Icarian does float in the Atlantic!

Icarian transited the Panama Canal on December 12th 2007 and is now in Shelter Bay Marina across the bay from Colon. This is our first stop in a marina since we were in Puesta del Sol, Nicaragua in April 2006!
Our transit went off without a hitch! We had our niece Kelsi and her boyfriend Chris from Kamloops, Steve on the sailboat 'Last Resort' and another cruiser named Spencer from 'Second Nature' as crew. We had a very nice day with only one rain squall.
We 'locked up' at about 10:15 a.m. in the Miraflores and Pedro Meguel Locks, a series of three locks and were out of there by about 11:15. Then it was about a 5 hour trip through the Gaillard Cut and Gatun Lake. We passed many interesting freighters and cruise ships heading for the Pacific side. We then 'locked down' in the Gatun locks about 6 p.m. It was a long day but it went off without a hitch. Our crew left us in Colon in a taxi Steve had arranged for the return trip to Panama City.
Icarian spent the night in the flats off off Colon and then moved to the new Shelter Bay Marina the next morning. This is a lovely facility in a jungle setting on the old sight of Fort Sherman. The wreck's of old barracks and runways can still be seen and I am sure there is lots of history here. We have now completed our paperwork and tomorrow leave to begin the fun part of this year's adventure.
Our first destination will be Portobello where we will most likely spend the Christmas holiday. Our Christmas decorations along with the cards we received last year are now up and give us a festive look. We will put our outside lights up when we reach Portobello. Christmas in the tropics is still a little weird to us but we will give it all the spirit we can muster.
Hope you are all enjoying this wonderful season!

Pix: Our niece Kelsi taking in the sites, Steve our #1 line handler taking a break and the southbound line-up in the cut.

Panama City Again

We left Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador on an early morning high tide November 14^th. We so enjoyed our months in the Bahia. The 'family' atmosphere of Puerto Amistad was so welcoming and the people living there very friendly. This is a super place for Summering over and a safe place to leave your boat while travelling inland or visiting home. It will remain one of our favourite spots.

Icarian is once again in the anchorage called 'La Playita' in Panama City. It is so green here now as of course we have just finished the rainy season. Very beautiful! Our passage from Ecuador was great. It took us 5 days and 4 hours which is a very good time. We left Bahia with a SW wind about 12 knots and we had a steady reach for 4 days straight. Very little changes had to be made with the sails all we had to do was keep a look out for fishing boats and freighters. Our fifth day had no wind so we turned on the engine and continued into the Bay of Panama.

A highlight of this trip was the sighting of a big whale feeding on the surface. We are not sure if it was a Blue or a Humpback whale but it was waving it's pectoral flippers in the air and rolling over, just enjoying himself. We managed to get pretty close before he dove to find more feed. It is always so special to see these amazing creatures.

One evening on the passage we had a flock of a dozen tiny little land birds, like sparrows, come and spend the night. They flew down below to check out our living quarters but ended up snuggling down for the night huddled together under the dodger. They were so cute! At first light they were off again swooping over the waves.

The last few days have been dealing with officials. We have cleared with the Port Captain and Immigration and are now organizing our papers for transit of the Canal. We have been measured and inspected and this evening we should hear if we get the date, Dec. 12, that we requested.

Our lists have been made and now the provisioning begins. Sure hope we don't forget anything!

Pix - Our good friend Janet in Bahia, colorful fishermen in the Bahia market and the new BC Ferry exiting the Panama Canal!

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