Category Archives: Location

Categories by location. A general catch all for anything involving a certain area.

The Howler Monkeys and Gatun Bridge

Posted on by
Reply

On the morning of Wednesday, February 22, we went for another walk along the loop to the old officer’s housing. As we got closer to the abandoned barracks, we could hear the howler monkeys screaming, which sounded otherworldly. We found them near the entrance to the barracks. 

When we first walked up, the monkeys went silent and stopped moving. After a couple minutes of watching us watching them, a few of them resumed moving around through the trees. After a few more minutes, they started screaming again, and many more moved around. At the end of the video, Eric zoomed in on the monkeys, and you can see how small the monkeys are. It’s hard to believe such small creatures can make such loud, scary sounds. 

Continue reading →

Underwater Rescue

Posted on by
Reply

Dawn on Tuesday, January 21

We began the day with a minor crisis. Christi’s normal routine is to make a cup of coffee, grab some rags, and go out on deck. She wipes down the exterior of the boat while watching the sunrise and drinking her coffee. She normally finishes her coffee while she’s outside.

Today, for some unknown reason, Christi didn’t drink her coffee. When she went to open the starboard pilot house door to go inside after the sunrise, she had her phone and the rags in one hand and the full cup of coffee in the other. She needed a hand to open the door, so she gingerly transferred the coffee to the hand with the phone and rags — and lost her grip on the phone. The phone dropped onto the walkway and slid into the water! 

Continue reading →

Exploring the Jungle/Ruins of Ft. Sherman

Posted on by
1

Sunrise on Monday, January 20, taken from Mike and Kim’s hotel room:

Shelter Marina Bay is situated on the western side of the Panama Canal in what used to be an American military base called Fort Sherman. The City of Colon is on the eastern side of the canal. 

Fort Sherman was constructed in 1911 to be the primary defensive base for the Caribbean sector of the Canal. It was 23,100 acres (93 km2). Only about half of the land was developed; the other half remained jungle. Ft. Sherman was one of the primary military training centers for jungle combat training, particularly during the Vietnam era. It was abandoned in December 1999 along with all the other American military bases in Panama. The Panamanian government turned the undeveloped jungle into the San Lorenzo National Park and deemed the developed portions as protected lands. 

On Monday morning we were all up early to go for a walk in the jungle to see some of the ruins from the Ft. Sherman days, and hopefully, some jungle animals. As we were getting ready to go, our friend Teal stopped by to welcome us to the marina. It was wonderful to see him again!

Just outside the entrance to the marina, there was a fork with three roads. We took the road to the right, which we knew would lead us to what used to be the officer’s housing. 

Continue reading →

Keith’s Perspective on the Panama Canal Transit / Le point de vue de Keith sur le transit du canal de Panama

Posted on by
3

The Panama Canal crossing was very tiring. We woke up at around 3:00 in the morning. Our friends arrived soon after. We left the marina at 4:00 to pick up the advisors. I went back to sleep, so I don’t know when they got on board. 

Bridge of the Americas

La traversé du canal de panama était très fatigante. Je me suis levé vers 3:00 du matin. Nos amis sont arrivés juste après. Nous sommes partis de la marina à 4:00 pour chercher les conseillers. J’ai re-dormi, donc je ne sais pas quand il sont arrivés sur le bateau. 

Pulling into the lock to tie up to the wall

Mom woke me up for the first lock. I didn’t have to do anything because we were rafting with another boat, so I just watched.

Continue reading →

Panama Canal Transit Part 5: Finishing the Transit

Posted on by
Reply

continued… It was exhilarating when the last Gatun lock doors opened into the Caribbean Sea. We did it! And with no damage to the boat and no injuries! Woo hoo!

We quickly untied and drove forward into the northern portion of the canal, which was located in the protected waters of Bahia Limon (note, we can’t edit the really old posts, so we want to note that the proper translation for limon is lime, not lemon). While we were in the locks, we’d been mostly protected from the wind, so when we emerged, we were a little surprised about how windy it was. Even in the protected bay, there were whitecaps.

Shortly beyond the locks was the Gatun Bridge, which hadn’t existed when we’d gone through the canal fifteen-years ago.

Brianna and Keith near the Gatun Bridge
Brianna and Kim taking a selfie near the Gatun Bridge
Continue reading →