New Year. New Ocean. Cheers!

We got a lovely literary gift from frequent boat guest Kathryn Sobocinski upon our arrival to the Pacific and thought we'd share it with everyone:
A haiku for you:
A new blue ocean.
The biggest, deepest of them.
Happy exploring.
Happy 2012 everyone.
We are still amazed that we are here at anchor on the Pacific side of Panama. We continue to look at each other and say - "we did it!" It was quite an adventure and a special and sincere thanks to everyone who sent us so many warm wishes. We also got to see a few frame grabs of us going through the locks so thanks Margie, Anna and Ian and Tom H.
Astarte is getting back to her cruising mode – tires and the four 150 foot coils of line are off the boat. Anchors, fenders, lifesling, grill and dinghy back in place. Forward head is now repaired and now back to being a hanging locker/laundry room/storage unit. V-berth is back to being a garage / attic. And we're making our way through the leftover food that our capable crew didn't knosh.
We're getting used to the 16 foot tidal change and constant wind. New scenery is being enjoyed – a wonderful skyline filled with many, many varied shaped and sized skyscrapers, a strange looking building that is the bio-museum, fireworks at night (for our arrival perhaps??), and a varied fleet of boats at anchor - from colorful cruising sailboats of all sizes and from different countries to 600 foot ships, tugs, barges and work boats.
The anchorage, thanks to wind and tides, is a bit rolly – but the wind generator is certainly doing its job and the batteries are happy.
New Year's Eve was quite wild here. It was non-stop fireworks along the entire city. Some started as early as 10 pm and went non-stop until 0100 (1 am). It was incredible – everywhere you looked there were fireworks lighting up the clear sky. Even from the top of some of the skyscrapers they were blasting off – making the buildings look like 100 story roman candles. Way cool.
We are still pinching ourselves that we made it. Another checkmark on the old "bucket list."
Happy New Year to all – we'll raise a glass of bubbly to all our loyal readers.
NEW PHOTOS AS WELL – THE TRANSIT CROSSING AND CHRISTMAS.
PLUS: There is a new photo feature.  If you haven't discovered it yet, click on some of the photos of the canal crossing and you will see a map on the right of the screen.  You can see a map or a google earth satellite picture.  
Enjoy.
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