Waiting for the Canal

The blog editor continues to confound me. The photos should be in a different order etc.
Frustrating.  I swear it is not the whiskey.

 

We crossed over the isthmus by road to Panama City in search of parts and supplies.

 

Nevertheless it was a social time at Shelter Bay.

 

 We wait for parts to arrive from the USA and to be measured because our length governs how much we pay to transit the canal.  Here the restaurant, pool and hotel.

 

It

The marina is surrounded by jungle teeming with wild life. We walk each morning to see monkeys, and strange critters the like of which are not easily described. Tapirs, pigs, parrots. Someone reported seeing a jaguar [not the motorised version]. And the marina has resident alligators, tho we haven`t seen any.

The jungle has long ago reclaimed the original defensive fortifications built when the canal opened 100 years ago.



 

 

 

 The bar and pool. Says it all!

 

 

filling jerry cans from the fuel barge

Refitting winches



These unusual birds nest attached to palm fronds

 



 

Morning walking territory

The bus to town has to cross the canal and we often have to wait for ships.

 



This container ship paid $400,000 to transit the canal.

 

 



There are no pumps involved in filling/emptying the locks and it all depends on natural rainfall in the lake above the locks. 

Apparently the last wet season was not too wet and the lake is a bit dry, so there is some concern about water wastage when the gates open and spill water into the sea.

 





Refitting cockpit winches; just one of the many chores before we head off across the Pacific.