Through to the other side!

Monday 4th February

Hi to you all from THE PACIFIC OCEAN!!

We made it through the Panama Canal over 2 days and its every bit as interesting as is said. 6 locks and 36 miles approx. of fresh water, including an overnight on Gatun Lake, well 5 hours anyway.

The trip started at about 1630 from Shelter Bay Marina on the north side of Colon. On leaving, 5 boats crossed the shipping lane, with some trepidation, to an anchorage known as The Flats, to wait for both the 4 x 120ft ropes and the canal advisors, a sort of junior pilot. One boat, being over the critical 65ft got a real pilot! The ropes were due at about 5 PM and the advisors at 6PM. In the event the ropes arrived at around 6.30 and the advisors at around 8.30.

We then set off slowly up to the canal's northern entrance to Gatun Locks. On arrival we rafted up with a catamarn and another boat to the other side of the cat. Then into the first lock. All went well. Although it was dark, there is so much lighting it was almost daylight. The linemen up on the lock walls throw down light lines and we then attatch the long lines to them. Then the linemen walk with us up to & into the lock. Once we were in position they pull up our long lines and secure them to cleats on the wall. We had to keep tension on the lines so as to position the raft in mid lock. When all the rafts were in the water started to come up through pump outlets in the floor of the lock. This all happens 3 times and we rose 86 ft above sea level, I dont think BlueFlyer will ever be that high again! We motored out of the last gate as a raft over to a nearbye anchorage for ships and tied alongside an enormous mooring buoy, having broken up the raft.

Next morning, at 6 AM we were ready to go again, and at 7AM a new advisor came on board and off we went. Across the main channel and down a short cut called The Banana Channel- no ships here, too twisty. We motored for about 41/2 hours heading south to the next locks. On the way we saw some of the enormous works going on to create the parallel but bigger locks, and the widening and straightening of the channel.

By 11AM we had re-rafted and entered the first downhill lock. It is the same process in reverse, but easier as we paid out the lines rather than having to keep pulling them in. And again we did the same through 3 locks, and then we entered the Pacific. The raft broke up and then out under The Bridge of the Americas and onto Flamenco Marina on Flamenco Island, now linked by a causeway to Panama City. It was lovely to smell the sea again after nearly 24 hours in fresh water. Between the 2 of the locks there is a lake about 1 mile long. In the middle of there was a lazily swimming fresh water crocodile. As we all approached it, the croc. just casually submerged. We had seen them on the sandy shores along the channel in the morning.

For your information each time a lock is filled/emptied 24 million gallons of water is used (100 million litres). What a flush that is. Sometimes, if timing is good, the water moves sideways into the adjoining lock to fill it. There are inumerable electric locomotives from Mitsubishi to pull ships along. Each one is $40 million and can generate 20 tons of pull.

We will be in this marina until our departure to Ecuador on the 10th, so there will not be much to report, unless you want to hear about washing, scrubbing and generally shining up the boat. We will have a look into the city, especially as it is Carnival time here until Tuesday evening. There are, of course, the inevitable repairs to be done- the Raymarine radios and GPS keep falling down.