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 We are ready! It is time to say goodbye
to the Panama Yacht Club and head for the anchorage at the 'flats'.
The marina was basic but comfortable and had the uncanny ability
accommodate cruisers looking for a slip. The restaurant and bar were great as
the booze was cheap and the food was good. However, the incinerator was
close by so we often got black goop on the boat each morning.
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 Moony is ready decorated with her tires, fenders, and
brave crew. Wolfgang and Bob worked the long 1" lines so that they
would not bind during the line handling. Now we know why Wolfgang
carries those two big spools of rope around. The trip to the 'flats'
took about 10 minutes but we were worried. The day before Wolfgang,
Bob, and Ann took the dinghy to the 'flats' and had to avoid a sunken
sailboat. Today there was no sign of the boat and we did not remember
its location. No bumps. That is a good thing.
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 We had to anchor to wait for the
adviser and also to wait for our last linesman, Ike. He was the skipper
of a British boat (sorry, but I forgot the name) and volunteered to help
us transit the Canal. He arrived about 5 minutes after we dropped
the hook. We had met Ike a couple of times at the restaurant and he
seemed like a nice guy. He would go through the Canal in a couple of
weeks so this transit would be good practice.
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 Here comes the Adviser! The pilot boat is more accustomed
to transfer pilots on large vessels so we were a bit concerned that they
might bump into us. No worries. The boats didn't even touch. Not
bad. Denise and Ann were down below cooking for Moony's large crew
which had now grown to 6. Quite a few for a 37' sailing vessel.
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 We were lucky. Our Adviser,
Orlando, was experienced with small vessels and commanded respect from his
peers. Our transit through the Gatun locks was scheduled for 1900, then
2000, then 1940. Finally we were directed to head for the first
chamber. A small freighter, a 70' ketch, and Moony rafted with a 40'
Hunter named Compass Rose. 'Our' freighter was having problems and
requested a second tug so we had to heave to . The freighter behind us
was not happy and was getting closer and closer. He finally blasted the
danger signal at us. It appeared we were going to be the 'meat' in a
ship sandwich.. Orlando became annoyed and directed the other freighter
to stop headway and wiat his turn. It worked.
Sadly, we have no pictures of the locking as it was very dark while we
transited the three chambers. A little 'oops' by Bob was quickly
corrected by more manpower on the line. The 70' ketch was also
struggling. An of course, it started to rain a lot. After the first
'oops', everything went like clockwork. We left the Gatun locks around
2130 and headed for the mooring balls for small vessels. When we
arrived, we found the mooring to be 8' in diameter. We were directed to
tie the springs to the mooring and tie the bows and sterns of the boats
together. Actually worked pretty well.
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