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!
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.
