Arriving in heavy weather, Shelter Bay Marina was the only option. The anchorage outside the Marina was rolling fast. This anchorage is now called the new Flats or just “The Flats”. The old Flats anchorage on the Colon side is totally closed due to its proximity to the gas terminal.

Shelter Bay Marina:

While not inexpensive, the Marina works well, is good shelter, efficient, and has most services. Call them on VHF Ch: 74 on arrival. The large and busy sail loft stocks Marlow ropes and cords. There is a daily free marina bus into town.

The Marina office has been fighting on yachtsmen’s behalf against a rip-off by FedEx. They attempted to charge $160 for agency clearance of my 0.7kg 140 Australian dollar spares package sent with TNT for yacht in transit and have done similar to other deliveries. We ended up paying $40 with the marina accepting delivery and paying on my account. My advice is use DHL.

Panama Canal Logistics:

We did not use an agent as the Canal organisation is so efficient. This is what we had to do:

• One email of form 4405 2 days ahead (actually filled in for me and sent by brother in England);
• Three phone calls;
• Marina bus into town which drops you right outside Citibank for transit payment of $2650 including returnable deposit, pay cash only (return deposit to bank of choice);
• Call to signal station on day of transit for exact time of pilot pick up on the Flats.
• 13.30 – pilot pick up on Flats on Saturday.
• 16.30 – moored at top of Gatun locks for the night.
• Sunday 0900 start, slow descent to drop crew off at Balboa at 18.30 and a rush to anchor outside La Playita just after dark.

See other reports on Noonsite for details.

Recommendations:

We had a bit of a panic to find line handlers and then ended up as a party boat with 6 (well we did advertise best Thai food on the canal and Kitty excelled!). We hired one experienced local, Rick, who while independent, is normally around the Marina. He has been doing it for 10 years, knows many of the pilot advisers and was very valuable – bringing extra tires for fenders and taking charge of the foredeck. (We have our own 7/8” hawser laid Canal warps from previous transits, rented lines tend to be rather over-sized, coarse polypropylene ropes).

You must be prepared for anything. The plan was to go up Gatun as a raft of three boats, then it changed to alongside tug and then changed again to solo with all 4 line handlers needed. Our descent on the Pacific side was in a raft and with a very slow-in-to-lock Panamax car carrier 10m behind us.

After the Canal:

Anchorages

There are about 5 options after the Panama Canal Transit on the Pacific side:

1. The Balboa Yacht Club – where a mooring ball needs to be booked in advance and you have the roll from passing ships and mostly from the busy canal pilot boats and tugs. No dinghy use but 24-hour service boat.
2. La Playita anchorage – 2 miles down the main channel to buoys 10 and 8, then to port. Room for 40 or so yachts outside La Playita Marina and sheltered from the north, mostly 5-8m depth at low tide with 4m tidal range. Dinghies can use a dock in the Marina at $10.70 a day or $50 a week.
3. La Brisas anchorage – round the end of Flamenco island and the newly built cruise terminal, and outside the black and yellow spar buoys marking the construction site, then back a mile north. Free dinghy landing.
4. Flamenco Marina – limited slips available, call them on VHF Ch: 10.
5. The new Vista Mar Marina – 8 miles west of the main channel. This is part of a large hotel, golf course, etc. complex. After teething troubles this new marina is settling in. Reported to be rather liable to surge and line chafe. Haul out facilities now working.

Fuel

• Available from La Playita Marina @ $3.05 a gallon + $35 dock fee if under 200 gallons.
• Or from Flamenco Marina @$2.64 a gallon. Marina entry only with permission from control on VHF Ch: 10.

Formalities

Formalities are easy with both the Port Captain and Immigration. Their offices are upstairs in the large building south from Flamenco with a large duty-free store on the ground floor.
Check out, Zarpe for Costa Rica and Immigration took, 30 minutes and cost $6.00.
The possible check out port near Costa Rica at Puerto Armuelles is currently closed, duration unknown.

Provisions

One of the duty-free shops has a deli. There is a mini-super on the road between La Playita and Flamenco (also sloths in the trees beside the road) and many restaurants. For more substantial provisioning, see below and the Super99 supermarket at the Albrook Mall.

Transport & Travel

Local transport centres are on Albrook, near the canal docks in Balboa and 4 miles from the marinas. Here there is access to the cheap and useful city metro system, the railway to Colon, the main bus terminal to everywhere, the airport for internal flights in Panama and one of the largest shopping malls you will ever see, including a Super99 supermarket for all your stock up. A bus along the causeway to Albrook costs $0.35, but you need a pre-paid card so your first trip from the boat will be a taxi for $8.00. Buy the card at the metro station. The bus arrives at the metro station and you walk over a long footbridge to the shopping mall.

Sights:

Worth seeing are the new Museo Bio at the land-end of the Amador causeway (the building looks like a colourful kids play house jumble) concentrating on different ecology exhibits, and the Smithsonian Punta Culebra Nature Centre next to La Playita Marina entrance. See, meet and touch local ecosystems and inhabitants. The Smithsonian also has run the largest island on the canal for the hundred years since many of the animals displaced by the construction of the lake escaped to there….I am told that pricey visits to the island are possible.

Services in Panama:

Do not expect too much of Chandleries (marine supplies). There are few locally-owned sailing yachts and the dominant local pleasure boats are large sports fishing boxes that fill the marinas. Chandleries accordingly are large on fishing gear, wet toys, cleaning materials and kit for larger diesel engines and light on sailing bits and pieces. There are branches of Abernathy at La Playita and of Centro marine and three others including a Volvo dealer at Flamenco.

In Panama City we found Max Industries at Millenium Mall. They are known to taxi drivers as Pescaros and are heavy, marine hardware suppliers, especially to the fishing industry. Not phased at all by request for 25m of 5/8 nylon rope for anchor springs or for Phospho de-ruster, which they had in stock.

Previous Noonsite reports say that life raft service in Panama cannot be done. However, in the Duty-free Zone Viking have their own brand operation. Oceanco Panamax seem to have sorted out their operation and my Givens lifebuoy and another similar seem to have been well serviced. I saw mine inflated and left overnight for a leak test. The CO2 cylinder was hydraulically tested and refilled and the time-sensitive renewables were all available from stock. The repack was notably better than my last service in Thailand.

There is also a service company for rafts ‘Servico’ on the Pacific side.

Panamax will also sell you 20 litre drums of Jotun big ship antifouling for under $900, perhaps the best hard antifoul that you can not normally buy for yachts. On Scraatch it lasts 5 years.

Kitty and Brian Simm
SY Scraatch (Sundeer ’56)

See more reports by SY Scraatch 

Related Content:

• Panama: Canal Transit Information
• Panama: Colon Port Information
• Panama: Balbao Port Information
• Panama Canal:  Tips for Transit
  
• Transiting the Panama Canal without an Agent (Feb. 2016)
• Prior Reading: The Path Between The Seas – The Creation of the Panama Canal

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.