We awoke to sunrise over Flamenco station. See the building at the top of the hill? That’s where the channel controllers live – so they can see all the boats entering the channel getting ready to start their run to the canal.
Mike went over and picked up Dave and Kim from Maluhia. They are going to help Dave and Melissa line handle today on Wanuskewin as she makes her way through the canal. They have never been through the canal before. Mike and Holly invited them because they won’t be taking their boat through – so this is likely to be their only opportunity to make a crossing. You may remember them from our visit to El Salvador where we made a land trip through to Copan Honduras with them.
We pulled up anchor and headed out towards the Balboa Yacht Club where Mike told canal scheduling we would be waiting for our advisor this morning at 8am. But Flamenco control called and told us to go back to La Playita anchorage because a second sailboat – Sea Renity was scheduled to pick up their advisor at the same time. Sea Renity will be one of our lock buddies. Sea Renity is operated by Garret and Venus. As of yesterday they didn’t have any line handlers. So they headed to the nearest hostel and picked up some back packers who had never been on a sailboat before in their lives, but thought a trip through the canal sounded cool.
At around 8:30 the pilot boat showed up with our advisors aboard. They hopped onboard the two sailboats, and we were officially on our way!
Though not without breakfast! Holly made us fresh fruit and breakfast burritos. Oh, and cinnamon rolls. Yum!
We made our way under the Bridge of the Americas. It always looks like the mast is going to hit, no matter how high the bridge is.
Then we passed through the port area where container ships were being loaded and unloaded.
Then it was time for our advisor Amado to give all the line handlers a lecture on how to handle the lines. Though most of us are old hands at it by now! Amado doesn’t actually have any tattoos. Those are sleeves that help keep him from getting sun burned.
Our lock buddy, Star Osprey goes roaring past us.
Then as we sat and waited for Star Osprey to get settled in the lock ahead of us, we got to watch the channel dredger in action.
We had hoped that they would side tie us to the tug, but the lock master decided that we would be center tied with Sea Renity. So first we had to raft up with her.
Then we entered the lock where the first step is for the lock side line handlers to toss the “monkey fist” to us, so we can attach our lines to their lines. The first set were tossed down on the Sea Renity side.
But quickly passed over to Wanuskewin because Sea Renity’s cleats were deemed not strong enough to hold the weight of both boats during locking. So both sides of lines will be cleated off to Wanuskewin.
We maneuvered into position in the lock.
Where the second monkey fist was tossed to our port side.
Then the lock side line handlers walked down to the first lock with us.
Where they tied us off to the lock wall.
Then the doors close behind us – this video is sped up 8x.
As the water rushes in, you can see from how much Sea Renity is bouncing around how strong the currents are in the lock. At one point the rigging on the masts of both boats actually touched because Sea Renity was being tossed about so much. No damage was done, but it startled us all. Dave rigged another spring line between the boats to try and prevent this from happening again.
Melissa was supposed to handle lines, but Holly volunteered when Melissa said she would rather take photos and document the day’s activities. Because she wasn't also cooking, Melissa managed to take even more pictures during the two day crossing on Wanuskewin than she did when we crossed in Apsaras. 694 pictures on Wanuskewin compared with a mere 555 on Apsaras.
Everyone has to work together to make sure the boat stays safe in the lock. One of the smarter things we did was to put Kim and Dave in the aft with Mike where it was easier for them to hear commands since they were newbies. Whereas Dave and Holly needed little direction so they were up on the bow.
Once the lock is fully cycled, we have to wait for the ship to move forward. You can see why we wait till they are well away before we untie our lines.
Once we had made it through the first two locks, we became visible on the Miraflores lock camera. That’s us and Sea Renity in the lower left corner.
After sitting around the lake between the second and third locks for a bit, we enter the final lock of the day. Again they toss the monkey fists down to us so we can secure our lines.
And into the lock we go.
All has gone well, until a very small issue happens because (for the second time today) the shore side line handlers put our lines under the lines for the tugboat. The problem is that they have to let our lines loose, and we drift off to port.
Finally done with the third lock, it’s time to untie from Sea Renity and be on our way.
We have one very happy captain aboard who is now half way through the Panama Canal! We will be spending the night on the lake, as we won’t make it to the far side in time for the last down lock on the Gatun side today.
Two sailboats passed us by who were rafted up and headed the other direction.
We then head across the lake. Along the way we saw this ship that we thought was probably carrying giant windmill arms.
And this blurry shot is of a canal tugboat practicing their firefighting and was shooting off water every which way.
Near our mooring, another ship was anchored that was transporting a big power boat.
When we got to our mooring, Dave hopped on to tie us up.
We got tied down to the mooring where we will be remaining for the night.
The pilot boat came and picked up our adviser.
And then it was time for a swim! Despite rumors of crocodiles in the lake, everyone decided to go for it.
After a lasagna dinner more boats arrived on the mooring buoy. Dave hopped on the buoy to help them get attached.
Then another boat rafted up to them. All total there were 7 boats attached to the two buoys.
Because the other boat had tied the bow and stern lines so tight, they had a hard time getting their fenders down to protect them from the buoy. Oh well, their boat was pretty worn already.
The rest of the night on the lake was all quiet!