Traversing the Panama Canal was nothing like I would have expected. We were met by our pilot Reinhard and our 2 line handlers at about 7 pm. Just as I weighed anchor and we headed toward the canal the skies opened up in a sideways wash of heavy rain. I got drenched. Shell and I had spent the last afternoon in Colon saying goodbye to some Columbians we'd met and drinking $3.50 jugs of Atlas beer at the Panama Yacht Club. Since we had the paid line handlers with us we didn't have anything left to do but enjoy the ride. So we continued to chug beers and do rum shots while helping to spot channel ...

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