Panama - Profile

I wanted to give some positive feedback for Puerto Armuelles as an entry and exit port for the Pacific side of Panama.
We cleared in and out of Panama there with no hassle at all. The port captain filled out all the forms, copied all our documents and helped us with our crew list.... We obtained all of our exit papers in about 45 minutes and when we came in it took about an hour to clear.
There is good holding in about 25 feet of water by the banana dock. Basically an easy in and out stop with good shopping, diesel available at $2.00usd a taxi ride away and friendly efficient service.
I don't speak Spanish.. but they all understood what I wanted and helped a lot. Very positive experience there.

The increase in transit tolls for commercial vessels, effective October 2017, does not affect small crafts (up to 125 ft. LOA). All information on the Customer Form "Procedures for securing a Handline
Transit of the Panama Canal" from 2012 is still current, and can be seen on the Panama Canal
web-site www.pancanl.com/

Further report from Karsten Staffeldt - 1 August, 2017
Transit of the Panama Canal - Small vessels inclusive yachts (Less than 125 Ft. LOA)

Please be advised that the Pilot Organization at the Panama Canal has notified the Canal Authorities that they should have more control of the transits by small crafts inclusive yachts, which presently only requires an Advisor.

The negotiations are in the early stages, but if the Pilot Organization is successful and a regular Pilot will be required, no doubt the transit cost for small craft will increase considerably.

Shall keep you advised of developments.

Karsten Staffeldt

Report from Karsten Staffeldt: Contact in Panama for noonsite & various Scandinavian Ocean Cruising Associations and the OCC.
Panama up date:

Our Summer, Dry-Season, is over and the Rainy-Season started, which will last to
November. May is also the end of the sailing season Panama and in June the
Hurricane Season in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific is expected to begin.

In the Pacific El Niño is presently neutral and La Niña conditions is expected later this year.

As far as the Panama Canal Transits for small crafts, inclusive yachts, we have seen some delays during the past months, but with the season being over this situation is not expected to continue in the coming months.Furthermore at present no indication that the transit cost for small crafts will increase this year.

As far as Panama is concerned - some changes.

It seems that the situation at San Blas Islands has normalized somewhat, it is now possible again to clear in with both Port Captain and Immigration at Porvenir.

Also Immigration requirements have changed and crew on non-commercial yachts will be
grated minimum 90 days tourist permission at no cost, which can be extended, but in such case a visa is required costing around $ 105,00.

Otherwise no significant changes relating to clearing in and cruising Panama, however it must be pointed out that Rules and Regulations are subject to frequent change and often with different interpretation by the various Port Captain and Immigration Offices.

For Galapagos, obtaining permission to call required as well as use of an agent.
It is recommended that yachts wishing to call Galapagos contact any agent well
in advance of their planned visit in order to arrange the necessary permits. It
should also be noted that Rules and Regulations are frequently changed and at
times the interpretation of same up to the local Authorities attending the
clearing in!

Panama Canal delays have only gotten worse since February. We were measured on Monday April 10th and were given a date of May 9th, 29 days out. Our agent says next week, after Easter, there may be an improvement, so I'll update you if things change.

Panama Canal - Transit delays February / March 2017
Transit delays are now anticipated through the end of this month (Carnival Season) and into the first half of March (arrival of rallies). They are expected to be extensive.

We used immigration in Porvenir last December 28th, 2016.
The officer ask us for 105 USD per person to obtain the visa for 6 months.
With the help of our friends, who had obtained a visa a few days before, we were able to enter for free - as the new law permits.
Beware that not all the officers are aware of the new law.

The latest from our contacts in Panama:

1: Apparently little is going on as far as discussions between the Central Government and the Kuna Yala Congress.

2: Reports from several yachts indicate that they are cruising the San Blas without problems and collection of fees/charges at anchorages is inconsistant. In most reports no Kuna Yala Fee and anchoring fees have been collected.

3: Also some yachts coming from Colombia or the east have reported that agents in Panama are advising them to cruise the San Blas if they so wish before proceeding to Linton, Portobelo or Colon for clearance (which is contrary to regulations).

18 June 2016: Reported on the San Blas Cruisers Facebook Group

The Port Captain at Linton Bay Marina (Puerto Lindo) has all the stamps required to check you in for a year.
The cost to check in is $195 payable in cash only.

The Port Captain in Portobelo does not have the stamps for the cruising permit, therefore you would have to go to Colon or to Linton Bay Marina for that.

There is no immigration office at Linton Bay Marina as of today, but it is coming soon.
The closest immigration place from Linton Bay is in Portobelo where you can check into the country.
If the immigration office in Portobelo does not have the special visa, the one that costs $100, then you have 72 hours to get it, either in Colon or in Panama city.

The stamp obtained in Portobelo will be good for you to travel in the country for 72 hours.

There is no bank in Linton Bay (Puerto Lindo) or in Portobelo, but there are banks and ATMs in Sabanitas, which is on the way to Colon or Panama city.

Posted on behalf of Javier Palacios Fenech:

1 - Panama border is closed in Puerto Obaldia and El Porvenir due to the amount of immigrants wanting to reach the US from Colombia.

2 - Be careful with non-official Agents. The stamps they offer are not valid to stay in Panama, and not entered into the inmigration office system.

3 - Armed robbery in Portobello to a french yachtie. Be careful, also in Puerto Lindo. Several cases of robbery in the last few weeks.

4 - Bureaucracy to enter Panama is not so bad as in Colombia, but as the business between Cartagena and Panama is growing and there is an immigration conflict, official agents are becoming more strict with crowded boats. i.e. they may ask for a reservation of a flight out of the country and proof to be financially independent to each passenger. i.e Portobello, Colon.

If you're short in time to provision in Panama-City, we could surely recommend Chris Burillo (emal: chris.burillo@gmail.com) to,take care for provisioning.
All fruits and vegetables (coming from fresh market) wer of excellent quality and price, meat comes vacuum packed and cooled, and all supermarket items were delivered according to our request.
Chris is a great person with big interst in sailing...
Delivery was made exactly on time, everything well packed.

If contacting him, do not forget to order some honey, this is really delicious!

We would like to hihem as well. When both pilots came on board, both of the said they were relaxed as they know that we had 2 knowledgeable linehandlers on board (based upon our experience during crossing the locks, at least 2 linehandlers with prior Panama Canal experience are an absolute requirement :-)

Rob and I aboard our Oyster 406 used the services of AYS, Associated Yacht Services to arrange our Canal Transit. Alessandro RisI and Josimar of AYS were professional and friendly and did all the running around for us including clearing out and our Zarpe on leaving. Their email responses were prompt enabling us to sent scanned documents to them while we were still in Curacao. Shelter Bay is a safe and friendly place to stay, with good haul out and boat yard facilities and John Hallen, the manager, and his staff are welcoming and can organise most things. Our Advisor, Regis, directed us to the free anchorage on the canal side of Flamenco Marina, which although noisy at times is an adequate spot near the La Playing harbour end. We dragged in fine silty mud when we anchored further south. Most yachts take their tenders in to La Playita pontoon, but since January the charge for leaving it there has been $57 per week and you CANNOT pay by the day.

A correction re dogs arriving in Panama. We arrived by boat to Boca's Marina. No advance check in. We declared our dog and then paid 50 dollars in town and he was allowed ashore. He does have a UK pet passport and all relevant vaccinations/ microchip. By plane from the USA...we saw a USDA vet who completed the paperwork, then went to the Dept of Agriculture who confirmed the paperwork and vet were genuine. Then we took the paperwork to the Panamanian consulate and they checked the paperwork again. When we arrived in Panama the quarantine people checked our dog and the paperwork. He was given a 40 day quarantine which can be done on the boat. The whole process cost about 350 dollars! Not cheap but so be it. Secondly most dogs are friendly in Panama, especially Kuna dogs. A warning if landing your dog for a walk at Linton Bay. There is a restaurant in the right hand corner that has 5 white dogs who are very unfriendly and bit our dog badly. The owner just said it was his dogs right to attack ours unprovoked even though we werent near their restaurant.

Portuguese Man 'o War
At this time of year these creatures can be seen in this area.
If you are stung by one (also applies to a lion fish, coral, stingrays etc.), the best remedy is HOT seawater.
Any chemical agent, or change in PH, or Salinity, or chemical composition, will trigger the stinging cells to fire more venom. For many millions of years, these things have evolved to exist in a narrow temperature band, but by increasing the temperature, it simply turns the cells into protoplasm, like soup.
Target temperature is about 50 C or 122 F, but just try to get as hot as you can tolerate.

Emmanuel Agencies S.A. Roy Bravo's main aim in his professional career is to make sure you do not work have no worries and to make your transit totally trouble free. Ironically out of all the forms, permits, payments fees, visas etc that have to be paid, this is the only one that is not necessary and the one that is most useful. Being single handed he arranged ropes fender, rope handlers who were the most pleasant you could wish for. Roy was always there at the end of the phone for me and responded to emails often within minutes. Admeasurer was arranger within 2 days and within 2 days of that my transit was underway. Of all the monies spent transiting the canal Roy's was the best value and the most friendly and the one very reasonable amount that I did not mind paying. Thanks very much Roy a pleasure doing business with you. Bob Redley Tiger Lily

From San Blas Cruisers Facebook Page:
We arrived in the San Blas 2 weeks ago, and we have paid:

105 USD P.P. for Visas (our 12 year old daughter was free)
200 USD cruising permit for 1 year
20 USD P.P. / month park fees (our 12 year old daughter was free)
20 USD per boat/month park fees.

Roy Bravo: agent
I selected Roy Bravo to handle our entry, exit and canal crossing based in the many recommendations from other cruisers. He promptly responded to email well in advance of our arrival and handled every detail of our stay. The canal transit went as per the detailed schedule he provided along with competent and pleasant line handlers, good fenders and ropes. He met us in person at the Balboa Yacht club were he had arranged a difficult to get mooring for a few days. All charges were detailed in his invoice with no surprises. Based on the above I can join the other cruisers before me who had the pleasure to meet Roy and benefited from his extensive experience in handling transiting yachts and confirm our recommendations from all the crew of "Wind of Change"

Posted on behalf of SY Two Oceans:
Filling water in San Blas, Panama is a bit of a problem. The options we found were:
Nargana
Look for Paco’s house in the anchorage between that island and Corazon de Jesus. His man, Apollo, brings water from Rio Diablo and using a bucket fills your tank. Typical cost – 8$ for 50 gallons. They also sell gasoline.
Aquadup
A small concrete dock, very close to the beach at position 09 27’.301 N 78 59’.947 W has a tap. Desperate for water we agreed to pay 25$ for 70 gallons.
Rio Azucar
A busy dock at position 9 25.846 N 78 37.72 W has a tap. They charged 5$ for tying to the dock and 15$ for the water, regardless of quantity.
There used to be a working tap near the dock of Carti Tupile at approx. position 9 28.56 N 78 57.71 W, but we found its pipe broken. No water available in Carti Sugdup too.
Miki Barzam on “Two Oceans”

We made a google map with important adresses in Panama (Portobelo, Colon & Panama City). You can see it here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zXRP0WqsgxrI.kE_WqJQm7WsI

Now is onli on polish but we try to translate it :)

Information from Karsten Staffeldt:
Yachts going to Panama simply to transit the Panama Canal
Regulations are somewhat "cloudy" with reference to the 72 hour rule mainly being applied to commercial vessels transiting the Panama Canal, which most do within 72 hours, and for which no navigation permit is required and no crew visa. Vessels transiting the Canal also do not need to undertake domestic clearance between the Caribbean/Pacific Terminals. Some yachts using agents have been able to pass the Canal handled the same way as commercial vessels, however this is only possible if the yacht in question has transited previously and registered with the Canal and is ready to transit on arrival in Panama.

Panama City Cruisers Net now meets Monday thru Saturday at 08:00 on CH68 and also uses this frequency for hailing.

We worked with Roy Bravo from Emmanuelle Agencies and it was great. We had some problems, parts were cleared quickly, the canal transit went smoothly and he solved our problems when we were not correctly checked in at the San Blas Islands. Thanks to Roy we were able to leave in time.

By the way, we thought Colon to be much nicer than Panama City. You just have to know where to go and where not to, and you have to speak Spanish or ask someone to help you out.

Oliver Yacht Services assisted me for my canal transit in January 2015. Many thanks to Oliver, the agent who assisted with the paper work, lines, tires and line handling. He is very helpful, reliable, punctual and professional. He responds quickly to emails at any time, speaks fluent english, german, french, dutch and spanish. Provides advice on the transit details. Highly recommended.

PANAMA CANAL –Passing March 2015
Our agent was Oliver – we can his service highly recommend!
Oliver is a multilingual yacht agent from Belgium, offering his services in Shelter Bay, Porto Lindo, Porto Belo and Panama City. We met him in Porto Belo, that save money for taxi and marina. Oliver is a great help for spare sourcing, provisioning, gas filling, local information and other logistic needs. He speaks fluent german, french and dutch. It was nice to communicate with him in our mother tongue,
Oliver is punctual, reliable and reachable anytime by phone +507 6602 0498 or by email
info@oliveryachtservices.com.

I can recommend Oliver Yacht Services for helping with canal transits and provisioning. He arranged our transit very fast as we where in a hurry and for a decent price. He is very punctual and correct. He is a real polyglot speaking, spanish, dutch, german, english and maybe more which makes all the paperwork and formalities easier. The linehandlers he arranged spoke english and where nice company. Also filling my dutch propane tanks with non standard fittings was arranged in one day. highly recommended. Phone +507 6602 0498

Agent for Canal- March 2015
We would thoroughly recommend Roy Bravo of Emmanuel Agensies. He replies promptly to emails. His fees and costs are very transparent with no surprises. he was very helpful on other non related matters and went the extra mile to ensure the canal crossing was smooth and fun.

He can provide excellent linehandlers , and we wuld recomend having at least two " professional, for their experience, language [dealing with pilot etc]. If you can have Daniel as lead linehandler he is a top guy.

Roy even drove me to hospital on our arrival, and spoke to the reception to organise my treatment. Later on when we decided to go to Galapagos he organised afumigation certificate at short notice.
Thoroughly recommend

We needed to transit the canal within four days of arriving at Shelter Bay marina in January, 2015. Many thanks to Roy Bravo, the agent who made it possible by organizing all the paper work, ropes, tires, and line handlers. Very professional, experienced and helpful.Responds to emails at any time of the day or night. Provides advice on the transit details. Highly recommended.

Posted on behalf of Karsten Staffeldt:
Lately the question of holding tanks has been brought up and that the Canal Authorities prohibit discharge of any "dirty water" in the Canal area, which in fact indicates that a Holding Tank is required. However generally the question of holding tanks is seldom mentioned during inspections and that some yachts have rented portable units (which requires a fair amount of space). Also the Canal regulations state that the Advisor they place on bord must have the necessary "facilities"!

It is true that very often the shops do not have items in stock, however you can always let spares fly in from US / Miami at reasonable shipping rates. There are weekly flights so waiting times are mostly not too long.

On our way around the world we have reached Panama. Now having read a lot about re-stocking here either side of the canal, we thought this is the place. However we are very disapointed to always hear the sentence "no lo tenemos" we haven't got it. So sailors be adviced to purchase spare parts before arriving here. On the other hand, if you are lucky to find what you need, than the price you have to pay is quite reasonable.
Patrick Heini

Don't bother with Stanley Scott
Taking the ARC through seems to have gone to his head. His charges were hard to understand, but he is charging at least $500 as agents fee. Roy Bravo is recommended by the marina and seems a much better bet.

I have just had a sail repaired in Portobelo bu Casa Vela which is located on the water front to the right of town, looking fro. the water. Good service and the repare well doene, Catherine s/v Gentle Rain II

Panama City Cruisers Connection, Deb Meh 507-6153-2089

Provides reasonably price Bed and Breakfast in Bella Vista, transport throughout the country including personal taxi service in Panama City. Will purchase food and beverages by order and deliver. Locate and purchase parts and provide guidance on where to get boat work done.
All excellent services at reasonable rates.

Roy Bravo: agent
Hi Would like to highly recommend Roy Bravo. He not only did an excellent job arranging my clearance but also in my canal transit. Roy is also a great resource for any needs you might have for service or repairs; he is well connected only recommends "the best of breed". Roy is a great person, very professional, very respectful, and beyond reproach. You will not be disappointed. Peter Pappas "Callisto" Amel sm2000 #369