Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Day 2 of the Canal Transit

JohnCanal 001 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.
CanalIMG_9350  Advisor Roy with a car carrier_or ro/ro for roll on roll off_ going under the Bridge of the Americas.
CanalIMG_9390 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.
CanalIMG_9401We 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. 
CanalIMG_9408
Mira Flores locks and our new American flag trying to fly for the crossing.
CanalIMG_9436 Heading under the Centennial Bridge during rush hour. You can just see another sailboat heading towards us on the left.
CanalIMG_9444  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.
JohnCanal 003
Advisor Roy modeling his second outfit.
canalIMG_9455 Hanging below in Lake Gatun waiting for our next day advisor and the rain to stop.
CanalIMG_9451 The rain temporarily stopped and a rainbow hung over a bulk carrier that was anchored in the lake waiting for his down lock.
JohnCanal 004 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.
canalIMG_9476 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.
JohnCanal 005 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

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