Hello it is Tuesday the 30th of March. Our position is N02 02 00 W 85 20
22 and it is 1900 local time.

The last two nights were very different as on Sunday we had a big moon and
calm seas where as Monday night it was rain wind and thunder and
lightning. So we had a good night sleeping on Sunday and not so much last
night. Today had been calm with dolphins around the boat and this evening
we are sailing again with the winds out of the south east. Marian has the
first rest period for five hours starting at 2000 until 0100 then I am off
watch until 0600. This way we both get a good sleep and then we have a
rest during the day. The view changes all the time with different cloud
formations and colours of the water. Some would say boring but we find it
very relaxing and serene. We may make it into Wreck Bay by Thursday
evening but it will depend on the winds.

Note: Lindsay here posting for David and Marian, hope this works! Here are their further adventures. Enjoy.

Hello from the Pacific position N05 00 and W81 43. We finally have left
Panama after days of provisioning the boat and fixing odds and ends. It
was and still is very hot. Doing all the work up masts and shopping was
all the more difficult in the heat. (mid to high 30's) Anyway the boat now
floats a couple of inches lower with all the food and beverages we put on
board. With beer being 9.50 for 24 we have a good supply. Even Marian
likes a cold one in this weather!

We left Panama city on the 19th for the Las Perlas islands which were
wonderful. Beautiful beaches of white sand on a multitude of islands and
islets and no one anywhere near. We spent a week there and enjoyed the
company of Sea Mist who we are travelling with us right now.

On Saturday the 27th, Nevan's 35th birthday, We pulled up anchor at 0530 and
headed off for the Galapagos islands some thousand miles away. All of
Saturday and until early this afternoon we have had good winds and have
moved a couple of hundred miles closer to our destination. Now we are
just entering the ITCZ which is the inter-tropical convergence zone better
know as the doldrums where the winds are minimal and the weather is
unpredictable. We hope to be through this area by tomorrow evening and
start to pick up the SE trade winds. It is great to be back on the ocean.

Hello everyone from the Las Perlas islands. These islands are 50 miles off the Panamian coast and are just beautiful!! White sand beaches with not a person around and no boats. We are with Sea Mist and enjoying some quiet down time. We have just applied for our permits in the Galapagos and will probably be here for another week waiting for some friendly winds so we will not have to motor all the way. This is no be problem as it is gorgeous. We have just sailed up to the only internet place which is where they filmed survivor so not too bad. Having a beer and catching up on the emails. I will be trying to send an update to the blog via our daughter in law Lindsay via our new Iridium email service. Hope it works.

Well we are in the Pacific in Panama City. The trip through the Canal was wonderful. First we left the marina on Thursday and went up the Chagras river six miles to the dam which holds the waters for Gatun lake. The trip up the river was like being in Disneyland but much, much better. It is a true tropical rain forest and the river has alligators and tarpon in the waters. There are parrots and so many other screeching birds with a multitude of colours in the trees. There are two type of monkeys the little ones jump great distances in the tree tops and the others are called howler monkeys and do they howl. After spending a quiet and calm night it was time to go back to the marina at Shelter Bay and pick up our line handlers, (four extra crew). After leaving our anchorage we sailed down the calm river only to find the entrance, which is guarded by Fort Lorenzo, to have two to three meter breaking waves coming over the bar. It was an interesting ride out with us showing depths of only two meters at times. It is very interesting to be going uphill in a sail boat!!

Leaving the marina we went over to an area called the flats which is just off Colon to wait for our advisor to arrive. Once we had him on board we went up to the entrance of the Gatun locks and rafted with two other sail boats with us in the middle. Then it was into the first lock behind a huge freighter and up we went. There are three locks here and it took just over an hour to get through into the lake. Once there we unrafted the boats and went to a couple of big mooring buoys to tie up for the night. It was a quiet night with a couple of rain showers and we were all ready to go at six in the morning when another advisor arrived to complete the passage. We were away by six thirty and motored twenty five miles to the next lock at San Miguel. The lake is beautiful and makes me think of China with all its small islands and remote jungle. Having read the history of the Canal make it even more amazing. It is hard to believe that men could have made this Canal with all the heat and diseases of their day. They did manage to defeat yellow fever and to some degree malaria but they must have been a tough bunch. At the lock we rafted this time with just one other boat and went down the first lock then together thru a small lake to the Mira Flores locks (two). When in the lock you can ask the Canal keeper to train the camera on you which we did. We called our children and they all saw us going thru and down the locks. Then it was into the Pacific Ocean where we are anchored with a number or yachts which are all provisioning and waiting for weather to go to the Galapagos Islands.