Crossing the Panama Canal starts early, for us at 5:30am. For some friends as early as 4:30am. The Panama Canal Authority requires boats under 65 feet to have an advisor on board, over 65 feet a pilot is required. Here the advisor arrives via tugboat.
Once the advisor is on board, the journey begins and we pass under the bridge of Americas and head towards the Miraflores locks. The Miraflores locks contain two chambers and the visitor center.
Passing under the Bridge of Americas that connects Panama City to the north is quite the experience. It was very early in the day and the sun slowly makes its appearance.
Safely tied up in the first lock. Water enters the lock and slowly we ascend roughly 20 feet. This process takes about 20 minutes.
The Pedro Miguel lock is next, one chamber only. Then off to crossing the Gatun lake. For most sailboats this takes all day and a night at the lake is required. Unless you’re lucky like us. We caught up to the last tanker to go thru the Gatun locks at 4:30pm, three chambers.
Just as we exited the last chamber and dropped off our advisor, a major storm with tremendous rain welcomed us to Colon. We managed with limited visibility to enter Shelter Bay marina around 8pm. Whew, what a day!