Get your boat measured

option on the Caribbean side is Shelter Bay Marina, where we berthed our Stevens 47 Totem to await transit. Our agent, Erick Galvez with Centenario, met us shortly after we tied up in Shelter Bay to confirm the process. A friendly face at the dock and perfect English softened the news of delays. You have to go through measurement and payment first before entering the ACP system to get a transit date assigned – a transit date cannot be reserved in advance.

Galvez accepted our payment and scheduled an Admeasurer (measurements for transit are only done by an official representative of the Panama Canal Authority, or ACP) for the next day. If you choose to do paperwork yourself, it’s a call to the Admeasurer’s office (English is spoken by all canal officials) to arrange a time and location for your boat’s measurement.

Our assigned transit date meant two weeks in the marina, but Erick’s efforts sourced multiple opportunities for earlier slots. In the end doing rigging jobs for Pacific-bound vessels sweetened the deal of a longer stay.

Yachts are rafted together in the Panama Canal locks Transit toll < 50ft, $800; 50ft+, $1,300 Inspection $54 Security $130 Agent $350-500 Line handlers $100/person(or seek volunteers from other transiters) Lines/fenders $50-$250 Fender return $12 Cruising permit $197

An agent will help you through the paperwork and can sometimes get an earlier transit slot