16/07 PANAMA CANAL
You don't just rock up and sail through the Panama Canal. There's endless paperwork to fill in and procedures to be followed and hands to be stuffed with cash. They've got it all pretty waxed and it's fairly painless if you do it through an agent. It's still all a bit 'Banana Rep. Bureaucracy'. We used Stanley; apparently the man around town... still took him 4 days with all his heavy connections.
We waited at Panama Canal Yacht Club while Stan, the busy man, organized to have our boat measured, papers stamped, fenders and lines rented a pilot, a line handler and a date to pass through. In the mean time, we had a lot of laughs and party'd a few days on $3.50 pitchers of Atlas beer, spicy Bloody Marys (thanks Nicole) and enjoyed cheeseburgers while we could. Though I wasn't really up for it the others swore by 'hair of the dog' mornings and drank their way though breakfast too. Those animals drank Colon clear out of tomato juice!
We met Shelly, Jettie and Ginny there. Three gals delivering a private, second hand, skadonk of a keel boat. Oh the fun and games they've had.
After a Bloody Mary-ed night, they returned to their boat at about 3 am, tied the dinghy to the boat and went to sleep. They awoke to find the rope to the dinghy was cut and the dinghy was stolen. We've since been told that's a common occurrence here. Ginny informed the police and the owner and they hope to be getting another dinghy in a day or 2.
Our line handler was Wolfe. Johann stepped down and handed him the helm for our passage. Good call, this Wolfe knows his shit and man, can he whistle! We didn't even need the fog horn. We made our way through the first set of locks after picking up a pilot on route and anchored in the lake for the night. Wolfer spent the night on board and entertained us with stories from his lengthy career on this channel. Johann also gave up his cabin. That was unnecessary. Ah well, if he wants to be a martyr it was a sweet gesture. We were up at first light to descend through the remaining locks. Once again picking a pilot up on route. The whole system of locks and channel is a marvel and the expansion project is ambitious to say the least. I won't harp on about the mechanics and stuff; you can check that all out on the Panama Canal web site.
I finally figured out a use for a monkey fist! You should see these line handlers toss a line! From the top of the lock they throw meters and meters of line onto your boat for you to catch. The ends are weighted with monkey fists. Super cool! This week’s craft project is to remember how to tie one.
We moored at Balboa Yacht Club before heading out into the Pacific. The bastard 'officials' cornered us in the pub and insisted Johann pay them $30 for a trouble free evening! Sods. You get them everywhere. We left "voor die eerste mossie gepoep het" heading for Galapagos with no tobacco on board. Yup, I quit again!
We waited at Panama Canal Yacht Club while Stan, the busy man, organized to have our boat measured, papers stamped, fenders and lines rented a pilot, a line handler and a date to pass through. In the mean time, we had a lot of laughs and party'd a few days on $3.50 pitchers of Atlas beer, spicy Bloody Marys (thanks Nicole) and enjoyed cheeseburgers while we could. Though I wasn't really up for it the others swore by 'hair of the dog' mornings and drank their way though breakfast too. Those animals drank Colon clear out of tomato juice!
We met Shelly, Jettie and Ginny there. Three gals delivering a private, second hand, skadonk of a keel boat. Oh the fun and games they've had.
After a Bloody Mary-ed night, they returned to their boat at about 3 am, tied the dinghy to the boat and went to sleep. They awoke to find the rope to the dinghy was cut and the dinghy was stolen. We've since been told that's a common occurrence here. Ginny informed the police and the owner and they hope to be getting another dinghy in a day or 2.
Our line handler was Wolfe. Johann stepped down and handed him the helm for our passage. Good call, this Wolfe knows his shit and man, can he whistle! We didn't even need the fog horn. We made our way through the first set of locks after picking up a pilot on route and anchored in the lake for the night. Wolfer spent the night on board and entertained us with stories from his lengthy career on this channel. Johann also gave up his cabin. That was unnecessary. Ah well, if he wants to be a martyr it was a sweet gesture. We were up at first light to descend through the remaining locks. Once again picking a pilot up on route. The whole system of locks and channel is a marvel and the expansion project is ambitious to say the least. I won't harp on about the mechanics and stuff; you can check that all out on the Panama Canal web site.I finally figured out a use for a monkey fist! You should see these line handlers toss a line! From the top of the lock they throw meters and meters of line onto your boat for you to catch. The ends are weighted with monkey fists. Super cool! This week’s craft project is to remember how to tie one.
We moored at Balboa Yacht Club before heading out into the Pacific. The bastard 'officials' cornered us in the pub and insisted Johann pay them $30 for a trouble free evening! Sods. You get them everywhere. We left "voor die eerste mossie gepoep het" heading for Galapagos with no tobacco on board. Yup, I quit again!
Comments
Post a Comment