The day had finally arrived! After visiting the las Perlas Islands and anchoring in the Las Brisas anchorage, we had moved back to the Balboa Yacht Club Moorings for the night in order to have our additional lines, tires and line handlers delivered to us at 5:30 am. We were scheduled to meet our pilot advisor at 6:15 am about 2 nautical miles from our moorage and start heading towards the Miraflores locks to start the transit at 7:45. As we headed towards the meeting point, Ken radioed Flamenco Signal Station to advise them of our arrival. We were then told to return to and wait at Balboa as the advisor would meet us there, not at the predetermined spot. We could not retrieve our mooring as it was in a challenging spot, so spent the next hour motoring around in circles trying to stay out of the shipping lanes and abreast of the current. We also discovered to our dismay that the stern thruster which had worked beautifully 12 hours before, now did not work! The advisor and his trainee arrived close to the designated time, but the container ship Topaz Ace did not. It arrived an hour later, which meant we had to continue to 'spin our wheels'.

When it did arrive, we followed slowly behind Topaz Ace and a tug into the locks. We felt so tiny behind this massive ship which was 750 ft. long and had only 5 ft. to spare on the width. It was a tight squeeze as the the lock is 1000 ft. long. Jose, our advisor suggested that we sidetie to the tug. It meant that Ken had to carefully pull up alongside amidst the current and wash coming from the tug and the container ship. Not simple when you do not have a stern thruster. I know we were both praying the bow thruster would not fail. When we were alongside the tug, the 3 linehandlers threw the lines to men on the tug and tied us down. It was equally challenging when it was time to let go of the lines, pull away from the tug and let the tug and container ship pull ahead. Ken had to manage the current, the wash from both ships and ensure that we did not fall back on the lock behind us. It was a little stressful, particularly at the first lock when we really did not know what to expect.

When transiting the Panal Canal, one passes through 2 sets of locks, each of which has 3 chambers to transit through. When in the Miraflores locks, one goes 'up' and subsequently one 'goes down' in the Gatun locks. Between the sets of locks, one has to motor 27 nautical miles through the Gaillard Cut. Because we were late entering the Miraflores Locks, we knew we had 3 hours to get to the Gatun Locks. If we did not make it, we would have to spend the night anchored in Gatun Lake with our 3 linehandlers. The advisor would be picked up and returned the next day. We really wanted to get through Gatun, so we gunned it. Normally we like to travel between 7-7.5 knots which gives us the best diesel mileage. Today we were flying at 9.2-9.5, using substantially more diesel and keeping a very close eye on the thermostat! Three hours later we made it with 5 minutes to spare. Topaz Ace was there starting to move towards the locks. We sped past it because we had to be in front of her for this set of locks. Ken and I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we were safely tied up to the tug, but nervous as we watched Topaz Ace slowly being pulled into position right behind us (almost on top of us).

Even though we were flying through the cut to the Gatun Locks, it was very beautiful. It was a sunny hot day so I at least was able to spend some time sitting on the foredeck observing the mangroves, islands in Gatun Lake, and looking for crocodiles. Didn't see any of those, but did observe other freighters passing us , beautiful tropical islands in the lake and the cutting of the new canal adjacent to the current one. Ken was at the wheel trying to cut as many corners as he safely could to make time.

Our advisor and linehandlers were great. They were very friendly and were very happy to be on Bagan. As we motored through the canal, they provided us with interesting information about the building and running of the canal. We also saw men and trucks working on the expansion of the canal which is currently running about a year late. It was our responsibility to keep the men fed (a breakfast, hot dinner, snacks and bottled water). Had we had to spend the night on Gatun Lake, we would have had to feed them more. Lots of food needed to feed 5 men in addition to ourselves! We had heard stories of advisors not being happy about food on transiting boats, ordering food to be delivered in transit and charging it to the boat owners. Thankfully that did not happen to us!

When we exited the final chamber of the Gatun locks, the wind was blowing at 22 knots and the seas were much higher due to the shallower water. Our advisor and assistant were picked up by a pilot boat in an area called 'The Flats', just outside Colon harbour. The linehandlers traveled with us to Shelter Bay Marina, across the harbour. The wind was funneling through the narrow gap into the harbour and was quite strong. Dock assistants wanted us to tie up stern in, but with the wind and lack of stern thruster, Ken was unable to juggle us into the very tight spot. We then had to leave the harbour and reenter to dock bow in. It was much easier second time around. We had arrived, very tired, but happy to have made the transit without mishap. It was time for a celebratory glass of wine!

We will remain at Shelter Bay Marina until our friend Sigrid arrives on Jan. 12. We will haul out Jan. 2 to do check the bottom and props, replace zincs, service throughhulls, etc. Hope to be back in the water between Jan. 6-8th and then start to reprovision for the San Blas and Bocas Islands. The next big shop will likely be in Belize in March, so we have a lot to purchase!

The marina itself is nice. It is located in a jungle on the coast approximately 40 miles from Panama City. It has a restaurant, swimming pool, small EXPENSIVE chandlery. It runs a twice daily shuttle bus to a shopping centre in Colon, so reprovisioning should be relatively easy. Colon itself is considered to be quite dangerous and we are advised not to wander around the town on our own and to be careful choosing taxis. Fortunately the shopping centre is quite large and we are able to get most things we need for the galley.