Panama Canal Sequel (Part I)

 It was a full 9 years before the urge to transit the Panama Canal caught hold again in earnest, but the need to find a Ship to fulfil our dreams was still paramount. During that period we had also paid a visit to the most magical place ever visited on Planet Earth, which will be impossible to better, ANTARCTICA! 

so what better company to visit firstly than as above.

   Miracle of Miracles, they were undertaking a trans-Atlantic / Caribbean / Panama Canal voyage, to include 21 different countries, in the none to distant future as part of rounding Cape Horn before returning by the reciprical route aboard even the same bijou, well appointed and comfortable vessel

M/V DISCOVERY

A little taste of the Sights and Sounds leaving

PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR

meeting the
CHIEF PURSER
almost the same vintage as myself as a Boy Seaman in 1961 and remembering the adage "it is the Captain that Commands the ship but it's the Purser who Runs it" it was doubtful we would be wanting for much!

crossing the

BAY of BISCAY
and encountering the

Q.E.II

"Oh no, not Cakes again"

and even more ex-Royal Navy ratings the
Dance Instructors.
Of the many thousands of Seabirds and the occassinal wayward Land Bird recorded en-route the amazingly marked and streamlined

RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD
was expected and also valued but outshone by the
'Bird of the Whole Trip'

HERALD PETREL

which we didn't even have a clue about and with these images being sent to our far more learned friends Paul Harris, Dave Foot and Martin Cade back in dear old Blighty.

It took quite sometime to get a unanimous verdict, mainly as this bird had reputedly never been recorded in the Northern Hemisphre - what a capture!!

Transiting the
GUTAN LAKE

and entering the same named Locks under the cover of darkness was not ideal

but the shore-side illumination allowed for images

DONKEY
and anyway

it was soon daybreak.
It had been agreed with the shipping company that if there were to be any
Port of Entry Tariffs or other Payments they would be covered by

myself personally

WESTERN WHITE-TAILED TROGON
the first bird an addition to the
World List

but on disembarking at the Pier Head

RED-LEGGED HONEYCREEPER

not surprisingly it was found that the Harbour Master was a Merchant Seaman of the same rank and over a coffee and tot of rum he must have 'forgotten' all about the levy?
TO BE CONTINUED.