Maintenance goes on as usual and we decided to service the Monitor Self Steering before our Pacific crossing, Scanmar sent us the kit required to overhaul it in their usual efficient manner (thanks Emmy).  However, although the overhaul went well and we replaced all the bushes, bearings and rollers, we discovered cracks in two bearing cups on the pendulum.  These we plan to re-weld once we get through the Canal, thanks again to Scanmar's excellent customer service.  We've also serviced all of the winches and the windless (thing that pulls the anchor up!).   The final jobs before our transit were to clear out of Colon, bizarre as we are not leaving Panama, but another way of creating revenue and employing officials.  I think we've seen more paperwork and carbon paper in the offices of Colon than anywhere else we've visited.  And collecting the old tyres we will use as fenders for our Canal transit.  We also pre-cooked meals for our pilot and three line handlers, the later of whom will stay onboard overnight. 

8 - 9 March 2007 Canal Transit  We were up in good time to have a relaxed day before our crew arrived at 5:30pm.  However, when we contacted the scheduler's office to confirm our transit time it had been brought forward to 3:15pm.  Steve collected Rudy, his 17 year old son and 'Dracula', the line handlers, in the dinghy around 2pm.  Our pilot, Victor, who is both a pilot and tugboat captain, arrived around 4.30pm - so much for the schedule!  Victor was very professional and after inspecting our paperwork, navigation lights and 'facilities', we got underway.  He was an aircraft enthusiast so conversation was easy and Steve had to keep reminding him to tell him what to do!  Once at Gatun Lock, we rafted alongside two other boats to transit the lock.  Unfortunately, the central boat of the raft of three had very high topsides and despite careful fendering and expert line handling by Rudy and his team, it rolled heavily into us in some wash from a passing tug and bent two of our stanchions.  Not a very auspicious start!!  Once in the Lock, behind a medium sized freighter, the 90' lift up through the three locks was uneventful.  That said, we were pleased we had experienced line handlers onboard as there was not much margin for error in the turbulence of the locks.  Many boats use backpackers or other yachtsmen as line handlers, but we were very grateful for Rudy and Dracula's 15 years of experience, if nothing it meant we could enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Once through the Locks, Victor turned us hard to port and we headed blindly into the darkness of Gatun Lake to secure to a buoy for the night.  The buoy was a large ship mooring that materialised out of the blackness after about 15 minutes.  Victor left us there for the night by ACP launch, we ate dinner, and talked well into the night over a beer or two.

Freighter we went through Gatun Locks with      Dracula, Rudy and his Son                        Rafting                                       In Gatun Lock

We woke around 5.30am to the sound of howler monkeys in the surrounding forest that sounded like donkeys braying in a long, mournful moan.  Josh, our new Canal advisor, arrived at 7.00am and once again we got underway.  There were six boats due to transit that day, but only five advisors arrived so Ocean Flyer was left on the buoy.  Josh is Portuguese and a Canal Security Guard, who acts as a yacht advisor in his spare time.  We took the Banana Cut shortcut immediately after leaving the buoy and as we motored through the rainforest, eating bacon and egg sandwiches, the sky was full of parrots and other strange birds.  We joined the main buoyed Canal after about 7 miles.  Although the Lake is wide and deep, once out of the marked channel the water is full of old tree stumps from when the valley was flooded, remarkable after over 100 years.  We made good progress at about 6.5 kts in the smooth water and then to add to an already stressful day, our engine overheat alarm sounded.  We shut the engine down and cleared the main channel before dropping the anchor and investigating the problem.  Very conscious of the $2000 it would cost us if we required a tow, we quickly cleared the strainers and checked the impellor.  The main water inlet strainer had a fine hair-like grass covering the mesh.  Once this was removed we got underway again, although we both spent the rest of the day with an eye on the temperature gauge.  We reached Gamboa around 11.00am, where there is a large repair yard for all the Canal vessels and aids to navigation.  It is also the start of Galliard Cut, the most challenging part of the Canal to dig and the site of the current Canal expansion, where they are straightening and widening the Cut to accept the larger shipping.  At present, the largest ships to go through the Canal require a tug at their stern to push them around the tight bends of Gaillard Cut.  Even today this expansion is a huge civil engineering project, one has to marvel at the skill of the civil engineers over a century ago. 

'Hilltop' in Gatun Lake                               Gamboa                            Gaillard Cut Widening                      Miraflores Bridge

Shortly after leaving Galliard Cut, we rafted with 'Miss Kate' a smaller boat and much more suited to our size, to transit Pedro Miguel Lock.  The Lock was effortless, with much less turbulence on the way down than on the way up.  We remained rafted together to cover the mile to Miraflores Locks, which had two chambers.  The second chamber required deft line handling as we had 20 kts of wind behind us and the mixing of fresh and salt water when the gates opened created around a 3 kt current.  Once again we were grateful for local support.  Josh had radioed ahead to slew the Lock webcam around so that we could wave to the folks back home.  It was a slightly surreal experience standing on our boat in the middle of Panama waving to people the other side of the World.  Once out of the Lock, with the Pacific Ocean under our keel, we headed to the Balboa Yacht Club.  Josh left us under the Bridge of the Americas by launch and the line handlers left us at the Club, where we dropped off our tyres and filled with diesel ready for our Pacific crossing.  We anchored off Flamenco Island along with around 20 other boats, where we took a deep breath and sank a beer.  The transit was a wonderful experience but not one we would like to repeat everyday!  The Pacific already feels different from the Caribbean, it has the feel of an ocean, 14' tides, the water is cold and full of fish and we treated to some wonderful aerial displays by pelicans and gannets fishing.  Its also quite reassuring to see the hotchpotch of boats getting ready to leave.  Looking at some of them, we feel very confident in Oasis!   

Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks

Under the Bridge of the Americas into the Pacific

10 - 21 March 2007  The anchorage at La Playeta, behind Flamenco Island, was not as rolly as Colon; however, we were still plagued by the wash of numerous pilot boats.  The sea is teaming with fish and feeding pelicans diving into the water make a great spectacle.  We had met previously several of the boats in the anchorage and it was nice to remake their acquaintance and the informal VHF radio net in the morning provided a useful source of information.  We began, what turned out to be a long wild goose chase, tracking down spare parts we had ordered prior to our arrival.  One good thing from the first few days chase around was that we got to know Panama City pretty well.  Unlike Colon, it is safe and, with patience and a little effort, one can find anything that is required.  The taxi drivers that service Balboa Yacht Club and Flamenco Marina are knowledgeable of where to find yacht spares and charge a reasonable $10 an hour rate.  Monday night is "two for one" pizza night at the local petrol station, which, needless to say, is popular among cruisers.  The area has a holiday feel to it, with wide promenades where residents of Panama City exercise and spend time as a family.  One unexpected resident we found was a sloth who we christened 'Roger' and could be found hanging upside down in a tree. 

We had decided to lift the boat before crossing the Pacific to check that we hadn't done any damage to the keel or the hull when we lost our propeller, and also to take the opportunity to anti-foul the bottom.  We took the boat around to Flamenco Marina on the 14th, where their boatyard crew, including a diver, conducted a very professional lift.  We found no damage and were able to paint the bottom and service all the through hulls the next day.  The yard was efficient, but filthy and like the rest of Panama, covered in black, oily soot from the passing shipping.  One of the more interesting projects in the yard was the re-building of a wooden sailing boat and we were fascinated by the accuracy of the shipwrights work using an adze.  The boat went back into the water on the 16th and we went back around to La Playeta anchorage.

We spent a day wandering around Old Panama, which had a completely different feel to the new Panama City.  The buildings are Spanish Colonial in their styling and it was nice to walk around somewhere with a bit of character instead of modern high-rise.  The Presidential Palace is an impressive white building which had several cranes and white herons wandering around inside its mosaic, marbled lobby where there was a fountain for them to drink from.  We climbed one of the churches' belfry's to get a view over the City and were greeted by several vultures who had obviously made it their home.  Vultures made an interesting variation to pigeons!

Presidential Palace                                        Panama Cathedral                                   Old Waterfront

Views from the church belfry over old and new Panama

The remainder of our time in Panama was spent servicing the generator and water maker, changing filters and generally preparing and provisioning for the long passage ahead.  The supermarkets were excellent and we were able to provision with all the brands familiar to us from the US and at very reasonable prices.  The final days were spent on the bureaucratic paper chase of immigration, the Port Captain and the other offices that we had to visit to collect stamps and paperwork required to leave Panama.  A time consuming, tedious and seemingly pointless exercise, which required endless copies of crew lists, passports and ships documents.

22 March - 1 April 2007  The big day arrives, the start of our Pacific crossing.  We were up before dawn to make the final preparations and managed to set sail at 7am.  Our plan was to clear the Gulf of Panama close to the North shore, then head South West with the El Nino Current, through the Doldrums and Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) to cross the Equator at 84 deg West before turning West with the Humboldt Current to the Galapagos.  Weather conditions were excellent and once clear of the anchored shipping we sailed with full main with a poled-out Yankee to make a steady 7 kts over the ground.  We kept the wind until late afternoon when it died on us, which was to set the tone for the rest of the trip.  We gave in and started the engine to clear the Gulf.  Around 4:30pm our hearts sank as the engine started to vibrate.  We shut the engine off, thinking we'd picked up a plastic bag on the propeller.  Hazel went over the side to take a look and discovered exactly the same thing had happened as it had in the Windward Passage to our new propeller and we had lost a blade.  We couldn't believe what had happened as the propeller had been on the boat for only 104 engine hours.  It was getting dark and we were faced with three choices; 1. head back to Panama, 2. head for a harbour on the Columbian/Panamanian boarder or 3. carry on and sail the 1000 miles to the Galapagos.  Neither of us could face returning to Panama and the grime and bureaucracy.  When Steve checked the pilot he found a caution about using the alternate harbour as it was a haunt of Columbian drug smugglers.  So we decided to press on.  The breeze filled in and we cleared the Gulf of Panama around midnight where the winds and tide had chopped up a bit of a sea.  After a difficult night rolling with the sea we were able to hoist all sail on a broad reach and make 7 kts over the ground, with the help of the current, from 10 kts of wind.  We were visited by dolphins, we had a shark cruise by and saw turtles.  The boat was beautifully balanced and we were both able to spend the day catnapping and settling into the routine of a long passage.  Overnight the wind dropped to zero for about 4 hours and we had no choice but to drop the sails and drift on the current, which was fortunately going our way.  Dawn the following day brought a steady 5-8 kts from the North, which slowly veered to the East in the afternoon.  We were now firmly in the grip of the El Nino Current which was at a steady 2.5 kts.  The evening weather fax also showed that we were now South of the ITCZ, which was a relief as we had seen no squalls or thunderstorms as all the convection activity was further West.  We passed Mapelo Island, a big rock in the middle of nowhere, late afternoon and saw a few more seabirds than we had previously.  We were able to keep moving overnight under a poled out headsail until 3.30am when we were forced to roll it away because there was insufficient wind to keep it filled.  The next day, 25th, was a slow day and we were only able to make 4 kts in the right direction.  Once again, we kept the breeze until 3am when we sat becalmed, drifting on the current, until 6.30am.  If the 25th was slow the 26th was torture!  When the wind filled, the best angle of sail that we could make was 90 deg to our track and then the wind died completely at 4pm and we had an adverse current pushing us at 1.6 kts back North.  From midnight on we managed to fore reach, slightly closer to our desired track.  The 27th was a breezy day, with the windon the nose, fortunately, the seas remained flat and we were able to make 3.5-4 kts to windward in the 10 kts of breeze.  By now we were well settled into our watch routine and our frequent light-air sail changes  were getting much easier.  We were very grateful that we had purchased the large cruising chute.  The 28th was another day of very light winds requiring one of us on the helm all day to maintain boat speed and steerage.  It was tiring, but at least we were going in the right direction - just!  The wind picked up over night to a nice steady 10 kts and with flat seas and we were able to sail comfortably to windward.  The water temperature got colder and overnight, although getting closer to the Equator, we needed a fleece on for the first time since leaving the Bahamas.  The wind lasted all day through the 29th and we made steady progress towards the Equator, still in flat seas; so nice after the big seas of the Caribbean.  The 30th was to be the big day and we crossed the Equator with a steady breeze at 00 deg South 85deg 51.999min West as you can see from the GPS.  We paid our respects to Neptune with a tot of rum and Steve made an offering of his favourite, although threadbare, shorts in the hope that it would bring fair winds and continued calm seas.  Hazel also conducted an experiment on either side of the Equator, using a match, a plastic cup with a pinhole in the bottom and some water, to check that the water drained in different directions.  Pleased to say that the experiment was successful!

The wind held until 11pm when the fog rolled in and we lost the wind.  Perhaps Neptune wasn't pleased with the shorts?  The cold water of the Humboldt Current had dropped the air temperature significantly and we were both surprised how cool we were during the day and the night fogs, which we have had each night since crossing the Equator.  The end of another month brought light and shifting winds.  We tried every sail we owned to keep moving and had our most success with the big cruising chute.  Today was also water and bread making day, so time went quickly until the fog rolled in at 10pm and we were forced to drop the sails.  Overnight, in the fog, we were accompanied by white seabirds that seemed to be fishing in the eerie green glow of our navigation light.  April Fools' Day brought our Galapagos landfall; however, we didn't see it until the afternoon as we sailed all morning in fog.  The fog lifted with Isla San Cristobal only five miles away, when we were visited by our first sea lions.  The only other wildlife we had seen along the way were turtles, one of which was very large but sadly had red plastic netting around one of his front flippers.  Around noon we decided to sail another 60 miles to Isla Santa Cruz because the wind was not favourable to reach Wreck Bay on Isla San Cristobal, the closest harbour, before dark.  However, shortly after making that decision, the wind filled in and Wreck Bay was once again achievable so we bore off to the South and had a great afternoon sail at 6 kts down the shoreline of these magical islands.  Just before dusk the magic got better and a whale broached just off our Port side.  We think it was a humpback and were able to watch him cruise along for about 15 minutes.  The wind held until we were about 8 miles from Wreck Bay, leaving us a difficult choice of sailing to anchor in the dark with very little wind or heaving-to and waiting for daylight.  However, the later would be difficult as we had about 2 kts of current pushing us South past the harbour.  We drifted on the current until five miles out when we launched the dinghy and lashed it alongside to use the outboard to creep slowly into Wreck Bay.  The fog came and went all evening but thankfully cleared, with three miles to go.  We could hear the surf breaking on the beaches, but with the tide now slack, we were able to keep good speed and steerage.  'Sods Law' came into play one more time as it took three attempts to set the anchor.  We lifted the dingy back onboard to prevent the sea lions claiming ownership and retired to bed at 2am, tired and happy.  It had been a really enjoyable passage in calm seas and we felt a great sense of achievement having sailed 1055 miles in 11 days averaging 4.1 kts thanks to the current.  We were glad that we had done the research and used the wisdom of the old square riggers to use the current to the best advantage to get through the Doldrums.  It also feels appropriate to arrive in such a special place in such an environmentally friendly way!

Raising the Galapagos flag                       Our First Sight of Galapagos