Panama City
We went to the city to do some sight seeing and boat shopping. We stayed as the Roma Plaza, as recommended by some people on the dock, it was $70 a night. While you did get a wonderful breakfast the hotel was past it’s prime and not in the best of neighbourhoods.
We were quite successful on the boat shopping, got most everything on my list, just missed the engine parts, but we at least confirmed how to get them, it will just take a 25 working day lead time, so no issues.
On the touristy side we drove out the causeway, a spit made from rubble from the canal. Unfortunately the skies opened as they only can in the tropics and we could see very little. We then went to the Mira Flores locks, the first locks on the Pacific side. We watch some tourist boats go through the canal and then spent some time in the museum. When we went back to the observation area we were lucky enough to see two sailboats rafted together entering the lock. Now it was interesting!
The Canal
Alessandra asked… okay we probably suggested that he could use 2 cute girls as his line handlers and of course we fit the bill. Andrew, the skipper, was very laid back and the transit was awesome. We left the marina at 12:30 p.m. with 3 other crew: Rachel and Robbie and Spence who will be going across the Pacific with Andrew. Anchor. Lunch. We sit and wait for our advisor. At 3:45 our advisors arrived and we immediately raised the anchor and we are off.
The advisor gave us a heads up on what is going to happen and questioned Andrew on why he assigned Karen and I to the ropes and not the guys, but as soon as he could see that we knew what we were doing we got the nod, in fact the advisor started to joke about brains verse brawn.
We had great advisors (we had a newbi and a gentleman who is actually a tug boat pilot on the canal) they indicated that we were rafting up, we would provide the spring lines, the other boat the bow and stern lines, no problem. The small French boat that is rafting up to us drives up along side, but has no lines ready! What fun. Anyway we get rafted and drive into the first lock, Gatun Lock, we are locking behind a ‘small’ freighter, only 442 long. (There are three sets of locks, the Gatun locks has 2 chambers that will lift us to the level of Gatun Lake, on the Pacific side there are 2 sets of Locks, San Miguel, a single and Mira Flores, a double chamber lock, lowering you to the level of the Pacific. The locks are 1000 feet long and 110 feet wide.)
As we enter the lock some Panama Canal staff pitch these ropes at you with these thing called a monkey paw at the end. So batter up with our catcher gloves ready we waited to receive our lines, actually we all ducked as this little missile, thrown to us with a rope attached, is not something you want to catch. We attached our big lines to these messengers and the canal guys attached us to the wall and the lock gates close behind us. As we are rafted, each boat only received 2 lines. We put the lines through the center of the bow cleat to give some control and had two people pulling in the lines. At the stern we went through the fairlead and under a cleat to redirect the line to the winch. Ready or not here we go up up up 27 ft in 10 minutes. Okay it like they turned on the Jacuzzi and up up up we go. As we keep our lines taunt we made it. The boat attached to us had some problems keeping their lines taunt, which affected us but it worked out okay. First lock down four more to go. We finished the lift to Gatun lake with no more problems, we broke the raft once we exited the second chamber and went onto a mooring for the night. The moorings are meant for freighters, so we tied to it bow and stern, the French boat used the other and our advisors were picked up. We cracked open a few beers and appetizers to celebrate and Robbie and Rachel whipped up some Marquities to add to the festivities. We feasted on Andrew famous spaghetti and our garlic bread heated up in the engine compartment. Don’t want to heat the boat up with the oven you know. With our tummy’s full we all found a place to lay our heads for our 5:45 am wake up call.
5:45 am wake call and we are ready for day 2. Our advisor arrived at 6:05 am and we are off again. With coffee brewing we will motor down the Gatun Lake and river for 28 miles to the next locks. Breakfast of pancakes and melon underway as we passed or are passed by these massive ships or tugs. The car carriers are huge. We definitely look small and just think they are opening new locks in 2014 to take larger ships. Some of the ships now are so large that they can hardly make the turns in the river so that are dredging and expanding the river. It is an amazing under taking, all while still keeping the canal moving. We arrived at the next set of locks early so we just drifted around for 1.5 hours. After having lunch we were off to go thru the Pedro Miguel lock. We once again tied up to the other boat and our new advisor gave us a little briefing, he was not as good as the other guys the day before. The next set of locks we are going down so it seemed anticlimactic. No great bubbles just this big wall surrounding you and big ship in other lock starting to tower over you. As one side goes down the other goes up. So how does our little boat push up a big frighter????? Isn’t gravity cool. We go through the last double lock at Miraflowers and we set our selves free from the other boat. Off to dump Robbie, Rachel and us off at the Balboa Yacht Club, it is 3pm. Quick goodbyes to Andrew and Spencer and we are back on land again with an awesome experience under our belts. We hope our ride thru the canal is as smooth.
We have phoned for Roger, a taxi driver (who use to be the manager at the Panama Yacht Club before it was closed down). We walk through the restaurant there and Cheryl says, doesn’t that lady look familiar. I looked, it was Leva from the boat Illenga, who we sailed with from San Andreas. Then up walks Harold and we get the biggest hugs. They had gone through the canal, which we knew, but were doing last provisioning before Harold heads south, Leva back to Scandanavia.
Roger took us to places on Cheryl’s list that we missed last time. This time we stayed at the CentroAmericano, just a street over from the Roma Plaza. We had checked it out last time, much nicer and only $62, including breakfast. We went to the eye doctor and both got clean bills of health, except Cheryl has dry eyes.
We had taken an extra bag, which we needed as we stopped at a few food stores and bought a new printer. We then stopped at Rey’s in Colon and did our final provisioning for the San Blas (we are hoping to stay ‘off shore’ for 2.5 to 3 months.)
The Snake
While at Shelter Bay Marina we did what needed water and power, which of course meant that Cheryl washed the deck, more than once. The last time she put the bucket upside down in the back of the cockpit to let it dry. The next morning, I am setting up the cockpit for us to have our coffee there, I lift the bucket and low and behold a snake is under it!! I told Cheryl not to come up! Now I have to deal with it. I get the deck broom out of the back of the boom and hold the bucket by it’s string and try and sweep the snake into the bucket. It raises it’s head and tastes the air, but ends up in the bucket. I then walk to the side of the boat and try to dump him out. He falls out, lands on a line in the water and swims off. It seems this fellow was a boa and harmless! Apparently this does not happen often, the marina manager had to show the picture to locals as he had not seen one before and he has now been there 2 years. More excitement than I need in the morning, not to mention before coffee, that is for sure!
We went from Shelter Bay to Portobelo. Portobelo was the harbour out of which the Spanish took most to the precious items they stole from South American and Central America. There were 3 forts and many other ruins, but that is what they are, ruins. There is so much garbage in this town it is amazing, plastic and chip bags everywhere and no garbage cans. After Providencia, where it was so clean, the locals had so much pride, Portobelo did not do well by comparison. Not a place we would recommend.
I had to go into the water to see what the boat was like, as I was surprised at the RPM we needed to make way from Shelter Bay. The bottom had hard corals on it, the first we have had since we put on Hemple bottom paint. The propeller was coated with almost a ¼ inch on all sides with hard corals. I got the worst off, the rest will wait until the San Blas.
We stopped in Isla Linton, some 10 miles away to get a couple of good night sleeps as the last 2 nights in Portobelo the wind came from the west and it was VERY rolly. Linton was calm! We took the dinghy though the ‘tunnel of love’, a mangrove river to the next bay where Panamarine is. A marina that has only moorings, probably room for 50 boats. The boats and mooring looked very well cared for. They are almost ready to open a haul out facility. Unfortunately it was Sunday and the restaurant was closed. So we drove back to our Bay and went to shore to a restaurant there. Very nice. The town was clean and friendly. We caught the tail end of a baseball game and then headed back to the boat.
Finally, the San Blas Islands. There are no snakes in the San Blas or Kuna Yala, So the literature says!!
The passage to Porvenir, the entry point for the San Blas was uneventful; we had a sail up for an hour or so, then couldn’t hold it. Besides the wind was never over 10 knots. At Porvenir, they are extending the airport and dredging up sand to do so, and they have a lot of holes in their hose, so it looked like a water fountain. As we approached we were trying to figure out do we leave the water fountain on the port side or starboard!
After we checked in (this cost $20 for a months cruising in Kuna Yala and $2 each to be in Porvenir) we left Porvenir and motored to the East Lemons. Lovely sandy bottom. We have snorkelled each day, but can’t hunt here, too bad as Cheryl found the mother load of snappers and grunts yesterday. Cheryl washed the deck and I scrubbed the sides, as we picked up a yellow ring around the boat in Portobelo, yuk!
We spent about a week in the East Lemons, were we were joined by Pavo Real (Ann and Tony). We didn’t do much, just odd boat chores and snorkelling. We had our first few Mola experiences. Molas are made by the Kuna women. They started out that when their clothes were wearing out they patched them by adding layers of cloth. This has now become an art and product sold to anyone passing through the San Blas islands! In fact they weigh your boat when you enter the San Blas and your weight must go up by 5 lbs per person in Molas before you can leave! Modern molas are made, generally from new cloth and often include embroidery and different designs. We have bought Molas from the two self proclaimed master mola makers and from several other ladies, the designs and quality vary greatly.
We moved from the East Lemons to the swimming pool, in the eastern Holandes. This is a beautiful sight, sandy bottom, about 10 feet ringed with lovely palm and mangrove islands. Cheryl and I got back into hunting and fishing mode. We caught enough Lionfish for a feast with Pavo Real. After a week or so there, we moved onto the Coco Banderos, all of 6 miles away! We anchored in 3 different spots there, the water is deep and lots of coral reef and islands to avoid. The third anchorage made me very happy as we had lots of swing room and a perfect set. Enchantment caught up to us there. We then move 2 miles to the Western Coco Banderos, for more hunting and fishing. We have a large bag of Lionfish to share with Enchantment, as they were with us while we caught these ones.
We have moved again and are in the Central Holandes, this is the best anchorage yet, as it has been mostly just Pavo Real, Enchantment and us. In front of us is the reef giving us shelter from the Caribbean Sea, we are anchored in sand in 10 feet and have lots of great snorkelling around us. A little piece of Paradise.
What does an average day look like? We start the day with a Latte and read or try to get email (or simply get frustrated trying to do so!) Then we listen to the net on the SSB at 8:30, to hear from those nearby and to get a weather report. We have breakfast, usually a fruit salad and cheese. Although Karen has become proficient at making bagels, so bagels with smoked salmon, capers and onions or mayo and tomato, or with butter if the bagels are cinnamon and raisin! Then we usually move into boat chores if we have some to do, or read, or go for a morning snorkel. (Karen researched on line, the eating habits of Lionfish, they are suppose to be the easiest to catch from 8-11 am.) Lunch, then an afternoon snorkel. The afternoon one is mandatory, as you need to cool down from the heat of the day and have a shower. Then dinner at home or on another boat. We have shared some great meals and appetizers, to say the least. Enchantment got us hooked on Dexter, a TV series about a serial killer. So if we are dining on Interlude, then we watch 2 episodes, then off to sleep.
We have to deal with our garbage, which is usually an occasion for a party. We burn garbage and then share appetizers and sometimes fly kites. Tin cans are not a problem as the Kuna come by and ask for them. Aluminum has such value that they take the tins to the mainland for cash. The last piece of excitement is laundry, you wait for rain, fill the buckets and do the wash. Then you leave the laundry out until it gets a rinse!
It is not all laundry, snorkelling and reading books in the San Blas. Occasionally the girls got together on an island and did yoga, the ‘cost’ of going on the island being a cell phone charge or some gallons of fresh water.
We obviously ‘parked’ in the right spot in the Eastern Holandes. The boat ahead of us, Hiatus (Owen and Betty) has a full freezer and Owen, who loved to hunt, was not allowed to bring any more fish home! So we ended up with a 2 foot Barracuda and some yellow tailed runners. What was interesting was that Hiatus was a sister to Interlude, she had a different paint job, but is the same boat. Next time we were in the same anchorage, Greta, a german fishing boat, had caught 2 enormous barracuda and a cero between Porvenir and the Holandes, so we ended up with a massive tail of Cuda. Smoked, it was lovely!
We became known as the Lionfish hunters, we were asked most days on the SSB net to report the number of kills. People would stop by and report sitings! Two boats came by to find out how to safely catch and clean Lionfish.
A real treat is when the veggie boats come by. Yes the store comes to us! Veggy boats create a shopping frenzy! The cruisers all converge on the closest boat, so they can try to hop the line and get their veggies first. The veggies on these boats are generally better than what we were finding in the stores. Reasonably priced too. Veggie boat is just a name as they often have Kuna bread, eggs, chicken and fruit. Sometimes they even sell gas.
After 2 years we finally met up with Mystic Moon, John and Kathy. They had been on a mission in the French islands to bring us some duck. John and Kathy navigated their way through mangrove swamps, coral heads, sand fly infested islands, waves not to mention the 4 miles between our anchorages to deliver the duck! And as often happens when Champagne Sisters get together, we raised a glass or two!
So life is good! Take Care!
