TIGER LILLY - PACIFICA!
03 May 2014 | Balboa Yacht Club, Panama
Tom and Lilly
On 24-25 April we transited the Panama Canal and entered the Pacific Ocean - a milestone in our cruising adventures. Our passage through The Canal went smoothly with Tom's brother Quintin, Jacksonville sailor friend Robert, and fellow cruisers Harry and Melinda of S/V Sea Schell aboard as line-handlers. The staff of the Panama Canal Authority were both friendly and professional: from the Admeasurement Official who came aboard and evaluated TIGER LILLY; to the friendly Cashier who deposited our fees; to the Pilots who safely guided us through a challenging waterway around big ships and through HUGE locks: to the Lock Masters who raised and lowered TIGER LILLY some 84 feet up to the level of Lake Gatun, and then down to the Pacific - we enjoyed them all! (Lilly sez: He especially enjoyed handing the coffee-colored sweet-young-thing Latina Cashier with the shapely figure, short skirt, nice smile, and four inch spike heels, a fist-full of our hard-earned cash to pay the fees.) Actually, we think we received good value for our $1200 Canal Fees, and $175 Agent / hand-lines / fenders fees.
We are currently moored to a buoy off the Balboa Yacht Club preparing TIGER LILLY and ourselves for our upcoming 4000 mile / 30 day voyage across the South Pacific to the Iles Gambier of French Polynesia. The Panamanian people have been wonderful to us as we struggle through our poor (and often incorrect) Spanish as we purchase ship's stores and fresh provisions, visit a medical clinic (Lilly's arthritis was acting up), buy new eyeglasses (Tom had the good sense to sit on his), and find our way around town on the bus system. Actually, we just cannot keep up with the frequently changing languages we encounter as we cruise; in the past twelve months we have had to use English, Spanish, Waro Indian, Talkie-Talkie (local lingua franca in the Guiana's), Dutch, French, Brazilian Portuguese, and Slovakian (with guest Robert aboard). Between language and changing local money, it is enough to make a fella's hair hurt - but we just smile, use sign language, and draw crude pictures on napkins and bus tickets. We never leave the boat without a business card of the Yacht Club - if all else fails we hold it up and someone will show us the way to go home! We love hanging out at the Balboa Yacht Club, it is a cross-roads for blue water sailboat cruisers, and it is located right next to the channel leading to the Miraflores Locks. We are just a hundred meters or so from a nearly constant parade of vessels of all shapes and sizes. Sailors from all corners of our Blue Planet make their way to the Panama Canal - one of the man-made Wonders of the World.
As we continue our voyage across the South Pacific we will file regular Situation Reports (SITREPS) to this blog via the HAM Radio Winlink system.
Lilly sez: OH MY GOSH! Thirty days at sea, with only Tom-Tom and me; and the nearest land nearly three miles away - straight down. We depend on Spaceship TIGER LILLY for all of our life-support systems, and we put our trust in the Lord. See ya in French Polynesia!