[Rhodes22-list] Cruising Story

[Anne M]

Wow, Listen to this: my friends Larry and Carmen are going through the Panama Canal.
They are aboard a french-built beneteau 44ft center cockpit. They have been cruising for 2.5 yrs.
This will take two and a half days! They lived at my house for two months while they prepped the 
boat. 
Here's the story. 
Anne M
KY Lake


February 20, 2006

Greetings fellow sailors/friends and family, 

On this, the eve of "Water Musik's" transit of the Panama Canal, the captain (El Capitan, as they say here in Panama - Larry really likes to be called El Capitan) and crew are truly excited.  We have said "good bye for now" to the Caribbean Sea and by this time on Thursday "Water Musik" will be getting used to her bottom floating on the Pacific Ocean!  

With wrapped tires supplementing fenders to protect the hull, four 125' mooring lines at the ready, and three friends aboard to help me serve as our four required line handlers, "Water Musik" will be prepared to transit the Panama Canal.  Our Canal Authority advisor is scheduled to board "Water Musik" on the "flats" in Cristobal Harbor at 1900 hours (7:00 p.m. Eastern or 6:00 p.m. Central time).  We will transit the locks rafted up with friends Ray and Marilyn aboard their 32' Bristol named "Horizon", and possibly a tug.  We'll be lifted 85 feet, behind the ship, in the three Gatun Lock chambers before we spend the night tied to a very, very large mooring ball in the fresh water of Lake Gatun.  One lucky deck hand/line handler will jump onto the middle of the "white washed" red ball, obviously a favorite large bird hangout, to secure spring lines.  When "Water Musik" is secured, the advisor will depart on a pilot boat.

If we are lucky, howler monkeys will serve as our wake up call on Thursday morning.  A new advisor will climb aboard at about 0630 and we will motor or motor-sail, depending on the advisor and the timing, 31 miles across the large and scenic Lake Gatun, created by damming the Rio Chagres.  We'll pass through tragically historic Gaillard Cut.  Midday to mid-afternoon we will be lowered through the one-chamber Pedro Miguel locks, cross the mile wide Miraflores Lake and then enter the two-chamber Miraflores Locks.  The ride down will be in front of the ship in the locks.  By late afternoon "Water Musik" will be in the Pacific Ocean.  

There is SO MUCH history that we would love to share with you, but that will have to be reserved for another time.  

If you have the interest and an internet connection, you can watch "Water Musik" lock through Gatun Locks and the Miraflores locks, or watch as she passes under The Bridge of The Americas at Balboa.  Perhaps you'll witness our champagne toast as soon as we pass under the bridge.  Just go to http://www.pancanal.com.  Start by selecting a language, and navigate through Multimedia and Popular Sites to "Live Photos".  The Miraflores web cam works the best.  You need Java on your computer to view the pics.

We plan to ask the camera operator to zoom in on "Water Musik" in the locks as he did for "The Wombat of Sidney", the yacht we transited with a few weeks ago as line handlers.  If you feel really ambitious, use your Prnt Scrn (Print Screen) button.  Press the button, then cut, paste and save the image of the page for us in a Word file.  (Be sure you have the whole picture showing on your screen because any part of the web page not showing on your screen will not be included in the new file.  We would love to be able to have a photo like that!

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Carmen & Larry
Aboard Water Musik
Cristobal Harbor, Colon, Panama