Arrived in Panama
27 March 2019 | Shelter Bay Marina, Panama
George Stonecliffe
We passed the jetties into the Panama Inner-Harbor at 1100 on March 26, and headed to the right a couple miles to Shelter Bay Marina. What a great feeling! We met with our Panama Transit Agent Stanley Scott, and after having the official measurement of our boat, we soon were assigned a Canal Transit Date of Friday, April 5th. We have contacted Peter Rose and his cousin Bill Merrick who helped crew for us a year ago through the Canal. They will be flying in April 2nd to help us return to the Pacific side. We are dealing with preparations already. We have 83 gallons diesel fuel. We're topped off with water. We removed our steering windvane, so that we would not be affected by it during the transit. We are touching up some varnished bright work. We checked the transmission fluid, the hydraulic steering fluid level, the Racor filter cleanliness, and started buying some of the provisions for the Canal transit. I'm saving a few small projects for Peter and Bill to help with. But all is coming together. The Canal Transit will be two days, leaving early afternoon, spending the night in Gatun Lake, and then completing the transit on April 6th. We will check in to La Playita Marina on the Pacific side.