We have just returned from the Port of Cristobal / Colon to complete the first part of the canal transit procedures. To go through the canal we need to pay a huge fee (around $1,000), as well as fulfil a number of exacting requirements in terms of boat specifications, ropes, fenders and line handlers - the four compulsory people who are in charge of keeping the boat in place in the locks, even if two or three yachts are tied together. There are two main lock systems - the Gatun locks which raise us up into the Gatun lake and the Pedro Miguel / Miraflores locks which take us back down into the Pacific.

You can't pay up unless your boat has been 'measured', for which we had to sail 20 miles down to Colon to the anchorage known as the "Flats". The measurement ensures that your boat can fit nicely in place when the transit through the locks is taking place as well as determines the fee. On top of the $1,000, a buffer fee of around $900 is added which is a returnable deposit just in case your engine breaks down or you somehow slow down the machinery of canal movements by your actions.

The last time we were officially measured was when we paid a guy in Airlie Beach in Queensland to use a tape measure to find out how long we were. He discovered that our South Coast 36 yacht was 36 feet long or 10.9 metres! This was in itself an indication of woeful Aussie maths because the registration plaque in our fore cabin boldly states that we are supposed to be 12 metres long (40 feet!)

The guy at the Flats jumped on board with a measuring tape together with a briefcase bristling with forms. We had to help him with the measurement and lo and behold we were now 44 feet long or 13.3 metres! This was a bit of a revelation as we had been absolutely convinced that Saraoni had been steadily shrinking since we had started living aboard some 17 years ago!

Fortunately, our newly found 44 feet still means that we pay the same as a 50 foot boat and a 20 foot boat, which makes one wonder why we were measured in the first place!



The fluctuating length of Saraoni!

Never mind the measurement, the admeasurer from the Panama Canal Authority was jovial enough and asked us heaps of questions (did we have a toilet?, were we going to cook a meal for the adviser?, how much anchor chain did we have? and many more interesting questions). Being co captains we take in turns being captain in each different country so its Geoff's turn for Galapagos and Alison's turn for French Polynesia. There is no place on the multitude of forms for two captains' signatures!

The trade wind was blowing as it does constantly at this time of year and had blown us down from Portobelo, but with a well timed easing of the wind and swell we were able to plug back up to our pleasant anchorage here near the jungle and the pelicans.

The Flats is a good enough anchorage but it is impossible getting ashore and you are surrounded by giant dinosaur like cranes and all manner of busy shipping passing to and from the canal with constant rocking and rolling as they pass. There is another anchorage on the other side of the Colon peninsula - Club Nautico, but it is a bit confined and on a lee shore. The plus side is that it is close and easy to get diesel and water and a stone's throw from a good supermarket. In fact, this part of Colon must be the 'posh' area! It does have its collection of partially sunken ships, too, which seems to be a common feature around here.

We don't go through the canal until mid February and are presently assembling our four linehandlers as well as do a last few jobs on the boat before we enter the Pacific. We will probably stock up for the long Pacific crossing when we have transited the canal and are on the Panama City side.

At least we have found out that there is no bribery or uncertainty like the Suez Canal where the pilot refused to take our compulsory tip because he thought it wasn't enough. At times being on a yacht in a country where the gulf between rich and poor is so great that communication becomes difficult. Panama is uncomfortably poor in some places, but at least some of the indigenous Indians do get some respect and fiercely defend their land and confidently wear traditional dress when they see fit.

The dimension discrepancy explained:

Any cruiser would know that the length differences are just due to whether the overhangs (the bits of boat that protrude at the front or back) are included in the measurement but for the sake of non boaty readers this is the explanation for the fluctuations in Saraoni's size.

When the boat was first built in New South Wales it was called "Tekin JB" and was registered under Australian (and British) rules at the time which included the integral bowsprit, making it 40 feet or 12 metres - which is still enshrined on our Aussie registration plaque affixed to the forward bulkhead.

By 1998 when we bought Tekin and renamed it Saraoni, the rules had changed in both countries and the bowsprit was excluded, leaving the deck measurement only i.e. 36 feet or 10.9 metres.

The Panama Canal Authority is only interested in what can fit or not fit into the locks, so measures the boat from the very front of the bowsprit to the very back of the dinghy hanging from the davits, which makes us 44 feet or 13.3 metres!

The only other measurement is that made by Shelter Bay marina - the only one at the Atlantic end of the canal where the tape measure comes out again and the length would be (if we were there) the front of the bowsprit to the back of the davits, i.e. 42 feet or 12.7 metres.

And as for the perception of the two owners? Well, Saraoni has definitely been getting smaller and smaller as the collection of cruising junk just keeps on getting bigger and bigger!