May 11 - It’s finally our day to transit the Canal. We learned yesterday that we are to begin our transit in the afternoon, which means a two day transit (overnight in Lake Gatun) rather than a one day transit. The Canal requires four line handlers in addition to the vessel captain, so we hire two from our agent, which together with Tristan and Burt make four. The two young men arrive at Noon, and it turns out that one of them (Guttishort for Augustine)has graduated from Law School (he never stopped talking from the time he boarded the boat until the next afternoon when he left the boat), but it turns out that both he and his companion Justin were excellent at their job and very hard workers and it was truly a pleasure to have them helping us. They were invaluable. We leave for the anchorage outside of Shelter Bay at 1:00 p.m. and at 2:30 p.m. our “advisor” (really a pilot but without the big ship license) boards our boat and we begin our transit. Before the first set of locks we raft up with two other sailboats (we’re the starboard boat) to transit the locks as a “threesome”. We experience a bunch of rain during our passage through the locks, but the first part of the transit through the Gatun locks goes smoothly and we anchor (actually tie up to a buoy-not anchor) at Lake Gatun for the night just before sunset. Our advisor, as well as the line handlers, is very professional and competent and makes the trip a pleasure.
May 12 - Our advisor for the second day arrives around 7:00 a.m. and we leave for the Miraflores locks. The first day’s advisor was taken off the boat by launch after we anchored, but the line handlers slept on the boat. Our second day’s advisor was also very professional and competent and makes the second day’s trip as smooth as the first. At around 4:00 p.m. the advisor and line handlers are picked up by launch and are finally in the Pacific on our way to Nuku Hiva. We continue from the drop-off point without stopping since we had obtained our Zarpe (clearance from the Port Captain to leave) and immigration clearance two days before. The ocean is calm, winds are light and the weather is clear and the rest of the day and evening go smoothly. We transfer 15 gallons of fuel from the jerry cans to the tank before it gets dark.