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Aretha - Next Stop. Panama Canal



Whistle Stop update.

Yesterday was spent in Porvenir - another stunningly beautiful San Blas Island with an airstrip. You have to walk across the runway to get to the shop which sells beer, pepsi, water and crisps. No health and safety - just check in the sky that no planes are landing or taking off! The afternoon spent with a few beers with Makena’s crew (Makena is a brand new 62 foot Cat - just huge) and Pentagram followed by supper on Makena.

Today was a 50 mile sail to Portobello. Packed with history - this is the port the Spanish used to ship gold and silver from S America back to Seville. There is an old fort here, Sir Francis Drake has history here too which we will discover shortly.

Fish going nuts jumping all around us.

Off to explore ashore now before heading to Shelter Bay tomorrow to get measured up for the Panama crossing…which neatly leads me into the next part….my sister Pippa is getting set to depart the UK to join us for the crossing…so ..in her own words…here’s her preparations ….

Pippa’s Blog - Part 1

It is less than 45 hours before I leave for Panama to join Caspar and Nicola on Aretha to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific via three sets of lock gates and a crocodile infested Gatun Lake. I can’t wait. Of all the exciting places that Aretha will visit on her circumnavigation, I think the Panama Canal is perhaps the most exciting because it’s not a trip that is easily replicated. We will be travelling through these huge locks (305m in length and 33.5m wide) on a 52ft yacht and there will be ships built to fill these locks travelling ahead of us.

The first night is spent in Gatun Lake where we will be woken by the sounds of howler monkeys and probably mosquitos. The local practice nurse assures me that the biting mosquitos in Panama are not restricted to dusk and apparently different varieties carrying different diseases will be attentive throughout the day. Malaria at night, yellow fever in the day and at another four gems that I’d rather not think about at varying points on the suns path. In the midst of my jabs, I was offered a course of three injections against rabies (I declined and will take my chances against vampire bats by not sleeping on the deck) and parted company with the medical professional questioning my choice of holiday destination.

My ‘silk’sleeping bag liner arrived yesterday and on first glance looked perfect for the trip, however on further inspection, I note a statement on the packet. ‘No silk worms have been harmed in making this product’ ... wonderfully small print and invisible when I looked at the description on Amazon ... I have inadvertently purchased an acrylic liner ... what a choice for the tropics!

My bag is full of yacht parts, winch feeder arms, other boxes I’ve yet to unpack and something that is apparently the size of three baked bean cans which is yet to arrive. I’m slightly nervous about clearing three sets of customs with industrial looking pieces of metal in my bag having had mascara confiscated in the past.

Must dash ... need to book travel / health insurance and subject my arm to further assault in the form of a yellow fever vaccination.

Pippa


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