Crossing Panama Canal Twice In One Week!
- Rob Kohnen
- May 21
- 13 min read
Updated: May 24
Our adventure began when friends from Florida came to enjoy the excitement of crossing the canal. The first crossing that Rob and I did was a two day crossing with 10 sailing yachts in each lock, rafted up 2-3 boats across in the lock system and an overnight stay with four catamarans sharing one large mooring ball. A bit chaotic, but no boats were injured in that overnight fiasco. Rob and I crossed the Panama Canal twice within one week, (north to south both times), and we highly recommend one-day crossings.
As we awaited our departure date, our friends were able to get out and enjoy a couple of hikes near the marina. These hikes are pretty well-marked and go past the abandoned WWII barracks and batteries and to the beach. That hike starts right at the Shelter Bay Marina and one can see monkeys within the first half mile. Our travel buddy, Barbie, is an excellent videographer/photographer and she brought many of her toys: newest drone, go-Pro, Insta-360 camera, etc, (as well as an inflatable foil board to add to our three other foil boards)!She got great footage of Howler and Black-capped Capuchin monkeys and a coatimundi. She also got the canal crossing, time lapse, and those files will have to post on other social media like Youtube and link it to the site. Rob and I are still trying to master this IT stuff, but I need a teenager! Barbie's teaser video convinced me to go get the same drone and Insta-360 camera, but my skills definitely need honed.
Rob and I met a yachtbroker we had met years before in Miami and he told us about the awesome biking trails near the marina. There was a gorgeous, newly paved road through San Lorenzo National Park that was about 10 miles long and ended at the Chagas church ruins and old fort. We had no money in our bike attire so did not get a formal tour, but it was amazing that they uncovered the Spanish church ruins accidentally while working on the fort ruins. There were also many single-track, pretty treacherously steep, muddy rocky trails down to various beaches, and of course Rob liked those best...but he did have the only crash.
Back at Shelter Bay Marina, Medical Leave is anxious to cross the canal, she is ready!
We had our crossing date delayed 36 hrs which was initially unfortunate, but it allowed us to do the crossing in one 12 hour day...MUCH BETTER! Our line handler was great and our advisor, Alex, was also excellent. All yachts must have an advisor, but not everyone gets line handlers and having at least one professional line handler on board is best. My crew was very good, since Rob and I had briefed them on line-handling, bumper placement, knot-tying and how to catch the steel "monkey fists" that the linesmen on the canal walls throw at your boat. These are used to tie the large blue lines off to, but the monkey fists are hard steel and can do damage if they hit your glass hatches or solar panels. No boat parts were damaged in the making of this crossing!
We started towards the canal by about 6 am when it was still dark, but the canal area is brightly lit. We then rafted up to a 35 foot older monohull, and otherwise, the only other boat in the lock with us was a huge freighter, about 800 feet long, named "Harmony". As soon as I saw her name, I knew everything would be fine. God has a good sense of humor!
It was all quite exciting to have to catch the monkey fists, throw back the large lines and hold them as the locks filled with water and then when it drained on the other side, letting the lines out. There was major current, especially from the freighters engines when they were in front of us going up, but they were behind us going down. "No boats or passengers were damaged during the filming of this movie".
The canal is a true engineering marvel. Thousands of ships cross the canal every year. In 2025 there were 13,404 vessel transits, up 15.6% from previous year. The canal is the largest employer in Panama. I was happy that most of the Panamanian people realize how much America helped them by building it and they are happy that there is no longer Chinese control of the two canal ports. Most Panamanians we talked to are happy with how the canal is being run, and off-the record, they like Trump... (contrary to what the trusted news initiative says).The canal system consists of twelve locks in total with two sides running in tandem. The newer side is for the larger vessels, mainly freighters over 1000 feet long, There are three locks on the north side that are ascending to Lake Gatun, and three locks on the south side of Lake Gatun that drop down to the Pacific Ocean.
Initially I was concerned with being in the locks with a big freighter, but after seeing her name, "Harmony", I knew God had us covered.
Rob and I knew enough to have a healthy respect for the force of the water in the canals and how important it is to keep the boats in the middle of the channel.
We arrived outside of Playita Marina about 12 hours after we started the canal crossing. Rob, Kevin and I took dingy into town to go to Immigration to get cruising permit. Knowing we would be close on time, and it was a mile away, we rented a pedal bike-cart for three and Rob and I got a little workout with a high RPM, single-gear, bike-cart. Rob took it over curbs and sidewalks, but we arrived minutes too late. We were able to find cute shops and restaurants everywhere in this tourist village, but not the ever-elusive coconut ice cream for Rob.
The next day we headed out to Las Perlas Islands, beautiful little islands 30-50 miles off the southeast coast of the Pacific coast of Panama. They are a destination for yachters from that area for their unspoiled beauty. One of the islands, Mogo Mogo, was featured in 2003 and 2005 Survivor television series, you know the one where people get voted off the island. We dropped our friend, Barb off at that island with her camera gear as Rob, Kevin and I went for a snorkel on a nearby reef. Later we found Barb walking in the water offshore after having been "kicked off" the island since they were filming another Survivor-like show!
After our guests departed, we headed over to Vista Mar Marina to get the boat hauled out to look for the source of salt water intrusion in the starboard hull. While the St. Francis manufacturer assured us it was nothing major, we erred on the side of caution and figured we could get everything done in 7-10 days. While it was a nice marina, it is not somewhere we wanted to stay long. When we first arrived there was a huge British-flagged yacht there and gossip that it was someone, perhaps Mick Jagger, on board. I controlled my urges to go by and ask if they had any Grey Poupon!
There were definitely some nice yachts in the marina.
We arrived on 4/22/24 and were hauled out on 5/24. I tried to get two or more bids on the work to get a better idea of where the water was coming from, but was unable to get more than one person, Damaso to give a bid. He was known as the most expensive, but most qualified. I just wasn't sure what that meant in Panama.
I did micromanage the repair process, reminding Damaso how many coats of barrier and anti-fouling paint were put on by manufacturer. Quite the process getting work done in a foreign country where my conversational Spanish definitely needed some help. Google translate is quite helpful and people in many countries use it.
So, we had a major adventure renting a car from the Vista Mar Marina in San Carlos and driving into Panama City to provision and get some tech products. We went to Albrook Mall, one of the 25 biggest malls in the world and the largest one in Central America. For some people that like malls, that would be great, but Rob and I are not mall crawlers and we were overwhelmed with the number of stores and had a hard time finding what we were looking for. We had better luck at various stores in the city, but navigating in the traffic in Panama City is absolutely insane and kicked in my aggressive race-car driving skills.
Perhaps I should mention that we got locked out of our rental car on our first stop at Customs and Immigration , as the key did not open the driver's door. So we also got two traffic tickets within twenty minutes since we were parked with everyone else, in a no-parking area and could not get in the car to leave! Luckily, there were no more mishaps during the day.
We were hauled out at Vista Mar for two weeks while Damaso repaired some fiberglass dings on the keel and we searched for source of mild saltwater intrusion but never found any major issues. Saint Francis, the manufacturer of the yacht, told us that she was built to withstand anything and so she should be fine. We also had a chance do some mosquito netting and buy great fabric to recover our salon reclining/movie area. We had Odillio reupholster the helm seat and had a new protective cover made for it and the instrument panel.
While "on the hard" in the marina, we were not allowed to stay in the boat so we had to stay at "San Carlos surf Resort", which was more like a fancy hostel. Loud music and bright lights kept us up for three nights, then they changed our room. We stayed there 6 days then moved to literally a room next to the "supermercado" on mainstreet, where we spent a few nights then snuck back on the boat, staying after the 6 pm "curfew" when everyone in the dry dock section of marina had to leave. This meant no lights or sound from 6 pm till 7 am. Rob and I became great at stealth backgammon and 8 pm bedtimes with 5-6 am wake ups.
The little town of San Carlos was cute with a surfbreak out front, and a fish market only 1/2 mile from the marina. We had our mountain bikes onboard and biked back and forth to the hotels and the marina. We found shortcuts on some rugged singletrack routes, and had to avoid aggressive dogs along the way. Pooches slept by day but as soon as it was dark they were waiting for us and chased us down the street!
We were so anxious to get the boat back in the water, and finish the boat projects, Rob forgot that he had taken apart the through-hull to see if that was the source of saltwater leak. It wasn't, and we sealed it from the outside, but he forgot to put it back together inside. When the boat was put back in, I was about to launch the drone to video and Rob yelled for me to take the helm as the bilge alarm indicated we were taking on water. While he tried to plug the hole he had made, I docked the boat quickly and began helping Rob to keep the boat from sinking. Lesson learned: do not leave projects unfinished, especially if they involve putting a hole in your boat!
Once we left the dock at Vista Mar Marina, we did not want to turn back. Of course if you make plans, God laughs. We did not want to waste any time in Galapagos, so we were going to sail right past it. Of course, God wanted us to see Galapagos, so...we had some issues. The diesel in our reserve tanks got salt water in them, likely from 12-15 foot seas coming down from Turks and Caicos entering the fuel vents on reserve tanks. So when we moved that reserve diesel to the main tanks, we got a "water in fuel" warning on both engines. Rob had to empty fuel pumps every hour if we used the engines. Unfortunately, for part of our journey, we did have to motor-sail part of the way, using one engine at a time.
To add to the excitement, when I tried to make water, the water-maker tripped the breaker, twice, so we knew there was some electrical issue. Even water-resistant pumps do not like getting dunked in salt water! So... we reached out to other cruisers that had had mishaps and made emergency stops at Galapagos. We contacted the agent, Javier, I had been working with and told him we were in fact stopping at Santa Cruz, Galapagos, on an urgent repair basis. He made all the arrangements for us to clear in. We were limited to no more than 20 days, (we honestly wanted to be there no more than a week), and it saved us about $1000. Not that I recommend this approach, but it is what happened.
Stay tuned for the rest of the Galapagos story, and yes, one could easily spend weeks here!
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