Panama Canal Agent Recommendation Needed

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Gus39

Hello
I’m going sailing from Miami to China
(Crossing Panama Canal) on a 33 ‘ Watkins
I thought that the only to cross the canal was by an hiring an agent here in Miami
Is it possible to just show up at the canal avoiding the agent??
What is the procedure?
How much is it?

In post #22 in this thread I posted links to some detailed info on transiting without an.agent.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Mikado

Hello CF,



We are going to be transiting the canal this spring from Atlantic to Pacific.



I've read everything that I can find on the forum regarding agent -vs-no agent, etc. I think we are going to go with an agent.



Since this is our first passage, it seems that an agent can help with the learning curve but the main reason I'm thinking of going with an agent is that I have heard that they have canal contacts that can help get you scheduled thru earlier. It would really suck if we had to wait 4 weeks, so any option to get thru sooner has me interested.



Do any of you have any agents that you could highly recommend along with their contact information? What are the typical costs for an agent?



I have Pat and John Rains Cruising Ports book with recommendations but I was looking for other options.



Thanks in advance for your input !!



Jeff

The Wynns have recently posted about their Panama Canal crossing without an agent - seemed like no issues at all to do it without an agent. Take a look at gonewiththewynns.com.

[sifar]

We just crossed the canal two weeks ago with Tina McBride as our agent.

I was prepared to wait a while for to the water shortages. We arrived on December 23rd. Even before we had docked at Shelter Bay, Tina had secured a spot for the next day. She said we got lucky but it also seemed like she was constantly on the phone with the canal authorities and managed to snag a spot as it opened up. We got through the Gatun locks on the late afternoon of the 24th December and moored out in the lake. Next day, the advisor didn't show at 7am as they were short staffed for Christmas. Tina somehow managed to get them to send another advisor later in the day so we could clear Pedro Miguel and Miraflores that afternoon. Without her proactively checking in, we would have been stuck in Gatun lake for another day. She also arranged for immigration to show up at off hours to check us in and get us hooked up with berths in Marinas on both sides. Even after the transit she watched over us, helping us deal with an encounter with aeronaval.

In short, she is wonderful and recommend her highly for a canal agent.

Sifar
Ps. There are definitely crocs in gatun lake

[donradcliffe]

Wait times go up around Easter.

[AiniA]

We crossed without an agent without difficulty. You need to buy a Panamanian SIM card and some air time. I think this was about $10. Easier now without the admeasurer process.

[sbarouch]

Another vote for Tina McBride, can't say enough about her ability and being able to work with us, she is great. We just crossed on July 3rd and she re-schedule our crossing numerous times at our request and didn't ask for additional money.