Believe it or not, the care and feeding of Panama Canal Line Handlers is a hot topic around here! It seems that the differences between teams of line handlers is dramatic. It ranges between a cab driver who brings along 3 anemic buddies, to well oiled teams that take all your cares and concerns away. Regardless of the quality of the team, feeding these guys is a chore. A few recent experiences: a. From everyone I've talked to, more than half of the yacht transits take two days. b. From N to S they upload you to Lake Gatun, you tie to HUGE moorings and spend the night. About noon the next day you continue S. In these cases you have fed the line handlers, lunch, dinner, breakfast another lunch and possibly dinner. Depending on the team, this can be a LOT of food and drink. c. From S to N you have a 25 percent chance of making it in one day. IF you get into Miraflores before noon you have a sporting chance. Problem is they lift the yachts last, so you have to move quickly to make Gatun by 6:00pm, after which downlocking is at risk. Oh, the reason for this is they don't operate each lock as one up one down. They use both (meaning side by side) locks to uplock or downlock. Apparently this is more efficient as it avoids large ships having to negotiate Gillard cut in oncoming traffic. d. Meals for line handlers vary from Pringles and PBand J sandwiches to home made lasagna and spaghetti. Oh, the advisor is also going to want to be fed. e. Lots and Lots of water is NECESSARY. These guys work hard and sweat a lot so keeping them in water is important. If you have coke, either ration it or hide it, because they can go through a case of the stuff. Most good line handlers won't start on the beer till after they are out. This is not ALWAYS the case and should be a tip you probably got the B team. I was lucky. I got THE best line handling team in the Canal. This was confirmed by numerous people as they observed this team of guys on various boats. Enrique Plummer was my agent, and he has a guy working for him, Roberto. Really his name is Cholo, but that's reserved for use by his friends. I consider myself luck to be his friend and he is Cholo to me! I first met Cholo when I hired him to wax my boat at Flaminco Marina. He and Winston did THE BEST WAX job the boat has EVER had. He removed smudges that have been on the boat for a year. I was simply amazed. They did more to destroy the stereotype of the lazy Panamanian that anyone I've met while here. When I saw how well he and Winston worked I called Enrique to insist they be my line handling team. I can't tell you how much help they were because I was able to focus 100% on driving the boat and not worrying about lines, fenders, rafting or hitting the wall. There was even an instance where these guys jumped off the boat they were tending to place fenders on another boat that was very close to the wall, saving it from significant damage. I'll go so far as to say this: You should hire Enrique Plummer as your agent mostly because these guys work for him! Enrique has done a great job, but THE best thing he did was put us onto Roberto and Winston. In summary, be prepared to feed and care for your line handlers overnight, because most yacht transits are going to take two days. Oh, do swim in Gatun Lake, but post a guard for crocks. Stay close to the boat. Swimming in the fresh water was such a treat! Also, Shelter Bay does have slips, just call the day you will downlock and see if something is available. Good luck, Scott Bulger, Alanui, N40II, Seattle WA