0700 hours. We’ve just experienced a breathtaking sunrise in the presence of an almost full moon. The mountains of Panama are close off our port beam, and a cool downslope wind is rippling the sea surface. BEOWULF is motorsailing along at 10.5 knots, towards the sea buoy off Colon, now just 13 miles away.

We’ve had an e-mail from Tina McBride, who will handle our paperwork for the canal. The Panama Canal “admeasurer” will be aboard to check BEOWULF around 1100 (he checks that we are “fit” for the transit and confirm our dimensions). Tina will pick us up just after lunch to make the round of Panama Canal offices and banks to pay our fees. In theory, tomorrow we’ll transit the canal – which would be a quick turn around indeed. We’ll then take a few days and cruise, while we get a feel for the weather between Balboa and Baja California.

(Check back later for a montage of images from the passage. Since BEOWULF was out of Globalstar range, we couldn’t email photos while underway.)