Mama and I flew into Panama City on the night of February 27 and met up with Michael and Tom the next evening. We had a hotel room downtown, but moved nearer Playita, where Sea Venture lay at anchor. In the above picture, Brisa, southerly winds grew whitecaps.
Birdsong woke us and lulled us to sleep. I’ve never heard such sounds. 
Mama loved her balcony and the hotel breakfasts, the birds and her view of the water and the city. But soon it was time to move on board. Tom flew home to NC to tend to business, and Michael, Mama, and I waited for Carnival to end and our trip through the canal to begin. Who knew Carnival in Panama happened in March? We’d celebrated in mid-February when we were in Mazaltan and tried to shut out the noise of it in Guaymas last year.
To familiarize ourselves with the lock system, we visited the Miraflores Lock Museum and watched a cruise ship pass through toward the Pacific, using trains instead of line handlers.
Taxi-driver Federico guided Michael through the complicated process of checking into the country, checking into the Canal Zone, getting a cruising permit, meeting with the inspector (taking him to lunch instead of to the boat…), visiting the admeasurer’s office and setting up an appointment to have Sea Venture measured (it had been too many years since she’d last crossed Panama for us to bypass this requirement), and then scheduling her transit date.
The admeasurer couldn’t visit SV until Wednesday, March 9. Carnival, you see. And then Michael had to pay the transit fees in cash. You don’t want to know what that cost. And then we had a date. Friday, March 18. March 18? When we’d been told on the 28th that it only took three to four days from arrival to departure? Well, we could hang around the anchorage and call the office every day, but they had a shortage of advisors. Sorry. Hand-line boats must have an advisor, unless, of course, we wanted to pay $2800 for a pilot. Thank you, no.
We phoned the scheduling office every day. Finally, on Saturday, March 12, the gentleman at the other end of the line said we could go through on Tuesday, March 15. Glory!
Federico brought the plastic-covered tires, eight for each side. Michael tied them on. Federico brought the lines, four required, 125′ each. Michael measured these; they were too short. Federico replaced them.
While we waited, we enjoyed the scenery. Mama was fascinated by the big ships, dozens anchored waiting for their turn. We watched ships come and go, all day and all night.
Michael and Federico checked Sea Venture and crew out of Panama City, supposedly to the San Blas Islands. Supposedly…sigh. And we shopped for goodies for the trip.
On the morning of the 15th, we rose early, because we had to have Sea Venture next to sea buoy six by 6 AM to meet our advisor. Michael took the dinghy to the Playita dock, met Federico and three of his sons who would serve as our line handlers, and hurried back to secure the dinghy motor and the dinghy on board. We motored to buoy six and prepared to wait. The day before we had watched La Rochelle (see sloop in last picture above) as they waited for their advisor from six in the morning until close to ten thirty.
Enrique Robinson showed up at just after 7 AM. By 8:30 we were at the Miraflores Lock waiting for the big ship that was to proceed us to get settled in the lock. I had fixed scrambled eggs and muffins along with strong coffee for the men. They were ready for action.
