Panama City

Akimbo and i have been on a mooring buoy here in Balboa about a week. Our new neighborhood is right next to the channel into the Panama Canal, so we see a lot of very big traffic comin' thru. Imagine lookin' out your front door and seein' nothin' but big semi trucks goin' by. Then think much bigger! Like watching a city block go by.

I got Akimbo hauled out Wednesday, took the rudder out and resecured the lower bearing. The problem wasn't a serious one, but now i can be confident in the system. Replaced zincs while i was at it. In the meantime i caught the "coop saca" bus into town for a quarter each way. Also rode my bike around some. A cruiser's site recommended a cabbie i could hire by the hour and not haggle with. He ran me around for errands and parts a few days.

This city is HUGE, and very vertical. So i've only seen a little of it. It's a bit of an urban shock for me anyway at this point. I'm sure there are museums and galleries i'm missing, a commercial on TV says Broadway show "Stomp" is coming (would like to see that), etc... A real highlight is the tribal artwork, housed in what was the YMCA.

One thing i've learned is that this city if FULL of Barce fans. Talkin' soccer here. Been fun to watch a few games up at the Balboa Yacht Club at the top of the dock. Ever the clothes horse that i am, i looked in Tyler's locker to see if he left any jerseys behind, but he didn't.

Transitting the canal did not impress me until now. I didn't understand my uncle's particular interest to crew for it. Still i suggested he invite my cousins to join us. Jessica had expressed interest too but uncle Don had first dibs...and then our calendars didn't match up. Now i will hire line handlers instead - it would be so much more fun with friends! Akimbo has now been measured by the Canal Authority and been assigned a number that her future owners will inherit with her. So she won't have to be measured again, and they'll know her if she ever returns. The closer i get to the transit (tomorrow?) the more it becomes a "big damn deal" and i look forward to the experience. I'll take lots of photos.

I think the Caribbean will feel dramatically different...when i get there. Like we've made some sort of quantum leap. Guess we will have, over a continental divide. One thing will be nice is not having to allow for twenty foot tides when i anchor. That means i won't have to use so much anchor chain that i get out to the rusty section. Whew!

A dear friend recently wrote that this journey i'm on is important and necessary but that my community missed me. I wrote back first that i am so glad i am missed. It's mutual. But that i don't know if it's important and necessary. I just didn't know what else to do. The opportunity presented itself...and i HAD to go for it. Really go for it. If i hadn't i would have always wondered. I'm glad that i won't have to wonder anymore. Still it took and takes all my courage. I deeply appreciate the privilege at the same time that i'll be glad when it's done. Kinda like life to me now. Of course now that i'm on this journey it takes on a life of its own. And it's bigger than me. I'm "out there" sure enuf and can't quit now if i'm gonna find any way "back." My mission is to sail as safely as i can, stay alive, be very present and enjoy every step of that way back as much as i possibly can.

I feel your presence with me, and hope you feel mine with you (especially when we write). Thank you.