About 0500 the advisor was on board and we lifted the hook and moves towards Gatun lock.

When the advisor came on board, we had winds of 5 – 6 Bft and waves of about 0.5 m. Under these conditions the pilot boat had to come so close that the advisor could step over to our boat with the pilot boat not even touching out boat. I really admire the guys at the steering wheel of the pilots boats for there skills to manoeuver in such difficult wind and wave conditions that close to a yacht without touching her.

Just before the Gatun Lock we had to make a nest (pack) with a monohull. As we had all our lines and fenders well prepared, both boats became a nest in a few minutes. It should be noted that masts may not touch each other when waves roll on.

For the next hours we follow the”Gatun Lake Highway” and the other narrower canal like waters towards the Miraflores Lock.

There, we start the decent towards the Pacific. In the Gatun Lock we climbed in 3 chambers up from the Atlantic sea level by about 27 m.