Great to get back on board late on Sunday 29th March only to find Savarna in the dark and no ladder in sight to enable us to get climb aboard. Managed this exercise in the end by "borrowing" a ladder from a nearby boat. After a long trip it was an early night but woke to find on inspection that some work on the undersides had not been completed with the consequence that a relaunch that day was not possible.


Savarna on the hydraulic trailer to the travellift

That in turn meant we had to postpone the Panama Canal Authority measurers visit for a couple of days. Anyway we finally splashed again on Tuesday 31st March. The job list was some 21 items and we set about getting those completed before the remainder of the crew arrived - due on Thursday 2nd April. It was a busy time and the hours disappeared on us and it was no time before Pat arrived in from Auckland, Jeremy from Sydney and Yannick from Marseille. Jeremy was joining us so he could tick off the top item on his bucket list which was to transit the Panama Canal and then we had USA born but Auckland based Dawnielle joining is post transit.


Fuelling up at the barge Shelter Bay on way to the Flats

The measurer was efficient, the agent we used (Erick Galvez excellent) and the transit date was set for Saturday 4th April. While we were back in Auckland we had left a job list with the yard at the marina - one job was to replace the tricolour and anchor light fitting at the masthead. This had not been done before our arrival and inevitably it ends up been looked at on the morning of our departure for the transit. So a couple of hours before departure Scott is swinging from the bosun's chair at the masthead with two buckets of gear hanging off the chair when we heard a bang and then the f word screamed several times at a pitch that ensured the entire marina heard. So after our new best friend descended with more expletives regarding the loss of a very expensive drill and tap set he blamed my splice on the bucket saying it had failed. We could see a difficult discussion coming up so we found a diver to go down and retrieve the bucket to prove our spice had not failed. And so it was some $40 later that the negotiating advantage turned totally in our favour at which stage the discussion moved to ethics! The upshot was that ethics did not play a part in settlement discussions and the light now works but unfortunately both sections work on both switches - the effect being that we cannot use it i.e. you can't run with masthead lights and an anchor light on at the same time.


Jeremy at the Flats - orgasmic

The canal transit was pretty cool and after departing the marina we headed for a location called the Flats where we awaited our adviser having already received the lines and fenders plus the line handler earlier in the day. Hose, our adviser, was dropped off around 1615 hrs and we were pleased to find we were the first of the yachts to transit rafted with a French Amel 54 and in behind a freighter.


Approaching the first Gatun lock


No returning now - the lock gates close


At the top of the first lock

A great experience as we went up the three Gatun locks each of around 8 metres high. The onshore linesmen would rival Texan cowboys with their dexterity and it all went very smoothly. After passing through the upper lock we motored a short distance across the Gatun lake and tied to a very large mooring buoy. There were only two buoys and eight or so yachts so rafting up was a necessity and fortunately a quiet night (wind wise) apart from visitors coming aboard for a few rums. We did have a brief swim in the lake - brief because although the fresh water temperature was 28 degrees and it was getting dark and the presence of alligator's ensured high heart rates.


The three musketeers - but who will go first?

The line handler stayed on board however the adviser goes home for the night after partaking of the mandatory hot dinner and then a different adviser arrives for a cooked breakfast the following morning. An early start on Sunday and a 4 hour motor across the lake, through the Gaillard Cut, sighting an alligator lazing in the sun and then it was the Pedro Miguel Lock and then the two Miraflores Locks and into the Pacific where we picked up a mooring buoy at the Balboa Yacht Club.


Australian friends on cat Por Dos behind us at the top lock on way down


And then the water went out!

We used Erick Galvez as an agent and he was very good. The other agent commonly used was Roy Bravo although having seen both fee schedules it seems Erick is cheaper. He also uses fender buoys as opposed to tyres wrapped in plastic. Prima facie the fenders sound better than the tyres but we found the fenders were quite dirty and marked the topsides that we had to polish out.


At the bottom lock and into the Pacific for the home run after 10 years

We had a refrigeration problem in Shelter Bay and on the recommendation of the marina had a guy in to look at it. He removed the compressor and took it away on Friday 2nd April and to date we have not been able to track him down although the popular rumour is that he went on a ship and will be back tomorrow. We will see, but it has held us up and prevented the final provisioning of fresh produce and meat. We have also had a problem with the generator i.e. not going, and the first guy we had look at it wanted to remove it from the boat and take it to his workshop. The gut feel was that the issue was not a major and a detailed study, for some hours, of the manual resulted in a new knowledge of capacitors and how they ought to be excited. We are fortunate in having Danielle on board as her degree in electrical engineering, plus phone calls to her Dad, resulted in the problem being resolved and this before we have even left Panama.

Jeremy left the boat for a night to visit the Las Perlas islands and then re-joined us for an evening to regale us with most interesting stories of his time away. We were in fits of laughter as we heard the story of his encounter with a member of the opposite sex. He was a delight to have aboard and his complete lack of yachting life has been partially remedied.

At this stage the plan is to depart Panama tomorrow, Saturday 10th April, for the Galapagos a passage of 870 miles.


Cheers for now
Pam & Keith