I had previously posted parts of a mate's e-mails received during his
single handed circumnavigation. He is now in Panama after transiting
the canal and writes as follows:

Well, I have crossed thru the Panama Canal and am now in the Pacific
Ocean at last. Actually made acceptable time, one week waiting for a
booking and two days to get thru. And now bandit country ruled by
thugs is behind me now. With the actual canal crossing fees of about
1350 plus some crew costs and that marina, I got away with about USD
2,200. But it was an act of gimmie, gimmie and if you don't like it,
go around Cape Horn. Be good when the Arctic gets melted enough so
ships can go that route.

I left the marina on Monday at 1100 hours with two Panamanian line
handlers and two Canadian tourist line handlers, anchored near the
first set of locks, had a pilot come on board, who are now called
"advisors" for CYA purposes at 1430 hrs and we went thru the three
locks up about 85 feet total tied together with another catamaran a
little bigger than me. We sort of ran our engines and steered together
quite well. I even got to practice some French with that captain. Then
we tied to a buoy in that lake and stayed over nite. At 0600, another
advisor came on board and we traveled thru the lake, tied up against
the same cat and went thru the 2nd set of three locks and down about
85 feet again. On the Atlantic side, there is virtually no tide but on
the Pacific side, there is about 15 feet average range. That canal was
brilliantly engineered and runs very well. But I guess after 100 years
of nice smooth management, it will go to **** sooner or later with
these "banditos" are now in-charge.

Saw a lot of interesting things on that man-made lake. Saw Noriago's
"house arrest" villa near the canal, saw the ex-Al Capone luxury motor
yacht now being used as a tourist thing in the canal, saw small
drilling barges that drill the explosive charge holes as they widen
and deepen different areas plus a lot of dredging barges.

Then we split and I was met with a canal tug who took the advisor
away. I motored into Balboa and got rid of the line handlers, tire
fenders and mooring lines. There was no place to anchor or moor and
the actual yacht marina buildings have been already burned down some
time ago. I went a little further alone and anchored near Flamingo
Island to clean and straighten up the boat. It was a rough rolling
place with small launches speeding every which way. My boat was a real
mess. Toilet blocked. Plastic mineral water bottles strewn anywhere.
Food droppings all over the place. Boat smelled like ****. Also, that
beautiful island is perfectly downwind of Panama City's landfill and
they were burning at the time so that also stunk of plastic & rubber
burning mingled with black ash. I slept a few hours and left at day
break.

At the time of this writing, I am about 25 miles south of Panama City
motor sailing. Hope to get some wind once I get pretty much out of the
Gulf of Panama and away from land.

Damn glad to be out at sea again!

--
Cheers,

Bruce