The last time I went trough the Panama Canal was in 2005. The other times were in 1979 ($36.00) for a 37' sailing cat, 1991 (280.00) for a 50' sailing cat. In 2005 we were advised to use an agent. I contacted Peter Stevens of Panama City Panama. This was a great move. Here is how it went down. We arrived on a Mon. and was met by Peter. He handled all the formalities. He is somewhat of a friendly crusty person that has worked the Canal for many years.. He told us that at the present time most of the advisers that work the smaller pleasure craft were busy on projects. He said if the boat was 65' long a pilot would be assigned to the boat and there would be no delay. I said the document said 60' but to measure it may be a little longer. He said we could hold the tape. When the measurer came the boat turned out miraculously to be 65.1'. We then were scheduled to go through on Thur. The transit took 6 1/2 hrs. from the Pacific to the Caribbean. We were ready with all the lines but we rafted along a small tour boat up the three locks and laid on the wall for the three down. The pilot was great I handled the boat myself and after we were through the first three locks he ask how fast could we go. I said comfortably at 18 knots and he said let her go. We took the small boat channel which is a little shorter. When we got to the other end we waited a short time then went in the lock ahead of a large ship. To have the right number of crew I scheduled a couple from home that met us in Cocos Costa Rica and also met another couple from home in Panama City. We now had 6 for the transit. At the end of the Canal Peter had arranged to have the one couple returned to Panama City. The cost for everything including all the paper work was $1650.00. I think they have abandoned the admeasured for tonnage and just go by length now. Some of the smaller boats that were waiting for an adviser had been waiting for weeks. Considering the cost of a mooring or a marina stay we got off very cheap. The transit was the easiest of all three. In ''79 we went through in one day east bound. In ' 91 we had to stay over night in the lake. That was fun. I caught a nice fish and my wife went swimming and enjoyed it till she found that the lake had some alligators. The first two I did all the paper work myself. In recent years we have used more agents and found they many times saved us money and time even considering their fees. We felt Panama City seemed safe but were told to be very careful on the Colon end. Dennis Raedeke Wild Wind IV 60' Pachoud