We are still in Fort Sherman Marina, but will be leaving on Tuesday afternoon to start our passage through the canal.  At the moment we are helping Duncan and Ria prepare for their 4000 mile journey across the Pacific to the Marquesas Islands.  We will be leaving them in the Galapagos after only 900 miles and they will continue with just the two of them onboard.  Yesterday we completed the biggest shop ever (6 full size supermarket trolleys) as their next chance to stock up is 5 weeks away!  Some items may have to last them the next 8 months until they arrive in New Zealand as there are few supermarkets in the Pacific Islands along the way.  Ria will  now spend the next two days trying to store everything in the yacht. 

We have had to get 20 old car tyres to tie along both sides for added protection in the locks.  We have to take an ‘advisor’ with us who acts as guide plus one additional person to be a line handler so that we have four people on the ropes plus the skipper plus the advisor.

 We will pass through the first series of locks together with two other yachts during the early evening in the dark.  We then spend the night tied to mooring buoys in Gatun Lake.  On Wednesday morning we continue south across the lake to the Miraflores series of locks.  We expect to be entering these locks around (12pm local time) 5pm UK time. 

The webcam on these locks has high definition and you may be able to see the three yachts rafted together, possibly behind a bigger ship!