Some details: The weather was typical for Panama in March - humid daytime temps in the 80s, intermittent showers alternating with sun breaks. In contrast to our DIY south-to-north transit in 2011, this time in 2014 we decided to hire an agent for the north-to-south transit. We had our reasons; among them, that the logistics of getting tires, giant fenders, & line handlers seemed more involved on the Caribbean side than they had been on the Pacific side. We were glad we chose Erick Galvez as our agent. He and his line handlers made sure the prep, the transit, and the winding-up at the end all went as smoothly as possible. Bonus: Guillermo, our Canal advisor, looked just like Denzel Washington. Hubba-hubba.
There was some good tourist action underway. We saw 3 crocodiles on the Canal's eastern shore at the Gatun Locks; we heard a troop of howler monkeys and spied 2 of them on shore at Gatun Lake; and the construction guys were blasting out tons of earthly delights as they revised the Canal's main channel and dug the third canal - the jumbo-sized one for today's really big freighters. The pic over there ---> is a little ambiguous, but if you see a row of what looks like reddish shrubs to GB's right? That's the red soil of the shoreline going up in dynamite.
The 51-foot catamaran "Jonathan III" we were forced to transit with was a total hazard. Eight people aboard but the only individuals who lifted a finger were the profoundly inexperienced person driving the heap, and the ONE line handler they'd hired. None of the other 6 adults could be the least bit interested to even appear on deck to tie up & release lines at every lock-through. They relied on the expanded crew of The Fox to do their work for them, which creates, ahem, an enhanced risk of damage to one or more boats given the strong currents in the locks. Even our advisor had to start scrambling & handling lines to keep The Fox safe from the jamokes on that cat. Lorda mercy. I shall now pat myself on the back because Guillermo took GB aside and told him that in his 25 years as a Canal Authority advisor he'd rarely seen anyone handle their boats in such conditions as well as I'd had. Gee, thanks, Guillermo!
m
Comments