Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Panama Canal

Before we left Panama City we were lucky enough to be line-handlers for another sailboat transiting the Panama Canal. Friends of ours knew we were interested in going through so they let us know that Barbara and Cori of sailing vessel Incresent Moon were looking for help. Every sailboat going through is required to have a captain, an advisor and four line-handlers. Excited to see the extent of the canal we set off from Panama City on the Panama Canal Railway bound for Colon. After a few hours in Colon we set off on our adventure. After the first set of Locks we were moored in Gatun Lake for the night. The line-handing was easy. Incresent Moon (a 44-foot Tayana) was simply tied on to another 75-foot muti-million dollar sailboat (an Oyster) and through the locks we went. Not much work for us but it was great just watching in awe at the way the canal works. Truly one of the man-made wonders of the world and much more interesting that I could have imagined. See for yourself at www.pancanal.com

Here is Mark outside the Panama Canal train, just a short 2 hour trip from Panama City to Colon Our gracious hosts Cori & Barbara of SV Incresent Moon



Going through Gatun Locks



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