08.58:50N 79:31.30W

Panama city!

The passage through the Panama canal was so exciting and overwhelming for us all.

Everything was so well organised and we had a very nice experienced adviser, Edgar on Spirit.

Since we ended up as the middle boat in the first nest he was the adviser to have control over all nests in our group which he did with excellence.

He also told us interesting facts about the canal during the passage. Imagine that about 27 500 people died during the construction of the canal.

Especially Yellow fever and Malaria were the biggest threats when building the canal -that was ready in 1913!

Suddenly we saw a horrifying crocodile on the side of the canal. Yes, luckily we skipped the morning swim!

Finally on Thursday the 4th of February we came out in the Pacific ocean!

This feels like a long way from home!

Panama City is a town with huge contrasts. 

The skyline tells us about modern wealthy quarters. On the way to this modern part of Panama city we find much poorer quarters, the old town with high cultural values, restaurants, music and history. 

Still there is a lot to improve even in the modern quarters with the infrastructure. 

The Panama-people are nice and we feel secure whew we choose to go. 

The yearly carnival is going on and we are strongly advised not to go out there due to less security during the nights in the carnival area.  

La Playita Marina where we have been for a few days now.

Lots of provisioning has been made -we now won’t find everything we need until Australia.

Tomorrow we will head for Las Perlas!

We really look forward to fresh water and air again!

Panama city is hot! A little too hot..

But warm, hot city regards 

Pia and Erik

Here some pictures 

-the first from the web cam in Millaflores (thanks to my sister Lena for taking the image from home!) Our croc, an image from our AIS-screen where all boats are coming out in the Pacific, and finally two city images.