Arriving in Panama

On the morning of Tuesday May, 3 we came in sight of the land mass of Panama. As we got over the excitement of the morning dolphin show and came closer to Panama around 2pm we got down to studying the charts and planning our entrance to the canal. The ships on the horizon seemed to multiply in number and size. The radar became one mass of returns and we started to feel very small on our 48 foot yacht. Ian had to concentrate to navigate through the ships that were either anchored or moving off in various directions. It was very overwhelming to have so much visual overload after being out on the open sea for several days. We managed to weave our way through the tankers and cargo ships and found the entrance to the canal marked with the largest port and starboard signal lights that I had ever seen along the breakwater. The container docks were massive and there were several of them with huge cranes. We had to radio the control tower for permission to enter the channel as it was that busy. We went to the recommended anchorage only to discover that the area was completely deserted by yachts. We decided to try another anchorage called Club Nautico and radioed the tower for permission to cross the channel again. Due to the unexpected change of plan we called our canal agent and he advised us that it wasn't safe to anchor in that area of Colon anymore. It was suggested that we try Shelter Bay Marina instead. That's were all the other yachts were he said. Once again we had to request permission to cross the channel. By now the tower operator was getting pretty annoyed with us as he had so many large ships to monitor. We apologised and made our way into the marina. Ian managed to do a perfect entry into the narrow marina and we both collapsed with relief that we were finally able to relax. We got all our lines secured by 5pm and went to the marina pool for a refreshing swim and a well deserved cold beer. The first thing that hit us about Panama was the increased heat and humidity which was to be expected as we edged our way towards the equator. We were advised that the next canal slot to the Pacific Ocean could be anywhere from 9 days to 2 weeks. We just had to get organised and wait for our turn and the transit date.