We definitely waited too long to go through the canal. After finally making it back from the Las Perlas, we got started on organising our canal transit ASAP. To sort out the paperwork we had to find the canal office, which luckily wasn't very far. It turns out our boat was already registered! We knew it had been through the Canal before, because it made it to New Zealand from the Carribean. But it hadn't really clicked that she had already been here and done this all before without us. Luckily that meant there was less paperwork to fill out, and it also meant that she didn't need to be measured. Unfortunately we still had to have a guy come out to the boat with the measuring forms, I guess to confirm that we haven't attached any giant contraptions to the boat since it was here last. But she's still the same size without any bells and whistles, so the guy didn't even look twice at it. He handed us some papers and we signed them quickly while his pilot boat circled the anchorage.
Looking towards Panama City from the dinghy dock at he La Playita anchorage
"Is it fine for you to go on the side wall?"
That was a question we had been dreading. Everybody says not to go on the side wall. It's rough and dangerous and you can scrape your spreaders on the wall if the boat tilts over with all the swell. But we went on the wall for the down locks with Tori and Dave on Eva Marie, and it was as easy as pie. In fact, the whole thing was much calmer and nicer without all the stress of getting secured from the middle of the locks.
"Can we agree to side wall for the down locks and not for the up ones?" I asked tentatively. His answer was a flat out No. Of course it was.
"It's one or the other for the whole way through. Side wall is better. Side wall, yes?"
This was not a decision we wanted to make quickly. I had a lot of questions, and he had a lot of places to be. After a bit of probing I found out that if we agreed to go on the side wall, they didn't need as many people working as line handlers on the canal wall for you to go through the locks. If you go centre chamber, you need four guys on shore to throw you ropes. If you tie up to the side you only need one or two. Of course he wanted us to go on the side. We also found out that it meant we could transit at any time of the day. They have less line handlers working at night, so if we went on the side then they could have us go through whenever without needing to wait for the four guys during the day.
Garth quickly made the decision to tick the box for side wall. I crossed my fingers that we hadn't just made life harder for ourselves.
After that everything was done and the guy was gone. All we had to do was pay. And if we wanted to go through the canal before the weekend and before Tori and Dave's visas ran out, we had to pay straight away. In cash. Unfortunately, our banks don't let us withdraw $2k cash out in one day. My bank only lets me take $500! I found that out at an inconvenient time, as we were standing at a collection of ATM's near the bank. The ATM's are also picky, and not many of them will let you draw out much cash at once. I'm guessing that's why there were three of them near the bank used for Canal business. After much begging and credit card waving and fund swapping and card juggling, we managed to get the right amount of money out. 1 minute before the bank closed. Phew!
Chasing giant ants while we wait for the bus
I called up straight away to book our time... Which would not be until Saturday. Tori and Dave had to leave by Sunday, so if it ended up taking two days they couldn't come with us. And you never know if it will take one day or two until you're sitting in Gatun Lake and your advisor starts shuffling paperwork, sadly shaking his head. Tori and Dave were out.
It was entirely our fault for staying in the Las Perlas for too long, but it was still disappointing. We had been looking forward to sharing the canal experience with them! Luckily our good friends Ivo and Mira on Fata Morgana agreed to help us out. And they have a fabulous daughter, Maya, who could make up our fourth line handler. Everything was suddenly much easier! Tori and Dave could focus on provisioning and getting ready to go to Ecuador, we didn't have to rush any more, and instead of having strangers onboard we were going to be transiting with some really fun people who we already knew were great company. Phew again!
Crossing the road to get to the Abastos vege market
Ivo and Mira were amazing in helping us get everything ready. With Tori and Dave needing to provision as well, the three of us tagged along on a trip to the Abastos markets escorted by Ivo and Mira. The Abastos markets are huge! They whole place is a few acres long and you can drive between the different sections. It's where the restaurants get their food from in bulk, and I think most of the other fruit and vege stalls in Panama City are just reselling produce from this place. I'd been wanting to go for a while, but had no idea how to get there. Ivo and Mira to the rescue!
Right at the entrance to the market
Mira analyzing the papaya
Sugar cane! They were prepping it to get the delicious juice out
I was torn between wanting to get some nice pictures of the place and not wanting to look like a tourist taking pictures of everything. The gringo tax for tourists is huge everywhere in Panama, and usually the smartest thing to do is to just look like you know what you're doing and where you're going. We were buying our groceries for the week, not running around on a tourist excursion. So I gave in and just took a few sneaky gopro shots, and of course they were all out of focus. But I did end up with more veges than I could carry, which was much better than pictures!
This was the melon section - a whole row of stalls with nothing but watermelons
This whole undercover area was just rows of pineapples. Love at first sight!
A few days later we reluctantly said our goodbyes to Tori and Dave, who have made our time in Panama truly unforgettable. I decided not to be sad about us parting ways though - We love them so much and they're so goddamn fabulous that it's inevetable that we will meet again in another part of the world at another time in our lives.
Tiny birds sing from our lifelines every morning
The rest of the canal prep was easy. We bought food and I cooked a lot. We cleaned the boat from top to bottom. I bought all the extra things you need for the advisor (like a disposable cooler, ice, bottled water and lots of soda). We retrieved the tires that Tori and Dave had stashed on an abandoned floating dock for us after they came through the canal. I got the ropes from Roger, who was helpful as always. And we were ready to go! Kind of. As ready as we could ever be.
There's always a storm coming in Panama
Xxx Monique
"Is it fine for you to go on the side wall?"
That was a question we had been dreading. Everybody says not to go on the side wall. It's rough and dangerous and you can scrape your spreaders on the wall if the boat tilts over with all the swell. But we went on the wall for the down locks with Tori and Dave on Eva Marie, and it was as easy as pie. In fact, the whole thing was much calmer and nicer without all the stress of getting secured from the middle of the locks.
"Can we agree to side wall for the down locks and not for the up ones?" I asked tentatively. His answer was a flat out No. Of course it was.
"It's one or the other for the whole way through. Side wall is better. Side wall, yes?"
This was not a decision we wanted to make quickly. I had a lot of questions, and he had a lot of places to be. After a bit of probing I found out that if we agreed to go on the side wall, they didn't need as many people working as line handlers on the canal wall for you to go through the locks. If you go centre chamber, you need four guys on shore to throw you ropes. If you tie up to the side you only need one or two. Of course he wanted us to go on the side. We also found out that it meant we could transit at any time of the day. They have less line handlers working at night, so if we went on the side then they could have us go through whenever without needing to wait for the four guys during the day.
Garth quickly made the decision to tick the box for side wall. I crossed my fingers that we hadn't just made life harder for ourselves.
After that everything was done and the guy was gone. All we had to do was pay. And if we wanted to go through the canal before the weekend and before Tori and Dave's visas ran out, we had to pay straight away. In cash. Unfortunately, our banks don't let us withdraw $2k cash out in one day. My bank only lets me take $500! I found that out at an inconvenient time, as we were standing at a collection of ATM's near the bank. The ATM's are also picky, and not many of them will let you draw out much cash at once. I'm guessing that's why there were three of them near the bank used for Canal business. After much begging and credit card waving and fund swapping and card juggling, we managed to get the right amount of money out. 1 minute before the bank closed. Phew!
I called up straight away to book our time... Which would not be until Saturday. Tori and Dave had to leave by Sunday, so if it ended up taking two days they couldn't come with us. And you never know if it will take one day or two until you're sitting in Gatun Lake and your advisor starts shuffling paperwork, sadly shaking his head. Tori and Dave were out.
It was entirely our fault for staying in the Las Perlas for too long, but it was still disappointing. We had been looking forward to sharing the canal experience with them! Luckily our good friends Ivo and Mira on Fata Morgana agreed to help us out. And they have a fabulous daughter, Maya, who could make up our fourth line handler. Everything was suddenly much easier! Tori and Dave could focus on provisioning and getting ready to go to Ecuador, we didn't have to rush any more, and instead of having strangers onboard we were going to be transiting with some really fun people who we already knew were great company. Phew again!
Ivo and Mira were amazing in helping us get everything ready. With Tori and Dave needing to provision as well, the three of us tagged along on a trip to the Abastos markets escorted by Ivo and Mira. The Abastos markets are huge! They whole place is a few acres long and you can drive between the different sections. It's where the restaurants get their food from in bulk, and I think most of the other fruit and vege stalls in Panama City are just reselling produce from this place. I'd been wanting to go for a while, but had no idea how to get there. Ivo and Mira to the rescue!
I was torn between wanting to get some nice pictures of the place and not wanting to look like a tourist taking pictures of everything. The gringo tax for tourists is huge everywhere in Panama, and usually the smartest thing to do is to just look like you know what you're doing and where you're going. We were buying our groceries for the week, not running around on a tourist excursion. So I gave in and just took a few sneaky gopro shots, and of course they were all out of focus. But I did end up with more veges than I could carry, which was much better than pictures!
A few days later we reluctantly said our goodbyes to Tori and Dave, who have made our time in Panama truly unforgettable. I decided not to be sad about us parting ways though - We love them so much and they're so goddamn fabulous that it's inevetable that we will meet again in another part of the world at another time in our lives.
The rest of the canal prep was easy. We bought food and I cooked a lot. We cleaned the boat from top to bottom. I bought all the extra things you need for the advisor (like a disposable cooler, ice, bottled water and lots of soda). We retrieved the tires that Tori and Dave had stashed on an abandoned floating dock for us after they came through the canal. I got the ropes from Roger, who was helpful as always. And we were ready to go! Kind of. As ready as we could ever be.
Xxx Monique
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