10/18/2008, Gatun Lake, Panama
This has been quite a morning! Our ACP Advisor was about an hour late...as he boarded us at 8:05am. However, we had no other delays at all.... We entered the 1st of the 2 Miraflores locks about 9:35! The 1st lock is always the hard one. We were unexpectedly side tied to a 2 story passenger ferry, so our tires were too low. Good thing Rob doubled up the tires with our own fenders, as we had them tied as high as our lifelines! Sans Cles rafted up to our starboard side so we were "monkey in the middle" Our stern line slipped off the cleat so our "tale" went drifting away from the ferry boat, while we were all busy taking pictures and chatting with sans cles! Fortunately all was saved as Rob and Rick were able to re connect the stern line and winch the boat back into place, while our able bodied linehandler Alfonso, fended off the bow of Triple Stars from scraping into the ferry boat. Upon breaking up the raft up, we peeled off of each other but with the turbulence of the waters when the ferry started up, we went shooting to the starboard wall of the lock and sans cles actually got turned sideways in the lock! There was another tense 5 minutes (but it seemed like 30). The current in the water calmed down (and eventually so did we) and the exit from the 1st lock and the next 2 locks were textbook style! We were in the chamber with the web cam about 9:55am (CDT) so if you were watching, we were waving! Our next lock will be Gatun Lock at approximately 3:45 CDT ..... (maybe alittle later) Not quite as clear as Miraflores locks but hopefully good enough. Last time we watched it when Rob & Lyman went thru as line handlers for Surf Scooter, the camera was totally down...So hopefully all will continue to go well.... Thanks for sharing this monumental day with Rob & Jan and Triple Stars... We sadly leave the BEAUTIFUL Pacific Ocean but are anxious for the new world in the Atlantic... More to come later....
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10/17/2008, Panama City, Panama
Boy has this past 13 days flown by!! We have really enjoyed the anchorage here near the Flamenco Marina and while the rain dampened a few of our days, all in all the weather has been warm, breezy and humid...typical Tropical climate... We have met up with several familiar cruisers we have met in our travels as well as many new friends we continue to meet. We have enjoyed book exchanges, musical jam sessions, sharing cabs, finding the "best" grocery stores and places to find boat parts as well as just sitting down at happy hour and sharing stories... Sans Cles and us have moved into the marina for the last couple of days, to have some ease in getting the Canal officials to complete paperwork, get the boats measured and take delivery of the huge lines and tire fenders needed. Not to mention getting "provisions for 3 weeks" on board from our 5 hour shopping marathon on board from a dock, rather than loading a dinghy and making several trips out to the boats! Today we even had our Yellow Fever shots (now required for people entering many Central and South American countries) and are doing the final touches to protecting Triple Stars from the locks....covering the solar panels, clearing the deck of anything not attached to the boat, hanging tire fenders and preparing the huge lines and stashing all of the food and provisions we just bought! Our plan now is that Saturday morning about 8am, the Canal Authority Advisor will board our boat and about 7:00 or 7:30am we should begin to travel under the "Bride of the Americas" and motor for about 2 hrs to the Miraflores locks. The web cam is located at the 3rd lock, SO at the earliest we should be in those locks about 10:00am..... I will try to up date on this blog, via SSB radio, on Saturday morning as we move closer to the locks. I am finding it really difficult to describe just how fun, anxious, scared, relieved and excited I am feeling! That's www.pancanal.com multimedia...Live camera...miraflores high resolution... then click on the magnifying glass....
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10/17/2008, Flamenco Marina, Panama
Our final night in the Pacific Ocean on the Western Panama coast was certainly a fun one! Not only final preparations for the big day on Saturday, but we also were saying Adios...Until we meet again...to our dear friends Jim & Kay on "Grace". A month ago they introduced us to Boston Legal with their season 2 & 3 DVD sets. Terri & Lyman would watch a couple of discs then send them to watch until the final episode, that we thought would be so fitting "farewell party" to have a steak dinner, watch the final episode of 3rd Season Boston Legal all of us together, then sit on the docks and have a scotch and cigar! What a great night! The rain cooperated and stayed away and we totally enjoyed spending time with our friends...and look forward to hooking up with them once again...Be sure to check out our Photo Gallery for pictures of that terrific night.
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