Over in a flash.
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Mon 22 Mar 2010 03:56
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Sunday March 21st 2220 Local 0330 UTC
08:29.58N 079:02.18W
The last 48 hours has been a bit of a whirlwind.
When we were up Rio Chagres I decided to call our agent who excitedly told me
the news that we were to go through the canal that afternoon. We had a
rough but short trip back from the river crawling our way out in heavy seas and
with less than 1metre under the boat at times while being dumped down off waves.
We then punched, with the engine, back into over 20 knots of wind towards the
canal. On entering CristobalPort Control called us to say we had to be at the
anchorage outside the canal channel even earlier now, so we charged over there
to await our pilot. Being over 60ft you have to have a pilot, under 60ft you get
an advisor. It was a bit like some of the other exciting things you do in your
life; a very long build up and it's over in a flash. Up Rio Chagres howling
at Howler monkeys in the morning and at anchor in Gatun lake by 1830. We had no
time to get fuel or water nor carry out more repairs to the boat.
The transit was smooth, and for the Gatun
locks we were rafted up with an 80ft yacht called Matelot which apparently
also has a Scottish owner but was being crewed with no owner
aboard.
At 0600 the next morning our pilot came aboard and
we hauled anchor and set off through Gatun Lake for Pedro Miguel locks where we
were locked centre chamber as a stand alone boat. This was much better as all
our crew were involved and performed flawlessly.
We passed under the Bridge of Americas at 1200 and
cracked the customary bottle of bubbly. Well I
dont know what all the fuss was about. In all honesty we were always very
relaxed about going through the canal and while it was a very enjoyable transit
it was no less challenging than a trip through the Caledonian Canal. However it
was exciting and interesting. We enjoyed our stay in Panama and the canal and
its history are simply incredible. Did you know that there were 83 "Graham's"
working on the canal. All this type of information is available at the museum at
the Miraflores Locks and which was a memorable day out.
That they had the vision 100 years ago, in the age
of steam and sail, to build something that has essentially been fit for
purpose for 100 years is phenominal and oh don't we wish we could see some of
that vision in governments today.
Yesterday after exiting from the canal we nmade our
way to the south side of Isla Flamenco. We had called the marina there by VHF
who told us they could not accomodate us and thet they had no fuel yesterday or
today. But because we are made that way and dont really do the "no"
thing, we went there and got a berth and took fuel! Yep!
Today like most other days was an extremely busy
day. We took fuel, water, provisioned again, paid our bills, got
money, sailed 40 miles to the Islas Perlas caught a large bar jack and two
Bonito (all Tuna type fish), ate one large Bar Jack, attended to some
maintenance and caught up with business correspondence and - oh yes wrote a
short blog.
Good Night!
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