Panama Canal Yacht Club

Wow we are actually here... in the Panama Canal. One of the 'crossroads of the world' for cruisers.

We managed to get dockage at the Panama Canal Yacht Club. The anchorage area, called "The Flats" isn't very safe. And it's exposed to the wakes of the ships and the tugs and pilot boats roaring around in the channel.

This time of year it is really dead here. All the people with plans to cross the Pacific this year are long gone. Since it is hurricane season up off the Pacific Coast of Central America, all the Californians are hunkered down somewhere for hurricane season (at least all the sane ones). There are still a few boats from the Eastern Caribbean dashing west, but not many. The Caribbean hurricane season is starting to come into full swing.

So, the Panama Canal Yacht Club seems pretty sleepy.

It's not a nice place. It is old and unkept. The water around us smells like old septic tanks. It is surrounded by major shipping docks... cranes, large ships, and stacks of containers. The people running the Canal Zone have been trying to shut the yacht club down for years... it occupies valuable waterfront space that could become another container terminal. So everyone knows it is living on borrowed time.




Outside the gates of the yacht club, we understand it's a war zone. Countless people have told us, "Whatever you do, don't walk anywhere. Even if it's only a couple of blocks, take a taxi." Too many cruisers have been accosted and mugged in the area just outside the gates (stabbed, shot, robbed, etc). I don't think this is unique to Panama...Just about any shipping docks in any major city in the world is the same... they just usually don't have a yacht club full of gringos in the middle of it.

We will only be here for 2 days... long enough to make a big grocery run and pick up Nicki and Phil. Then we're off to give them 2 weeks of adventure. We'll return in early September to actually make the canal transit.

We think we now know enough about the process of transiting the Canal to try to set a tentative date. We've got two friends who plan to fly down and make the trip with us in mid-September.