21st April 2012
We are still at Swelter Bay Marina! Boats come and go so it really is a transient population. There are all nationalities and lots of ‘boat’ children. There are two little Finnish girls near us and a little Italian girl, all under 5 years, who sing their hearts out when all is quiet and they think no-one is looking or listening. So sweet!!
Some little Dutch boys saw a barracuda fish swimming around and were trying to catch it, unsuccessfully, with a fishing net.
We’ve had to replace 5 batteries and get them rewired up properly which in this sweltering heat is no joke. The poor man doing the work was absolutely dripping and had to keep coming up for air!
We have seen lots of different birds and butterflies, including a gorgeous blue one which flew across the marina yesterday. It is reputed that there is an alligator living in the jungle and which often swims in the Marina!
We are scheduled to go through the canal on Saturday the 21st. We have to have tyres hung all round for protection from other boats and the lock walls etc. The locks are quite deep so we also need 125ft lines and 4 locals as line-handlers to help out. The boat will be rafted (tied) up to two other boats and the water rushes in and out of the locks very fast. The transit is over the course of two days so we have to park up in Gatun Lake, between the locks, overnight. We have been watching the progress of other boats on
When we went into town we found some smoke rings, to which you set fire, to repel the mosquitos as they are driving us mad. It is almost the rainy season so they seem to be more active than ever. www.pancanal.com. Some really huge freighters go through at the same time.
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