After transiting through the three Miraflores locks in the same manner as before, we arrived at the Pedro Miguel locks. We again side tied to the motor vessel as before and completed those three locks and then we began our motor into Gatun Lake where we tied up to a big red buoy for the night. The day’s transit took about 7 hours. Our advisor was picked up by another pilot boat and we were free to swim, enjoy some cold IPA beers and a spaghetti dinner aboard.

It was a surprise the first time we jumped into the lake because we didn’t float back up to the surface. Gatun Lake is a fresh water lake and fresh water doesn’t give you that free ride back up to the top like salt water does. It took a minute underwater to figure out I better start swimming or I wasn’t gonna reach the top! Yikes. I remember looking up and seeing the surface way up there, haha.