We arrived into Shelter Bay Marina at the entrance to the Panama Canal and who did we find but our good friends from Spirit of Argo; Cain, April and “our dog” Quinn. OK everyone around here has adopted Quinn and why not, look at this face. Life is tough.

April & Cain have been running the sail loft and are doing a great job of helping out cruisers that need work done in a short period of time. Thanks guys for good times yet again and of course our new water catcher. 😉

As with any marina it’s the people that make it a fun place.
April has water aerobics every day to whip us all into shape for the upcoming sailing season. The pool is definitely a bonus after working hard all day.

The nights while we were here were full with all sorts of social events incl games night, BBQs, movie nights etc. Even caught up with our friends from Guatemala; Brian & Sue from SeaRose and Stu & Steph from Matador.

Steph, Sue, Vicki, April, Manuela

Cain, Malcolm, Brett, Stu, Brian

Had a couple of great jam sessions at the Marina and lots of musical talent came out to join in. Was awesome. 

Our neighbor, Wakeem has a vehicle and took us out to San Lorenzo Fort past the Marina. It was built in the 16 Century to overlook the mouth of the Rio Chagres, which was used for commerce. The fort was taken by many pirates including Henry Morgan because it had excellent views of approaching ships.

On the side of the road we spotted a couple of gatosolo’s, similar to raccoons.

Well alas it’s not all play we had a few jobs to sort, including major provisioning for our pacific crossing. Our poor boat has lost its water line with food and alcohol but at least she’s looking shiny now and everything is in order.

Polishing the boat while in the water is difficult but it’s now done, yeah!

Yachts transiting the Panama Canal are invited to leave behind a memorial or lucky talisman of their boat on the outside walls of the Sail loft, so my artistic skills went to work. Here’s our image setting us off from the Caribbean with good luck for our Pacific adventure. We are ready for our canal transit with some friends who are joining us to do the transit as line handlers.

Our good friends Tim & Kathy from Calgary came to visit us in Panama on the way to a conference in Miami. We had a great time showing them the city and seeing a few of the sights.

out at the MiraFlores Lock

Our hotel had amazing views

Given our upcoming transit through the canal it was great visiting the MiraFlores Locks Panama Canal and watching the large ships come into the lock and slowly lower as the water empties from the lock for the boat to transit through to the Pacific Ocean.

Walking along Balboa Ave the tide was out so we looked down at a very muddy yacht club. Won’t be going to this Marina when we get to the Pacific. It definitely makes you think about how extreme the tides are in the Pacific.

Interesting color of water at this fountain

The seafood market on Balboa Ave is a great place to get fresh fish and have a cheap seafood meal in the various restaurants. A busy place. You name it there are booths selling it; octopus, fish, shrimp,crab, lobster etc.
Casco Antiguo is always good to wander around and see the old buildings that have been renovated and go inside some of the churches.

Panamá Viejo is the ruins from old Panama City built in the 16 century and is actually in reasonable shape with an old cathedral that you can climb to see the views.

Plenty of socializing and catching up of course in various places in the City as you do.

Beer tasting at La Rana Brewhouse

The dancers at Las Tinajas restaurant

Even took them out to see the boat at Shelter Bay, Colon via the Panama Canal Railway, which links the Pacific Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean parallel to the Panama Canal.
Once out at the boat Brett had Tim working on a few jobs. It was hot and sticky so they got to experience the heat and need for a cool down via a swim.
So after a few big nights out, sore heads from mixing our drinks we bid them farewell until another time, hopefully in the Pacific somewhere. Thanks for coming to visit.