February Pictures
Wing and Wing from Portobello to Colon and the Canal.
The breakwater leading to the Canal staging area
This guy and many others were coming and going through the same entrance
Here's Amy's AIS view.......all the green triangles are Big ships like the one above. We're the red icon.
Amy let him enter first
Shelter Bay Marina. Boats from all over the world. Many like us were doing
all the logistics to get approvals to
go through the canal to the Pacific
We passed our inspections, paid our money, and got our ticket. Now waiting for a date.
For Jim, Hilda, and Gabriela
All kinds of boats
in all kinds of price ranges
doing different kinds of things
With different qualities of fit and finish
Budgets big
and small
Shango successfully negotiated her transit date for Feb 9 and we then dove into our project list
Amy's first completed project, recovering the sunbrella cushions
with Naugahyde for salty passages
We met Reality from San Francisco last winter in Grenada. They are also
heading across the
Pacific and putting on a fresh coat of bottom paint.
It's February 9th and we're headed for our date with the Canal
Up we go, rafted with Elbe
Elbe's forward line handlers in the first Gatun Lock
One down five to go
Elbe's aft crew
Rudolfo and Homero, our forward line handlers
Canal sights
Fernando, our aft line handler.
Goodbye Atlantic
Day one ends in Gatun Lake
Elbe begins day two with Shango not far behind
Rudolfo takes the helm
Large company
Hamming it up
Take cover!
Welcome to the Pacific
Panama City
Ivan, our Transit Adviser getting ready to depart. Over 1000 transits.
The Crew celebrates
Done in time for sunset
Our anchorage and the Panama City skyline
Quicksilver departs for Las Perlas and beyond
Time to provision. Our wonderful taxi driver/guide, Juan, took us to the huge veggie/fruit market, Habistos
Amy was in her element
Making sure she got everything on her list
My beer provisioning was easier. 5 months X 2 beers a day = 14 cases
$10 per case made it even easier
Juan took us sightseeing one day as well. Balboa Yacht Club and the Pacific entrance to the canal
The camera is plumb the new bank building is not
The unusual topped building is Donald Trump's
The old city. Very much like Cartagena
Many historic churches
Grand old residential architecture
Ultra modern Frank Gehry museum
We came to really enjoy Panama and its friendly people
and its wide variety of things boating
Provisioning complete. We sailed to the Las Perlas islands for some R&R
before heading for
the Galapagos.
We had a beautiful anchorage with no boats or houses visible in any direction.
18 foot tides reminded us of Maine in the tropics. An episode of The Survivor series was filmed here.
Beautiful empty beaches
Amy beachcombed
and I worked on other important issues
Everyday a little more planning
Las Perlas was so rich with birds and fish
Probably a bit like the Galapagos to come
Heading south in the Las Perlas we caught up with Pyewacket at Espiritu Santo
A tri using the tide to clean his bottom