We've found that we need transition time between New Morning and California. Time to make a gradual adjustment from life on the water to life in California. From Shelter Bay we took a taxi to Panama City and on the way we stopped for a tour of the Gatun Locks at the Atlantic side of the canal.
It was really amazing to see the huge ships we're always dodging at sea up very close as they go through the locks. The ships are just barely surrounded by water, just enough to float them. It's like an adult sitting in an inflatable wading pool made for children. The largest ships that the canal can accommodate (aka Panamax) leave about 18" between the ship and the side of the lock, and no more than 2m below them (maximum draft is 12m or about 39'). Some ships have to unload ballast water, or even offload containers, to fit through the canal.
After touring the canal, we drove on to Panama City which is the largest city we've seen for awhile. It's big and busy with shopping, cars, traffic (lots of horns) and people wear more than shorts and a t-shirt! And the internet connection was fast and reliable.
We spent a good part of Friday checking out grocery stores and shops for provisioning when we return in the fall. We will provision in Panama City for a few months in the San Blas islands, then again for the Pacific crossing and six months in the Pacific. We found stores where we could buy everything we could want. Unlike last season we won't be packing up boxes of food to bring to New Morning.
Back at the hotel we got very disoriented as we watched the sun set to our left, but the Pacific ocean was visible to our right, to the east. Huh? We had to take a look at Google Earth to appreciate that contrary to our preconception, Panama lies essentially west to east and the canal runs north/south. And if you're not confused yet, Panama City is actually just a little bit east of Miami.
So we're on our way home and New Morning will rest in the rain for six months. We'll update the pictures for our 2009-2010 travels within a couple of weeks. And our new schedule will be on the web site shortly under "What's Next".
