Day 2 of the Canal Transit

OK, I lied, this isn’t day 2. Here we are at the main vegetable market in Panama City at the Pineapple vendor grabbing supplies for the next month.
  Advisor Roy with a car carrier_or ro/ro for roll on roll off_ going under the Bridge of the Americas.
The crew and lead photographers lining up for the first lock. The crew was Greg and Granite from Lion’s Paw (Granite is AKA Deb - the nickname derivation takes some story telling), my brother John and Chris and I.
We side tied to this massive Canal tug, Pacora. It looks like the normal Z-Tech Canal tugs, but this one just came over on its own bottom from China. It is a blown up version of the standard Canal tug designed for the locks when they open in 2014. You can order one for yourself for $12 million. 

Mira Flores locks and our new American flag trying to fly for the crossing.
Heading under the Centennial Bridge during rush hour. You can just see another sailboat heading towards us on the left.
  You can’t transit the Canal without a good pic of the old WWII German crane, The Titan, sitting in the work yard at Gamboa. They used it to move U-boats.

Advisor Roy modeling his second outfit.
Hanging below in Lake Gatun waiting for our next day advisor and the rain to stop.
The rain temporarily stopped and a rainbow hung over a bulk carrier that was anchored in the lake waiting for his down lock.
Chris directing the bulk carrier behind us. We are side tied to a small tour boat, Discovery. They take people through the locks and do kayak tours in Lake Gatun.
The passengers on Discovery took a bunch of pics of us going through the locks. They wanted to get our e-mail to send them to us. Here’s Greg passing boat cards to a crew on the Discovery, and trying to order chips and salsa.
Headed down the last lock, looking out toward the Caribbean. That’s the top of a massive bulk carrier waiting for the step up in the other lane on the right.  We made it into Shelter Bay Marina after dark – tired after along day of waiting to make the final transit and ready for a shower. Thanks to our great advisors and intrepid crew, we had great a transit with minimum drama. What an experience!
Paul and Chris