Coopers Quest

[David Fox]

17th & 18th April

Elysian.jpeg (11.86 KiB) Viewed 25632 times

Well how the other half live, this monstrosity is owned by the owners of Liverpool football club and Boston Red Sox. Obviously there is money to be made employing illiterates to fight over a bit of leather and muppets who watch them.

Elysian had docked bow in towards the marina and we thought that the only way they would get out was to reverse out but they surprised us by turning the boat on a dime and going out bow first - no mean feat as it is so long that it completely blocks the marina entrance from one side to the other. Thank goodness for bow and stern thrusters! Their "run about" on the stern deck looked to be bigger than our boat but I doubt that they are happy!

Elysian leaving Shelter Bay.jpeg (60.76 KiB) Viewed 25610 times

We used to use elysians at Scout camp, the new thing rather that digging a pit. I don't know which smelt worse.
Notice the top hamper on that thing, more than a destroyer, just so the owners can watch Crossroads and Neighbours and the Old Man doesn't have to do, 'Nears & Fars'
and squinting at the sun when he could be having a pre lunch 'pinkers'.

End of marina at edge of jungle.jpeg (87.93 KiB) Viewed 25610 times

The better side of Panama that most 'jolly jacks' don't see.

So Gerry and Nicky, are taking things easy as a trip into Colon is $100 return, and from what Nicky said , they could re-name colonoscopy. Instead they changed the impellor on the main engine seawater circ pump, it being one of those rubber jobies that you had to bend back all the blades to insert it in the casing. This they accomplished eventually by using a tie wrap round the impellor.
This was followed the next day by a walk round the marina and edge of the forest.

Opal in C27 Shelter bay Marina.jpeg (7.15 KiB) Viewed 25610 times

Applying for transit
A couple of large payments came up, one the telemotor at a $1000 and the other the canal transit fee which was $3619 for a 50 foot yatch (so what does it cost for these VLCC's or ULCC's, it must be mind boggling numbers).

This necessitated first Nicky trying to do Internet and phone banking from Panama to Australia which didn't work as nobody was about at the time.
It ended up with Gerry telephoning late evening local to catch Aussie when they were open.

I won't do a copy and paste, but needless to say don't believe all the marketing hype that banks put out about 24/7 banking facilities and everything being simple.
Ok they have to make things secure, but some of the questions they ask based on phone numbers doen't quite work when you have a different number in each country with a change of sim card.
They accomplished it , but Gerry's blood pressure no doubt took a bit of hammer as he doesn't suffer fools gladly. On going to press they are still waiting email and Text confirmation.
Nicky mentioned that, had they paid it by credit card it would have attracted a fee of 1.5% which would have been another $54, rather than a straight transfer into the agents account.

Gerry received the telemotor and fitted it, but the base bolt holes didn't line up so more adaptation. He got it running and tested it whilst alongside, but its subject to a sea trial hopefully before the canal transit.

Its That Man Again, lost.jpeg (99.28 KiB) Viewed 25610 times

Hibiscus, various.jpeg (21.76 KiB) Viewed 25610 times

Nicky being creative.

As you will see I am back in harness after a week away emptying my Mothers house.   I tell you, darned hard work, worse than pulling units, though I was 40  years younger and fitter then, which might have something to do with it.
We had two days of delivering using a trailer, after advertising on Freecycle, rather than sending everything to a charity for them to sell to keep Directors and Management  in the ways they are accustomed and the poor people being charged purchase and delivery.
As many of you have gone  through this process you know how much hard work is
involved. Then there are the contents of all the furniture and cupboards you have to dispose of.  

[David Fox]

Surgery on the auto pilot brushes.jpeg (11.25 KiB) Viewed 25609 times

Auto pilot hydaulic cylinder.jpeg (10.62 KiB) Viewed 25609 times

Auto pilot with pump removed.jpeg (10.99 KiB) Viewed 25609 times

Old and new auto pilot pumps.jpeg (10.37 KiB) Viewed 25609 times

New pump in place.jpeg (7.58 KiB) Viewed 25609 times

Boat Yoga.jpeg (7.31 KiB) Viewed 25609 times

[David Fox]

On one of Gerry's work days he changed the circulating pump impellor of the Jabsco variety, this involved cable tying the vanes in order to squeeze it in, a sprinkling of sailor speak with advice and an extra hand from Nicky, he got it in. A bit of hair round it often helps.

Old and New impellers.jpeg (6.17 KiB) Viewed 25588 times

Looking into the engine compartment.jpeg (7.17 KiB) Viewed 25588 times

Impeller sits in the bronze coloured hole.jpeg (13.86 KiB) Viewed 25588 times

It wasn't all work, but a bit of a 'walk about' as Aussies call it.

Edge of the jungle.jpeg (11.4 KiB) Viewed 25588 times

Jungle edge.jpeg (14.25 KiB) Viewed 25588 times

Shy coconut crab in its burrow.jpeg (11.95 KiB) Viewed 25588 times

Opal has now received instructions that they are going through
Panama Locks on Friday afternoon 30th April
Nicky said you might be able to see them on the lock webcams once they know the time.
Think there is a link to the webcams on the website section of this website.
They eventually received confirmation that the money transfer had gone through. They have had 3 days of doing nothing much. A repair to one of the stanchions is required but in need of welding, so that will be somewhere else as it seems they are a bit pricey here and not just welding work as it seems the sailmaker wanted an arm and a leg to repair the canvas cover over the cockpit.
After Panama they are not sure what sort of wifi coverage/service they are going experience until they get there, being islands middle of nowhere. So it might be a case of me going through images from various places to keep this going.

[David Fox]

28th April 2021
Have we forgotten anything?

Panama Canal Schematic.jpeg (32.17 KiB) Viewed 25588 times

https://multimedia.panama-canal.com/

This webcam seems a bit iffy unless its too early.

Seems there is very little traffic.


So along with the confirmation we also received 6 huge fenders and 4 enormous lines which we need to use for the transit, we are now set to go. The date has been confirmed as being Friday 30th April for starting our transit, putting us into the Pacific on the 1st May. We haven't an exact time for starting out as yet but all small craft (that's us) are usually scheduled to begin the transit late afternoon or early evening.

We will have 3 line handlers joining us as we leave the marina and head in towards the area known as the flats where we will have to wait around, at anchor, until we are joined by our adviser who is dropped off by a tug or pilot boat for the first part of the transit. So in total there will be 6 of us on board as we go through the first set of locks. Once we clear these locks we have to tie up to a dolphin (a sort of large floating pontoon) in the Gatun Lake for the night and our adviser leaves us. In the morning (far too early for my liking, from memory of last time) we are joined by a new adviser who completes the second stage of the transit with us.

If all goes well we should be arriving into Balboa by mid-afternoon where we have arranged a mooring at the Balboa Yacht club. Our line handlers and the second adviser will leave us at this point and we can start putting the boat back in order once again after having the extra bodies on board for meals and sleeping arrangements and this is also where we have to return the lines and fenders.

Gerry and I have been trying to think of all the things that we had to do last time around to prevent any damage to our boat and to make sure that we all get fed and watered. It is the silly little things that tend to catch you out so we have made certain that we have plenty of toilet paper, enough food to feed a hungry army for at least 4 meals, enough space for an extra 3 bodies to be able to sleep in relative comfort and enough water for everyone to be able to have a shower. I'm sure we will have forgotten something but its only for 2 days and a night so we will survive it. We have also to prepare the solar panels against damage as the guys on the side of the locks have to lob lines out to our boat and these lines have quite solid (think rocks) monkey fist knots at the end of them which if they thud onto the solar panels could crack or break the panels - not something we need to be replacing or doing without. Our line handlers on the boat are experienced at preventing the monkey fists from doing damage but there is always the possibility of one going astray. The lines that we have on our boat are then attached to the ones thrown out by the lock guys and are tensioned up to keep our boat steady in the lock when the water is forced in. It gets quite turbulent and the level rises quite rapidly so the line handlers need to keep the tension on the lines to make sure the boat doesn't get damaged by moving around during the process. When we did this transit before it poured with rain from the moment we set out for the flats and we did the transit to the Gatun Lake in teeming rain, we are hoping that the rain stays away this time so that the photos that I will try to take are not just for rain pouring down the enclosure, either way I'll be in the dry as I will be on the helm, Gerry will be acting as the 4th line handler. We have no idea how we will be transiting - either on our own, rafted up with other boats or alongside a tug tied to the wall, I'm sure someone will tell us in due course. Also in preparation we have put our names down to do a last shop on Wednesday morning and a load of laundry on Thursday morning - these things all need some forethought to arrange as there are limited numbers for each activity each day (like only 10 people on the bus to go shopping).

Looking out to our boat on C dock(at the far end).jpeg (105.39 KiB) Viewed 25588 times

Clock.jpeg (12.92 KiB) Viewed 25588 times

Millar time or what ever is your tipple.

[David Fox]

Got ahead of Gerry and Nicky, so had to move the original.
A few fillers from Cartegena Street Art.

06Street art Getsemani.jpeg (15.85 KiB) Viewed 25546 times

07Street art Getsemani.jpeg (10.01 KiB) Viewed 25546 times

[a

08Street art Getsemani.jpeg (9.53 KiB) Viewed 25546 times

09Street art Getsemani.jpeg (11.55 KiB) Viewed 25546 times

12Street art Getsemani.jpeg (9.27 KiB) Viewed 25546 times

13Street art Getsemani.jpeg (7.75 KiB) Viewed 25546 times

[David Fox]

28th

21Street art Getsemani.jpeg (10.1 KiB) Viewed 25509 times

[color=#FF00FF]Today was to be our last chance to stock up on anything we might need for the up-coming transit. Although I'm sure we have most bases covered there is always something else that we think we can't manage without. Gerry had put our names down for the morning bus which meant that we had to be at the bus at 8 am - not my favourite time of day to be doing anything, don't even think of chatting to me before 10 am as I need to ease into the day and have at least a coffee inside me before I can think straight or answer stupid questions civilly, luckily for Gerry he has lived with me long enough to know not to bother asking anything. In order to be at the bus in time I had to forego the coffee which made for a very quiet start to the day! We did the temperature checking and had our names crossed off the list then boarded the bus with our masks suffocating us to death in the dense heat of the day. Almost to a man we removed our masks once we were seated (socially distanced) and breathed in the air conditioned cool air. There wasn't even a full busload of 10 this morning, no one likes the early shopping bus!

22Street art Getsemani.jpeg (12.83 KiB) Viewed 25509 times

It was only just coming up to 8.30 am and guess what - nothing much was open apart from the supermarket until 9.30. The bus driver had told us that he would be picking us back up at 11am so we had some time to spare and really didn't want to start doing grocery shopping this early when we would just have to wait with things potentially getting hot / melting or defrosting. We wandered along to the chandlery which was just opening and had a brief browse around and purchasing a couple of bits that weren't essential but might come in useful down the track but as far as chandleries go it was really a fisherman's dream store, not so much a sailors delight. I have never seen so many different types of lures, lines, hooks etc in one place - I'm sure that if we had been so inclined we could have found THE perfect bit of gear to ensure we catch at least one fish this trip! Nah, who am I kidding we are destined to be meat eaters for ever more, fish comes either frozen or in a tin! So with our couple of products in hand we headed to the hardware store which was also just open and they had a long line of men waiting to buy stuff for whatever their current work project was. Everything was behind a counter and you had to ask the assistant if they had what you needed, by the time we got to the front of the queue we were pretty certain from scanning the shelves that we could see that they didn't have the waterproof wood glue that we needed and sure enough we bombed out but it killed a few more minutes waiting in the queue! It was still too early to start the grocery shop so we made our way to a small bakery that seemed to be very popular, bought a couple of donuts and a bottle of water and found some seats nearby where we sat and ate and waited for a while before heading into the supermarket.

26Street art Getsemani.jpeg (7.31 KiB) Viewed 25509 times

We did the usual tour of the place and tried not to miss out on anything, not that we thought we needed much but we still managed to fill a trolley with stuff. Our bags were just big enough to hold everything, they were heavy as we had included 24 cans of drink along with a couple of bottles of wine and the real essentials of potatoes, carrots and onions. We made it out of the supermarket with about 10 minutes to wait but the bus was already there waiting for everyone so we boarded and waited for the final stragglers before setting off back to the marina. The stagger under the weight of the bags back to the boat seemed to take far too long and the unpacking and stowing just about finished us off for the rest of the day. Gerry started up the engine to make sure that everything was working and there was no last second issues that we needed to sort out. I started on the stowing of things that might be in the way and made sure that there was enough room to sleep the extra bodies. It's funny how you get use to having an amount of space and how resentful you get about having to give some of it up to accommodate extra people even if it is only for 2 days and 1 night. With all the spaces sorted and re arranged we couldn't be bothered to do much for dinner and had an early night, worrying about things that we haven't anticipated.

Kona Ladies in National Dress.jpeg (93.38 KiB) Viewed 25548 times

29th

Once again it was an early start as our name was down for the laundry at 8am (I bet you can guess who put our name down and if you need a clue - it wasn't me!) That didn't let me off the hook though as I had to strip the bed and gather up everything ready to go. Gerry did the walk to the laundry and came back after throwing everything in the machine, and was told to return in an hour and a half when it would all be ready for him to collect - none of this him having to put it in the drier and then fold it as it dried, unlike when I had gone there - must be to do with being a male! I had a busy enough morning planned as I was preparing a lasagna and baking a cake ready for the transit. Gerry went back for the laundry before I got around to making the cake and he came back saying that the towels and blanket weren't quite dry and we needed to go back for them later and whilst I was at it I might want to check out the Haus wind as there were two Kona ladies there selling Molas today, one of whom was in full national dress. I finished up with preparing the lasagna and emptied a money packet into my pocket before setting off to collect the last of the laundry and visiting the Kona ladies. The last of the laundry was ready and I headed to the Haus wind where the 2 ladies were waiting with their embroideries on display.

28Street art Getsemani.jpeg (14.32 KiB) Viewed 25509 times

Gerry had got it half right, both ladies were in national dress this being a sort of sarong worn as a skirt and a blouse which has a Mola (these are the embroidered pieces they are famous for) worn as a sort of cumberbund over the blouse. The older lady also wore a red head piece /scarf which appears to be part of the national dress for older women and her arms and legs were covered in row upon row of strings of tiny beads (in my youth we knew them as love beads and if the string broke the darn beads would go everywhere and you would be finding them months later in every conceivable nook and cranny - our mothers hated them as they meant a lot of hard work to clean up even with a vacuum cleaner).

29Street art Getsemani.jpeg (12.97 KiB) Viewed 25509 times

I spent a while looking over their offerings for the day and came away with another 4 pieces of intricate work that I will have to somehow work into a display quilt once I get home. Oh and I bought an appliqued face mask which speaks volumes of the trip undertaken during the Covid pandemic.
I got back in plenty of time to make a cake for the transit team tomorrow and by the time dinner came around we just had to go to the restaurant for a last supper. The place was heaving for a change but we ate and ran, needing to be on top of our game the next day.

[David Fox]

30th April
Transit through Gatun Locks to Gatun Lake.
09 11.611 N 79 53.667 W

Weather; hot and humid with rain showers

Ready for the off.jpeg (151.76 KiB) Viewed 25548 times

Today's photo is the sunset taken over Shelter Bay marina from our anchoring spot off the flats - just a big enough break in the clouds to see that the sun exists

The leaving day is finally upon us. I'm sure that neither of us slept very well as we worried about anything we might have forgotten. It hard to believe we have been here for three weeks but it has flown past in a flurry of fixing stuff and then waiting for today to arrive. We did the last minute stuff like ditching the trash and rolling up the awnings that cover our salon area, we didn't bother to take these off of the boom as we weren't going to be sailing anywhere. Gerry went and bought a couple of baguettes so we have something to accompany the lasagna tonight and at the same time went to fix up our final marina bill and let them know that we will be leaving late this afternoon. Our agent had notified us that we were going to be picking the adviser up on the "flats" an area just outside of the marina and before the Atlantic bridge, at 18.30 hours, giving us all of the day to fret about the upcoming passage.

Wellington Star.jpg (111.74 KiB) Viewed 25510 times

Look out for oil spills.

Mid-afternoon our three line handlers turned up and introduced themselves as Marcus, John and Jose. They were going to wait in the Haus wind until nearer time to leave. Gerry would go and fetch them when it was closer to the time. We twiddled our thumbs for a while longer, finally unplugging from the dock water and power and stowing the cords and hoses away at 4pm, which was the latest that the marina would let us be connected. A short while after this we had a radio message from the Signal station that our pick up time for the adviser had changed and would now be 18.45. at the same time another boat was given the same pick up time, he knew he was rafting up with another boat nearby to where he was but he asked the signal station if there was a third boat and got told yes, it would be us. A short while later we had a visit from this man a Canadian, he introduced himself and told us that both he and the other boat owner were single handing, they were both mono hulls and both less than 45feet long which put us as piggy in the middle for the transit as we had the biggest boat, could maintain the best speed and would be the meat in the sandwich. This was OK with us as it would mean that we didn't have to worry about the heaving lines with the monkey fists hitting our solar panels as we would be tethered on either side to the other two boats and they would act as the anchoring boats in the canal whilst we would be the driver. It meant that our line handlers would be pretty redundant apart from tying the boats together and making sure the fenders were doing their job but it also meant that the adviser on our boat got to be the one in charge of telling all three boats what to do and when to do it.

Canberra.jpg (28.08 KiB) Viewed 25510 times

Ghost riders in the canal.

Around 5pm our line handlers reappeared and we welcomed them on board showing them the important stuff like how the toilet flush works and where they could sleep. It then began to rain - of course why wouldn't it! Luckily it didn't last for very long but the sky looked threatening and we expected a wet transit - just like last time! When we told them the pickup time for the adviser we also asked them when they would like to eat dinner - before we set off for the locks or when we were through to the Gatun lake, they elected for a late dinner once we arrived at the lake - not an option I particularly liked but I was out numbered.


The moment to leave the dock had arrived and Gerry turned on the instruments, we had a few minutes of panic as our chart plotter didn't fire up, the first time ever, it was working perfectly when Gerry tried it earlier in the day. Being technically minded he did the usual trick of switching it off and then back on again and thank goodness it fired up this time, I think it was just having a minor protest at leaving late in the afternoon!

Gatun locks.png (179.52 KiB) Viewed 25545 times

The guys helped with the casting off and we reversed out of the slip and began to motor towards the flats where we picked a spot and dropped our anchor with at least an hour to wait until the expected arrival of our adviser. More thumb twiddling and luckily a group of 3 optimist sail boats to watch learning the ropes and sails - with one ending up on the reef as we watched. Shortly after dropping our anchor we were joined by the other two boats that were being rafted up with us - Pauline Claire and Libre, neither of which bothered to anchor (too hard single handing we thought even though they had their line handlers to assist). The two of them motored around in ever decreasing circles and eventually, as the clock counted down to 18.45 we hauled our anchor and joined the circular path until at long last the pilot boat with the 3 advisers showed up and transferred to each of our boats. Our adviser for the first part of the transit into Gatun lake was Edwin, he would see us through to tying up in Gatun lake and then disembark. We would be joined in the morning by a new adviser for the second part of the transit. The three boats made their way individually to the first of the Gatun locks, passing under the Atlantic Bridge which a new addition since our last trip but we had gone over this bridge every time that we had gone shopping so we had now seen it from both above and below. Just before the first lock the three boats came together and under the direction of Edwin rafted together, we were apparently going into the Gatun locks behind a ship called Eternity C and had to wait until they were in position in the first lock before we could proceed into the lock. Gerry took control of the steering for a change as he was superfluous as a line handler, much as our 3 guys were once we were rafted up to the other two boats. Under Edwin's instruction Gerry motored for all three boats (the other two had their engines running, but in neutral all the time, for those "oh crap moments") as we entered the lock the lock line handlers threw the having lines on to the two outside boats and they threaded their long lines, that we all had to have, through the heaving lines which were then pulled in by the lock handlers and eventually cleated off on the top of the lock walls on each side, centreing our raft in the lock behind the Eternity C.

In the lock with the big boys.jpg (87.64 KiB) Viewed 25548 times

The Eternity C

Once we were all in place the 2 sets of lock gates behind us closed and water started pouring into the lock from the base causing quite a bit of turbulence and swirling as the level rose up the height of the lock walls. The line handlers on the boats on either side of us had to keep the tension on the lines to make certain that the boats didn't drift of be left hanging, it's not a job for anyone how is feeling a bit weak or unable to hold on to the line which is why we think it best to have experienced, professional line handlers on an asset that is worth a lot of money. We saw how the line handlers on one of the boats we were rafted up with struggled to do the job and had to be constantly reminded by their adviser to tension the line, cleat it off or let it out. I was horrified to see two of them (they were young 20-30 year olds) putting their un gloved fingers between the fairleads and the cleats whilst running the lines in or out, how they didn't loose or trap their fingers remains a mystery but I think it was the quick thinking of their adviser who grabbed the line and held it that probably saved them from a horrible accident (they were lucky as this isn't the advisers job to watch for idiots). Our line handlers all resorted to playing or watching stuff on their phones and lounging on the deck during the lock times.Once the water in the lock had reached the top the exit gates opened and the Eternity C made its way out, churning up the water in front of us, we waited until they were clear of the lock and then Edwin gave the blast on his whistle to let all three boats know that we were on the move. Gerry motored all three of us out of the first lock and on to the second lock where everything was repeated and then it was into the third lock for the final raising up to the level of the Gatun lake. We followed the Eternity C out of the final Gatun lock and it was time to uncouple from the other boats and we all made our individual way to the dolphins in the lake where we were to tie up for the night, for those in doubt there will be photos of the dolphins in the gallery and not what you are expecting them to look like! There were only 2 dolphins so we ended up having to share one with Libre for the night, making it a little difficult to get tied up but our line handlers knew what they were doing and we were soon tied up. Edwin was collected by the pilot boat shortly after we had tied up and then there were 5! It was 11 pm when we arrived at the dolphin and the guys were hungry so it was time to have dinner, much too late for me to be eating so I had a couple of mouthfuls, did the dishes and dropped into bed by midnight, not really caring what the guys did or where they slept.

Gerry had obviously made sure they were organised and he followed me to bed shortly afterwards. It had been a long day, we were tired and in need of some sleep as tomorrow was going to be another long day. We had no definite time for the second adviser arriving and the last time we did this transit the adviser turned up at 6.30 am so we weren't expecting a long sleep in. In the end we were lucky as the rain held off for the transit, I took a heap of photos but they are all night time shots with lots of bright lights everywhere so I need to sort out a few for the gallery before posting them, bear with me I'm getting there!!


Comments by Nicky's family. I feel the need for a rousing round of applause! Well done for surviving a long day and night on a boat with five blokes...think I’d have jumped .
What a day! I am reading this on May 3rd so I am hoping that all has been sorted without mishap and you are back to a crew of 2 !!

Charlotte Maersk.jpg (42.94 KiB) Viewed 25548 times

Isn't she a lump.
The only thing going for her is the colour of her hull, hardly a ship of beauty, though are any these days, designed by accountants and shareholders..
No pride in their fleets, unlike Mr. Vestey.

[David Fox]

Emails and oddments before the sailblog was published.
We are safely through to the other side after a very late start yesterday , finally going into Gatun locks at around 8pm and arriving at the lake for the night at 11pm. By the time we had eaten and cleaned up it was around midnight before we got to bed. We expected our second adviser to appear at around 6.30am which is what happened last time but finally rocked up at 9 am, it didn't help much as we had been up since 6! We finally got going through the lake and the rest of the locks at about 11 am and arrived into Balboa at 5.30pm. We are more than tired and ready foŕ bed. Nicky [/b] Images to follow with resumption of Wifi service at the yatch club.

After a good nights sleep Gerry was answering my email at 6 am local.

Ever Lively !.jpeg (4.89 KiB) Viewed 25510 times

Somebody must have had a sense of humour choosing these ships names. If they had been British manned there would no doubt have been some choice nicknames.

No, we were late leaving Gatun Lakes then we could only travel as fast as the slowest boat which was 5.4kn. As we were sharing the lock with the car carrier we go in first, so time is taken rafting up and centering in the lock, then waiting for the car carrier to enter etc. The Balboa Yacht Club only has moorings so you have to call a water taxi on vhf to pick you up.

A good nights sleep only interrupted by rain. Don’t know where the car carrier behind us was going but next to us was another one, owned by Nissan so guess it was going to Japan.

For some reason on rising locks you’re behind and falling locks you’re in front, not sure why really.

Our next stop will be Ecuador at a place just North of Guayaquil which is almost parallel to the Galápagos Islands. GERRY.



Let us hope security is better where Gerry & Nicky are going in Equador, than it was when we went to Guayaquila on the Tuscan Star 9/77 ( with Don Mckillop & Joe Owens), we had just stored at Malta Drydock and the local Equads came alongside in a powered canoe overnight and broke the padlock on the foc'sle booby hatch and had away paint and the contents of the Emergency Fire pump diesel fuel tank, which we didn't find out until BOT Sports a day or so after leaving port. The Deck department had stripped the lifeboats and all fire fighting gear and stored it on the bridge, had a seaman doing his rounds of the deck and locked everything that could be locked up. So the Mate lost a few tins of paint and the Donkeymen got a bit of extra overtime filling the fuel tank up that night. No doubt a few mud huts on the river got a make over with BSL livery coloured paint and ER pipe marking colours paid for by Mr. Vestey. DF.

[David Fox]

Night Adviser Edwin.jpeg (9.08 KiB) Viewed 25523 times

Give us a smile Edwin so we can see you.

Form line abreast Gatun lock gates closing astern.jpeg (11.12 KiB) Viewed 25523 times

Gatun lock gates closed behind us.jpeg (63.87 KiB) Viewed 25523 times

Gatun lock gates with water almost at peak.jpeg (11.11 KiB) Viewed 25523 times

Dolphins for tying up to.jpeg (8.32 KiB) Viewed 25523 times

1st May 2nd Day of Transit

08 56.256 N
79 33.418 W

Weather; hot and humid, ( That's Panama! )

After the blink of an eye's worth of sleep we were up and dressed at 6 am, a bit bleary eyed and uncommunicative but we were up! Our line handlers remained resolutely asleep, with two of them in the cockpit and one in the quarter berth, I guess they are used to sleeping on strange boats in odd places (the cockpit was their choice, they could have slept in the salon but chose outside probably because it was cooler). Interestingly we didn't hear the howler monkeys overnight and when we commented on this we were told that they very rarely hear them through the lake any more since the canal expansion, I guess the jungle has retreated back further due to it.

Why were we up so early? Well on our last trip the second adviser rocked up at 6.30 am so we didn't want to be caught out if the same thing happened this time around. Gerry set about making a pot of coffee, he got grunts of "no thanks" from the line handlers and "later for breakfast" when he asked them if they wanted to eat yet. Basically he was on his own as I couldn't face either coffee or anything to eat at this point in time.
We sat very quietly in the salon awaiting the arrival of the second adviser, the line handlers eventually surfaced at around 8 am but there was still no sign of the adviser. By 8.45 am Gerry was starving and asked the guys again if they were ready for breakfast and got a yes from them this time around. Gerry began gathering eggs, bacon, bread and tomatoes along with pans and plates and had just put everything on to cook when of course the pilot boat rocked up and our adviser stepped on board, ready to begin part two of the transit. Our adviser for the second part of the transit was a lady called Kirsty. I took over the cooking, reluctantly I might add - I don't "do" breakfast and asked the adviser if she wanted to join the guys in breakfast to which I got a yes - there were now 5 to cook for. Gerry meanwhile had started up the engine got the guys to release the line from the dolphin and had begun to motor us through the lake. I managed to get 5 plates of food prepared and glasses of juice poured and served up before 9.30 am, Gerry had put the auto pilot to work and all of the crew ate breakfast whilst I cleaned up the pots and pans and then the plates and cutlery - a job that I thought really shouldn't have been down to me but as I was the only one not occupied with eating, I was the nominated person!

Once everything was cleaned away I finally joined the rest of the crew in the cockpit where we discovered, thanks to phone hot spots that the guys were staring at, that there had been a 5.1 magnitude earth quake at 1.30 am, around the Colon area after we had left - yes we like to live dangerously! We aren't sure how much damage, if any, it has caused but we were glad not to have been in the midst of it. I'm sure the line handlers were concerned for their families at this point as they were all on their phones to home but nothing appeared to be out of sorts with them so it was all good. We had a long passage of motoring before we would reach the Pedro Miguel and Mira Flores locks so basically we sat and watched the world go by for the next few hours. Our three line handlers all vanished back below decks and when I checked on them all three were once again asleep, taking up the entire salon and the quarter berth. The adviser, Gerry and I continued to keep watch on the passing jungle along with the huge juggernaut ships that were also transiting through the lake. One thing that was different to our last passage is that we were travelling in the main channel this time and when we asked Kirsty about the smaller channel that we went through last time, she explained that it was now only used for the small work boats and small vessels transiting no longer used this channel - every boat of every shape and size used the main channel. As we progressed we passed several massive boats including a sister ship to the Ever Given that had got stuck in the Suez Canal just a short while ago. Like the Even Given this ship, the Ever Lively, was laden down with hundreds of containers. I took photos of a couple of the behemoth ships that we encountered and will eventually put them in the gallery so that you can see what we had to deal with passing and avoid coming into contact with - we wouldn't have stood a chance in a collision even though as a sail boat we could have had right of way (and before anyone comments I know that we were motoring and not sailing but it would have been a matter of a moment to unfurl a sail and be under the sailing convention, giving us right of way!). It really didn't matter too much we needed to keep clear at all costs! There is one narrow part in the canal, the Galliard Cut, where everyone has to be quite aware of and it is difficult for these large ships to pass each other.



Going to be a bit busy in the next week , going up to Hull again on house clearing duties, so I will leave you in the capable hands of the Day Advisor. Behave yourselves now I know its been a long time. Remember you are Officers & Gentlemen and a fine judge of the other, including those from the Antipodes.DF

Adviser Kirsty - Tasty.jpeg (8.15 KiB) Viewed 25523 times

Wonder what her Mum looks like?

[David Fox]

2nd Day Transit.jpeg (13.36 KiB) Viewed 25511 times

As we approached this cut a huge carrier was on its way towards us with another huge container ship following us, our adviser had us pull over as far to starboard as was possible and to hang around in idle until the two massive ships had safely passed each other - we didn't need to get in between them. Once they had crossed paths we followed on and at some point managed to get in front of the ship heading in the same direction as us.

Two very large ship passing in narrow waterway.jpeg (5.55 KiB) Viewed 25511 times

By now it was getting towards lunch time and I had gone below to make up some coleslaw so I didn't get to hear the pilot on the big boat contact our adviser and complain that we were in the middle of the channel,(we weren't) they were moving faster than us (they weren't) and there was rain heading towards us (there was but it was just a shower) so they wouldn't be able to see us (were they blind?)and might run into us (imagine the insurance bill if they did) - he was a bit stressed out and not entirely correct as Gerry said we were as far to Starboard as we could go, maintaining a constant speed and the rain when it came didn't obscure anything as it wasn't heavy however rather than argue with the pilot, our adviser had us pull right out of the way and let this ship go ahead of us which set up a wake that rocked us for a while which was the only way I knew that something was going on.

A pair of House Martins.jpeg (39.96 KiB) Viewed 25510 times

At some time during the passage we must have gotten a little close to a nesting site as we were "chased off" by a couple of what I think were House Martins (or something similar), the pair of them kept flying around our boat and landing on our wind generator blades. It was funny to watch as the blades turned as soon as any weight went on them and the birds got thrown off, it didn't take too many attempts for them to realise that if they landed on the motor part rather than the blades they didn't get thrown off and I managed to snap a couple of photos of our hitch hikers. They were very vocal and obviously concerned about our proximity to their nest but as we moved further forward they eventually disappeared.

Final lock gates Pedro Miguel lock.jpeg (8.63 KiB) Viewed 25510 times

As we got closed to the locks the adviser suggested that it might be a good idea to organise lunch before we went through the locks so I was once again banned to the galley and dished up hot dogs, pickles, coleslaw and potato chips for everyone except the adviser who said she wasn't hungry yet. I was a bit miffed to be honest at having to get more food ready so soon after breakfast (it was only three and a half hours since they had finished breakfast) but who am I to say when they should eat. So now I'm going to let you know how bad a cook I can be - I threw the onions and hot dogs into pans and cooked it all up then handed it out. Gerry yelled down to me for a sharp knife which I handed out to him, apparently the hot dog sausages, which came out of a packet, were also individually wrapped in thin plastic and I had cooked them in the plastic! This skin of plastic wasn't visible when they came out of the packet and I hadn't even realised there was a plastic skin at any point but the guys were obviously use to the wrapping and knew to remove it - Whoops!

Approaching Migual lock rafted to Pauline Claire.jpeg (11.24 KiB) Viewed 25510 times

Luckily the plastic came off fairly easily even though it was cooked and everyone finished their hot dog without any further issue. Honestly who wraps hot dog sausages in plastic and then puts them into a packet? At least I will never make that mistake again and it was a meal for the guys to remember us by.
We finally reached the locks and all three boats joined back together in the raft just outside the first lock. This time we were going to be in the lock with the huge car carrier that had given our adviser a hard time but our raft was going to be in front of the car carrier so we would have a different perspective of the lock operation.

Pedro Miguel lock gates opening.jpeg (7.85 KiB) Viewed 25510 times

Gerry did the motoring again for all three boats and Pauline Claire and Libre did the line handling through all of the following locks. The car carrier pulled in behind us and dwarfed us, if they thought they would have trouble out in the open water seeing us then I dread to think how they would have managed without the mules pulling them into position behind us - there was no way they would have been able to see us up so close. With each progressive lock the same operation applied.