/ 
For the four friends on board Toulcoun , aboard a Feeling 416, the Panama Canal marks a pivotal stage in their journey to French Polynesia. After the turquoise waters of the San Blas Islands, it?s time for locks, cargo ships, and precision maneuvers. Amid preparations, formalities, and the thrill of the moment, the crew takes us behind the scenes of this legendary passage, which opens the way to the Pacific.
Preparing for the Panama Canal Crossing
After 10 days at sea, the crew arrives in Panama. After some spectacular snorkeling in the San Blas Islands and exploring the Atlantic coast (Panamarina and Porto Belo), it?s time to head to the other side!
The trip was planned well in advance. We've been in touch with an agent for several months now, and she's organizing the trip for us.
It is entirely possible to handle the procedures for transiting the canal on your own, but this involves a lot of fairly complex paperwork, since you?ll be dealing with the Panamanian maritime authorities, hiring a ?pilot? yourself who will come aboard to guide the boat through the canal, as well as finding fenders and mooring lines (4x40m).
To avoid these constraints, we decided to go through ?Suzy,? an agent well known among sailors planning to sail to the Pacific.
For all boats under 65 feet, transiting the Panama Canal costs $3,400 (April 2026). However, you must add to that a $1,060 deposit?which will be refunded about one month after transit?and a $350 agency fee. That?s quite a budget! It?s hard to imagine how much shipping companies pay to have cargo ships over 150 meters long pass through the canal!
We?re scheduled to arrive on April 26, so we?ll head to the nearest anchorage?near the Shelter Bay marina?the day before, while we wait to hear from Suzy. In the end, we won?t be passing through until the 28th, which gives us a little time to get ready and pick up the mooring lines and fenders (delivered directly to the marina by Suzy?s team). The marina offers a few services and a ship chandler, as well as a large, tiled area sheltered from the sun?perfect for repairing the solent, which needs new eyelets!
To transit the Panama Canal, there must be at least five people on board: one crew member at each cleat and one person at the helm. We?re lucky to have a friend who has already transited the canal and is eager to do it again, so we don?t need to hire an outside handliner. We?ll also have a pilot on board, who will guide us through the maneuvers and through the Gatun Canal but won?t touch the helm.
On the day of departure, a pilot boards the plane
On D-Day, around 5 a.m., we wake up and announce over the VHF that we?re at anchor, ready to receive the pilot. A bright light flashes in the night, and a pilot boat races toward us. Just before it seems like it?s going to ram into us, it slows down, and Luis, our pilot, jumps aboard!
In the minutes that follow, we weigh anchor, and off we go! It?s not yet daylight?the first glimmers of light are beginning to appear?and we?re already heading toward the first bridge.
In the locks, sailboats sail alongside cargo ships
After this bridge, we take the left channel?for ?small? cargo ships and sailboats?since the right channel is reserved for larger vessels. A 200-meter cargo ship is already in the lock; we line up behind it. We look so small next to these giants?it?s pretty impressive!
Only two sailboats passed through that day?a 60-foot catamaran and us. Since the catamaran was more powerful, it took the lead.
Once we've tied up alongside him on our starboard side, we enter the lock together.
Before long, we receive two mooring lines on board, thrown to us by the canal attendants from the dock, which is several meters above our heads. We tie them to our 100-meter mooring lines, which we?ve looped so the attendants can retrieve them. They loop the rope around a mooring post, and it?s up to us to take up the slack. One tight loop is enough, because once the gate closes behind us, the water level begins to rise rapidly. We pull on the mooring line from one side and the catamaran from the other, working in coordination under the guidance of our respective pilots to ensure our ?raft? stays right in the middle of the lock. Once the lock chamber has finished filling, we quickly secure our cleat knots. The cargo ship in front of us starts its engines to head for the next lock, and things get rocky. The lines are pulling tight, and the cleats are straining! Once it?s gone, it?s our turn to move forward into the next lock.
Between each lock, canal workers hold the mooring lines by hand and walk alongside the boats until they reach the next lock chamber. We?ll pass through a total of three locks before reaching Gatun Lake, which lies about 26 meters above sea level. When the third gate opens and we enter Gatun Lake, we leave the Atlantic behind us for good. A chapter comes to an end!
Lake Gatun: A Journey Through the Jungle
In the Gatun Canal, we cruise under our own power, weaving between cargo ships and container ships. Many of them, just like at Shelter Bay, are at anchor. It?s a strange sight to sail so close to these iron giants. As if asleep, they wait in the middle of a nature reserve?this immense lake surrounded by jungle and wildlife. The water is brown and murky; we scan the area with binoculars for crocodiles, but to no avail.
After five hours of motoring in the blazing sun, following the channel marked by buoys across Gatun Lake, we arrive at the final locks?the ones that open onto the Pacific. We?ve dreamed of this for so long, waited so long?and now we?re almost there!
The Last Locks Before the Pacific
Once again, we pull alongside the catamaran and enter the lock. This time, we?re in front, and the same cargo ship that was with us earlier in the day will position itself behind us. We moor again using the mooring cleats. It?s quite impressive in terms of precision, but it makes more sense once we?ve passed the throwing practice ranges for canal workers!
The cargo ship comes up behind us; it really feels like it?s going to run us over. It stops 20 meters behind us, and the doors close. This time, we begin our descent. Three more locks, to get back to sea level.
A glass-enclosed viewing platform was installed so tourists could watch the boats passing through the canal. About fifty of them waved at us, happy to see our little boats sailing among the steel giants! It feels a bit like we?re at the zoo?we don?t know who the monkeys are?
The Gates of the Pacific Are Finally Opening
The last lock, the Miraflores, is the one that opens the gates to the Pacific. Happy to be the first boat through, we have a front-row seat to watch the gates open onto this new ocean and the adventures that await us!
At 3:00 p.m., we set out; the alligators were waiting for us on that side?we could see a few of them on a beach, basking in the sun. We dropped Luis off on a pilot boat that had come out to meet us again, and we continued on toward the anchorage north of Isla Perico. For a few more minutes, we sailed alongside these massive cargo ships, some loaded with thousands of containers; the canal never sleeps, and the traffic is nonstop. We finally made our way out of it and dropped anchor next to the boat belonging to some friends who had arrived a few days before us?we?d just completed quite a milestone!
