Over 2 years in the planning, the Oyster World Rally fleet 2024-25 have transited from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans through the Panama Canal. Normally, transit times for the Oyster fleet are set and timings of the lock operations are known well in advance and we can therefore carefully plan the timetable of events in Panama, to get the yachts ready for their onward journey to Galapagos. Not this year! 9 months ago we received notice that the Panama Canal was running at 50% capacity due to a drought in Panama and surrounding countries and that our transit booking had been cancelled.
Each lock operation along the canal takes up to 197 million litres of water with just 60% reuse, this means that with each lock, a lot of water slips into the oceans and not back into Gatun Lake, the body of water which facilitates the lock operations. With Gatun Lake being 50% lower than normal, this means the canal cannot run at 100% capacity. In turn this has meant huge queues at both ends of the canal, with some larger vessels having to pay a high premium to keep to schedules, such as cruise ships and container vessels.
Yachts are not the top priority for the Panama Canal as in relative terms they are very small and therefore create an insignificant income. It was only 10 days before the fleet arrived in Shelter Bay Marina, that we knew what the expected plan of transit would be for the Rally fleet, so it has been a tricky time.
However, after just 1 day after arriving, Oyster 565 Babe was the first of the fleet to go through the canal, leaving Shelter Bay at 3.30am to move to the anchorage to accept their Canal Advisor (Pilot) and get underway. Transits either take a whole day, leaving early and arriving in the Pacific at teatime, or are split over 2 days, anchoring overnight in Gatun Lake. This seems all to depend upon the availability of the Advisors and Pilots.
Babe transited with another yacht, tied together to form a ‘nest’ and worked together to hold station in each lock before passing under the Bridge of Americas, the gateway to the Pacific. Each yacht has to have a minimum of five people aboard – four to attend to the lines, and one to skipper the vessel. The Rally fleet have had to share the locks with cruise liners, freighters, oil tankers, container ships as well as tugs, passenger ferries and general cargo ships.
After Babe, the rest of the fleet transited within 10 days, some together some on their own. Everyone completed a successful transit and made it safely to Flamenco and La Playita Marina on the Pacific side.
