Panama Canal Crossing - Caribbean to Pacific Ocean in one day

Join Jeff and crew as we arrange and conduct our Panama Canal transit

I had my Catana 431 catamaran in Bonaire for 6 months after sailing it across the Caribbean from St Martin. The marina in Bonaire was very small but we had an excellent end-tie and the sail from St. Martin was absolutely phenomenal.

I decided to take the boat through the Panama Canal so I could have easier access from the Pacific Northwest, where I lived and worked. The plan was to traverse the Canal and then keep the boat in Panama until I could arrange a voyage to the Galapagos Islands.

I researched the process for transiting the Canal and found that I needed a broker to arrange the transit and also would need 4 line handlers and dock lines long enough to reach the walls 110 feet apart in case I transited the Canal by myself.

Bonaire heading west to Colon, Panama

I researched reputable brokers and found an excellent one. He arranged everything and gave me a day and time to transit the Canal. I wanted to do it in one day - many cruising boats are not fast enough to cover the entire distance but I wanted to avoid spending the night anchored in Lake Gatun if possible. I planned to sail the entire distance from the exit of the Miraflores locks, across Lake Gatun to the Gatun locks.

Exited the marina in Kralendijk and traveled south around Klein Bonaire

My crew and I met at the boat in Bonaire, quickly provisioned, checked all the systems, filled the water and fuel tanks and got going. The wind was blowing 20 from the East - typical conditions. We sailed downwind around Klein Bonaire and then started reaching up to pass the last point on Bonaire and go over the top of Curacao. We were using the Screatcher as we had found that the jib was too flat and too small to balance the enormous main I had on the boat. The daggerboards were halfway down and we were making 13 knots when we got a puff and the Screatcher exploded.

I had asked the sailmaker to optimize for 18 knots of wind but that was too light for the conditions. We found during the Atlantic crossing that the enormous main overpowered the jib so the sailplan was not balanced. I was worried about destroying the Screatcher on the Atlantic Crossing as we were seeing up to 40 knots of wind - the Screatcher would have exploded instantly.

We went back to the jib until we rounded the last point on Bonaire and got out into the Caribbean. 800 miles to go! We set the spinnaker and started to fly downwind - heading for the north end of Curacao. The sailing was straightforward. After rounding the north end of Curacao we decided to try and reduce the overall distance by sailing between the south end of Aruba and the northern tip of Venezuela. It was dark by this time and there are a series of small islands west of Aruba we had to navigate through. Once through, we headed further offshore to make certain we would clear Santa Marta and Barranquilla Columbia.

As there were two of us onboard, we did 4 hour watches - one person steering and navigating and updating the logbook while the other person prepared meals, washed dishes and rested.

We were offshore of Cartagena when we passed a powerboat sitting in the water, lit up like crazy. A short time later a helicopter flew over us and hovered, then turned and went back to the power boat. We saw some items dropping out of the helicopter and the power boat maneuvering to pick them up. Assuming it was some kind of a drug deal, I killed all the lights on our boat and made all possible speed west - motorsailing out of the area.

There is a small peninsula in Northern Panama that projects out into the Caribbean - Punta de Manzanillo. We set our course for that and timed things so we would pass in daylight. We sailed north of the San Blas Islands, which were spectacular and great to see after 3+ days offshore.

As we approached Colon I contacted the marina on the VHF to ensure we knew which slip we were heading to in the marina. We got there 4 days early in case there were any problems getting our line handlers or any changes to our canal transit schedule.

My broker arranged for the line handlers and the long dock lines. A quick trip to the store to provision for all six people for possibly 3 days, plus fueling up and filling the water tanks and we were ready.

At 10 AM we were told to hover in a specific location adjacent to the opening of the first lock, and after the northbound traffic exited the locks towards the Caribbean, an enormous ocean tug pulled into the lock in front of us. The lock tender told me to pull up and tie our boat to the side of the tug, so we would not need the line handlers to manage the enormous dock lines.

The north end of the Canal has 3 locks and we stayed tied to the tug through all 3. It was fun chatting with the tug crew and asking questions about the Canal and what we should expect when we descended the Miraflores locks out of Lake Gatun. They warned us that there are significant currents in the Miraflores locks. The locks are 110 feet wide and over 1000 feet long, and there are ripping currents through all the locks as they fill or drain, respectively.

As soon as we got through the 3rd upward lock we untied from the tug and they took off at full speed to cross Lake Gatun. We raised the main and set the jib and sailed at max speed across Lake Gatun. The line handlers were surprised as they generally have to spend the night onboard due to the distances involved.

We made lunch for everyone, provided snacks and plenty of water and Gatorade for everyone. The boat was sailing great and we made record time to the first of the "downward" locks. We furled the sails and started to rig fenders around the boat. We found that we were descending by ourselves, which was really surprising. Normally the Canal is extremely busy but it was a quiet day and we entered the lock carefully. The line handlers did an outstanding job, even as the boat was getting tossed around by the mighty current as the water levels dropped.

We made it through all 3 downward locks and exited into a channel and passed underneath the Bridge of the Americas - a stunning bridge enabling transit between North and South America.

Bridge of the Americas near Panama City and the Pacific Ocean

We traversed the channel and picked up a mooring buoy in the Panama City marina after dropping off the line handlers. We were exhausted but pleased we were able to complete the transit in one day!