Day 120, Year 1: Happy Valentine’s Day
Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Weather: Sun Mixed with Tropical Downpours, Windy
Location: Panama Canal Zone, San Cristobal, Panama (near Panama Canal Yacht Club)

We’ve been so busy getting ready for the Canal transit that we almost forgot that it was Valentine’s Day. We have a Canadian couple from the boat, Mystic Jade, who are going to go with us as line handlers, as well as a young man from Barcelona, Spain, who is visiting here. His name is Victor. If no one backs out, we do have our crew. We went to the supermarket again today to stock up on drinks for the Pacific voyage. We thought we would do that in Balboa once we transit, but we hear that even though it is safer on that side, getting caseloads of drinks onboard is harder. So all day today, we watched cases of beer, wine, water, and soft drinks getting loaded on to boats in the marina. Since we are out in the anchorage, we have to transport everything by dinghy, but we are getting there. We will need to make one more trip to the store tomorrow and we should be all set.

The weather here has been very unusual. It continues to rain during the night and a few times each day. Normally there is no rain this time of year, but today while we were waiting for a taxi at the store, we had a tropical downpour. It has also been very windy and the anchorage is choppy. This means getting wet every time we go into the marina. No fun, but at least it is warm and we dry out quickly.

We are told that friends and family that want to watch the transit can do so on the internet. I still have not found an internet café where I can download our g-mail account, but that is on the agenda for first thing in the morning. When I do that, I will also check out the Canal website. At this point, my knowledge is second hand. I believe you go to a Panama Canal website and look for the Mira Flores Lock webcam live video. We will be in the Mira Flores Lock sometime between 1200 noon and 1400 (2 PM) as best as we can guess. It is at the end of our transit and we are told we should be through by 1500 (3 PM). So if you are interested, you can try to find the site and get a glimpse of us as we transit. If I get more specific information, I’ll post that tomorrow afternoon.

Tomorrow will be another busy day. You have to prepare all of the food ahead of time as there is not much time once the transit begins. We will take our boat into the marina tomorrow evening and stay there the night with the crew onboard. Then we have to come back out here to the anchorage around 0300 (3 AM) to wait for the advisor to board. We then head to the Canal, get rafted with two other boats, and start the trip through the first lock at 0500 (5 AM). I think I’m tired just thinking about it!

If things get too crazy tomorrow, it is possible that I won’t get to post a log, but I will certainly let you know once we are safely through the Panama Canal.