Limerence Update #35
Panama Canal Transit
Panama Canal Zone, Panama
January 14, 2002
We have been in the Canal Zone for two months, and are now ready to make our transit. Wednesday, January 16th is our confirmed date. We will meet our Canal Pilot at 5am and begin our northbound transit to the Caribbean. We will spend about ten hours going through a series of three locks up, cross a large fresh-water lake, and three locks down. If all goes as scheduled, we should arrive in Cristobal Panama at dusk. Drew Decker is joining us as a line handler and swabbie. A couple from the boat Blue Ribbon are also coming along to line handle. The Canal Authority requires four line handlers, plus the Captain and Canal Pilot or Advisor. Limerence will be crowded, so if you would like to ride along, you can do so by viewing the Panama Canal website which has a camera mounted at the Miraflores Locks. We will be waving at approximately 9am Eastern Standard Time. . . so try to catch us! The Canal photo website address is:
http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html
If you get lost you can go to http://www.pancanal.com.
After a day resting in the port of Cristobal, we will proceed northeast to Portobelo, then Isla Grande, and finally to the San Blas Islands. The San Blas are 365 picturesque islands inhabited by the Kuna Indians who administer their own territory to protect their culture. We plan on spending several months in the San Blas Islands before sailing on to Cartagena Colombia in the spring.
We are busy loading up the boat with supplies for several months. There are 30 cruising boats here in the Canal Zone, so we have lots of goodbyes also! Many of the boats here are planning on heading south to Ecuador, others are off to the South Pacific, and the rest will join us eventually in the Caribbean.
Please check in with us by signing our guest book.
Fair winds, Doug and Judy
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