Shelter Bay and Colon

We arrived at Shelter Bay Marina a few weeks ahead of schedule in January 2017.  Although we planned to return to the San Blas for a couple more weeks, our Panama Canal agent advised us to come to Colon as early as possible because the schedule was filling fast.  Before a boat can be placed on the transit schedule, it must be measured by a canal official and that can only be done in Colon.  We were hoping to transit in early February, so decided to follow his advice.  Once we were measured, he secured a transit date of February 8, 2017.  With less than a month to go, we had a lot to do: provision, schedule a brief haul-out for bottom cleaning, prepare the boat for the canal transit and for the Pacific crossing, get Galapagos entry paperwork in order, find line handlers for the transit, have our mail forwarded to the marina, and of course continue boat school.

It was a beautiful day as we approached the entrance to the Panama Canal zone

There was a lot more traffic than we'd been used to elsewhere in the Caribbean!

Counting Stars' Panama Canal transit commemorated on the sail loft wall