04/10/2009, 9.3691,-79.9503
Everything here is fine. Here is where we are, check it out! All our Love!!
ESN:0-7481291
Latitude:9.3691
Longitude:-79.9503
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:04/10/2009 12:44:55 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=9.3691,-79.9503&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
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04/10/2009, 9.3797,-79.9345
Everything here is fine. Here is where we are, check it out! All our Love!!
ESN:0-7481291
Latitude:9.3797
Longitude:-79.9345
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:04/10/2009 12:21:34 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=9.3797,-79.9345&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
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04/09/2009, Lake Gatun, Panama
WOW! Sleep! What a concept! We both slept like babies, and didn't get up 'til way after sun up! Basically hung around and visited w/ George & Janet, George's brother Ted, & his 2 young adult children who are visiting & going through the canal w/ them. Super nice family! Even though we had wanted to go through the canal several days ago, we are so very glad we were able to buddy boat w/ Claire de Lune. It's times like this that I feel things happen for a reason & we don't always know what's best, that God does & he is working for us in all things. The boat Sheli, chose to anchor off the moorings a bit ways off from us. About 11, since our advisors we're not arriving yet, and we saw no signs of them, Jim radioed for an update. "Your advisor will be arriving at 14:15 and you have a 15:15 lock time". Ya know, I really hate being out of control!!! At the hands & mercy of others! But it's not like we can call the ACP & tell them, "No, sorry, that's not acceptable, we're going through now, like it or not!" So we sit, we wait, & I try real hard to stay positive. I am all for when I get a setback, to try to believe, everything happens for a reason, & is for the best, and maybe this will just give us a better start wind or something. Just something to help me be able to "let it go". But I still really hate being in no control of things!
At 1:00, so an hour & ½ EARLY, our advisor, Jose', arrives. Jim is right in the middle of a project replacing our back forestay cable. When Jose' arrives though, he tells us that we are not transiting through the remaining canal until 4:15, then a while later, it's pushed back again to 4:50. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit w/ Jose' for the remainder of the afternoon, talking about everything from Religion- yes, he's Catholic, politics, recreation, the canal, etc. But we're still wanting to get going. Once we get through the canal we need to drop off Steve, Thomas & Olga & give them $ for taxi & bus ride back to Panama. The last bus to Panama City is at 9, so it appears they will be staying w/ us one more night, and we'll be getting refueled and more water in the morning.
This time it was just Claire de Lune & us, the other boat we were w/ y-day was able to leave an hour before us. We got through going down w/ no problems. Our sister boat though, had a bit of an issue this time. As we were getting in to the first lock, the aft line thrown to the canal line handler didn't quite get to the line handler. Ted on Claire de Lune missed twice and for some unknown reason the canal line handler on shore didn't throw his line to Ted to help pull their stern around & Claire de Lunes anchor hit & scraped the wall of the lock twice. Thankfully no damage was done, but it was scary nonetheless. Other than that, which was enough, thank you very much, our transit went well & after going down the 3 sets of locks, we were in the Carribean! We drove the 5 miles to the flats where we anchored for the night at about 7:45 p.m.
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04/09/2009, 9.3442,-79.9075
Everything here is fine. Here is where we are, check it out! All our Love!!
ESN:0-7481291
Latitude:9.3442
Longitude:-79.9075
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:04/10/2009 00:44:27 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=9.3442,-79.9075&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
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04/09/2009, 9.2718,-79.9234
Everything here is fine. Here is where we are, check it out! All our Love!!
ESN:0-7481291
Latitude:9.2718
Longitude:-79.9234
Nearest Location:not known
Distance:not known
Time:04/09/2009 22:36:54 (GMT)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=9.2718,-79.9234&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
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04/08/2009, Panama Canal
Jim & I both got very little sleep. I went to bed at midnight and woke at 5, he got even less sleep than that. He got up before dawn & started hanging the tires for our makeshift canal bumpers. When he went to the dumpster on shore to get tires yesterday morning, all the tires were gone, they had been taken away to be disposed of. Thankfully, almost everyday boats come through from the Carribean side and eager to get rid of their tires off their boat, since it costs $1/tire to dispose of them. And 2 or 3 boats came through y'-day late afternoon, so he went over to one and got the remaining tires we needed. Olga & Thomas(in picture) got up shortly after 6 & Thomas continued with the tires while Jim & I finished picking up the wheelhouse, cockpit, main cabin, etc. At 7 Steve from his boat, "Goose", came over in his dinghy, then he & Jim went to the dinghy dock w/ our dinghy in tow to drop off Steve's dinghy so he had a way back out to his boat after he gets back from going through the canal w/ us. They get back and we were called previously in the morning to arrive at bouy 6 at 8:30 to await our advisor. Realizing we were going through w/ 2 other boats, George & Janet on Clair de Lune, whom we met way back a year ago in Golfito, CR, & another boat we did not know, I had the inclination we would be going through nested, all 3 of us tied together. Both other boats are monohulls. I didn't ask, at this point, & didn't want to know, who was going to be the middle boat- I had a sneaky suspicion. We are a trimaran, meaning, lean less, more stable than monohulls. All kinds of things are going through my mind. Jim has told me when talking in the past, about different canal transits, that when boats go through nested, the center boat is the one w/ most power, does most of the work, steering, powering the others along. We only have a 35 hp motor! Are these advisors INSANE?! We can't push along our boat, PLUS 2 monohulls, weighing 3 or more times as us EACH! When you get inspected, they take written notes of all issues regarding your boat, so they know we have a small engine! But, at this point, I didn't say anything, YET! I kept my cool, & just waited to see what the real deal was, after all, at this point I am only speculating. All 3 advisors, 1/boat, arrive shortly after 9. Our guide, Regis, is Panamanian, & is very nice. After introductions and such , he informs us we were suppose to go through at 10:30, but our first lock time was recently changed to 11:40. And after awhile, the suspense was killing me. I was in the galley, and from their I can look up the companionway & see Jim at the wheel. I ask him, "how are we going through?" "Nested" he answers giving me that look of "what the heck we gonna do?" I fire back, a " are you serious?!" look, & he gives a quick nod. I mouth back, "we don't have the power for that!" He mouths back, "I know." But in talking w/ the advisor some more, they are going to have the other 2 outer boats give their powering assistance when needed. Claire de Lune has a 60 hp, & the other boat, Ren on "Sheli" has a 90 hp motor, we learned, once we tied up together at 11:30. George & Janet are from CA & Ren is from Israel. 15 minutes after tying up, a yahoo idiot in a ACP boat, ( Autoridad de Canal de Panama: authority of the Panama Canal), came by at full speed and rocked our boats to no end. Being in the middle, we got it the worst- the lightweight 35 year old trimaran, weighing only 10,000 lbs. Every one heard it, not just us & our crew & advisor on our boat, but everyone on the other 2 boats heard it. There was this sound that I can only liken it to Paul Bunyan taking a bite of a handful of Doritos! It was aweful! Just aweful! Jim & I both walked through both outer hulls several times looking for any signs of damage. We did not see any. Our advisor, & George & Janet & I think even their advisor, asked if everything was ok. To the best of our knowledge, & in only a 5 minute run through of the boat, we could tell no sign of damage. THANK GOD! Many times over! But it still sounded aweful! I think that sound if forever ingrained in my memory.
Okay, so enough of that. On to some of the better part of the day. Everything went well without a hitch so to speak. Actually being in the middle was better for our cleats. Again, being a thinner, lighter weight boat, Jim was pretty confident his extra supports he put on for the cleats would suffice, but they really take a lot of force going down the locks, and you never know until you've done it, so it was a concern, of course. But being in the middle, made it much easier, and really our line handlers didn't have to do very much work all day, only having to aid in tying the boats together and untying after we got done going up the locks. Olga & Thomas were great help though in the galley! Cutting, chopping, mixing, washing dishes, helping to get as much ready for breakfast, lunch, & dinner as possible, ahead of time, knowing that doing it later, would be too tiring for all of us. I told them we were going to keep them! But not sure what to do when we get to Fl. & they don't have visas, but oh well!
Starting so late, we were not able to make it through in 1 day as hoped. All 3 of us boats had to wait overnight just a brief jaunt away from the last set of locks, the Gatun locks, to go down to the Carribean. And were told before our advisors left that we would begin at 10:30 the next morning. We got to the mooring for our overnight stay around 8 p.m. Jim & I were in bed & crashed by 9.
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