Page 30 of The Hitchhiker in Panama
This cruising lifestyle was such a juxtaposition of fast friendships and quick goodbyes.
I heaved my backpacks on, grabbed a few bags of miscellaneous stuff to bring over, and made my way toEik. The crew welcomed me aboard, and I threw my backpacks in the new cabin I was to share with Marcella.
When I emerged, the rest of the crew waited, sitting around the table. I slid into the booth next to Marcella, and Jonas brought me up to speed.
“Robert said we need to be at the anchorage at three o’clock, so we will leave here at two to give ourselves plenty of time. The advisor”—the person who would ride through the canal for the day with us—“will board at three thirty. We are going through side-tied to a bigger boat, so it’s very little work for us. We will still have to be careful attaching and detaching, and I will still have all of you set up on a different quarter of the boat to help me out.”
I was a little disappointed not to be needed, but more than anything, I felt relieved to have less pressure on me to do the lines right.
Jonas continued. “Marcella will be responsible for dinner tonight, and Elayna will help her. That way Eivind and I can focus on tying the boat up to the mooring ball in the lake and we will not have dinner too late.
“Any questions?”
We all shook our heads.
“Then, in thirty-six hours, we will be partying in the Pacific Ocean!” Jonas was happier than I’d ever seen him. I was sure he was nervous, too, but he didn’t show it.
We split up to get some chores done. Marcella worked in the kitchen, putting dishes away. Eivind signaled for me and we went up on deck together. The day before, Robert had delivered some supplies to the boat: long lines and these round, comically huge things Eivind said were fenders. Instead of the white cylindrical inflatables most boats at the dock had, these were bright orange.
Eivind showed me how to tie one to the lifelines, and we practiced over and over again. He explained that the fenders would go between the boats to protect them from each other. One of my jobs would be to adjust the height to make sure the boats didn’t cause damage as they knocked together.
The rest of the crew joined us on the deck. Jonas started the engine, which came to life growling and vibrating under my feet. Marcella and Elayna were on the dock, and Jonas barely gave them instructions. Everyone had a job and they knew exactly what to do. Elayna stepped on board with one line in her hand, so now it was only Marcella on the dock, with one last line tying the boat to it. Marcella took it off the cleat, threw it over the lifelines, andEikstarted to move backward out of the slip. Marcella hustled down the dock to the gate and climbed on board.
Eikswung wide out into the water, and Jonas shifted the engine into forward gear. The boat picked up speed, making the tight turns around the dock and then out the entrance of the marina. The whole time the rest of the crew had their places, calling out information to Jonas, who adjusted accordingly.
“Three meters off the stern!”
“The edge of the dock is right here.”
“Whoa, check out the crocodile onshore!”
We all looked starboard to find the beast sunbathing on the sandbank. I shuddered.
Once clear of the entrance, the crew coiled up the dock lines and piled them by the mast. The giant orange fenders went over the sides, and they bounced against the hull with each swell.
Out ahead of us, Colón loomed with a bit of a haze around the city. Behind us, past the break wall, were dozens of ships waiting in the ocean.
I walked back toward Jonas and sat down behind him and to the right, in the corner of the bench. I could see all the instruments and gadgets he watched, and Jonas spun the wheel to adjust course.
He reached down to click a button labeledautoand took his hands off the steering wheel. It continued to move without him, and a gentle whirring continued beneath our feet.
“Want to see the chart?” He pointed to the screen.
“Sure.” I sat up to look at it.
The display showed a map in orange and blue, and Jonas explained where we were: a small boat icon in the middle of the screen. He touched some buttons and the view zoomed out. There were a whole bunch of shapes—rectangles with a point on one end—out beyond the coast.
“What are those?”
“This is our AIS—automatic identification system. All big ships have it, and most bigger sailboats do too. It broadcasts information about your boat—location and course—to other boats. These icons are all the big ships out at anchor.”
He zoomed out further. There weren’t dozens of ships . . . there were at least a hundred!
“What are they all doing?”
“They are waiting for their turn in the canal. Just like we will be.”
“Wow. That’s amazing.”
