Preparing for Panama Canal    Friday, 21/04/2023

I haven’t really been doing much, mainly enjoying the good weather and doing a few minor things on the boat. But I have got everything moving regarding a transit of the canal. I’ve appointed an agent, an American woman who has been doing this for 30 years, and on Monday 24th I will be leaving Linton Bay Marina. Destination: Shelter Bay Marina, which is close to the Caribbean entrance to the canal.

It’s not far to get there – about 26 nautical miles, which hopefully I should do in five hours. Once there, Manuka will be officially measured, which is the step needed before you get given a slot for transiting the canal. Hopefully the wait won’t be so long – I’m anticipating 10 days or so (not nearly as long as it was in March – when it was more like 20 days). Shelter Bay will be a change of scene, and because I’ve been there, when helping on Skyfall, I know it’s a pleasant place – the marina even has a swimming pool, and it looks like it’s not much more than a 20 minute walk to a decent sandy beach. On the downside, it’s more expensive than Linton Bay, no surprise given its strategic position. Should there be a long delay in getting a transit, I might return here for a week or more.

While I wait I can stock up on food that will needed for a 30-plus days sail to the mid-Pacific. Shelter Bay is a lot closer to large supermarkets than I have been here in Linton Bay. Will need to spend a bit of time giving thought to what I require – and that will be at least 40 days’ worth of food. Then when I’ve gone through the canal, I will stop in La Playita Marina on the Pacific side for a couple of nights, giving me the chance to buy fresh produce for the first several days of the voyage, as well as legally check out of Panama.

So the focus at the moment is very much on practical things! This voyage will be quite daunting – it will probably be the longest voyage I ever make. But I’m in a far better position now than I was before I left England to cross the Atlantic… I was a total novice then, and had no way of knowing what it would really be like doing an ocean crossing. I look back on that innocent young (!) man and smile – I certainly know a lot more now than I did then, based not only on my own experience, but on so many conversations with others. Of course that doesn’t mean that everything will be simple and straightforward – it’s always the things that you don’t think about, or don’t know, that suddenly catch you out. Nevertheless, I’m hoping that everything will go fairly smoothly…