The Plan...of course it's written in the sand at low tide....

The Plan...of course it's written in the sand at low tide....

Friday, February 19, 2010

Hi From San Blas

We'll we made it through the Panama Canal...........wow what a neat trip! We were tied up to a tug for the first 2 locks, then on the third lock we were tied up to a party/double decked cruise boat. We were 30 minutes late arriving at the Gatun locks so we spent the night in Lake Gatun on a huge mooring ball. Alan played some music for us while we sat and listened to the howler monkeys. The next day around 3:00 p.m. we starting down-locking in the Gatun locks. We were center tied with a 750 ft huge tanker behind us. It looked like a 3 story building behind us, wait until I can send some pictures. All and all the passage was perfect. Everyone got along famously, there was plenty of food and drinks, and we didn't have any "Oh S- -t" moments. After clearing the last lock we stayed in the flats of Colon and the next day went to Portabello. We stayed 2 nights in Portabello and Peter had to leave on Monday to get back to Panama City to catch his flight on Tuesday.

Next stop was the anchorage Linton, a couple of hours around the corner from Portabello. M/V Panchita arrived and we went to a great little French restaurant and had an excellent meal. Then off to the San Blas....wow, there is a lot more wind here in the Caribbean and we had seas to 8 ft. We were all glad to arrive here in the San Blas. We are all checked in and are currently in East Lemons. Jan and Rich on S/V Slip Away got a party together for all us from the Pacific side and it was great to see everyone. Here's some you might recognize: Ralph & Cheryl & son Greg from S/V Fortuitous, Joan & Ted from M/V Panchita, Stan and Lynn S/V Homers' Odyssey, and Sharon and John S/V Sunbow. There were about 12 boats who came to the party and it was a great time. Plan is to stay here in the Lemons and relax for a couple of days before Ginger has to fly to Panama City on Monday. More pictures of our adventure will follow when we have internet access.