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October 1, 2007 Here's to you, Senor Robinson, village of Bahia Azul

09 09.13N, 81 52.76W

After resting up this morning after our rolly trip yesterday afternoon, we dinghied around Bluefield lagoon to explore.  The Bluefields is an Indian reservation, a remote setting, and no casinos, yet.  But it is the prettiest area we have seen so far in Panama that is on the water and we hope that they can keep it to themselves in the years to come.   

October 2, 2007   Beach baby, beach baby, give me your hand!

This morning as I was on the computer, I heard a bird squawk close by.  I raised my head out of the cockpit and a small cayuca with a girl and two small children were looking at me.  And the source of the squawking was a parrot perched on the side of the cayuca. The girl inquired if I was interested in buying the parrot for $50.  I said no and she said okay $40. I still said no gracias, passed candy to them, and we chatted a bit longer.  The two small children were her nephews.  We said hasta luego and not more than 10 minutes later, there are more cayucas around with boys of all ages, girls also just staring.   Aaron said it is like we are in a zoo, except we are the caged animals, and maybe we should start pacing back and forth on the deck.  One girl gave me her writing tablet and I started writing the English word for the Spanish word. I would say the word and she would repeat it.  I filled an entire page.  English is not taught in school, but a few parents do teach their children some English. 

At 10 am, we are off to spend a day at the beach. Gary, Kaija and Doc pick us up in their dinghy.  In the village at the very end of the lagoon, we have heard from fellow cruisers that there is a walking trail that leads over to the ocean side where a spectacular beach is located.  We tie up at the only dock available, and meet a man who explains to us in Spanish, of course, that we need to make a contribution to their village.  We give him $10 per couple.  And set off down the dirt trail.  We come across a family that is sitting off the trail and they ask if we would take a photo of them, so Kaija and I do.  Then, like little kids, they want to look at the picture and giggle at themselves.  The older boy asks for a dollar for taking the photo and we say no, but give him a piece of candy instead.

We hike on towards the other side about a 1/2 mile and are treated to a beautiful scenic beach.  Tranquilo.  The villagers cattle have roamed the beach leaving their cow patties lying in the sun.  It's a sunny, bright day, perfect for a swim and some Frisbee playing.  The local kids walk by on their way back home from school.  They delight in our frisbee acrobatics and we give them some candy.  I like to give them Smarties, since they don't melt and the kids love them, why not? It's sugar! And they don't get to have a lot of candy so it is a treat. The Smarties always places a smile on their faces. 

On our way back home, we are greeted by more children who are out of school.  And are curious to see us.  I take their pictures and pass out more Smarties. Back on board later, another cayuca comes by.  It is Miriam and her little girl, Lillian, who I met earlier in the village.  Miriam asks if we have any books, and so I give her one called Small Miracles, short stories that are easy to read.  Lillian gives me a huge smile this time, not being so self conscious about missing her two front teeth.  Cute, isn't she?  

09 05.53N, 81 34.43W

It rained mostly all night long, another squall came thru.  It is rather hot and stuffy in the boat when you have to shut all the hatches and ports, and sleeping is off and on.  But, all that aside, it is time to move onwards and our destination is an island 25 miles away, called the Escudo de Veraguas.  We up anchor at 830am, and motor out of the Bluefields, thru the Tigre Canal cut, and with the wind on our beam, less than 10k, we unfurl the jib.  Aaron set out the fishing lines, and we hook a little tunny but when Aaron reels it in only half of him is left! Someone was hungry!

We make the crossing over to the island with no mishaps and set anchor in 15 ft of clear blue water on the west side at 2pm.   Lots of palm trees and a beautiful beach to look at.  At 3pm, a couple of cayucas come up to us, one is loaded with 3 local fishermen and a huge snapper.  $3 for the snapper, $5 for lobster, and $3 for crab.  We go for the crab. and the claws are the biggest we have ever seen.  The other cayuca is another local, named Mauricio and his son. . Mauricio explains that this little village is a commercial fishing camp and since the island is muy bonita (very pretty), and they keep the beach cleaned, could we donate some money to the cause: so we contribute $10 and so does Kaija's Song.   Gary and Kaija come over for happy hour island drinks.  Pina coladas made with the magic bullet!  Another cayuca comes up, this time it is Mauricio's son and a friend, and they have a huge bag of crab already cleaned  and a lobster.  We trade 8 cold beers for the whole lot. 

Later that night, around 10pm, a squall hits us with winds of 20-25knots out of the west.  Our stern is now facing the island, not a good situation, so in between the downpours of rain, we set another anchor.  Not a good sleeping nite.  

October 6, 2007   Veraguas Explored and off to the Rio Chagres

These last couple of days has been spent exploring this remote island.  We circumnavigated the entire island by dinghy, stopping to snorkel in various places.  There are two villages here, one is the commercial fishing camp located on the west side, and the other village is on the east side.  There are no trails leading inland, the forest is so dense with palm trees and tropical plants. On the north side, reefs expand out about a 1/4 of a mile and extend all the way to the east side.  On the south, there are huge cliffs, some jutting out like fingers.  There are so many boulders with lots of greenery on top of them that they look like chia pets.

Aaron speared a red snapper and so we enjoyed our first fresh fish dinner since April when we were in the Albuquerque Cays.  Since he speared it, his choice of serving it up was pan fried, of course. 

We also moved to the south side and anchored there, giving us more room if another westerly hits us.  There is a bit of a roll but not bad, just enough to rock you to sleep.

Another happy hour featured the drinks "Painkillers".  Kaija fixed these up in a pitcher and brought them over along with a delicious crab dip.  Since crab was the "in thing", I made up some crabcakes. Life is good!  And the painkillers make you numb!  The recipe is a can of cream of coconut, which you use as your measuring cup, add 2 cans of pineapple juice, 1 can of orange juice, and lots of rum.  Enjoy!

Today is Saturday, (I wouldn't know this except for our atomic clock displays the date and day),  we plan on weighing anchor here around 2 pm and sail away with the afternoon breeze to the Rio Chagres.  The weather has been settled these last few days and we are hoping it stays that way.  The forecast calls for a 10knot north wind, not much for the way of sailing,and the wind usually dies completely at dusk, so we will be motoring most of the way.  The occasional squall builds up anywhere along this coastline, so we are preparing for it.  The waypoints have been entered into the GPS, jackline is secured out on deck, and food is already prepared for the overniter.  It is 95 miles to the Rio Chagres, so we plan on a 20 hour journey.

October 7, 2007  Arrival to the Rio Chagres

09 16.98N, 79 57.08W

The sun was just beginning to rise when we made our way into the entrance of the Rio Chagres after an uneventful overniter.  Off in the distance, towards the south, we could see the huge massive container ships waiting in line to enter the Panama canal.  The seas were calm, no wind, and just a slight mist was hovering above the river waters.  The mouth of the river is narrow, about the length of a football field, with depths of 20 ft. or more.  Up on the bluff overlooking the mouth of the river are the ruins of Fort San Lorenzo.  As we made our way up the river, following Kaija's Song, parrots flew overhead, always in pairs, and made their squawking  bird call.  Motoring on up for about 7 miles, the depths are deep, ranging from 30-60ft.  We pass by other boats that are anchored here.  And it is good to see Valentina, Sonny and Kay, who give us anchoring information as we pass on by.   We set anchor in 30 ft, off to the left side of the river at 8am.  We had made the passage in 18 hours.  Sonny and Kay came by and caught us up on the latest news and  gave us the scoop on the river information as we sipped bloody mary's.  There is a waterfall that they tell us that we have to check out, so we make plans to meet them later.

The river is a freshwater river, so washing the boat with our anchor washdown, is a very nice addition.  Also, the boat lies to the current, which flows by at about 2 knots, so we have to be sure that if we jump in for a swim that we hold on to something or else wave goodbye as you float away.  We are surrounded by bird calls that we have never heard before. 

Packing a cooler of drinks, we head to Valentina where Sonny and Kay lead us to the waterfall.back down river about a couple of miles.  On the way, Kay spots several monkeys up in the trees and we stop to watch.   Gary and Kaija are also along as we make our way into a very small entrance, pushing vines and mangroves away.  The waterfall area is like a tropical oasis.  The fall itself is only about 15ft but the pool is a complete circle filled with fresh very cool water

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Other cruisers show up and we all sit around and talk and swap stories and information.  There are about 7 other boats anchored up and down the river.

October 9, 2007   Walk to the Gatun Locks

The sun is shining and it's a good day for a walk, so we decide to head for the Gatun Locks, which is approximately 3 miles away,  where you can pay $5 to watch the ships transit the locks from the viewing tower.  Gary, Kaija and Doc go with us and we dinghy up the river to the dock just south of the spillway.  As we stroll along the jungle trail, a pair of monkeys is spotted in the trees and you can hear the howler monkeys off in the distance.  They sound like gorillas actually and Aaron tried to talk back to them, but no answer.  Upon reaching the bridge, the only one that connects the two Americas, a huge massive container ship is being transited into the second lock so we have to wait to cross.  Once the ship is in and secured, a whistle blows and the doors of the lock close slowly.  Another 5 minutes pass and then the traffic from the south side is allowed to cross since it is only one lane and then the north..  The pedestrain walkway is narrow and the biggest vehicle that can cross this bridge is a converted school bus, which is the public bus to and from Colon, a 75 cent fare.

After paying our $5 per person, (Gary elects to stay with Doc in the air conditioned ATM building), we walk up the steps to the viewing tower.  The guide is a young Asian girl who is fluent in both English and Spanish and explains to us the facts and figures of the canal.  Our timing is perfect she says because we get to see two ships transit, each going the opposite way.  All the water is freshwater from Gatun Lake, and it takes 10 minutes to fill a lock.  Once the ship is secured, the doors on the locks are closed then the ship is either raised or lowered 84 ft.  depending on the direction it is going.  The Gatun Locks consist of 3 locks, 110 ft wide, 1000 ft long, and over a mile long.  The water flows in and out from the bottom of the lock thru 100 large manholes. It takes a ship about 2 hours to transit these locks.  The canal operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  An expansion to the canal has been planned and will be completed by 2014 allowing mega super tankers to pass thru: these new locks will be 140 ft wide.  5000 containers are the maximum capacity now on one ship, but after the expansion a mega ship will be able to hold 10,000 containers: doubling the amount of freight transiting the canal.

After our walk, we refresh ourselves with a quick dip in the waterfall pool then prepare for the float trip which begins at 530pm.  Everyone meets upriver, rafts up the dinghies together, seven in all, then we all float down the river letting the current slowly take us downriver.  Snacks and hors doerves are passed around and the conversation is filled with jokes, laughter and stories.  Traveling with Brenda and Gene on s/v Queen Mary,  even a song or two is sung, like "Ants on a Log" or with "Hearts Dancing in our Eyes".

October 11, 2007    Port of Colon

09 33.0 N, 79 54.5 W

It took us 3 hours to make the trip from the Rio Chagres to the anchorage called "the Flats" here in Colon.  We followed s/v Max, Crystal and Jeremy, since they have been here before.  It is amazing to see the number of huge ships; containers, tankers, and boat and car haulers.  The line of ships extends out pass the breakwaters.  We wait while a ship enters the channel thru the breakwaters and then follow him thru. This is a very busy place as you can imagine, but highly organized. 

  The only anchorage for us little ships is close to the Panama Yacht Club called " the flats" Why it is called that, I don't know.  There are a dozen other sailboats here and after anchoring, we dinghy to the PYC and catch a taxi.  We have been advised that you do not walk anywhere here in Colon due to the high possibility of being mugged.  With Crystal and Jeremy, we meet Ellington, a taxi driver, who becomes our "Duke" of Colon, and use his services all the time while we are here.   We eat at Salty's, a typical local diner and order the plata de dia, which is chicken, coconut rice, plantains, and some potato salad for $2.25.  Across the street is a department store called, El Maestro, and we take a look around.  Everything is so cheap and mostly from China.  It's like being in a  large 2 story dollar store.  Then it is on to the supermarket, El Rey where we have to make choices, since there is more than one brand of items.  Wow.  And the produce section is awesome.  There is another grocery store worth going to also called Super 99. Over the next few days, we make five trips to the grocery stores and one trip to the duty free store for liquor.  While in Colon,  we have to do massive reprovisioning since once leaving here, heading to the San Blas, supermarkets are non existent; only very small tiendas with limited supplies. We refuel the mainship, fill the propane tanks, and get gasoline for the dinghy.

  With days of researching and lots of phone calls made in trying to secure some bottom antifouling paint, we finally purchase it from  Panama Marine Products, a distributor in the Free Zone of Joutan paint.   Rodolfo, the sales manager, gives us the information sheet on the paint, and with  cash payment upon delivery to the yacht club for free, the deal is a done deal. (5 gal of red - $390) We also buy a can of tin additive ($65) to add to the paint from Arturo in Panama City, who delivers to the yacht club as well. NOT! (more on this later)  Internet is available at the yacht club for  $3 a day or $10/wk for using your own laptop, or they have 2 computers in the office, $2/per hour.  Laundry is $1 to wash and $1 to dry.  Oh, how we love dryers!   

October 16, 2007   Colon to the San Blas Islands

"This part of Panama's coast is called Costa Arriba, (upper coast), and fresh winds during the dry season, December thru April, often make the trip to San Blas a beat to windward.  During the rainy season, June thru November, there are many squalls that bring torrential rain and winds of 25 knots or more but of short duration.  The rainy months can also bring winds from a westerly direction, sometimes quite steady"   from the  Panama Cruising Guide.

With last minute provisioning done, the weather studied, zarpes in hand, we are now ready to head out of Colon.  We are still buddy boating with our good friends, Gary and Kaija, on s/v Kaija's Song.  Our next stop will be Portobelo, a historical city that was once a port that shipped tons of gold and silver to Seville between  1574 and 1702 when Spain ruled. There are several ruins of forts that once protected the harbor from pirates such as Henry Morgan.  Then  a quick tour of  Isla Linton, where monkeys are the main attraction then it is off to the San Blas.

October 18, 2007  Portobelo

09 33.51N, 79 39.77W, a rumble in the jungle 

We arrived here yesterday after a 20 mile leisurely cruise, a most gorgeous bay, which was discovered by Columbus in 1502 during his fourth trip. On the way here,  Aaron threw out a fishing line off the stern and caught a 30"Little Tunny. He filleted it, a bloody mess that was, and  never to be repeated. The meat is very very dark red, not our favorite, so we gave them to Kaija and Gary.  They love fish! 

Arturo, who was suppose to have our tin additive delivered yesterday in Colon, called Gary as he was setting the anchor and told him that the tin additive was now at the Panama Yacht Club awaiting pickup.  Gary had called and called and called Arturo about the fact that we were leaving Colon but it never showed up.  So we went ahead and left.  Now, Aaron and Gary are taking the bus to Colon to pick it up. 

Last nite, around 5pm, the howler monkeys started their chant, and they were so loud that you could hear them clear across the bay.  It sounds like dinosaurs in a way, you know, from  the Jurassic Park movie.  It is a deep rumbling sound, very guttural.   The thunder and lightning show that is pretty much every night began and with the howler monkeys doing their thing, it was quite an enjoyable evening.     

While Aaron and Gary were taking the bus back into Colon, Kaija and I decided to go exploring the forts that surround the bay.  There are three of them, one on each side of the bay and the other at the very end.  As we roamed around the ruins, you could just imagine the action that took place as pirates tried to blast their way into the treasure laden bay.

  In the town of Portobelo, the church of San Felipe, built in 1776, is home to the Black Christ, a wooden statue of the Jesus of Nazareth.  This statue has become holy and worshipped because of the miracles attributed to it.  This weekend, the festival of the Black Christ, brings in many visitors from all over Panama and beyond.  There are  vendors selling religious trinkets and the Panamamian police are out in full force, even a military ship is anchored in the bay.  The religious ceremony is on Sunday, the 21st, at 8pm, when the Black Christ is paraded thru town til midnite then brought back to the church for another year.

October 23,2007  Just monkeying around

Isla Linton  09 36.73N  79 35.13W

Isla Linton is just 8 miles east of Portobelo, uninhabitated by people but a group of monkeys have made their home there.  The anchorage is one of the best along this coast, well protected and good holding in mud/sand in about 30 ft.  There are 19 other boats here and the mainland is close by, where the annex of the Panama Yacht Club is located, although it is not open.  We went and explored the reefs and the coral is some of the prettiest we have seen, and there are more fish here, but smaller in size.  Although, Aaron being the master fishkiller he is, speared the biggest Ocean Trigger, ever and in doing so it bent his spear in the efforts of trying to get away.

We decided to visit the monkeys of which we have been watching from our boat.  There are two of them that are the friendliest, who come up to visitors and take food right from their hands, so we put on our best monkey suit, cut up an apple into slices and gave it a go.  I mean how aggressive can they get?

We dinghied up to the dock while the monkeys were still hanging out in a coconut tree and as soon as we landed on the dock, they both scampered quickly to greet us.    Aaron fed them the apple slices while I documented the moment by taking pictures.  One had a sore on his foot that was infected and he was docile compared to the other one who was more aggressive (the brown one).  When taking the apple slices, they were both very gentle and grateful.

 But, when the food source dried up, the situation turned rather quickly.  The aggressive one grabbed the  6 ft bamboo pole that Aaron had brought for protection and took it right out of his hands and started screaming at us.  Aaron reached for the pole and a struggle pursued with the monkey winning.  Aaron was left with a 8" part of the bamboo pole, which wasn't much protection so  both of us launched ourselves into our dinghy as the monkey continued to rage and scream at us holding our pole.  Now, our dinghy painter, which was still lying on the dock, was tangled in between the wooden planks, so we were not able to free ourselves.  The bad monkey made several attempts to get into our dinghy, which rather scared us, so Aaron made his best bad monkey impression which had no effect on the raving monkey.  I batted my shoe around to fend off the creature as Aaron started the dinghy motor, but we still had the problem of being attached to the dock.  Aaron being a fast thinker, reached for our bailer bucket and doused the little maniac with water.  Now the monkey's facial reaction was one of "how could you", and just stood there quietly looking at us;  So Aaron gave him another dose and he went away.  We started laughing and couldn't stop at how our confrontation with the local natives had just transpired.  Gary and Kaija had seen it all and were laughing with us.  I did get a few good pictures of them upclose, but I wish I had the video footage of us when we were trying to make our hasty exit. 

October 24, 2007   On to the San Blas, Chichime Island

09 35.2N  78 52.9W   Molas, Molas, Molas  

Our 45 mile crossing was a calm one, little or no wind.  We put up the mainsail and reefed it just to help in keeping us from rolling so much when the swells swept by.  Aaron had both fishing lines out and was ready for action, that is being as naked as the fish!  At noon, we heard the familiar sound of the fishing line running out.  Fish on! I cried and went into action!  I backed down on the fuel lever and brought out the rubbing alcohol.  I placed Aaron's fishing belt on him as he reeled in the "big one" and got the gaff ready.  As the fish came alongside, I gaffed him, poured rubbing alcohol into his gills, (which kills the fish), as the fish tried to throw the lure with blood going everywhere.  Finally, he expired  and Aaron placed him on the stern deck.  Wow,  it was a 4ft, 20lb, Cero, which is in the mackerel family.  Fish it is what's for dinner.

We motored on towards Chichime while Kaija's Song headed for Isla Porveneir to check in with immigration and check out of the country.  We had already done this in Colon with our zarpe stating that we were headed to Cartagena via San Blas.  As we made our approach, it reminded us of the Albuquerque Cays, in which the anchorage is in between two tropical islands.  There is only one other boat here and we set the hook in 35 ft.  It wasn't too long to wait before canoes starting swarming  around our boat.  On each island there are at least two families who live there.  The older women are dressed in their traditional clothes, brilliant in color, complete with head scarf and beads on their wrists and their lower legs were covered from the ankle to just below the knee,  while the younger girls wear tank tops and shorts.  There is usually one or more kids in each canoe.  With each stop, we bought a mola and passed out our small ziploc bags of treats for the kids, which consists of crayons and paper and candy.  And they always say that they have two more kids at home, so could they please have two more treats.  We are here to please!

October 27, 2007  Let's celebrate a Birthday!

Before arriving in the San Blas, we had heard that one of the best mola makers was a transvestite, named Lisa.  Lisa lives on one of the islands of Chichime along with her partner and her Captain.  They came out to greet us in her canoe and immediately she asked if we knew Chris and Magie on Contigo.  (we have the same boat).  We were pleasantly surprised and told her that we are good friends with them and that at the moment their boat is in Tahiti.  Once onboard, sitting in the cockpit,  the molas were brought out one at a time out of a 5 gallon bucket.  There are two kinds of molas: applique which is more touristy, and traditional which are more geometrically designed and take longer to make.  We opted for the traditional and bought several. We also placed an order for a custom made mola of our boat that Lisa will make personally in two weeks for $50.  She invited us to celebrate her birthday at her home so at dusk, along with Gary and Kaija, we dinghied ashore and walked to the other side of the island.  Lisa's home is the traditional Kuna casa; a thatched roof with bamboo poles as walls, 20 x 12, with a gorgeous view of the ocean, and the  constant roar of the crashing surf on the reef.  We sat around a plastic table right outside her home and with a transistor radio playing Latino music, we presented our gifts of rum and cokes and munchies.  Kaija made the official birthday cake, brownies complete with a candle.  It began to rain so the party was moved indoors and with a generator supplying electricity, there was  only one light strung up in the middle of the home.  Hammocks were strung along each of the sides. and clothes were draped upon the support poles and natural floors, meaning sand.  There was only one other piece of furniture, a table that had kitchen items on it.  Cooking is done outside and so are other duties. Lisa speaks pretty good English, Kuna and Spanish fluently, but her other two friends do not speak any English.  But sign language goes a long ways.  Lisa's mother passed away 5 months ago so she was telling us about the funeral process.  Each Kuna is buried with four very traditional molas that are made especially for them.  Lisa had made her mother the four molas.  There are four sisters up above and the molas are a way of asking for acceptance into their heaven.

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