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Underway

We are underway once again, steaming towards our appointment with the Panama Canal. The Comfort will be going through the Big Ditch (I'd highly recommend reading this informative Popular Mechanics article) on August 30. I'm looking forward to the experience. I'm not sure yet what time of day we are scheduled to make the transit, but you might be able to catch a glimpse of the ship as it passes by one of three Panama Canal webcams. I do know that it's important for us to keep to our schedule so we don't miss our slot. Having to go to the back of the line will cost the mission a lot of time and money.

Yesterday we packed up at the Hospital Naval Bahia Malaga and said our goodbyes. We presented a plaque to the hospital staff and took a group photo. The ride back was beautiful and I enjoyed every minute of it. The choppy ride created by the river rushing into the ocean, the varying-colored and billowing clouds that reminded me of Ecuador, the camaraderie I enjoyed with a group of people satisfied by a week of caring for needy people, all were carefully tucked away in my memory.

I spent some time today cleaning the GATR antenna system. After some wet days in Colombia, things needed some drying time and some tender care. I've now got about four down days as we head to Haiti. If you're curious about this deployable VSAT antenna, you can read about it at the GATR web site, this Popular Science article, and this overview of the system and it's potential applications.

Posted by David at August 28, 2007 07:20 PM