Into the Pacific

We sailed through the breakwater at Panama at exactly 7am on Tuesday
28/02. An hour later we were safely moored at Shelter Bay Marina,
connected shore power and topped up our water tanks. Met our agent an
hour later with the prospect of transitting the channel within a day or
two. The next day the admeasurer/advisor came to measure our boat and do
some official paperwork. The agent called us the following day and
informned us that our transit is booked for 22/03/12 which really took
the wind out of our sails a bit. Internet is US$10 for one week and I
did extensive research on the matter. Turns out that they have just
started transitting yachts without a stop, March is their busiest
period, and a fee of US$3000 is payable if we want a pilot on board and
get an early transit. I presented this info to our office in Cape Town
and it was decided to proceed with a pilot aboard. We were truly
thankful, sitting around in a marina for three weeks when you are on a
delivery is an expensive exercise, timewise and moneywise. We did enjoy
the week we spend there thoroughly. Got some new lures, fresh veggies,
stocked up on eggs and other nice to have things. Best of course was
being able to have access to inexpensive internet and we could skype and
download ebooks etc to our heart's content. We made some good friends in
the marina, mostly people sailing there yachts all around the world.
Soon enough it was time to go and we were as ready as could be.

We left the marina at exactly 12h30 as planned and with our linehandler
on board we proceeded to the pilot pick-up station and dropped our
anchor. At 14h30 our pilot boarded our vessel and we proceeded to the
locks. Turned out that we were three catamarans going through at the
same time a big ship was going through. The three cats were all tied
together side by side and it took some deft manoeuvering to fit in and
move at the same time in the same direction. It was an extraordinary
experience going throug the Gatun locks at about 16h00 and an hour later
we were through the locks and on the freshwater lake. We motored
non-stop and 7 hours later reached our next set of locks. We had to wait
quite a while there for the other cats to catch up but soon enough we
were all in but this time we were not tied together. Two of us were
against the wall and the third cat tied onto us. Going down creates far
less turbulence and we were assured things would go smoothly. The cat
tied against us kept on pushing our bow too close to the wall for
comfort and soon I requested our pilot to inform the pilot on the other
cat of our predicament and get them to use their motor to keep us
straight. Things were a bit easier then. The other two cats were both
French and when we got to the next lock they chose to go side by side.
The first cat was tied up to the wall, we were coming in on their stern
to tie up waiting for the third cat to tie up with the first one.
Somehow the third cat lost control and banged hard into the cat ahead of
us. They panicked a bit and we had to get out of their way quick as they
were trying hard to line up. The strong current inside the lock nearly
spun us all the way around but we managed to stay away from the walls
and the cats ahead of us. Our pilot commended me on staying calm and
staying in control of the vessel and the situation. Shortly afterwards
we were in the Pacific and motored another hour or so to the pilot
station where our pilot was picked up again. We moved to the nearest
anchorage, dropped our anchor and spend the a few hours there to rest a
bit. I only realized how stressed I really was when I couldn't sleep at
all and at 8am we lifted our anchor to start our last leg on this
journey.

The Polynesians had some amazing ways to navigate 5000 years ago, Man
the Navigator is a book that explores this in much detail. We were
welcomed to the Pacific by a few whales, hundreds upon hundreds of
pelicans feeding and a nice stiff breeze coming from a perfect angle to
raise our twin headsails. As the sun was setting the full moon was
rising at the same time, both looking very nearly the same but on
opposite horizons. A huge school of Pantropical Spotted Dolphins also
joined us as the sun was setting and stayed with us for a few hours. At
about 10pm we were ready to changed our heading towards Galapagos and
dropped our one headssail. At about 7am this morning we landed a
small yellowfin tuna which is already in the freezer and for lunch we
will,at long last, be able to enjoy some sushimi. The wind also turned a
bit and once again we have both headsails up and making better than
expected progress towards our destination.

Our position at 8am was 06*46'N/080*45'W. We are 4450nm from Tahiti,
it is a nice 27*C out here and good to be at sea again.

Salute

Captain Paul