter.
The morning of day two starts early – a pilot boat returns at 7am to drop off a canal advisor, a new one for this leg. Once onboard, we start the long motor across the lake. It’s about 30 miles to the next set of locks, and Oso hugs the starboard side of the channel to stay well clear of passing traffic. The shoreline is mostly jungle, dense green cascading down the steep hillsides to the still water of the lake. We chat with our canal advisor (small boat advisors guide boats through the canal as a side job from their main responsibility – our advisor’s full time job is as a scheduler for ship traffic), with our line handlers (all three of whom have been taking boats through the canal for between 5 and 15 years), and enjoy the scenery.
As we approach the second set of locks, we learn that instead of being held in the middle of the locks with lines, we’ll raft up to a canal tour boat that will tie to the wall of each lock. The tour boat enters first and gets situated, and then it’s Oso’s turn. As we approach the tour boat and prepare to tie off to their side, we hear the tour boat’s guide on the PA, narrating our approach for the 150 or so guests onboard. Oso likely shows up in a lot of vacation photos.
For the final three locks, small boats enter the locks before the large freighters that we share them with. Everything proceeds without incident, except for a delay caused by a locomotive breaking down as it towed the large freighter into the lock behind us. But in the canal, time is money, and a backup locomotive is in place and pulling within half an hour. The water surface is smoother on the way down than the way up, and the boats march their way through the three locks.
About ten hours after starting the final lock door opens, and Oso tastes the water of the Pacific Ocean for the first time!
Notes:
- It’s not required to hire professional line handlers – it’s possible to just take friends with you. But in our opinion, having line handlers that have been through the canal multiple times, that have been exposed to the sometimes strong currents and tight areas for maneuvering, and that know what the lock workers expect is really valuable.
- The actual lifting and lowering of the boats in the locks doesn’t actually take that much time. But loading all of the boats into the locks, getting them secured, and then moving them to the next lock is not a fast process.
