03/23/2009, Panama
We are now in the Galapagos but before we post video and information on those islands we wanted to share a little video we took while transiting the canal. In general we found it much easier than expected and despite our two day delay we had a great time crossing through Panama to the Pacific.
We have received several emails from other cruisers looking for information on how to cross. We struggled to find any helpful info online and have decided to post our thoughts and recommendations below. As always, email me if you have further questions. Galapagos pics, video and info to come shortly!
CRUISER NOTES ON HOW TO TRANSIT THE CANAL ON A PRIVATE YACHT:
1) DO NOT HIRE Y&J YACHTS AS YOUR CANAL AGENT:
The CEO of Y&J Yachts, Ms. Yara Mandrian, is running a scam. We recommend that you DO NOT HIRE this agency. We were not returned our buffer of $850 USD as they claimed to have lost the money to a greedy partner. While they did successfully get us through the canal, they are now claiming to be near bankrupt and are unable or unwilling to transfer us the money that is owed to us. We have been in contact with the ACP Canal Authority and this agent will soon be stripped of their license. Any boats with payments already made will lose their money. Please avoid this agent - if you have to choose one, please use a highly recommended and proven agent, regardless of cost.
2) SHOULD I USE AN AGENT:
In our experience seeing several yachts go through the canal we would STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you DO NOT use an agent. We used one as we had concerns that the canal would be backed up like last year and we were meeting guests in the Galapagos, so we had to transit quickly. What we found was that the canal is now operating at normal time frames of approximately 4-5 days wait once you are Admeasured. Additionally, our agent only managed to delay our transit through her failure to complete the paperwork on-time and she stole our buffer of $850 (which was never returned). We found the lack of information online frightening and figured we would hire an agent, but it was a huge mistake given how simple it was for other yachts to manage the transit themselves.
3) HOW TO DO IT YOURSELF:
When you arrive at the Shelter Bay Marina (or other anchorage in Colon), take a taxi to the admeasure office in Colon. Even if you don't speak Spanish, the cab driver will know the "admeasurer office." Once inside, everyone speaks sufficient English, there is usually no wait and you can normally schedule your admeasure date for the next day. The measuring process is easy and very straightforward. At the arranged time the admeasurer will arrive at your boat and take a measurement of the boat (complete of all protrusions, like davits, etc). Once you are measured you take one final taxi to the "ACP transit office" to pay. The last step is to call an english speaking manager over the phone to receive your actual transit date and time. To pay an agent anywhere from $300 to $500 to do this seems rather wasteful in comparison. While Colon is definitely a dangerous town, you are not going there at night and the taxi drivers are very helpful and know exactly where to take you.
4) WHY NOT TO USE AN AGENT:
Although our experience may have been unlucky, we had huge problems with our agent. After waiting the normal time four our transit date we were out on the flats anticipating the arrival of our adviser and he never showed. It seems our agent failed to pay the canal in time, despite us paying her with a credit card six days before. We were then at the agents mercy as we had no way to help her speed up her payment to the transit office. We were then almost delayed an additional 5 days by the transit authority for the error, but somehow we slipped into a spot that opened up. And if this was not stressful enough, our agent never refunded us our buffer of $850 USD! She claimed that her partner stole the money and although she wanted to pay us back she would not be able to do so. We are now in the process of working with the ACP canal authority to strip her of her license, however she is still operating and last we heard the Moorings was using her to transit a vessel to the South Pacific. It has all been very frustrating and in the end we waited two days longer than anyone else and paid four times as much all because we were relying on someone else to do what is really fairly easy to do yourself.
5) TIRES AND LINE HANDLERS:
Another question was whether or not to purchase/rent tires and local line handlers. We were lucky and were given 16 tires by a boat we met that had just crossed from the Pacific, but in general it seems that tires cost $3 each and you will need to wrap them in plastic garbage bags to keep them from marking your boat. Be careful as some of them have been worn down to the metal rings and you can easily cut your hands on them. When in Panama City you will likely have to pay a further fee to get rid of them.
Line Handlers were charging a rate of $65 per person, per day. This included the line rentals, which you can otherwise rent independently for a fee of $20. We heard that it was best to hire local line handlers as they can speak in Spanish with the Adviser and the line handlers on the lock walls, but this was really not necessary. I would recommend that you find some sailors in the marina and have them line handle for you for free. You will likely need to house them overnight in the lake, so dinner and breakfast will also be required. This is what we did and their lack of experience was not a problem as the actual transit was much easier than expected.
6) WHAT IS THE BEST POSITION IN THE LOCKS:
There are three alternatives for crossing. You can transit in the center using your likes to keep you off the walls. You can tie up to the Tug Boat transiting with a larger ship. Or you can tie directly to the wall yourself. Obviously the later of the three is the worst option as you want to stay as far away from the walls as possible, but in our opinion either of the first two methods works fine. Tying up with the Tug is probably the safest method, but you have to tie up each time you enter a new lock (of which their are six). For this reason, tying up with another boat and transiting in the middle might actually be the easiest as you can remain tied as you motor to the next lock. And if you are lucky (as we were), you will tie up with a larger boat that does all the maneuvering for you. This is especially true if they have a strong bow thruster. In the end, you really don't get to choose anyway, but knowing about each method should help.
7) WHERE TO STAY:
We stayed at the Shelter Bay Marina on the Atlantic side (outside Colon) and in the Flamenco Marina Harbor Anchorage on the Pacific Side (outside Panama City). We found Shelter Bay a very nice place to stay with excellent internet service covering the entire marina. The rates were expensive, but the marina provided daily busses to the large grocery store outside of Colon for a minimal fee. Additionally, we met many other boats and were able to easily secure line handlers for our transit (saving us a lot of money). Most importantly, the marina is VERY safe given it's location a good 45 minutes outside of town.
In the Pacific we were very disappointed with the Flamenco Marina. The rates were outrageous and the services terrible. The marina is not well protected from swell and is more set up to host the local sport fishing boat fleet, not cruisers. We found the anchorage outside the marina much more conducive for what we needed, although the wake from passing tankers did get old after a while. There is a small dingy dock that you can tie up to near the Abernathy Marine Store and taxis are readily available to take you to town. The going rate for a taxi was $10 an hour or $5 to the closest grocery store. Again, safety was a concern and the anchorage felt well protected and safe against theft, etc. We cannot say much about the Flats anchorage (outside Colon) other than it looked rolly due to the passing tankers and that there was no internet service.
If you have other questions, send me an email through the link on the right side of this post. And good luck with your crossing.
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Comments [9]
DO NOT HIRE Y&J YACHTS AS YOUR PANAMA CANAL AGENT
The CEO of Y&J Yachts, Ms. Yara Mandrian, is running a scam.
We strongly recommend that you DO NOT HIRE this agency. We were not returned our buffer of $850 USD as they claimed to have lost the money to a greedy partner. While they did successfully get us through the canal, they are now claiming to be near bankrupt and are unable or unwilling to transfer us the money that is owed to us.
We have been in contact with the ACP Canal Authority and this agent will soon be stripped of their license. Any boats with payments already made will lose their money. Please avoid this agent - if you have to choose one, please use a highly recommended and proven agent, regardless of cost. Below you will see the letter we have written to the ACP Canal Authority regarding this matter:
Director of Marine Traffic,
Mr. Abraham Saied,
P.O. BOX 526725
Miami, FL 33152-6725
It is with regret that I submit this formal letter of complaint against Ms. Yara Ritela Madriñán García, CEO of "Y & J Yachts & Ships Panama Agency," who repeatedly lied, stole and misrepresented the ACP Canal Authority and the country of Panama. To date, Ms. Madriñán owes me $1,220 USD and I will be seeking legal action against her and possibly the canal.
This letter is intended to allow the Panama Canal Authority take action against Ms. Madriñan so that she will not be able to represent any other transit as an authorized agent with the Panama Canal Authority. Additionally I have informed several cruising publications and websites about the entire
incident and I fear this will have a negative affect on all yacht agencies in Panama, which could be removed should I receive the funds owed to me.
COMPLAINT DETAILS:
On 5-3-09 I met with Ms. Madriñán from Y&J Yachts outside Colon and paid her $1,000 USD for her company's services in transiting the canal. The boat was admeasured on 6-3-09.
On 11-3-09 we were supposed to transit the canal and were told by the canal authority that our transit was cancelled as a result of our "agent failing to pay our transit fees" despite her having the funds, which resulted in a Pilotage Delay and additional fine of $471 USD against my vessel.
On 15-3-09 we were rescheduled by the ACP and transited the canal, but the line handlers that we paid Ms. Madriñán $220 USD for never showed up at the boat.
On 17-3-09 I met with Ms. Madriñán in Panama City where she apologized for the delays, accepted responsibility for the problems and fines and offered to refund me her service charge, totaling an amount due to me of $1,220 USD. This was conducted in writing and has been included as one of many attachments to this letter.
Over the coming months, Ms. Madriñán lied repeatedly saying that payment was on the way, that the bank was delaying things, that her business partner stole the money and that despite this she still had intentions of paying me back. Her last promise was received one week ago, on 26-7-09. I now realize that I will never see this money and that only though legal actions will an outcome be settled.
Please take action against Y&J Yachts to that this does not happen again in the future.
Best regards,
Seth Hynes
s/v Honeymoon
cc: Ms. Fatima Herrera (FACO)
Lynne Wolff
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Author: Seth
Pic: Pacific Lake
Our passage from Panama City to the Galapagos islands was fairly easy and uneventful, although the overarching theme had to be "collision avoidance."
The first two days were nerve wrecking as container ship after container ship passed us heading toward the canal. No matter which way we turned we always seemed to be in the shipping channel. Fortunately the tankers appeared to see us and usually diverted to a distance of a nautical mile, which is still close enough for you to read the brand of shipping container on the boat (aka, "too close"). We also came within striking distance of two or three humpback whales and two pods of dolphins. Fortunately they are better at navigation and we avoided any humane society conflicts.
The third, fourth and fifth days all blended into one very long and monotonous motor as we became isolated in the ITCZ. The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone is found near the equator where the currents from the northern and southern hemispheres meet, creating an area of disturbance in the ocean devoid of wind (and sometimes generating thunder and lighting storms). Thankfully we did not encounter any storms and our only concerns were running out of Diesel on our three day motor into some of the best wake-boarding water I have ever seen. As we crossed the Equator at 4:30 in the morning on day five, Elizabeth and I crawled down our back steps (clipped in) to drag our feet across the equator, officially morphing from "polywogs" to "shellbacks" according to centuries of nautical tradition. At the time of crossing our GPS odometer read "4,999 nautical miles" into our Honeymoon and for a brief moment we were at 00 00.000 Latitude. It was a memorable moment.
The lack of wind created an overwhelmingly flat ocean, the likes of which we had yet to see. It was so flat, desolate and monotonous that the sound of our radar alarm going off on day four was surprising. I expected it to be another Pana-Max container ship heading for the canal so it came a quite a surprise when a 1,000 foot high, mountainous island filled the circular vision of the binoculars. As it turns out, Isla Malpelo is part of Columbia, and both Garmin and Raymarine didn't feel it prudent to put the island on their GPS maps at anything greater than a 12 nautical mile zoom range! We were zoomed out so that we could see our destination on the chart and the sight of an entire island appearing that we didn't know existed was shocking. It reminded us to be more careful and to scan the entire route at 12nm zoom in the future to confirm a clear path. That's something I never found in any "How To Cruise" guide book.
Unfortunately the real surprise of the journey was the loud, banging noise that we heard hitting the boat, not once but twice. Somehow we had the good fortune of T-boning a fifty foot long and two foot wide tree trunk floating just inches above sea-level, several hundred miles off-shore. The first noise was it hitting the hull and keel, the second was the Starboard rudder. As I write this we have yet to dive on the boat to fully inspect it, but so far it seems that no damage was caused and no leaks were created. Hopefully that expires our odds on hitting something else in the future as this type of collision is one of our biggest and most unavoidable fears (shipping containers are known to fall off ships and float like deadly icebergs just below the surface). Thankfully we have water-tight "crash bulkheads" in the bow of the boat!
So while we didn't exactly manage to avoid a collision, we did make it safely to the Galapagos Islands. As I excitedly type this, we are motoring along the north coast of San Cristobal where in just two hours we will pull in to meet our friend Eben Strousse, who has flown down here to meet us. We're looking forward to catching up and exploring these wonderfully unique islands together. And apparently there is good surfing here too. Welcome to the first islands of the South Pacific!
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