February 4th to 26th, 2009 - MORE PANAMA CITY & CALON

Panama City Skyline. Sudoku book finally done after two years! Happy Hour aboard SV "Camelot" in Playita Anchorage. Lunch with Lesley on the malecon. Shopping with Dave & Linda at Allbrook Mall. Typical Panamanian fishing boat. Sunset at Playita anchorage.

February 17th to 18th, 2009 PANAMA CANAL TRANSIT

We leave La Playita anchorage and head toward the canal, going under the Bridge of the Americas.




We are rafted to SV "Octagon" and SV "Starshine" for the locks up from the Pacific Ocean to the lakes. Octagon is British and some wag (me) said she was going into the canal buffered by two of her former colonies. She may have wished we were with her on the way down (see below).

Going up.

Our Advisor "Roy", our photographer/friend Lesley, (thanks for the great pictures Leslie)Sandra and our professional line handlers make up the crew for the passage.

Mid journey we saw a Iguana swimming across the canal from N America to S America.

We spent the night in Gatun Lake on a buoy with SV "Starshine" and became members of the exclusive Gatun Lake Yacht Club. Octagon went down separately for a one day passage and we discovered accidents do happen on the canal as she was damaged twice going down banging into the walls because of adverse currents, so we were thankful we were not with her.

Leaving the canal into the Caribbean we are greeted by a rain storm. Roy jumps onto the Pilot Boat. We arrive in Calon Harbour after dark and moored at the Panama Canal Yacht Club. The day we left Calon the yacht club was bull dozed to the ground in the middle of the night. A long tradition gone because of a dispute with the harbour authority. The yacht club was smack in the middle of the very busy port.