We got to Panama to be greeted by a huge supply of Clos red wine and a curry (made by Sym). Alex was happy because he had been saying how much he missed Ashoka!
The next day we got the boat ready to go through the canal and met Lowri and Annina ( a couple from Finland who were also going to help line handling).
The reason they were sailing the boat through the canal was because someone in Costa Rica had bought the boat and they were delivering it to him. Amy just had one last check of her emails before we left the harbour. She had an email from Costa Rica saying that the guy didn't want the boat anymore! We were 10 minutes away from leaving, they had paid out of their own money to go through the canal, they had sprayed the boat white on his request..they were absolutely gutted.
Boats are much easier to sell on the Carribean side so there was no way we were going through the canal on Quartermoon. The day was spent trying to get hold of the guy and drowning sorrows with Gin and Tonic..lots of Gin and Tonic.
Before the day was over they had already arranged for someone who was desperate to buy the boat to come out and view it in Panama..so at least the hope of selling it was still there.
Lowri and Anina were going through the canal on their boat 'Alissa' in a few days time so luckily for us we were still able to do the canal with Amy and Sym.
For the next few days we sailed to nearby Chagras River, where we had been told we would see crocodiles. The boys were on a serious crocodile hunt but we didnt end up seeing any.
The nighttime crocodile hunt...so creepy!
After a long wait we were starting the Panama Canal. A pilot comes on board the boat to advise everyone how to do things and starts telling horror stories about peoples boats getting smashed up when things go wrong in the Canal! Funnily enough, our line handling jobs were taken more seriously after that!
The first lock we were in with a 500ft cargo ship..the crew were watching us struggle and stress while their boat was controlled by machines..no pressure!
It takes two days to go through the canal so half way through we spent the night at Lake Gatun and got a lot more drunk than planned!
The second day was a lot easier, we passed a massive cruise ship..the ship is actually design to be the maximum size to go through the canal.
Annina made a video of us going through the Canal
- Click here to see it
The week had gone really fast and it was time to us to fly back to Peru we said goodbye to Amy and Sym who were going back to meet the potential buyers (they sold their boat the next day!)
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