Panamania!

Greetings from mainland Panama!

Today we sailed from Isle Grande to Portobelo, Panama. We originally pulled into port here because we needed a repair on our main sail, and were happy to find a nice little town in the harbor. I was even more excited to find a small bar/restaurant run by Captain Jack from New Jersey. After a successful run with a chemical company, Jack bought, Fantasy, his 45 ft sailboat and cruised the world, finally settling in Panama. He has provided cruisers with everything from food and internet to parts and hotel rooms and is a lifesaver. Our new friend Manuel is repairing the sail tomorrow and will hopefully have it back in the afternoon. We will spend another night here tomorrow and then complete the Caribbean part of our trip in Shelter Bay Marina. This is the last stop before the canal transit. There is a live feed for the locks of the canal which you will be able to see here: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html
Right now it looks like the oysters will starting transiting through on the 16th through the 19th. When we know our date for sure I will update so you can watch the chaos as a dozen Oysters are crammed into the locks together. Should make for an interesting few days. We will use our time in Shelter Bay to make some small repairs and get the necessary provisions for the next month or so, since we are not banking on being able to resupply in the Galapagos.
I will update from Shelter Bay as soon as we get a definite on our dates, so check back in a few days.

A big hug to the Rich family for all you guys are going through, my thoughts are with you guys.