By bye Panama and his buildings for rich people, by bye our faithful pelicans, the long way for Easter island is waiting for us. We will be surprised by the Pacific, huge salted desert, the encounters are uncommon, a brown boby, a coryphena, no ships…We will have to tack, then sailing reaching for 3 weeks, but the award is here : a short call in Anakena bay, less than 24 hours, just the time the wind shift and get us out of here. Just the time to admire the moaïs who emit such energy, almost frightening, just the time to admire the horses flocks feeding on, free. Not enough time, but we will come back, one day, Easter is on the road for Chile…

This time, which is unusual, we have been helped by reporters : Thanks to Emilie, Stéphane, Alain, for having followed us, taken pictures, tracked us….
Sunday february 26th we sail from Shelter Bay Marina to the waiting area, the”Flats”, with 3 handliners, as we need 4 crews plus the Captain, 4 lines of 125 feet long and 7/8 thickness, extra fenders and an inspection whose result will be two cleats more at the aft and a mesured length of 55 feet….At 4 PM the advisor Roy (Pilot) embark and we start for the first Gatun lock, admiring when passing by the huge gates which will equip the new locks. We follow a merchant ship, the “Polarstream” who will pass the locks with us. At 6 PM we have been through the 3 locks without any problem and we are rewarded with staying for the night in the Gatun lake, moored at a buoy. Our handliners take the oportunity to take a bath but for ourselves we stay on board as we are feared by the crocodiles (in fact we have seen only some before entering the locks, on the ridge).

Monday morning the howler monkeys wake us and at 6.45 AM, Pilot on bord ( Hector). Crossing the Gatun lake is long, 34 nautical miles, as the shortcut, the “Banana cut” is closed. It’s a pity for here the nature is pristine, but we have to follow the channel, dredged at 35 feet. At 12.45 we enter Pedro Miguel lock, with two other sailing boats, tied together and closely followed by a bulkcarier, the “Saga Wave”, hauled by his 8 “mules”. Then we go through the Miraflores locks and at 3.30 PM “Skoiern” is sailing for the first time in the Pacific waters !
It was two difficult days, with much attention but we were well prepared and our crew and pilot were real “pros” . The Panama Canal is an extraordinary execution in the technical aspect, very well managed and maintained, and we had a thought for the 20 000 workers who died here during the first attempt of Ferdinand de Lesseps.

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Now we leave Grenada, heading West, chasing the sun… A good wind from the back push us and it will soon become strong when passing the Columbian coasts. We will then apreciate more the calm of the San Blas islands. Stunning islands, ambassadors of the Polynesian atolls, covered by coconut palms, at only one or two feet from the sea level. Here only live the Kunas indians. It’s their country, snatched by a long fight against the invaders, even the most recent ones. The Western civilisation is only slowly coming in, the women keep their traditional dress, their “molas” are hand sewed, they row their “ulus” as well as the men. They know that the rising of the sea level threat them, and they are already prepared to establish themself on land. A little bit further, at midway to Colon, Portobelo : In the bay you could think that you are still at the time of the galleons full of gold, on land the spanish ruins faces the multicolored buses of Panama, the San Felipe Chuch is the home of the Black Christ, venered in all central America, the vultures soar in the sky and you can feel the poverty.

Before exploring the Pacifc ocean we need a clean hull and we make a big washing to our Skoiern, under the palmtrees in Shelter bay Marina, just in front of Colon. The woods nearby also attracted us. It’s hot, and siesta time ….

And now, the Canal !

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Entering Tobago we come into the Carib’s world, where history laids his traces, perhaps more than anywhere else : the slavery, the economic domination. You can feel the leadership of USA, Canada, and others, it ‘s no longer the hispanic Europe of latin America but it’s also the reegae and rastas kingdom !
We staied almost two months in Charlotteville, Tobago, until the customs asked us to sail away, as our pets were not allowed. It’s a pity, we loved this small and quiet village, the lush forest were everything is growing, avocados, bananas, cocoa, the animals, squirels, birds, the bay flied over with pelicans, frigates and brown bobies, the so welcoming people, always in a good mood, the fishermen and their lobsters….
Anyway, Grenada was’nt far away. Here in Prickly bay we could have the best treatements in the caribs for the dog Dick, in St Georges University, get new glasses for the captain, receive our new main sail, and, last but not least, visit the oldest rhum distilery in the island (beware, this a 70° proof alcool !), the cocoa plantations and taste the best chocolate in the world. The island is so beautiful than she deserve well her name of “Spice island”.
After Christmas we will head to the San Blas islands and Panama and soon realy soon, the Pacific !