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SAying goodbye to the Atlantic.

Louisa waking up to the still, calm, sunrise in the Panama Gutan Lake.

The lake

The new bridge of Americas

... And entering the first lock down with a big ship bearing down on us from behind.

21st Jan- Panama Canal Transiit - DOWN

We awoke in the lake just after sunrise, and watched the huge ships glide silently past. Breakfast was coffee and Chelsea buns. The Pilot was due to turn up at 8am, we cast of at 8am, leaving serannity alone, and we ready to move straight off, knowing that if we had an engine problem we couldn't waste anytime. But as it happened, the Pilot never showed until 0900.

We had 24 miles to do and we had to be there by 1pm. By my calculations we had to do an average of 6 knots. This was worrying as I could do that with 2 engines, but if we had a problem then what. But then the wind came up, a healthy 15 knots on the beam through the lake. We put up all the sails and we blasted through the first 10 miles at almost 8 knots, motor sailing. then as we zig-zagged down the main channel, we had to gybe with the wind behind us for the rest of the way making 5.5 - 6 knots. The Gatun Lake is a flooded valley - about 10 metres in depth. it has a huge area - ensuring that there is enough water catchment to fill and empty thhe locks for the passage of all the boats. The lake is dotted with tree clad hill tops and dead trees sticking out of the water from the flooding. We came though the Calibre cut, where the 25,000 people had died making it and we even saw one of the many crocodiles that live in the lake (Im glad we didn't go skinny dipping). We passed under the new bridge connecting North and south America - soon to be opened.

We arrived at the Pedro Miguel Lock at dead on 1300. But the lock keeper seemed to be running on a different schedule to the one our advisor had printed out. On our schedule it was clear that there were to be 4 boat going down at 1301. But the lock keeper only had 2. The Ketch Serannity and another ferry type boat rafted together and went down. We had to wait around for 15 minutes and were moved to the East lock to go down rafted to the 90 foot wooden river cruise boat that arrived 10 minutes after us. Im not sure what was going on but our adviser told me that the lock keeper was an "arse-hole", I believe there is a bit of friction between advisors and lock keepers in general.

So we tied alongside "Esmeralda" our river boat, and waited for a huge big red container ship to arrive. Two tug boats were with it, and once the lines were tied to the ship the first tug would nip in front of us and position himself at the front of the lock. The river boat would moor along side him, and then we moored alongside that. The ship was slow, and our down locks were slow. By the time we got to Mira-Flores we were well behind schedule - not our fault though.

We entered the Mira-Flores lock and we were excited about being on the web cam for grandparents and friends back home to see us. I hoisted a big union jack to the top of the mast and all the kids were on the trampoline bouncing around. We went down the first lock under the eyes of hundreds of spectators at the lock viewing centre. As it turned out the camera was trained close in on "Serannity" all the time and we were not on camera !!

The final lock was an interesting one. All though the water draining out of the locks was calm and there was no issue once we were in position, the final lock had a 2 knot current in it. Something about fresh water meeting saltwater. The advisor was very concerned about this current and as we entered the final lock and had to moor along side the river boat we had to get it right. Keith and Lloyd threw the lines perfectly and we came to a halt along side with no problem.

As the gates opened in this final lock we looked as we saw the Pacific Ocean greet us. There was an interesting effect of turbulence and a line of bubbles as the salt meet the fresh water. We motored out and crossed this line and all the kids shouted in excitement about entering the pacific Ocean. I opened a bottle of champagne, and dribbled some into the sea to give to King Neptune, to thank him for bringing us safely through the Atlantic and to ask him to look after us in this new ocean.

Then we motored 30 mins under the centennial bridge, the existing bridge connection the two continents. A pilot boat came along side while we motored and removed our advisor. We thanked him and waved goodbye. Balboa Yacht club was just the other side of the bridge. This is a club of just mooring buoys at 30 cents a foot per day and we headed in. Judith and Keith's Hotel was over looking the moorings so it was a no-brainier to moor there. We went along side the fuel/water dock to drop off Lloyd who took the ropes back with Stanley the taxi driver who was waiting for us. Judith and Keith with Helen and the kids also got of to go to the hotel for a swim. I stayed and filled up with diesel. I also disconnected the bottoms of the 2 water tanks and used the water pipe to flush all the years worth of rainwater sediment from the water tanks. I filled up the tanks with water and then moved the boat to the mooring buoy.

I tied it up, and tidied the decks up, had some left over chilli, and when the kids and Helen came back after a swim and meal out at "TGI Fridays", we had an early night, our first night, soundly asleep in the Pacific Ocean.

rob@yachtdolphins.com http://www.yachtdolphins.com

More Canal DOWN pictures

21st Jan - HELLO PACIFIC

Relaxing

Saying goodbye to our pilot and relaxing in Judith and Keith´s Hotel Pool.

23rd Jan-7th feb summary - Panama City and the Pacific - getting ready for another ocean

Summary - Panama City and the Pacific - getting ready for another ocean

The one thing that seems to happen when we get to a city and we need to stock up with food and spares and get things mended is that I seem to run out of time to write this log. So the fact that nothing gets written means that we are being extremely busy. And then when I come to write the log, this busy-ness is too much to remember. I will try to put down all the things that we have been doing since Judith and Keith left us - our 1st fortnight in the Pacific Ocean anchored next to Panama city at La Plieta anchorage.

It has been a fantastic time here in Panama City, we have been very busy but have had a great time meeting new friends, seeing the sights and going shopping.

The first thing when we arrived at Balboa yacht club, after the canal transit, we were boarded by an offical looking man demanding 30 dollars port clearance. He filled out the forms and wrote out a reciept for the 30 dollars. Then after I complained at the amount of charges that panama was imposing on us, he said, obligingly, that he would only charge 15 dollars. A few weeks later as other boats came through and had the same treatment (some being charge the full 30 dollars), we discovered that this was a con man and the officals in the port and immigration offices where conscerened about the scam. But they wernt conscerended enough to do anything about it however.

Then the following day we had the agricultural man inspection, charging us for the pleasure of inspecting our fridge for meat from another planet, and then asking for the documentation for the cat to check it had anti-rabies injections. 15 dollars for the fridge and 10 for the cat. Im not suer wether he was a scam or not. What with the fees in San Blas, zarpes cruising permits and checkin fees, Panama seems to be the most expensive country to check into so far. (about 150 dollars in fees)

We stayed at Balboa Yacht club on the mooring for 3 days. It cant really be called a club as there were no facilities, the staff were indifferent and 15 dollars a day to stay on a mooring bouy it was all a bit of a farce.

So we used our time to rest and recuperate, and on the third day we jumped in a taxi up to the Mira Flores lock vistor centre to watch Ocean Breezes come through. As it turned out they were locking up and down all by themselves. It was strange to see them all alone in the huge lock and we gasped as the man on the tanoy explained to us that 26 million gallons of water is used to raise or lower one lock. By my calculations, thats about 150 million gallons of water that they used to get Ocean Breezes through the canal, all for 650 dollars. At least we had a huge tanker with us, it sort of makes it feel a bit more justified, considering that the water in the lake is also used for electricty generation and also to provide drinking water for Panama. 150 million gallons - thats a lot of water.

So we moved a few miles south to the anchorage at the end of the Cause-way called La-Plieta. This is sort of an un-offical anchorage, as the canal authority wants to stop all anchoring in the area of the canal for security reasons. They seem to turn a blind eye to La Plieta.

This side of Panama is so different to Colon. Colon is a back street, dirty hovel, an industrial, smelly and rainy city. Panama city is huge, sunny, beutiful and cosmopolitan with a diverse way of life from barefooted slums to well-to-do apartments surrounded by french, spanish and art decor architecture. Right next to the anchorage is a cuase-way where Panamanians walk, cycle, rollerblade or jog around in a sort of Italian style. There are cafes, bars, pizzarias and shops along the cause way. We have had great fun taking the children there and renting bikes, or taking the skooters up and down the causeway.

It is a very handy anchorage and all the crusiers are here. There is a great crusiers net on the vhf in the mornings at 8am on ch 69, where everyone is extremely helpful and imformative about the area. It is only a 2 or 3 dollar taxi ride from the city where anything and everything is available, from huge american malls, to discount supermarkets, Engine spares shops and hardware strores. You name it you can get it in Panama City. Having said that they are definetly missing a chandlery chain such as Budget or West Marine. There are chandlery shops here, but they are more geared to the sports fishing boat.

But there is a down side to this well protected, convienient anchorage. To get ashore you have 2 options. Take your dinghy to the tourist ferry landing station and pay them 5 dollars to leave it there for the day. This does entitel you to use their water tap and you can fill up water containers all day long. But to save the 5 dollars, most of the time you just get dropped of or get a lift to the dock . The other option is to tie up to a mooring bouy and a conveyer-rope to the breakwater rocks. You use the conveyer-rope to pull your dinghy out clear of the rocks after you have tied up. You then have to scramble up the rocks to the road at the top. Its not too bad to do this once you know how, and it sounds worse than it is. Considering there can be upto 4 metres of tide here it makes sense to plan when you go ashore at the rock landing. The kids manage it well but I find getting Jack up the rocks is quicker if he hangs around my neck on my back like a baby monkey.

The anchorage community is great, there are boats here passing through, and others that have been here for a year or even more. Moday night, 50 or so cruisers pile into the pizzaria for the 2 for 1 pizza night. It is a nightmare getting your order in, but its a great time to meet everybody, and swap information. There are quite a few kids boats and with a huge table for the kids it is a grat time for them to chat, and afterwards run around playing as kids do. The ages range from Jack, 3, upto "Peregranata"'s 2 teenage daughters 14 and 15. Roughly counting in my head, there are about 25 to 30 kids (12 kid boats) going through the Pacific at the same time as us. On Wednesday nights, the young french couple on "Hilde" set up their excelently run Amatuer "Sailing theatre" where they set up a huge movie screen tarp outside at the dinghy landing bar, and connect their laptop upto a projector, and show a movie. They hand around a hat afterwards. Last week they precceded it for the kids by plugging in an Xbox game console to the huge screen and the kids raced each other around some computer generated city in computer generated cars while the other kids watched google eyed at the huge computer fenerated images. I wanted to be a kid again that night.

As part of the whole line handling thing, transiting the canal, we had to pay back our line handler, Lloyd from Warrior, who helped us through the canal making up our 4th helper. I was to pay back by helping him through the canal. But then John from Omazey arrived in Colon and wanted to be a line handler for warrior to get some experience before he takes his boat through. So I swapped and line handled for Reverie, our auzzie freinds, Jason and Jo, along with Chris from Ocean breezes and Walt from Nowadays. As expected it turned out to be a bit of a party boat, and we ended up having curry in the Lake and played "Uno", the only card game "Reverie" new how to play and drank 'till 4am. We woke around 6.30 at the sunrise to except our pilot and we motored through the lake in the morning each nursing our hangovers.

Then there is the endless list of jobs to be done and things to be sorted out. Overhaul the water Maker. Source the paint and bits and peices to antifoul the boat. Weve been getting Clothes and new lifejackets for the kids. Stock up the spares cupboard, stock up and upgrade the fishing tackle for the bigger fish we are going to catch. Prepare the boat for the huge amount of food we are going to store.

Everyone has a weavle problem. You just get on with it, and try to control it as best you can. We, however, have had a moth problem. Im not sure when it started, but it has now got out of control. Only really 5 or 10 moths a day, and they are not intrusive, but they shouldnt be there, and the moth maggots are not pleasant to see crawling around your packets of food. It infested the food storage cupboards. So we have been trying to use up all our food so we can fumigate the cupboard. We transfered all the old food into plastic boxes, chucking out the really old stuff. Then Helen sprayed the cupbaord daily (for 5 days) with pesticide. I took every tin and packet and wiped it maticulously with a baby wipe to make sure any eggs get wiped off. We then bought a weeks worth of new food and stored it just on the floor in the spare cabin. It has been a night-mare week with food everywhere, but we think we are getting on top of it.

I took the foresail down to repair a 4 inch long rip that appeared in san blas. As I hauled down the sail my fingers pushed through the sail cloth, right next to the UV protection strip, like I was touching tissue paper. The sail had been weakened on a strip a centemetre wide running the full length of the 15 metres. The UV protection strip was white, the same color as the sail, and it wasnt wide enough. The sun had damaged the sail. It was incredible to see the damage it done. We got a quote to repair the sail, 500 dollars. Then I heard on the net that someone had a 2nd hand Genoa for sale. It turned out to be a metre too short, but a little deeper. I tried it out and we went for a quick test sail in light winds. It worked well, and the fact that it was a metre shorter meant that it didnt rub the foot on the beam strut at the bow. A potential problem when going down wind, and I think we will be doing a lot of that this year. So I paid 450 dollars for this "new" sail. Then as it happened I got the old sail repaired as well by having it cut smaller rather patched. 2 sails of this size going down wind will be perfect.

I found a water maker dealer with extensive knowledge of Horizon, HRO systems in Panama. Desmond from Hydromundo in the city (VHF ch 10) has been extremely helpful in trying to sort my problem out. I have not been able to get the pressure up to above 700 psi and it has dropped our water maker production from 27 litres an hour down to 20 litres an hour. I still havnt found what the problem is but could be; worn valves, bad motor, badly seated high pressure flange or sucking air in from somewhere. He has spare valves, and a spare motor. I have tried stopping any airleaks by replacing hoses and tighteneing sall the joints. I am in the process of swapping the motor out. If that dosent make any difference, all try replacing the valves. Its a pain in the rear this water maker especially when you can buy a new water maker now that makes twice as much water for half as much power consumption.

We've had Liqourice, our cat, spayed here. Last month the yowling for a mate, during the night, was too much, so we booked her in to a Vet for 50 dollars. We popped holes in a cardboard box, put her in and stuck the lid down with masking tape and wheeled her off in a taxi with Ocean Breezes and their cat "tilly" a few hours later they had had the operation and were dozey from the tranqulizers. Then a week later after a course of antibiotics, we took them back to remove the stiches. All went well except "Lickys" wound had a bit of an infection and so not all the stiches came out. She didnt enjoy the Vet extracting some fluid using a syringe and took it out on Helen by scratching her. She's no back aboard, doing well but needs to go back in another week. I spoke to him about antifouling the boat and got him to write out a prescription for 15 grams (30 capsules) of Tetracycline, a cheap antibiotic used for animals. He told us to tell the pharmacy we had 10 dogs. I plan to mix it into the antifoul to try to keep the weed and the barnicles at bay.

The boat "Genesis" has helped us out by charging us a very reasonable amount to make us UV protective hatch covers, as our hatches are getting very crazed from UV damage. She also has our forsail and spinnikar to patch up and mend. She has become very over worked with all the boats arriving asking for work to bed done. She has had to put the sails on a back burner and we will have to arrange fro another boat to deliver them to us when we leave to cruise the Perlas Islands.

My Birthday resolution is to try to send a new log every day from now on. There is so much to write about and this is so long it is too much to read.

out and about

Louisa with Lucia from Omazey

Robs Birthday

A walk, and a 6 seater pedal "bike"