The big day had finally arrived. No matter how much you read and speak to people about the Panama Canal transit, the whole thing still seemed like a daunting task.

Firstly you need one captain, four line handlers and an advisor (from the Canal Authority). Jen and Ulf from Sea Quill, who we met on the way back from San Blas, kindly assisted with the lines. We also hired Rudy as our fourth lines person. Whilst in Colon, Rudy was our personal assistant, taxi driver & general advisor. He is Panamanian with many years experience transiting the locks.

We where scheduled to pick up the advisor at 4.30pm at “The Flats”, outside the Panama Yacht Club. We arrived around 4pm and drifted for a few hours whilst waiting for the advisor, who came on board around 6.30pm (they are always late). We were fortunate that out pickup time was relatively early as we have know some cruiser to pick up their advisor until 10pm at night.

Three yachts where scheduled to go through: Cadans, Woodsia and some guys from Venezuela who had a 39” Beneteau. As the sun was setting over Colon, we commenced the short trip to the first set of locks. The first three locks gravity feed water in so that you rise well above sea level. About 1km before entering, the three boats have to be rafted together. Cadans was in the middle with us on her port side.

As you enter the lock, there are two linesmen onshore who throw you a monkey fist ( a ball at the end of a line) that you tie to your bow and stern lines. We had been warned that they can aim for just about any where on the boat so we covered up our solar panels as a precaution. Once you have attached your lines, they walk your lines to each loch, pull your line up and secure it to a bollard.

Once you are attached, the water starts to rise and you have to keep the tension on the lines to ensure that the three yachts remain central and don’t come too close to the sides. Jen, Ulf and myself seemed to do all the work as the yacht on the other side just sat there and let there lines go slack. The first set of lochs went well and we made it through with out any problems. When it came to derafting the three boats, just as we where set loose, a large wake from a passing pilot vessel came through. We got away unscathed but the Beneteau & Cadans were still rafted, they rocked violently, rigging touched but no damage was done.

It took about an hour and a half to get through the first set of lochs. We then motored for about 20 minutes and arrived at a huge man made lake for the night. We tied up to a donut buoy for the night at around 9.30ish. The advisor warned us not to swim due to the croc’s! Once we arrived, we prepared pizza for supper…then disaster struck. As I was putting grounded black pepper on the second pizza before putting it in the oven, the grinder broke and the pepper corns went every where. We lost about a third of the pizza. With an additional mouth to feed (the advisor invited him self to dinner) we got creative with the BBQ chicken. It may not seem a big deal but we had been discussing the menu for weeks…but we made it through.

The advisor was dropped off at 7.30am. The next set locks are 28nm from our mooring buoy. We had sensational weather. Slightly overcast which protected us from the blazing sun. The trip through the water ways is really beautiful, with much of it being national park. You forget where you are until you see a huge ship mosey on by.

The remaining three locks release water from the locks so that you eventually return to sea level. It was also a lot less work as you have to release the line rather than take up on it. We had an audience as there was about 100 people standing around the numerous viewing platforms watch us make our decent. We also waved madly at the internet video cameras in hope that someone from home was watching.

As we got to the final lock, we hoisted our boxing kangaroo flag up the mast and put on the Men At Work classic “Down Under” (OS Aussie national anthem). It was a very emotional moment as the last lock opened to the Pacific. Not only was it a great achievement to get this far, but is also over whelming when you think about what is ahead……all part of the adventure.

We made our way down to the Balboa yacht club whilst having some celebratory champagne. To drop off our advisor we had to meet a tug boat for a boat to boat transfer. We also bid a sad farewell to Jen, Ulf and Rudy who were picked up in a water taxi. There was a strong southerly swell and the yachts at the club were really pitching. We decided to see if we could find a nicer anchorage on the other side of the causeway. We motored around to the Flaminco marina and anchored on the other side of the breakwater. Had a few more celebratory drinks on Cadans before calling it a night….and rolled all night (I don’t think there is such a thing as a calm anchorage on the Pacific side)..

The next day we moved to the Flaminco marina to wait for the bad weather to pass. There was a tropical low near Mexico that was pushing a lot of rain and wind our way. On day four, fully stocked and provisioned, we headed to Las Perlas on route to the Galapagos.