In the queue for the Panama Canal

After the unspoiled delights of the San Blas islands it was quite a culture shock to sail towards Colon and see dozens of large ships anchored, waiting for their Canal transits. We threaded our way between them and arrived at Shelter Bay Marina on Thursday afternoon to start our own period of waiting.

The marina is in an old US Army base and is surrounded by jungle (we can hear the monkeys at night). The marina itself is pretty good, with a restaurant, mini-market and even a gym but around it are the decaying remains of the old base and it's a long taxi ride into Colon for shopping. We met our Agent, Erick, yesterday and he thinks it'll be about 9 days before we get our slot to get through the canal (it takes 2 days to complete the transit) so we have plenty of time to meet people and get the boat prepared. It's really hot and humid so Maunie has all her sun awnings rigged, together with a 'windscoop' which is like a little spinnaker set over the forward hatch to encourage airflow into the cabin.