When the sun came up this morning it was clear it was going to be a gorgeous day to take Saltydog through the canal.
There were a few last minute to-do’s including getting all eight tires tied up along the sides to protect us from damage.
By 7am we were outside the Balboa Yacht club awaiting the arrival of our advisor who arrived at about 8am.
Our adviser's name is Luis. He was a pilot in training, and being a small boat adviser is part of their training.
We got underway shortly thereafter and made our way under the Bridge of the Americas.
There was plenty of time for kibitzing as we approached the first lock.
We watched the tugs put a big container ship on the dock in the port.
Our lock was an unusual one because there was no large ship, just a small passenger ferry with tourists that goes through every day with the sole purpose of letting people see a canal transit. Normally the canal authority won't do this because it wastes too much water from the lake. But because the lake is bursting full, we got to go through in an almost empty lock.
We tied up along side the tourist boat, so they had to work the lines as the lock filled. we just rode along side.
Just like last time, we were a spectator event for the folks on the viewing platform.
Then we entered the second lock.
We again tied up to the tourist boat.
The tourists were super curious about us and asked us tons of questions. Everything from where we were from to how much it costs us to bring our boat through the canal.
This time through we took note of the training field where they train the line workers to be able to throw the monkey fist. We shall see tomorrow whether the line workers have better aim than they did when we went through.
Because we weren't locking with any big ships, all the mules were lined up along the sides of the canal.
As we exited the second lock, you can see us on the camera - we are the tiny little white dot on the far right of this picture.
The boys hammed it up for the camera.
As we sat in the first lake, we could see the workers digging the new canal.
Joan enjoyed every bit of the day too.
On the third lock, they put a tug boat and a big crane barge in the lock with us.
The doors of the last lock closing.
We then watched the last lock fill.
Then we release the last line, and we are off to cross Lake Gatun.
We saw one sail boat coming the other way. Wasn't anyone we knew. And oddly enough, they only had fenders down on one side. Strange.
And we have one happy captain now that we have cleared all the locks we will do today.
We passed a number of big ships headed the other direction as we went through the cut and into the lake.
The shoreline of the lake is amazingly lush.
When we got near the Atlantic side, it got pretty windy.
After a 4 hour trip across the lake, it was time to get the lines set up for mooring. We will be spending the night on the lake because there are no more large ships going northbound tonight - so we have to overnight on the lake.
This was a mooring like none other we've ever done. The way you tie up is for someone to hop off the boat onto the buoy and tie our lines up.
Then it was time for our adviser to get off the boat.
In the evening the wind quieted off and the sunset was gorgeous. We played the "what do you see in the clouds" game.
