We have arrived in the Pacific Ocean. We transited the Canal this past Saturday and Sunday, accompanied by Kylie from Clementine, James from Coba Libre, Graham from Nakesa, and Isabelle from Liseron. We went up through the Gatun Locks on Saturday between about 7pm and 9pm. Then we tied up to a mooring buoy in Gatun Lake and had a bit of a celebratory party joined by Kieth who was transiting on Awaroa which was tied to the same buoy. The party included such fun as climbing onto the buoy and rocking it around from about 3 am to 5 am (six were on the buoy, I won't name names, and there was room for more). I think every transit ought to have a buoy party midway. On sunday we then transited across Gatun lake, then down through the Pedro Miguel Locks, across Miraflores Lake, and then down through the Miraflores Locks. All went smoothly.

On the way up we were the Starboard boat in a raft of three (A catamaran to Port, Awaroa (mono) in the middle and us on the starboard). The raft must have been about 70' wide. Fortunately we had a good advisor on the middle boat calling out clear instructions for maneuvering the beast. Most maneuvering was done with the outermost engine on each of the two cats. On the way down, we were rafted just to one other boat--Cutty Hunk. And I did most of the maneuvering.

It really is dramatic to be in the middle of this with very large ships around, and then finally end up in the Pacific. The Pacific seemed so far away and now we are here.