Through the Gatun locks we had a medium sized ship (450'), a tug, and then our two-yacht raft in the chamber. There is a fair amount of turbulence as the chamber fills, then more as the ship, then the tug, moved forward, but our handlers were smart and we stayed in great position, never coming near the walls.
We spent a nice night on Gatun Lake, hoping that fresh water would kill off the marine growth on our bottom. Fay fixed a great dinner and we had a lively conversation on world politics with our pro line handler, Rudy. Rudy knows his history and politics pretty well, and he has six children, a dozen grandchildren, 6 great grandchildren, and his father is 94 and still alive! A fascinating family!
We were awakened about 5:30am by the howler monkeys and then the construction crews working on the new locks. Our second advisor joined us about 7:00am for Fay's quiche and then we slowly motored to the Pedro Miguel lock. The advisor allowed us to take the "Banana Cut" which is a little more scenic, shortens the trip a bit (irrelevant because we did most of the trip at 4kts) and kept us out of the main channel and big ships for awhile.
For the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks we had two rafts of yachts, a tourist boat (which allegedly was formally owned by Al Capone) and a medium sized work boat (150'). Plenty of room in the 1,000' lock. All went smoothly and we popped out into the Pacific Ocean about 2:30pm.
We're now in the Flamenco Marina in Panama City, compiling our final list of items to be completed before we head to the Galapagos. The marina has lots of surge, 13' tides, no internet access from the boat, and jack hammers powered by a portable generator tearing up the concrete about 100' from where I sit outside at a cafe. We have many incentives to get moving!
