The transit seems already weeks away, as we have come to grips with a new place, how to get help on various things, and as ever busy, busy, busy!
But I am going to bore everyone with the details of the transit, while I can still remember them, it is after all one of the wonders of the world, and we felt very privileged to be there.
So second time round, we left Colon Yacht Club with our faithful line handlers, Neville, & Bruce(Aussie), and Erika(German) . We were on tenterhooks until we got our advisor on board, and then more worries as his UHF radio didn't work! Our VHF was no substitute, but thank goodness for mobiles, he made use of that instead.
Anyway, Geraldo, or 'Lallo' was charming and lovely. He explained to us that we would be nested with two other boats, both smaller than us, and there were another three yachts similarly arranged who would be going through with us.
Before the first lock, we assembled ourselves into a nested trio, making sure that our spreaders were unaligned, but thereafter we had an easy ride of it, with a boat on either side, and our line handlers had an easy time. However, the central boat has the 'king' advisor, and we had to steer this rafted up group of three quite carefully, Lallo was brilliant at directing operations, one boat on either side going in reverse or forward to turn us when required. We went through the lock with one large container ship, and this was all in the dark, which somehow made it all more magical.
We climbed up three locks, the total rise is surprisingly small at 25 metres, but the locks were huge.
On entering the lock, lines men on shore would throw a monkey's fist at us with a light line, which we would attach our 125 foot lines to, but they would walk us along as far as they needed us until they took in our lines. Their game is to throw the monkey's fist, which is quite heavy and either decapitate someone, or do damage to something. We had stowed a huge amount of stuff, and our solar panels we covered carefully with our cockpit cushions! Well it must be a boring job!
Between the locks which going up are a staircase, there are long ramps, and when you move from one to the other the lines men on shore walk with you, after you have retrieved the heavy lines. The ships however, with their huge lines have splendid sort of tractors, which take their lines along, they are all bright stainless, (and if Giles wasn't asleep I'd describe them better!).
Lock buildings are Bahaus, stylish and typical 1930s.
So after the locks up we arrived in the lake, where we picked up an enormous buoy for the night, and after warning us not to swim because of alligators, in spite of the beautiful fresh water; Lallo was collected. We had a good meal, by now at about 10.30p.m. and much red wine, and everyone but Bruce and I went to bed. We stepped across our huge buoy to the boat next door, who had come through an hour behind us, and joined in the party, until about 02.30. Well we asked for it, and were up again at 06.00, ready for our next advisor!
At 06.30 Marrin arrived, and rather like our abortive start the night before, there was one advisor short! One poor boat had engine trouble, and so lost his advisor to the spare yacht 'Invictor's Reward'.
Now we had about 30 miles of motoring to do through the lake and along the canal. It was important not to diverge at all from the channel, as there are still tree stumps, some still in leaf, from when the area was flooded, some 60 years ago.
Marrin was as delightful as Lallo had been, and steered Brother Wind most of the way!
We were held up at the first lock, and today there were only four yachts going through, so we nested two and two, with dissimilar sizes to avoid clinking spreaders!
We were nervous at the proximity of so many of the container ships, we've certainly made certain not to be that close before. We marvelled at the huge cuttings through very dense rock, and the strata that you could see because of it. We admired the new suspension bridge, before that only one bridge had joined north America to south America.
The extraordinary thing was that this time we went through with nobody else, so the huge locks, one single and one pair, were operated purely for the benefit of four yachts! We thought sadly of all the yachts waiting for at least two to three weeks to get their slot, and wondered if there could be a better way of organising it.
The excitement of the last lock was A. we thought we'd be a feature on the web cam (poor Emily who faithfully waited to see us could only just make us out). B. we came out into the Pacific! Or at least into their buoyage!
It's a funny feeling, because somehow or other the Caribbean, joins the Atlantic, and you feel the connection with Europe is not so far away, but now we have cut loose! Not only that but we are back to tides.

Well, that was the excitement a week ago now, since when we have been moored at Balboa Yacht Club. The great thing is that you get free internet on board! Joy! But as Colon everything is a taxi ride, albeit only a couple of dollars. We have had so much to organise and do, no time to go and see the sights of Panama, although we did do a whistle stop of that from Colon. I'd promised myself that I'd go and see the museum of the building of the canal, but haven't even done that.
However, what I have acquired are some pirated c.d.s , so I now have some navigation of the Pacific, and Panama obligingly has copy shops where charts can be copied, I have a complete set!
So, in spite of Fed X parcels going astray, and other things sent from America held up in customs, we'll set off tomorrow after Tim and Rowland arrive, almost ready to go!