TRANSIT The PANAMA CANAL WITHOUT AN AGENT | It's EASY! - Sailing It's The Truth Ep. 45

Here is an excellent guide on how to cross the Panama Canal without an agent:
madaboutpanama....
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[@ford3019]

Great Panama Canal crossing how to video and love the co-stars!

[@SailingItsTheTruth]

The best co stars one could ask for! 😄

[@BellsRidesAboardSeaBoss]

Very interesting and such a cool adventure 11:33 I’m not sure what I was expecting for grocery stores but it looked like grocery stores in the states. 15:56 What a cool adventure, I would totally be a line handler. Safe travels

[@SailingItsTheTruth]

Thanks! Yup, in bigger towns the grocery stores tend to be like in the states. But typically in the smaller towns there are more likely to be tiendas (or small shops), which don't have as big a selection but generally have the basic necessities. If you ever travel in Panama, folks are always looking for line handlers. On another boat I helped out on as a line handler, there were two folks riding their bikes south and they had started in Canada. They just wanted the experience of the canal. :)

[@wow.sailor.]

Wow Sailor 👍

[@marcelop9377]

Nice video and thanks for sharing. Is there any reason you did not mention the fees you paid? It would be interesting to find out the cost of transit for a 39' sailboat, including the fenders and lines.

[@SailingItsTheTruth]

You are right! I definitely should have mentioned them. The fees for fenders and lines are very different depending on whom you ask. I rented mine from an agent and paid $150, and he was amazing to work with. But I received varied quotes. As far as fees for the canal, they are going up again in January. We paid a total of $2,900 which includes a $1,060 buffer fee. The buffer fee is like a deposit, so as long as all goes well we will get the whole deposit back.

[@marcelop9377]

@@SailingItsTheTruth Thank you. Now I understand the need for savings for doing it yourself. 18 hundred is a pretty steep fee, but this is something you don't want to do more than once I guess. Fair winds.

[@MrMarkandMsCindy]

Good for you for figuring out how to do it yourself. However, the actual agent fee is not very much in the overall scheme of things, about US$350. IMO the convenience and added perks more than offset the fee. The one thing that really concerned me about doing it ourselves was walking around Colon with a ton of cash since a sizeable deposit must be made into the TA bank account - in cash. And, Most ATMs do not put out as much as needed, meaning more than one or two ATMs needs to be visited. Colon is dangerous -there are signs at Shelter Bay warning cruisers about Colon. While we were there a cruiser who was doing the fees himself was robbed at knifepoint at the ATM getting the fees together.

[@SailingItsTheTruth]

Thanks Mark! Actually, the average fee for an agent is about $400, with some requesting $500. Honestly, it was so easy without one that I didn't see any inconvenience. Colon was definitely a lot safer than people made it out to be. We arrived during the day, our bus driver to Colon was super helpful and dropped us off just a few blocks from where we had to make the payment at Citi Bank. We then got in a taxi to grab a bite to eat and the taxi driver was also lovely and helpful. As far as walking around with a lot of cash, well I for one don't really want to do that anywhere, but I didn't feel more unsafe doing it in Colon. One can take a taxi straight to Citi Bank, but that wasn't needed in our case. We brought the cash with us, so an atm wasn't needed. Our friend did have to use an atm in Colon, but there were security guards all around so not sure an incident could have occurred. Maybe things have changed since the cruiser's unfortunate experience.

[@MrMarkandMsCindy]

@@SailingItsTheTruth How long did it take you to get your bond returned. I've heard nightmares about this too?

[@roncanizares9966]

Excellent and most informative video. I hope your crossing is totally uneventful!

[@SailingItsTheTruth]

Thank you!

[@andypag1071]

Thanks for sharing. Do you pay in local currency or USD? How do you get enough cash? ATMs?

[@SailingItsTheTruth]

Hi there! Thanks for watching. Local currency is the USD in Panama. We had the cash on board with us, but our friend in the video made withdrawals from atms. Most limit you to $250 per withdrawal though. There is an atm in Portobelo, a few in Sabanitas, and a few in Colon. Much easier to either have the cash before coming in, or to start withdrawing early 😊

[@COLTBECK13]

Soooooo how much was the fee ?

[@SailingItsTheTruth]

Total was $2675, of which $891 was a deposit which we received back after crossing.