Leaving Panama

Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Mon 4 Jul 2011 03:17
Better late than never. We are finally ready to depart Panama.
Presently we are anchored in Las Brisas which is just over the causeway
from the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.
Our transit commenced at 3.30pm on the 29th of June when Daniel and I and
our Australian friends, Terry, Elaine, John and Sue motored to an area
called the flats near Colon. Our advisor was delivered to the boat on a
canal launch at around 4pm and we started to make our way to the Gatun
locks.
As we approached the Gatun locks we encountered some heavy rain, but
thankfully this eased just prior to us entering this series of three
locks. We motored in behind a ship into the first lock and were walked
into the lock via hand lines either side of the boat. Because we were the
only small craft transitting the first series of locks we were
"centre-chambered" which means we were in the middle of the lock with two
lines port and two lines starboard up the sides of the lock. Entering the
first lock was a little tricky because there was a reasonably strong left
to right current, but after this first lock it became much easier.
Approaching dark we made it through the third lock and into Gatun lake
and motored to our mooring buoy for the night. We had a very funny night
staying in Gatun with our Aussie friends. Terry kept us amused with an
endless supply of jokes and we introduced John to Cavalier Rum from
Antigua.
The next morning our new advisor arrived at the boat around 7am and we
commenced our 24nM trip to Miraflores lock. Gatun lake is an amazing
man-made structure and we were fortunate enough to make our way through
the "banana cut" which is a series of small islands complete with howler
monkeys and crocodiles. The howler monkeys make an amazing noise at night
- you would swear you were listening to gorillas a few hundred metres from
you.
At Miraflores lock we entered the chamber in front of a massive two
hundred and thirty metre car-carrying ship. It came within 15 metres of
the stern of Mojo2, and we felt there was every chance we were going to be
a fender against the wall of the lock for the ship.
There is a building dedicated to tourists to view the canal at Miraflores
and we waved to the hundreds of people watching us transit. We waved our
Aussie flag at the crowd and one guy at the top of the building got very
excited, so we figured we had found a countryman of ours.
The three locks on the way down from Gatun lake were much easier than
those at Gatun and we were soon passing under the bridge of the Americas
into the Pacific ocean.
Jane flew in on Friday and then Dean Wauters joined us on Saturday.
Both appear to have overcome their jetlag and are looking forward to
heading out to sea.
The last few days have been extremely hectic as we have tried to make some
changes to the boat and repairs. The difficulty is that we have no
transport, do not know the language, and have now run into the weekend as
well.
We leave tomorrow morning for the Las Perlas islands which are a short
35nM sail west of Panama. From there we will start making our way south in
preparation for our voyage to the Galapagos Islands.
Today, whilst motoring to a marina to fill our tanks with diesel we
encountered a massive thunderstorm and inches worth of rain and I expect
we will see more of this weather between here and the Galapagos.
900nM to Galapagos and 3,100nM to the Marquesas - here we go!!
Andrew Partington

16th April 2011
La Rochelle, France

Day of leaving for our journey.