San Blas Panama

            The first afternoon, we anchored at Suledup Island after an all day sail up wind and up current to get there from Puerto Obaldia.  This is a calm anchorage that was relatively easy to navigate into using our expensive but worth it, Panama Cruising Guide.  Unfortunately, the Garmin does not have any detail for these islands.  This is a VERY calm anchorage and a 360° visual paradise!  At 6:30 AM, the morning after we arrived, a man arrived in a dugout canoe came with hand printed notes in English detailing the rules and collected the $5.00 anchoring fee. 

            We left Puerto Obaldia at the eastern end of Panama near the Colombia border.  We tried to clear in there but we are not sure why we couldn’t, the language barrier didn’t help.  The officials at Immigrations thought we were going to Colombia and wrote all over the copies of our passports then trashed them when they figured out they had made a mistake.  Anyway, we were given a blessing to go northwest through the San Blas Islands on the way to Porvenir to check in.  Roxy’s papers were even inspected by an animal control officer.

            From Suledup anchorage, we traveled nine miles to Isla Pinos (our original planned destination).  This is a beautiful island that is shaped like a whale when viewed from many miles away at sea.  We were joined there by Celtic Rover and Sea Schell after a day alone.  Roxy enjoyed the white sandy beach and we enjoyed solitude.  The village (Kuna Indian) is around the corner from where we anchored.  We went into town and planned to hike up the mountain but were discouraged by the village pastor who spoke some English.  There were supply boats at the dock and some small tiendas in the town with staples.  A local found out we were asking about pineapples and he went and harvested some and brought them to our boats!

            The Kuna Indians are the primary inhabitants of these islands.  They live a simple life.  They live in thatched huts with dirt floors, travel to the mainland in dugout canoes where some farm, and the women dress very attractively.  Hopefully, there will be some pictures but they are pretty funny about having their picture taken.  There is not enough space or time to go into much more detail than that about the Kunas. 

            On Saturday, March 15, we left Isla Pinos for points NW.  We parted company of Celtic Rover and Sea Schell at Ustupu, where they hoped to get cell phone SIM cards and internet – and they DID!!  We went about 20 miles farther and anchored at an island that I wanted to stop at after seeing pictures in the cruising guide.  It is a beautiful island, we are the only boat and a Kuna man named Freddie came to sell us bananas and mangoes.  We hired him as a guide to take us on a hike up the river on the mainland on Monday morning. 

            We make water as we need to and before we left Cartagena, we loaded up as much as we could on many provisions.  Some things are running low since we have been gone from there for over two weeks but we are doing well.  I planned to not be able to buy much until we get a lot farther up the coast of Panama.  I am making bread and probably our diet is better than when we have a store close by – less processed foods and more fresh. 

Details regarding the guided trip up the river:

            Freddie showed up promptly at the appointed time in his canoe.  When we discussed the trip the day before, he said he wanted to bring a bigger canoe but Darrell was adamant that he wanted to go in Freddie’s canoe.  These are dugout canoes made from large trees with about 4 inches of freeboard (meaning from waterline to the top edge of the canoe).  These people paddle them appearing effortless at good speeds.  He agreed that it was okay for us to bring Roxy along.  Darrell told him to bring extra oars for us to help him paddle our fat butts across the bay.

            Darrell was the first to enter to canoe – he was so excited over this excursion – like a kid!  Roxy loaded in behind him between him and Freddie.  I was last in the front.  Darrell was the gentleman and placed my seat in the highest position to help keep me dry from the small amount of water in the bottom.  I sat down and we left Alibi.  It felt like we were going to roll over every time ANYONE moved at all!!!!  Of course, Roxy was excited and didn’t want to be still and I was too high in my center of gravity.  Freddie kept saying something to me like bajo or baja but I didn’t understand.  Darrell thought Freddie was saying bahia which means bay and I thought he meant for me to get lower in the boat but I was petrified to move – not even to turn my head to scold Roxy for jumping around!  The trip across the bay took about 10-20 minutes and it was the most terrifying boat trip either of us have ever been on in our lives.  A truly white knuckled experience!  And this is two people who are very comfortable in the water – INNNNN  the water!! On the return trip, we lowered the seats (adjustable) and all had a very comfortable ride.  When Darrell helped Freddie paddle the canoe, he had a hard time keeping up because Freddie was moving so efficiently.  I never lifted my oar – some things are better left to the experts! 

            Anyway, we see these people in canoes all around us in these islands and they glide along.  We see them carrying supplies and other people.  We see them fishing from them and even standing up to throw cast nets for bait.  I have never seen one tip over.  We even see them out in the ocean waves!  We will never view them the same from now on!

Continuing Westward:

            We moved on every few days from island to island in Panama making our way towards the canal and some place that we could officially “clear-in”.  We reached the Rio Diablo and Nargana where there are many tiendas to buy groceries.  The island itself is not very pretty by Kuna Yala standards but has many amenities that the other islands do not.  Surrounding this “metropolis” are many very beautiful island groups.  I had a brief interlude of internet that I enjoyed at Green Island!

           

EXPLORING THE SAN BLAS – Or as the locals prefer Kuna Yala

We went to the Holandes Cays to an anchorage called “the swimming pool”.  It gets it’s name because that is what it looks like – turquoise water that you can see the bottom.  It is surrounded by a barrier reef and very well protected.  We arrived in quite unsettled weather and could hear the wind blowing more than 20 knots and see and hear the waves crashing just a few hundred yards from us but we sat in flat calm waters.

            We met several of the boats in the anchorage.  Most of them have been coming here for years.  It is interesting that every place we go, we are the “new kids” in the anchorage and many places, the same people have been coming to the same spot for years and years.  I guess it seems that way since we never seem to settle down anywhere.  Roxy has been loving all these islands (except the busy metropolis) because she gets to run and swim and play in the water most days twice a day.  She gets to see dolphins often also!  We hear that another boat will be coming back here with an older Brittany on board that looks just like her.  We have to be on the watch at the island we have been taking her to because there is reportedly a crocodile swimming around that island. 

            We met some fellow Texans and were able to get in a few games of “42”.  For those who don’t know, this is domino game that seems to be generalized to Texas.  Anyway, Owen and Betty are some pretty darn good “42” players.  Owen has taken Darrell under his wing to teach him the finer points of “fishing”.   There was a beach BBQ one afternoon and we were able to try out kite surfing with a trainer kite.  Darrell and Ann are HOOKED!  It was a blast - now to figure out how we can afford to get all the gear!  Roxy met another Brittany named Lokey - he looked so much like her!  

            I may NEVER get Darrell out of here.  We are having so much fun - just wish we could stay in touch better.  Hope everyone is well.

Cartagena

            What a fine city!  We spent six glorious weeks there.  There is a lot to see and do – we did a lot but not all of it.  We walked many miles, rode buses, rode motorcycle taxis, and rode in car taxis.  This is a very large metropolitan city.  And at night, lit up like New York City!  I have lots of pictures but we never had good enough internet connection for me to download any!

            Centro is the World Heritage Center of tourist attractions.  There are museums, forts, old buildings, and street vendors.  The upper floors of many of the old buildings have been renovated to upscale living quarters.  We spent many hours walking the streets and visiting museums here.  Getsemani is next to Centro and very old also.  This section of the city is home to many hostels and funky artsy type buildings.  These were a very short taxi ride or a fifteen to twenty minute walk for us. 

            Also within walking distance were several shopping malls.  It was fun to go there since I had not been in a mall in over 2 years!  One store in the closest mall was like a Colombian Wal-Mart, called Jumbo.  One day, Jan, Darrell and I went to a couple of malls looking for items that we couldn’t find in the grocery store near us. 

            The grocery store was about one and a half blocks from where we docked the dinghy.  It was like a nice Publix.  The biggest challenge was learning the names of items in Spanish.  It was a nice store and there was a customer service representative named Diana who spoke great English and was a help to us many times.  There was a laundry facility in the store and I took in 11 kilos of laundry.

            On Wednesday nights and for NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl (insert sad face here), we walked 6-10 blocks for pizza.  They served great pizza and good cold beer.  The sound for the games was in Spanish but we enjoyed the company and food while watching the games, even if Denver did lose the big one!

            Darrell decided to take up woodworking here.  After observing some skilled marine carpenters, he decided to do some things for Alibi.  We had been wanting a way to secure the TV when we are underway other than stuffing pillows all around it.  He designed and built a beautiful table to lock the TV to the bulkhead.  Photos to come.

            We met a guy from Kentucky here in the grocery store.  We took him and his girlfriend sailing (her first sail).  They took us out dancing.  At the club we went to, they played several songs in English.  You had to pay attention or you would have thought you were in a club in the USA.  FUN times, even if we did stay out past our bedtime!!

            Of course our Spanish vocabulary has improved a lot here.  We still have a long way to go but we can communicate.  The down side is when they answer, they talk so fast and they use words and phrases we are not familiar with.  Conversing on the telephone gives me a panic attack!!  LOL

            After six weeks, too much growth on the boat bottom and topside dirt and pollution – it was time to leave.  We ran the water maker a minimum because the water in the anchorage was not great but for a city this size, it was good. 

            On March 1, we sailed about 20 miles south to the Rosario Islands.  Beautiful Bahamas-like turquoise and blue water.  NOW, we know where all the tourists were coming on the commercial boats coming and going from the harbor at Cartagena!

            After a few days there, we were joined by Celtic Rover and Sea Schell.  Then a German flagged catamaran named Aluna came into the anchorage.  We were staging for the next hop to Panama.  After nearly a week there, we had the weather predictions conducive to making the 100+ mile run.

            March 7, we sailed to Tintipan Island to be ready for Sunday’s winds to take us to Panama.  We have daily talks set up with CR and SS via the SSB radio since they did not leave with us.  This morning, Bruce told us that we are going too fast for him.  So after traveling together for two years, we are forging ahead and not waiting for them.  It feels very weird.  Hopefully, somewhere down the way, we will see them again!

***  We have not escaped from Celtic Rover - either we slowed down or they sped up but we are still together!  And GLAD about it!!  And so sorry this is so late - never knew I would not have internet for so long!!

From Roxy’s View

Darrell and I were recently discussing the situation some friends of ours are in and he said:  “You aren’t like other cruising wives”.  Not sure if he meant that as a compliment but I took it as one.  What he implied was that if we were faced with needing to get somewhere and he was not able to assist in sailing this boat – I would do it by myself.  And in that respect, he is right and I am flattered.  And Roxy is not like a lot of other dogs……

We watched the movie “Marley and Me” the other night and it reminded me of a topic we have been wanting to post a blog about.  Of COURSE I cried – like a baby!  We had both read the novel and enjoyed it very much.  Many times we are asked how Roxy does living on the sailboat and during passages, etc.  She turned nine years old last month and we know we face her eventual demise but can hardly bear to think about that day.  Instead, we dwell on the many great things that she has brought into our life.  This blog is dedicated to her and a story of the things that have made her and us enjoy life to the fullest!

When we bought this boat, Roxy was about four years old.  She had been out on several short trips on Lil’un – our 22 ft. O’Day.  But choosing this boat was all about all three of us liking it.  On the day we went for the survey, we took Roxy and she stayed topsides for the sea trial.  Toward the end of the day, I asked the then owners, Dick and Nelda, if it was okay for us to see how well Roxy could navigate the companionway stairs.  She bounded down them as she now does several times a day and promptly took up residence in the floor about where we keep her bed now. 

After we moved aboard, she immediately was impressed with the vast amount of space on here and has inspected every square inch of deck space and cabin areas too.  Her bed is located in a small alcove under the v-berth where we sleep – near the spot where she first lay down.  Many nights she chooses to sleep outside where there is a breeze and it is much cooler.  We keep her food fresh in an o-ring sealed container that holds about a 50 pound bag or so.  She always has fresh water in a bowl and when we leave the boat. I usually carry some for her in my backpack.  She prefers to do her “business” in grassy areas on shore but has learned that it is not always possible to take her to shore so she has a couple of towels/rugs that we alternate and wash out at the stern.  This training was not immediate or easy for an older dog but we have done it!  YAY!

She spends her days on board finding the coolest spot on the boat (best breeze and shady) but also keeping a keen eye and ear out for fish.  Even though she is a bird dog and always vigilant for our feathered friends, she has come to be fascinated with the ocean dwelling creatures.  Since our dive shop days, she was always fascinated with manatees.  Once we showed her dolphins, she has been fascinated by them each and every time she sees them!  She looks for them at every turn and quite often is still shivering long after they have departed.  When boats come too close or wave runners go by, she frequently barks at them telling them to keep their distance.

She loves to ride in the dinghy and her favorite spot is balanced on the bow.  We don’t let her ride there much anymore for safety reasons.  When she rides in the main compartment, she likes to hang her feet over the side and we frequently catch her stiffening her front legs to play in the waves that go by.  Her balance is excellent on the air-filled tubes!  She absolutely loves to swim in shallow water (never from the big boat thank goodness) and will be entertained for HOURS on a beach.  I have seen her get out of the water and be shivering from the cold after too long in the water.  Clean, sandy beaches with clear water are my favorites but she is not nearly as picky as I am.  She can jump into and out of the dinghy up to the big boat now but as she ages, I am forever watching for any signs of struggles. 

Some of her favorite locales have been: 

Culebra:  There is a baseball field near the anchorage and we let her off her leash to run around in there every chance we got.  She thinks that is her personal “yard”.

Grenada:  We spent so much time there that she frequently could be trusted to be off her leash.  She spent many hours near the volleyball court chasing lizards and playing with other dogs.  She also liked swimming at the beach behind the dinghy dock at Secret Harbor.

Carriacou:  The white sandy beach in Tyrrell Bay was another spot that she liked to swim and fish. 

Bahamas:  The many white sand beaches were her play ground there.  At Warderick Wells and Joe’s Sound, there were sandbars uncovered at low tide.  We could let her run free on these without fear of her harming herself or annoying others.

Yes, someday we will be forced to continue cruising without “Dammit Roxy No” (her full name since she was a rambunctious puppy).  When that day does come, we will look at scratches made in the varnish by her toenails or find a clump of her dog hair and fondly remember the days that she kept us safe from wave runners or boats coming too close and smile – knowing she is waiting for us at Rainbow Bridge.

Curacao to Cartagena

We HAD to leave Curacao before we grew roots like S/V Tiger Lilly had done!  It is a lovely place and very convenient.  We were getting to know our way around pretty well.  Spanish Waters is a great location to spend some time in protected waters.

We left on January 14 bound for Aruba to stage our next voyage.  That leg of the trip was 82.9 miles and a very nice sail down wind.  We slept for a few hours and flew the quarantine flag rather than to clear in to Customs and Immigrations.  Perhaps there will be another day to go ashore in Aruba.  Boy there is a ton of shipping traffic around these ABC Islands!

At 1:15 pm, we hauled up the anchor to make way to Cartagena.  Once again, we were travelling with Celtic Rover and had arranged to speak to them every two hours by either VHF radio or SSB since after a few hours we get too far apart for the VHF to work.  The trip was one of 60 hours and 4 minutes, totaling 387 nautical miles.  Our average speed was 6.4 knots with a maximum speed of 14.2 – surfing down the side of some of those waves!  Hang on to your hat!!

KUDOS to Tom Service aboard Tiger Lilly!!  That man is a wealth of information!!!!!  He helped us set up our cutter rig for downwind sailing and it was GREAT!  We had a very pleasant sail (without some of the roll we had coming to Bonaire from Grenada) AND we got the autopilot to work efficiently!  A trip of this length requires the crew to be rested and these two things really did the trick!  Much of the time, we were “wing and wing” and/or on a broad reach.  We have a much shorter list of repairs on this stop because we didn’t beat up the boat and US!

We arrived in Cartagena at around midnight and decided that we would try to enter the waters at night even though we had decided that we did not want to try that.  Entering the breakwater channel in the dark was a little scary but no big problem.  The harbor is huge – a major shipping port, actually.  Most cruising sailboats anchor in a corner near a couple of marinas so that took about an hour to navigate through the shipping channels.  It was 1:15 am when we put down the anchor.  Once we felt that the anchor was secure, we retired to the bed – yay! 

Next morning, we were greeted by friends on Sea Schell, a boat we have gotten to know on this trip.  They left about a week before us from Curacao.  They assisted with giving us an overview of the area and introducing us to an agent to get our papers processed for Customs and Immigrations. 

We got to watch one of the NFL playoff games on a television at a local eatery.  Go Broncos!!  Woo Hoo!!!  When we got home, we logged on to the internet, using Bruce’s username and password on the marina wifi.  On logging in and going to Facebook, we learned that there were several people worried about us.  We had been diligent about setting off a SPOT messenger every six hours (twice as often as coming from Grenada to Bonaire) but most of them did not go through.  So the last message was sent about 12+ hours after we left Aruba and never again – not even after we anchored here in Cartagena.  The only thing we can figure is that we did not leave the confounded thing turned on long enough for the message to go through.  We are here safe and sound and NOW, Jessica has a wealth of information regarding what, who and how to contact if we should be late checking in next time.  Sorry for any gray hairs we caused. 

We have walked over the section of town close to our anchorage.  By the way, this is all three of our first time to step foot on another CONTINENT!  A grocery store is very close and there are some small chandleries within walking distance.  Eating out is VERY reasonable in price.  On Monday, we walked to a mall to get set up with SIM cards for the phone.  That is the first mall I have been inside in at least a year and perhaps 2-3!  Many stores are US brand stores plus there are many others.  Communications are challenging as many here do not speak English.

SO……we are diligently trying to get our Spanish up to speed.  We have a book that is excellent called “Spanish for Cruisers”.  We also have been trying to watch an hour a day of television to increase our vocabulary.  Darrell is doing great with learning the numbers and exchange rate for Colombian Pesos.  It is very unnerving to look at prices that are 1000 times more and double the USD.  For example, a beer costs the equivalent of $1.00 here.  The Colombian price would be $2000.00 pesos.  Beeronomy – many cruisers understand that.  Another example, we went to lunch yesterday with Celtic Rover and the cost was $40,000.00 pesos but that was only $20 USD equivalent for an excellent lunch!

We have done one morning in the old city, meandering around.  There is a walled city that is very old and many museums are there.  We have barely scratched the surface of all the exploration we hope to do here.  Right now, we plan on spending at least 4-6 weeks total here.  Hopefully, we can get a better internet connection sometime to be able to upload all the pictures we have been taking.

For now, Adios and hasta luego!  I guess if we get good enough, we could do a whole blog in Spanish – OK?  lol

Eau de la Vie

We had an interesting evening night before last.  We were sitting at anchor in Spanish Waters, Curacao where we have been for about 2 weeks now.  It was after dinner and we were relaxing in the cockpit.  We had noticed the above vessel with their running lights on and thought that they were going to leave after dark.  Not unusual at all – two other boats left about 1-2 hours prior for Aruba.

Anyway, this vessel has been anchored for several days off our starboard quarter almost ¼ mile back (D says I exaggerate so a football field).  The day they came into the anchorage, our friends on Celtic Rover said they had dropped the hook in front of us and almost drifted into our bow.  Anyway, I digress.

As one can see from the picture, it is a beautiful and pretty new boat.  We have spoken about the vessel a few times and Darrell commented that if he had a great big pretty boat like that, he wouldn’t store 29 fenders on the deck.  First red flag should have been raised. 

Anyway, last night the two boats left the anchorage and one was a catamaran in almost the exact position of this boat now – a boat length or two off our starboard beam.  The catamaran left around 6pm while it was still fairly light outside to get through the channel leading to the ocean.  About two hours later, this boat decided to move.  No big deal, right?  Well, they had to use spotlights to see the anchor as they were lifting it because it was now dark.  As the anchor chain came up, they moved nearer and nearer our boat.  A second red flag should have been the dinghy that was not raised for ocean going as they dragged it over the water by it’s lift points, beam to the waves.

Finally, Darrell got out our spotlight (after several repositions with their loud bow thruster) to be sure that they were not going to dislodge OUR anchor chain.  YES, they moved nearly a quarter of a mile as they pulled in anchor chain and had dropped it almost on top of our chain!  They proceeded to re-anchor in almost the exact same spot and drop back a reasonable amount.

Anyway, this picture is taken the next morning from our cockpit.  Not sure what that was all about the other night but they are now closer than I would like given questionable judgment and the number of fenders that they deem necessary in their cruising lifestyle.  We will see what the next couple of days brings.  Eau de la vie – means water of life.  A French name for a German flagged vessel??