Traveler Postcard From Panama Canal
Colon, Panama
April 8, 2010
Hola,
Today at about 4:30 or 5:00 pm local time (2 hours ahead of Pacific daylight savings time) Barbara, Brian and I begin our two-day transit of the Panama Canal, and we are all very excited.
You can watch us transit live by logging on to www.pancanal.com, then click on the web cam, then select the Gatun Locks, which we will go through today. Tomorrow (Friday) morning we will go through the Miraflores Locks at about 10:00 am (I’m only guessing on tomorrow’s time).
On board Traveler, with me at the wheel, we will have:
Barbara and Brian as “line handlers” paired up with two professional line handlers, bow and stern. We will also have a “Canal Advisor”–like a pilot, guiding me in the cockpit.
In addition, we have two guests, Bill and Marsha Horsfall (friends of Barbara) joining us.
Transiting the Panama Canal is a significant milestone for Traveler’s three-year circumnavigation, geographically, chronologically and psychologically. We still have 2800 miles of mostly upwind sailing to go to Newport Beach over the next three months. But it is all relatively easy coastal cruising along the Pacific side of Central America and Mexico. We will soon be on the home stretch.
Living the Dream,
Michael