From Panama

The mystery of the Panama Canal is now solved- we went through a few days ago with Greg, Brett, Natalie & Andy on his Beneteau 45 as line handlers. We'd never hung out with 3 Australians before (Natalie is from the US) so there was a learning curve for terminology, mainly the ice chest is called an Esky and a beer coosie is called a stubby holder. And since Andy is an electrician when he's not sailing around the world, he's a sparky. It's too bad we hadn't "researched" this slang before we got on his boat because we could've been belting out all kinds of funny stuff along the way! So after we broke the language barriers, we all got busy taking care that Andy's boat made it through the 6 locks without damage. And it wasn't easy! I have to say, transiting wasn't exactly what we expected as far as organization goes. For example, the long, heavy lines that are needed for the locks are different than the normal dock lines used for rafting up or tying to a tug and for some reason, the configuration of boats, number of boats, manner of tying and the skill of each boat's crew varied considerably. We would no sooner get the lines rigged for one type of tie up and then our advisor would say it had changed and we'd need to switch lines. And sometimes we even made the changes since there were some good heads on our boat who could think of safer ways to tie up so we sort of over ruled the advisor a couple of times. It came to a standstill on the last 2 locks when the canal was short 2 personnel to handle our lines so that meant that we would have to side tie along the rough canal walls which most boats decline to do on the contract for fear of damage. The locks have a lot of current and it is difficult to maneuver, plus, a huge ship behind you will push water forward making even more current and you've got to come up to a rough wall. In the end, we did side tie and it went OK except for a good bump on the wall which flattened out a fender but didn't do damage, but it was hairy. And on the second day, we were told to be ready at 7am to motor across Gatun Lake but no advisor came until around 10:30 or so we spent some time wondering what was going on.

So all that said, it was really interesting to experience the canal, see those huge lock doors closing on the Atlantic Ocean and opening the next day to the Pacific. We'd never been quite THAT close to huge ships before (their bow literally hanging over us for a bit in the locks with crew looking down into our cockpit) nor experienced that amount of height change in a lock. Our advisors were really friendly and knowledgeable about the canal and it felt like another milestone- we've just got to get our boat through in order for it to count! It was great getting to know the crew on Impiana who took such good care of us and inspiring to think that Andy will be completing his circumnavigation in a few months. Overall, a great experience for us and now, hopefully there will be no surprises.

From Panama
Once we reached La Playita in Panama City on the Pacific side, we anchored, showered and then went ashore to celebrate. Andy treated us to pizza and it was nice to get ashore for a bit. The next day, Jon & I got on a bus from Panama City to the mountain town of Santa Fe, about 5 hours inland. Santa Fe is a quiet little town with very hilly roads, friendly people & fantastic views. There is an ex-pat community there but it doesn't feel over run with foreigners either. We stayed at a cute little hotel- Hotel Santa Fe that had a little restaurant with great food and the tables were on a patio with lush tropical foliage. We only stayed 2 nights because the hotel owner said we might have trouble getting all the way back to Colon in 1 day due to school starting and the buses being full. So we met a backpacker that first night who had just taken a full day horseback riding tour with "Reyhorse Rentals" and he was raving about it. We quick called Rey and set up a tour for the following day.
Taking a day long horseback ride into the countryside has been on my life list for quite some time and this day fulfilled that. The three of us started at 8:30. Rey led us through truly beautiful scenery on mostly dirt road & single track trails about 9km in to a finca where we had a typico lunch. Then we hiked to the El Salto waterfall and went swimming. All along the way, we practiced our spanish and Rey worked on his English and we helped each other along. He just started giving these tours 3 weeks ago and would like to expand. We said we'd recommend them to anyone going to Santa Fe- what a great experience! We finished off the day at 6pm and walked back to our hotel a little sore in the backside from riding all day, but it's a good kind of sore!
From Panama

Yesterday we did some serious busing all day to get back to the marina. There were a lot of kids on the buses but everything went smoother than expected. We've got a bunch of stuff to do to get ready which is why I'm keeping this blog entry short. It's amazing how much hotter & damper it is here than up in the mountains or even on the Pacific side. Everything feels sticky. I really liked the scenery on the Pacific side also- mountainous islands and 16 foot tides keep things interesting!

So, if anyone finds themselves heading to Santa Fe and wants to get in touch with Rey, his email is reyhorserentals@yahoo.com and on Facebook, facebook.com/Reype2. For us, our boat was safe at Shelter Bay and we were in Panama City from the canal transit anyway, so it was a perfect time to squeeze in a trip to the mountains.

I owe a lot of emails right now and I can just see that they're not going to get done anytime soon! So please know that we cherish every one we get and think of everyone all the time.