Swimming from your boat is not allowed, however, because of crocodiles. Once released from the three Gatun Locks, most yachts spend the night on an official mooring in Gatun Lake, resuming the transit early the next morning. In any case, your pilot/adviser and local line handlers are experienced (Roy and Juan had each transited more than 1,000 times) with all kinds of boats. We found that the counter-rotating props of our cat’s twin 40 hp diesels helped Harriet adjust our position as needed the prop walk of a monohull’s single screw will require more anticipation by your line handlers. Be sure to ease the lines to avoid a high upward load that could snap your cleats. We rented 125-footers of seven-eighths polypropylene and eight round fenders from the Panama Canal Authority. Keep your two bow and two stern lines taut. The path between the Atlantic and Pacific was engineered more than 100 years ago, dug out by steam-powered diggers and men with shovels. It’s safer to be alone, if possible, with your lines keeping you in the center of the lock, or to be rafted to another yacht that is tied to the wall of the canal avoid nesting to a tug or alongside the wall. The rush of water boiling up in the chamber combined with prop wash from the ship just in front of us was alarming, but Roy had positioned Ocean in the best spot in the lock. Our crew was excited: “How cool is this!” Yes, the Panama Canal is very cool-suddenly you find yourself in the middle of amazing history and modern technology. Twenty-six-million gallons of water flooded in, silently lifting Ocean, along with the 45-foot powerboat we were rafted to, and an imposing container ship, 27 feet above the Atlantic. Once we were safely inside the Gatun Locks, the bells of the electric locomotives clanged and the sliding steel sluice gate closed behind us. Our agent arranged for Juan, who was studying to become a canal pilot, to join Ocean, and a Panama Canal Authority pilot boat met us to drop off Roy, our pilot/adviser, as we approached the first lock. Two friends from our late-’80s cruise through the South Pacific, Karen and Paul Prioleau, joined our boat for the transit, so we needed only one more line handler. Our transitīefore heading for the canal, we spent about 10 days chasing down boat projects at Shelter Bay Marina, a full-service facility a few miles from the canal entrance. Overall, the cost of this enterprise, including the $1,500 transit toll for Ocean-and the transit admeasure, security fee, fenders and lines rental, agent service fee, Panama cruising permit, and one line handler and a pilot/adviser-came to just over $2,900.

A path between the seas