After nearly a month at home, it was a huge relief to get back to Panama late last Saturday . It was no surprise after the freezing cold weather of February in the UK that we arrived with streaming colds. Since when we've had a hot somewhat frustrating time trying to get lots of jobs done, and finding you cannot find the wherewithal to get them done.

How quickly one forgets the cold north wind, and longs for fresh air. Colon where we are is disgustingly polluted, belching black smoke from a nearby incinerator covers everything in a black dust, and my breathing is struggling. Not only that but you have to take taxis everywhere, as it is unsafe to walk, Panama city where we have spent one day is much safer and easier, as well as having more facilities.

The endless subject of conversation amongst all the 'yachties' is when is your transit date? We came out here expecting to go through the canal on 17th March, but we were then put back to the 23rd, then suddenly jumped forward at a days notice to the 18th, so we had a mad scramble to find 3 line handlers. A requirement of the transit is you have a helm and 4 line handlers, and they supply a pilot.

Most people try to do at least one transit on another boat before their turn, so that they know the form. Giles did a transit on an Australian boat before he came back home.

We fixed ourselves with 2 Aussies and their crew a German lady, as our line handlers, and with great excitement we set off to collect the pilot, all strung about with tyres, and with 4 x 150 foot lines. Two other boats were due to go through with us, so you can imagine our horror, when a pilot boat emerged and dropped an advisor on each of the other boats but not on ours! Had it not been for the delightful company I would have dissolved into a heap of tears, but several bottles of wine later, and promises (hard to believe) from the schedulers that we would go through the next day has left us optimistic that tonight is the night!

We should do the 2 'up' locks tonight, then go and moor on the lake, and the 'down' locks come tomorrow.

The permanent chaos caused by endless rescheduling of yachts leads to total chaos, as line handlers that you've organised then can't necessarily be shifted, and although you can pay locals, it is much more fun to have other 'yachties' on board. We're lucky that our crew can stick with us!

Do look if you have time on www.panamacanal.com http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html there is a web cam, so we will be waving at our fans! We should be there at around 4-5 p.m GMT. Fingers crossed we will be.