Sailing Panama Canal | Oyster Yachts

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INTRODUCING

Panama

If transiting the Panama Canal is not already on your bucket list, then add it right now! Located at the southern end of Central America, Panama holds an important strategic position in Central America, thanks to its eponymous canal.

Following independence from Columbia in 1903, the country negotiated a treaty with the USA to allow the digging of a canal from coast to coast. The 48-mile-long canal was finished in 1914 and created an essential shipping route that saved ships negotiating the hazardous 8,000 nm trip around Cape Horn. While you’re in Panama, make sure you visit its rainforest – the largest in the Western Hemisphere, apart from the Amazon Basin. It boasts a diverse and abundant mix of tropical plants, animals and birds, some unique to Panama. Nearly half the country’s four million people live in the capital, Panama City. This is a vibrant modern city with skyscrapers and contrasting colonial buildings in the Casco Viejo district and is definitely worth a visit.

Next destination

Highlights

See transiting vessels from the Miraflores Visitors Centre and learn about the canal and its operations. You can see the history of its construction and find out about its vital importance to the world of commerce.
Visit Fort San Lorenzo, the UNESCO World Heritage Site, built in the late 16th Century to protect the entrance and exit of the main route to the Americas. It offers stunning views of the Chagres River and out to the Caribbean Sea.
Soak up the atmosphere at Casco Viejo, the historic district and cultural gem of Panama City.
Watch the sun rise in the Pacific and set over the Atlantic Ocean.
The San Blas Islands, an archipelago of 365 islands off the north coast of Panama, are well worth a visit for their picture-perfect setting.

FROM THE FLEET

Transiting the Panama Canal on board Oyster 565 Babe

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Oyster 745 Mexican Wave in Coiba Island Drone Shot

Sunset on board Oyster 745 Mexican Wave in Coiba Island

Oyster 565 Hermione III and Oyster 53 Distraction in Coiba Island

Transiting Panama Canal on Oyster 565 Babe 2

Transiting Panama Canal on Babe The Advisor and Paul celebrate getting to the Pacific

Transiting Panama Canal on Oyster 565 Babe

Oyster 565 Babe in Shelter Bay Panama Canal

Transiting Panama Canal on Babe Advisor arriving on Pilot boat

Transiting Panama Canal on Oyster 565 Babe 3

Crew on board Oyster 565 Babe in Shelter Bay Panama Canal

Oyster yachts in Shelter Bay Panama Canal

Oyster 595 Jazofi sailing towards Panama

Oyster 595 Jazofi sailing towards Panama spinnaker up

Oyster 595 Mastegot and 675 Skana in San Blas

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ANTIGUA TO PANAMA

The fleet has been sailing to hidden paradises like Dominica, San Blas Islands, and the ABC islands, before transiting through the Panama Canal

Rally Stories

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Sailing the Panama Canal on the Oyster World Rally

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Panama jungle clean-up

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Schooling on a world circumnavigation

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Family bonding Oyster World Rally style

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