No update for a while… because we’ve simply been having too much fun!

We first stopped in Portobello for a night before making our way to Shelter Bay Marina to organise our transit through the Panama Canal. We were lucky enough to get exactly the date I had hoped for — the 6th of February — which gave us plenty of time to explore Shelter Bay, prepare for the Pacific (read: epic provisioning marathon), and even squeeze in two nights in Panama City.

And what a ride it’s been already: howler monkeys providing the morning soundtrack in Shelter Bay, coatis casually hanging out by the roadside (and me briefly considering one as a pet on Akuna — needless to say dreams were crushed), and Panama City – a place so full of vibrant contrasts it almost feels like sensory overload in the best possible way. And then there’s the Panama Canal itself — an engineering marvel that defines this country like nothing else.

The bus ride to Panama City with the boys deserves a special mention. It became memorable for three reasons. First, the taxi driver who dropped us at the central bus station in Colón told us to “take care” and waved goodbye in a way that suggested our survival was… not guaranteed. Second, I have never had music blasted into my ears at such volume, for such a long time — which led me to develop a brand-new life theory: Latin Americans are so relaxed around loud children because they’ve been acoustically trained from birth. And third, we were mildly concerned about hypothermia, as the air-conditioning appeared to be set somewhere around “Antarctic research station.”

Mark had his own Panama City adventure, line-handling for our friends on Salty Rascal, who started their canal transit on the 31st of January. Their night in Lake Gatun came with unusually strong winds, which — when combined with the wake of passing ships — turned the mooring buoy into something of a rodeo ride.

All in all, our little taste of land life has been the perfect warm-up before canal day tomorrow — and excitement levels are officially high!

The plan: tomorrow at 15:30 local time, we take on the (mandatory) adviser, transit the Atlantic locks, and spend the night in Lake Gatun. The following morning, a new adviser boards to guide us through the final three locks into the Pacific. With a bit of luck, we’ll arrive safe, sound, and still smiling by late afternoon or early evening.

And if you happen to be wide awake at odd hours, feel free to check out the Panama Canal webcams… you might just see us cruising by!