The Canal Entrance: A Funnel

One of the things we love about being in Colon, Panama is the incredible mix of nationalities of cruisers. When we were in the Bahamas, the split was probably 75% American, 22% Canadian and 3% other countries. The majority of Canadian and American cruisers never venture past the Bahamas.
Here in Colon, things are different because the majority of the boats sailing around the world funnel through the Panama Canal Anchored at the entrance to the Panama Canal, there are about 40 Cruising Sailboats on any given day. Less than 10% are from Canada and the States. We have met people from Britain, Sweden, Germany, France, Norway, Hungary, Switzerland, Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Brazil, Jamaica, Italy, Spain, Japan, and more.
There is a gathering place at the marina where the internet access is located. It is very interesting to hear cruisers from all over the world communicating in whatever language they can find in common. We are very lucky English is such a universal language. Most cruisers we have met can function to a degree in English. The funny thing is that none of the English they learned in school covered the name of boat parts (and that is the thing we talk about a lot). I have met a few Spanish speaking cruisers who didn’t speak English and we found a common ground in French (I always new it would come in handy some day). I started studying Spanish on Cds about a year ago. It is starting to sink in more now that I am using it on a daily basis however I constantly have my English/Spanish dictionary with me. I can get around town in a taxi and find a bathroom or a bus terminal but the other day I had to ask someone if he could fill a scuba tank with air. That wasn’t in my dictionary. Luckily someone came along to translate.
Meeting these wonderfully diverse people is one of the try joys of cruising. I will never tire of it.