Panama Canal

Panama Canal


We arrived in Panama the evening of 18 December and anchored off Isla Flamenco to await the arrival of our pilots, scheduled for 0300. By 0400, we were underway and entering the Panama Canal, surely one of the great engineering wonders of the world. As early as 1534, King Charles V of Spain had ordered a topographic survey of the Isthmus of Panama for a proposed canal. The looting of gold and other treasures from the New World was complicated by the fact that these goods had to be landed in Panama from their South American ports and land transported across the Isthmus to ships waiting on the Caribbean side for further transport to Spain. However, the concept was far beyond the construction capabilities of the day.

The French, under the command of Count Ferdinand de Lesseps who had created the Suez Canal, began a sea level canal in 1880. However, climatic and disease challenges brought this to a halt and, after a second French attempt in 1894, the project was taken over by the United States in 1904. It was determined that a lock-type canal would be required and it was completed in 1914 at a cost of some $400 million. The water to operate the canal is provided by the Chargres River, in the middle of the Isthmus, which is dammed to create Lake Gatun and then operate the locks down to the Pacific side and to the Caribbean Sea. The locking up to Lake Gatun through the two flight Miraflores Locks and the Pedro Miguel Lock is about 26 meters and consequently the locking down through the three flight Gatun Locks is the same. The total fifty mile transit requires about nine hours.

On December 31, 1999, the Canal was turned over to the Republic of Panama as provided for in the Torrijos-Carter Treaty of 1977. When we transited the Canal aboard S/V Boutonierre in April 1995 there was a lot of bad feeling amongst the Americans about the "Jimmy Carter give-away". However, the Canal continues to operate with great efficiency and has contributed over $2.5 billion to the Republic of Panama since that time.

Before daybreak, we had passed under the Bridge of the Americas, which carried the Pan-American Highway, presumably from Alaska to the tip of Chile, and entered the first flight of the Miraflores Locks. In 2003, a modern impressive suspension bridge was completed over the canal north of Pedro Miguel and the highway has been rerouted over it. It was a bit sad to see the Pedro Miguel Boatyard where we had spent some 10-14 days in 1995 preparing for our sail across the Pacific aboard the 55' Tayana, Boutonierre, with our friend John Button. At that time, it was a thriving yard full of boats making the transit in both directions. We had marveled at the four man crew of an eastern bound vessel, whose average age was 68. John was then 64 and I was 61 and we thought they were a bit advanced in age for such an undertaking. Now, of course, that seems young by comparison. We completed the typical repairs necessitated by our passage from Cartagena, Columbia, had our sails mended once again, provisioned for about six months of cruising and prepared meals for freezing in the huge industrial type galley in the clubhouse. The yard is now going out of business and once gone, no other yard can open there. It's too close to the lock and, of course, the heavy commercial traffic takes precedence over pleasure vessels.

When we transited the Miraflores Locks in 1999, it was in a torrential downpour with the two of us line handlers on the bow being totally soaked through our clothes. Our passage in Rickmers-Jakarta was in a perfect day of sunshine and moderated temperatures. We completed the transit about 1515 at Colon, discharged the pilots and set a course for Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.