Arrival at Panama 19 February 2024.
Joyce and I had the 5.00am slot and by then we about 30 nm from the Panama breakwater and Keith and Jonas who we took over from said things were hotting up. By that they meant the amount of traffic around the Panama breakwater where there were moving tankers, cargo ships and also a whole load anchored. It was going to be quite an exciting arrival and we needed to have our wits about us.
The breakwater is a very large structure which separates the Panama Canal from the sea on the Atlantic side. In fact once passed the breakwater there is still about 5km until the first locks. There are two entrances to this breakwater through which all boats must pass. There is the Eastern one, which is smaller but when I say smaller cargo ships go through it and the main one which is larger. There are 3 sets of buoys which line the channel leading up to it and then at the entrance each side has 100 foot towers with lights to identify it. There is what is called a large traffic separation zones leading toward the breakwater which are effectively cargo/tanker ships sea roads through which they pass around the entrance to breakwater. There is an outbound lane and an inbound lane. Under maritime rules yachts are supposed to keep out of these lanes although you can cross them if you have to but at angle which means you are in them as little as possible. There are such lanes in the English channel which we have had to cross many times when crossing the channel.
Looking ahead on the Chart Plotter there were lots of boats – see picture and we had to navigate through this. The requirements which I had read in a few books merely stated that you had to call the Signal Station when you were 8 miles from the breakwater. It said nothing about the. traffic separation zones (TSS). I thought we would have to go along the edge of the traffic separation zone at its edge as there did not seem to be any other option to keep out of the way of the tankers. The issue I could see was that there were two other tankers coming up behind us fast and at a closing speed but how were we all going to fit? The normal rule for a yacht is that we ideally like 1nm between us and any large ship.
I called up the Signal Station on our VHF radio and told them we were entering the TSS and that I would call again when we were 8nm from the breakwater. The Signal Station acknowledged this and told us to proceed which gave me some comfort that I was doing the right thing. Then at 8 miles I called again and they said call again when we are 5 nm away.. When I did so at 5nm they said we could proceed through the breakwater. This was good but there lots of tankers/cargo ships anchored and others moving which was a bit disconcerting so you had to manoeuvre carefully around them.
We proceeded towards the entrance but I could see a tanker Baltic Summer approaching rapidly from our stern (rear) and knew it would come very close to us. I am talking 100 metres or so. I called them up and they said they were aware of us and would overtake us on the Starboard side. I was not so sure about this but said we would keep off to port (left) as much as we could. I therefore hugged the line of the buoys leading to the entrance to the breakwater. Baltic Summer slowed down and we just passed through the breakwater before she did. I immediately pulled over to the left and waited whilst Baltic Summer passed by us within about 50 meters. You could see in the distance going toward the canal a bridge and a number of other tankers. It was a kind of weird place, a bit grey and muggy and clearly a working port and a large ship zone.
We then proceeded to Shelter Bay Marina, which is a marina surrounded by mangroves, having first to go round 3 small buoys (and they were small/tiny before we could enter the marina). We were asked to go to pontoon C21 and they helped us berth there. We had made it -1.375nm from Grenada in 8 days. It had been quite a challenging trip but we had made it. We had a celebratory beer and then I went to check in with the marina office and the Port Captain. The Immigration officers were not there yet. The marina seemed quite nice with a swimming pool, restaurant and bar, showers etc with palm trees and mangrove fauna round it. It seemed a quiet enclave in this industrial man made zone.
The Panama agent came to see us and we chatted and we gave him a good breakfast of omelette and fresh bread which I had made the night before. I told him I needed to ne through the canal end of March 2024 latest. He went away to see the authorities and said he would revert to me. David and I wondered up to the yard and saw a large Hallberg Rassy – it looked like a 62 like Stormbird. It was and that boat sailed around the world with its previous owners – who wrote a book called “Back to the Helm. Yaghan was number 11 out of 25 every built with Stormbird being number 12. Quite a co-incidence that we are both here.
The Immigration Officers finally arrived so we passed through Immigration. We then did a spring clean of the boat and we booked the restaurant in the marina for supper. I waited to hear what the agent would say about a date to transit the canal.
David had suggested that I contact Jimmy Cornell, who has circumnavigated at least 4 times and who has written a large number of sailing books and I have seen him speak a number of times. He has organised many sailing rallies which have gone through the canal so David thought he may have some good contacts. I felt a bit embarrassed asking but I sent Jimmy an email explaining about my trip and sailor to sailor could he help with the issue of delays. It was a long shot. To my surprise within hours I got a reply from his daughter in which Jimmy said that he had not organised a rally for years but he have me the contact of a good agent he had used. I thought we will see what my agent comes up with first.
We carried on tidying up and by 4,30pm I had an email from the agent saying Wednesday 21. I assumed 21 March but I did not check the diary – and emailed him to confirm. He came back no this Wednesday – ie 2 days time!! I was astonished and thought what has happened – where is this 6 week delay etc?? Had Jimmy made contact and used his influence? We had heard others in the marina had been given dates in early April. What was I to do as it was a bit eraky and would interfere with our plans? I thought I would speak to the agent again. We had hoped to get a date after 15 March 2024 when there was to be a crew change and between then and the end of March would be great. I therefore spoke to the agent and said that I do not want to be ungrateful and well done for such a prompt date but.. I explained that I had hoped to go back to the San Blas Islands and then transit after the 15 March but before the end of March. He said that it had been a crazy day and he could not understand the short nature of the transit and he was going home to have a whisky! He said what day do you want and when we looked at the diary the 18th March seemed a good day. He said he will try and request this. How odd – but let’s see if this can work. I will just have to wait to see but hopefully we will not have too much of an issue.
We had supper at the marina restaurant and had a good meal and a glass of wine or 2 after 8 days of no alcohol. We all had a good laugh and felt good about our passage and the fact that we had made it. We will all sleep well tonight.
The blog will continue as we head off to Panama and beyond.
If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk