Tommorrow morning we are leaving Panama and heading out to the Las Perlas Islands before sailing out to the Galapagos. I'm not certain when I will be able to update the blog again -possible not for 3 weeks or so. Sorry to make this so brief but I've got to do weather checks and get back to the boat - its pitvh black out there and getting 300 yards back offshore is not a bundle of laughs!
Love to you all - and I'll catch up when I can!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Panama City
Here are some pictures of our trip into Panama city, I'll try and upload some more tommorrow . It looks like we will be leaving for the Las Perlas Islands on Saturday where we will spend a week or so before heading to the Galapagos Islands. Not sure how long it will take us as there is no wind at the moment, but I'm expecting to be out of contact for 2/3 week or so.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
PANAMA CITY
23rd February – Lots has happened in the past couple of days! On Sunday Nigel and I took ourselves off into the old city, it was a bit disappointing in the fact that although some effort is being made to preserve the old buildings but in general it is quite run down. At the turn of the 20th century I would imagine that it was quite some place. Its very Hispanic, lots of old wooden doors leading into shady courtyards, balconies overlooking the street – you could be anywhere in Spain. Unfortunately the city’s worst ghetto is just a few blocks away so you have to be very careful how far you wander. Our taxi driver made us lock the doors as we had to drive through it to leave the city, not even the taxi drivers like driving through there.
The new city is a mass of high rise apartment blocks mostly occupied by Americans who have retired there because the living is so cheap and the healthcare is excellent. Yesterday we visited the shopping malls checking out the prices for our ‘store ship’, if you shop where the Yanks go then you will pay double the price anywhere else, and when you have got to buy 50llb of flour to make bread the costs rise quickly. It’s cheaper to buy beer than it is coke, coke is twice the price of beer! Four pm on this boat is ‘Beer O’clock’!
Life on the anchorage isn’t as bad as we first imagined, it can be rolly from the canal traffic but our main gripe is it’s sooo hot with no breeze. We are getting regular visits from rays who patrol round the yachts, 2 nights ago we had a visit from a small shark. Nigel did a spot of night fishing a couple of nights ago, caught a fish which promptly bit him when he got it aboard – he bled like a stuck pig unfortunately. Long and short of it is - he has bought himself padded fishing gloves as most things caught here either bite or are poisonous.
My final piece of news is that we are no longer a crew of 4. Last night our new crew member was asked to remove himself from the boat. The long and short of it was he had done nothing to endear himself to us, he couldn’t sail and had made no effort to even learn anything about the boat, he drank like a fish and when he wasn’t drinking he was either eating or sleeping. We were all working hard and he was quite happy to sit and watch us, while we were shopping for stores and equipment yesterday he took himself off into Panama quoting ‘I’ll eat anything you buy!’ So Ted asked him to leave the boat – he promptly got steaming drunk and came back to the boat a very mean drunk. He couldn’t understand that we were not happy to put our lives in his hand’s, I don’t think the enormity of a Pacific crossing had even crossed his mind.
Got lots of Photo's but can't upload them until tommorrow.
The new city is a mass of high rise apartment blocks mostly occupied by Americans who have retired there because the living is so cheap and the healthcare is excellent. Yesterday we visited the shopping malls checking out the prices for our ‘store ship’, if you shop where the Yanks go then you will pay double the price anywhere else, and when you have got to buy 50llb of flour to make bread the costs rise quickly. It’s cheaper to buy beer than it is coke, coke is twice the price of beer! Four pm on this boat is ‘Beer O’clock’!
Life on the anchorage isn’t as bad as we first imagined, it can be rolly from the canal traffic but our main gripe is it’s sooo hot with no breeze. We are getting regular visits from rays who patrol round the yachts, 2 nights ago we had a visit from a small shark. Nigel did a spot of night fishing a couple of nights ago, caught a fish which promptly bit him when he got it aboard – he bled like a stuck pig unfortunately. Long and short of it is - he has bought himself padded fishing gloves as most things caught here either bite or are poisonous.
My final piece of news is that we are no longer a crew of 4. Last night our new crew member was asked to remove himself from the boat. The long and short of it was he had done nothing to endear himself to us, he couldn’t sail and had made no effort to even learn anything about the boat, he drank like a fish and when he wasn’t drinking he was either eating or sleeping. We were all working hard and he was quite happy to sit and watch us, while we were shopping for stores and equipment yesterday he took himself off into Panama quoting ‘I’ll eat anything you buy!’ So Ted asked him to leave the boat – he promptly got steaming drunk and came back to the boat a very mean drunk. He couldn’t understand that we were not happy to put our lives in his hand’s, I don’t think the enormity of a Pacific crossing had even crossed his mind.
Got lots of Photo's but can't upload them until tommorrow.
Panama Canal
Well we have finally made it into the Pacific! We made our transit through the canal yesterday and now we are anchored off Flamenco Island just outside Panama City. I don’t know if any of you managed to see our passage through, I know Dad was watching as we came under the Centennial Bridge into the San Pedro lock. We did wave to the cameras but there was a large red tanker in the lock next-door and he may have blocked us from viwe.
We started our transit at 6:45 pm through the big Gatun lock after taking on our Adviser Roy ( he looked like Eric Strada from Chip’s for you oldies), we had a young Danish lad called Daniel who very kindly volunteered to be our 4th line handler. We had hoped to go through during daylight but ended up going through with a large American motorboat, us and another yacht were either side of him as we went through. Actually it worked out quite well, he was 20 feet longer than us so he had the lines tied to him, all we had to do really was watch and fend off the walls if the line handlers failed to control the lines.
We had to share the Gatun with a large tanker, doing this makes it slightly more hairy as there is a lot of turbulence in the water and the boats get thrown around quite a bit. It’s quite something to do, the locks are an amazing piece of civil engineering and it’s incredible to think that they are nearly 100 years old and still using the same lock doors and equipment. The tankers are pulled through by trains on either side of the locks, these are made by Mitsubishi and come in at around £2.5 million each. We finally made it to the mooring boys at around midnight in the holding lake, we had to raft up with the big American boat who’s crew (who had been drinking all the way through the locks) continued to party until 1:30 am much to our annoyance. Even more so when at 5am they turned on their generator, the Adviser was due back on at 6am for us to complete the transit.
We left the anchorage at about 6:45 am, it’s a 25 mile journey down through the lake to the Miaflores locks, the trip takes you down through the Panamanian jungle which was something I didn’t expect. Its incredible to see these huge Panamax tankers speeding through the jungle, I was on the helm for part of the journey through, usually I get spooked at being half a mile away from these things so being only 50/60 feet or so away was quite something.
I called my Dad up just as we were rafting up under the Centennial Bridge before we transited the Miaflores locks, coincidence would have it that he was watching us as I was calling him. Despite the fact that going down in locks is supposed to easier we actually had quite a tough time and bounced off the wall at one point as the line handlers on the other side of the power boat cocked up the lines. Trust me it’s not a bundle of fun being squashed up against the lock walls as the water is emptying out, Hoanlee has gained some scratches much to Ted’s annoyance. Lots of shouting and swearing was done! Poor old Nigel found it incredibly frustrating, he’s been in and out of floating docks for all his working life and not being able to control our lines was quite hard for him. The idiots on the other side were letting out their side hence allowing us to float into the lock walls – great for their boat but not us.
At around 1:30 pm we exited the locks and Honalee sailed quite happily out into the Pacific! Panama City from the water looks incredibly like Miami, lots of skyscrapers and beaches. We anchored up by Raylar and Moonshiner - friends from the San Blas, it was great to see them again. Norsa ,Sarah and Norman’s boat was anchored in the middle of the fleet and we caught up with them when we finally got ashore. It was lovely to catch up with both Sarah’s, they’ve become good friends and it was great to catch up for a girly chat (and a moan!). Last night we all went ashore for a meal in a local restaurant and polished off a few bottles of wine and a ‘couple’ of beers. Norsa is leaving for the Las Perlas Islands today and I don’t know when we will see them again – possibly the Galapagos if we miss them in the Las Perlas.
So – for the next few days we will continue to store ship, do all the work that needs doing and then get under way. The water here is very dirty (something to do with tankers whizzing past 24/7) so we have been unable to try out the new watermaker – I just hope it works when we get into clean water. Hopefully our new crew member will cease to treat Honalee like a cruise ship and actually begin to do some work around the boat rather than asking for another cold beer. Karen F - why oh why couldn’t you have come with us???? – ok so I know you can sink a cold beer but at least you can sail, know what a halyard is and have actually set foot on a yacht before.
We started our transit at 6:45 pm through the big Gatun lock after taking on our Adviser Roy ( he looked like Eric Strada from Chip’s for you oldies), we had a young Danish lad called Daniel who very kindly volunteered to be our 4th line handler. We had hoped to go through during daylight but ended up going through with a large American motorboat, us and another yacht were either side of him as we went through. Actually it worked out quite well, he was 20 feet longer than us so he had the lines tied to him, all we had to do really was watch and fend off the walls if the line handlers failed to control the lines.
We had to share the Gatun with a large tanker, doing this makes it slightly more hairy as there is a lot of turbulence in the water and the boats get thrown around quite a bit. It’s quite something to do, the locks are an amazing piece of civil engineering and it’s incredible to think that they are nearly 100 years old and still using the same lock doors and equipment. The tankers are pulled through by trains on either side of the locks, these are made by Mitsubishi and come in at around £2.5 million each. We finally made it to the mooring boys at around midnight in the holding lake, we had to raft up with the big American boat who’s crew (who had been drinking all the way through the locks) continued to party until 1:30 am much to our annoyance. Even more so when at 5am they turned on their generator, the Adviser was due back on at 6am for us to complete the transit.
We left the anchorage at about 6:45 am, it’s a 25 mile journey down through the lake to the Miaflores locks, the trip takes you down through the Panamanian jungle which was something I didn’t expect. Its incredible to see these huge Panamax tankers speeding through the jungle, I was on the helm for part of the journey through, usually I get spooked at being half a mile away from these things so being only 50/60 feet or so away was quite something.
I called my Dad up just as we were rafting up under the Centennial Bridge before we transited the Miaflores locks, coincidence would have it that he was watching us as I was calling him. Despite the fact that going down in locks is supposed to easier we actually had quite a tough time and bounced off the wall at one point as the line handlers on the other side of the power boat cocked up the lines. Trust me it’s not a bundle of fun being squashed up against the lock walls as the water is emptying out, Hoanlee has gained some scratches much to Ted’s annoyance. Lots of shouting and swearing was done! Poor old Nigel found it incredibly frustrating, he’s been in and out of floating docks for all his working life and not being able to control our lines was quite hard for him. The idiots on the other side were letting out their side hence allowing us to float into the lock walls – great for their boat but not us.
At around 1:30 pm we exited the locks and Honalee sailed quite happily out into the Pacific! Panama City from the water looks incredibly like Miami, lots of skyscrapers and beaches. We anchored up by Raylar and Moonshiner - friends from the San Blas, it was great to see them again. Norsa ,Sarah and Norman’s boat was anchored in the middle of the fleet and we caught up with them when we finally got ashore. It was lovely to catch up with both Sarah’s, they’ve become good friends and it was great to catch up for a girly chat (and a moan!). Last night we all went ashore for a meal in a local restaurant and polished off a few bottles of wine and a ‘couple’ of beers. Norsa is leaving for the Las Perlas Islands today and I don’t know when we will see them again – possibly the Galapagos if we miss them in the Las Perlas.
So – for the next few days we will continue to store ship, do all the work that needs doing and then get under way. The water here is very dirty (something to do with tankers whizzing past 24/7) so we have been unable to try out the new watermaker – I just hope it works when we get into clean water. Hopefully our new crew member will cease to treat Honalee like a cruise ship and actually begin to do some work around the boat rather than asking for another cold beer. Karen F - why oh why couldn’t you have come with us???? – ok so I know you can sink a cold beer but at least you can sail, know what a halyard is and have actually set foot on a yacht before.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
I hope that's fruit they're throwing!
Yesterday Nigel took himself off into the jungle for another one of his epic reccies - one of these days he is going to come across a giant anaconda and have the beejeezus scared out of him!
At one of the old forts he came across a large troop of howler monkeys, they were just hanging around in the vines and climbing over the ruins so he sat down under one of the trees to watch them go about their business. After a while they gathered in the tree above him and proceeded to throw fruit at him - well he guessed it was fruit as they were picking it off the tree. When he didn't move one of them climbed into the canopy above him and peeded all over him - now perhaps he would get the message!
I wish I wasn't such a scaredy cat where snakes are concerned, it didn't bother me too much in Trinidad going across the field as I guessed they would slither away as soon as they heard me. Out here they are big b*ggers that wouldn't think twice about sizing me up for a meal. It just means that I miss out on so much of the wildlife, although I have to say there is more than enough around the marina to wonder at. We came across a group of coati-mundis the other morning - I've put a picture of one above, not great quality as it was with my camera. The others are of the sloth taken by Liz as it crossed the road and the howler monkeys.
We will be going through the canal on Thursday afternoon around supper time in Canada - 10 pmish in the UK and mid morning for NZ. I will put a link on the next blog for anyone that cares to see us go through, we will be going through the Gantun Locks on Thursday evening and then through the Miaflores on Friday. I am hoping to hang a flourescent pink flag in the rigging of Honalee - just so you know which one is us. I will try to wave but as I'm a linehandler I think I might be slightly busy, however if we are hthe middle boat it should be quite a leisurely proceedure.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Howler Monkeys
Our early morning wake up call is now provided by a family of howler monkeys who have moved into the vacinity of the marina. Every morning we are woken at first light by whooping and roaring from the canopy of the jungle that surrounds the marina.
This morning Nigel and I braved the deserted roads of the old Fort Sherman, these go way off into the jungle which is now a protected wildlife reserve. Our first introduction to the wildlife was a small capybara out for his early morning stroll, he eyed us up and down and then continued merrily on his way totaly unfased by us humans. High above us in the canopy of the jungle we could hear monkeys moving above us and as we got closer they started to call out warning each other of our presence. They were quite large and I'm glad that they kept themselves up in the trees - they can move faster than I can!
We came across a family of what we thought were ring tailed limas or ones that sure looked like them. They were quite happy to play on the jungle floor as we walked past them, thye were drinking fresh water out of the drains along the road and then climbing a plam tree of kinds that had date like fruit growing under the fronds. There were loads of parrots flying around, not the bright coloured macaw type but green and a dull yellow. Nigel has taken some photos so when he gets round to loading them onto the data stick I will up load them to the blog.
This morning Nigel and I braved the deserted roads of the old Fort Sherman, these go way off into the jungle which is now a protected wildlife reserve. Our first introduction to the wildlife was a small capybara out for his early morning stroll, he eyed us up and down and then continued merrily on his way totaly unfased by us humans. High above us in the canopy of the jungle we could hear monkeys moving above us and as we got closer they started to call out warning each other of our presence. They were quite large and I'm glad that they kept themselves up in the trees - they can move faster than I can!
We came across a family of what we thought were ring tailed limas or ones that sure looked like them. They were quite happy to play on the jungle floor as we walked past them, thye were drinking fresh water out of the drains along the road and then climbing a plam tree of kinds that had date like fruit growing under the fronds. There were loads of parrots flying around, not the bright coloured macaw type but green and a dull yellow. Nigel has taken some photos so when he gets round to loading them onto the data stick I will up load them to the blog.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Don't Lick Toads!
We had some excitement in the marina last night around supper time, one of the boats in the marina has 2 Jack Russels onboard and one of them had suddenly taken a bad turn and was dying. We had people rushing round boats looking for anti histamine and believe it or not Ventolin inhaler, it was thought that the dog had been bitten by a snake.
Luckily I carry really strong antihistmine and I had my inhaler - so with a saline drip kindly given from one of the super yachts alongside and my inhaler stuck down the dogs throat it survived the night. It is now in the vets hospital in Colon and should make a full recovery. It turned out it wasn't a snake bite but a toad! it had obviously found one in the grass and went to investigate - stuck its nose on the toad and went into anaphalactic shock - hence DON'T LICK TOADS IN THE JUNGLE!
Our resident alligator turned up in the marina 2 nights ago and was dully chased off by the night watchman. Our waterline really needs scrubbing but I think that it can wait until we get to the Las Perlas Islands, it really isn't safe to even sit in the dinghy and lean over the side.
I had my first attempt at making bread this morning - I think I need some practise! my bread rolls turned out like grapeshot, still I guess we could throw them at the 'gators. It dosn't help having an oven that will not heat up and a grill that hasn't worked for years - if it can't be cooked in a pressure cooker on Honalee then forget it. Lots of nice warm stews to look forward to on the equator then!
Luckily I carry really strong antihistmine and I had my inhaler - so with a saline drip kindly given from one of the super yachts alongside and my inhaler stuck down the dogs throat it survived the night. It is now in the vets hospital in Colon and should make a full recovery. It turned out it wasn't a snake bite but a toad! it had obviously found one in the grass and went to investigate - stuck its nose on the toad and went into anaphalactic shock - hence DON'T LICK TOADS IN THE JUNGLE!
Our resident alligator turned up in the marina 2 nights ago and was dully chased off by the night watchman. Our waterline really needs scrubbing but I think that it can wait until we get to the Las Perlas Islands, it really isn't safe to even sit in the dinghy and lean over the side.
I had my first attempt at making bread this morning - I think I need some practise! my bread rolls turned out like grapeshot, still I guess we could throw them at the 'gators. It dosn't help having an oven that will not heat up and a grill that hasn't worked for years - if it can't be cooked in a pressure cooker on Honalee then forget it. Lots of nice warm stews to look forward to on the equator then!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Shopping Panama Style
Well we are still waiting at the Carribbean end of the canal waiting for Jimmy our new crew member to turn up with the new water maker.
Thankfully the marina here lays on a minibus to the local shopping mall (well their version of a mall - a supermarket and 2 small department stores). Our trip involves a 15 mile journey through the jungle into the otskirts of Colon, this is a really great trip as most days you are likely to see some wildlife. On our way back from the supermarket yesterday we came across a sloth making his way VERY VERY slowly across the road, apparently they only come down out of the trees to go to the loo. We haven't seen any anacondas or aligators yet but they are there. Our minibus driver says he drives round everything but snakes, he runs over them as they kill people - aligators he can't run over as they're would ruin his exhaust (muffler) and suspension.
Most days we get held up at the Gantun locks as one of the huge Panamax ships goes through. They literally have inches to spare either side, if we are really unlucky we will have to share a lock with one of these monsters. Nigel and Ted had quite an experience taking a yacht through the other day, the yacht they were on broke down with a Panamax baring down on them. Luckily the pilot onboard managed to get a tug to push them out of the way in time - if not 'asta la vista Moonshiner'. They spent a disturbed night in the holding lake, its in the middle of the Panamanian jungle which is full of howler monkeys who called to each other all night long.
Shopping here is sooo cheap! good shoes can be bought for about $5, swimsuits about the same. So today I hit the shops and bought myself a new wardrobe for about $50, even Nigel treated himself so you know how cheap it is!
Thankfully the marina here lays on a minibus to the local shopping mall (well their version of a mall - a supermarket and 2 small department stores). Our trip involves a 15 mile journey through the jungle into the otskirts of Colon, this is a really great trip as most days you are likely to see some wildlife. On our way back from the supermarket yesterday we came across a sloth making his way VERY VERY slowly across the road, apparently they only come down out of the trees to go to the loo. We haven't seen any anacondas or aligators yet but they are there. Our minibus driver says he drives round everything but snakes, he runs over them as they kill people - aligators he can't run over as they're would ruin his exhaust (muffler) and suspension.
Most days we get held up at the Gantun locks as one of the huge Panamax ships goes through. They literally have inches to spare either side, if we are really unlucky we will have to share a lock with one of these monsters. Nigel and Ted had quite an experience taking a yacht through the other day, the yacht they were on broke down with a Panamax baring down on them. Luckily the pilot onboard managed to get a tug to push them out of the way in time - if not 'asta la vista Moonshiner'. They spent a disturbed night in the holding lake, its in the middle of the Panamanian jungle which is full of howler monkeys who called to each other all night long.
Shopping here is sooo cheap! good shoes can be bought for about $5, swimsuits about the same. So today I hit the shops and bought myself a new wardrobe for about $50, even Nigel treated himself so you know how cheap it is!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Peace for a short while!
Nigel and Ted have gone and left me for 24 hours! they have volunteered to be line handlers for some friends as they transit the canal, most peole do this to get experience before taking their own boat through. So I have had the boat to myself, spent last evening with the guys from Mercury Rising watching the Superbowl on Panamanian TV.
Life on the boat is VERY hot! most days its 32*+ so we tend to get work done early in the morning before the decks get too hot. Its not too bad when you are alongside in a great marina like this but once we get through the other side we are on our own regarding water and electric. We make our own electric via the wind generator and the solar panels, hopefully when Jimmy turns up next week with our new watermaker we will hopefully be self sufficient in power and water. Food is another totally different matter! Ted has an addiction to evaporated milk, we figured that with his present consumption we would have to buy at least a 100 tins of it alone let alone the tinned pears that he likes to accompany it! Storage is of a premium, Nigel had better start catching these tuna's and dorado's that he keeps telling us about!
I've posted some more photo's of our trip to the San Blas - hope you like them!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Panama at Last!
Well we have finally arrived at the Panama Canal! We are presently in Shelter Bay Marina on the outskirts of a city called Colon (the a*sehole of the world!). The marina is wonderful - showers - electric - bar - swimming pool - bus to a fully stocked supermarket - BLISS!
Without boring you too much, Colon is an extremely dangerous city and we have been told that we must not go into the city without security guards as it is too dangerous. Our trip to get our visa was like being in the presidential cavalcade - van pulls up outside office - guard gets out - we follow into office - finger prints taken - guard clears the way out to van - and we quickly depart the area. Kinda gives you that warm fuzzy feeling dosn't it!
The entrance to the port was 'interesting' and very busy, we had supertankers wizzing down either side of us one after the other. I didn't realise just how busy the canal was, it is constant 24 hours a day. On our way to the immigration office we had to pass over the huge Gantun lock - wow its pretty impressive and quite intimidating to think that little old Honalee will be tied up alongside a supertanker to get through the locks. We had the officials on the boat the other day to measure us up, now we only have to get our watermaker working and we are ready to go through.
We are now beginging to stock up for the Pacific, the logistics of buying for 6 months let alone storing it on a yacht is going to be a nightmare. Our neighbours on the marina bought nearly a 100 bottles of wine yestrday along with 70 flats of beer (24 in each) - this is how much space we have for food not including water or beer! I'd like to be on their boat! While we were shopping yesterday we came across quarter bottles of spirits for trading in the Marquesas for fish - they were 50p each! if it gets us some tuna or dorado great!
Anyhow - off to start making an inventory of stores on the boat in 90* plus heat!
Without boring you too much, Colon is an extremely dangerous city and we have been told that we must not go into the city without security guards as it is too dangerous. Our trip to get our visa was like being in the presidential cavalcade - van pulls up outside office - guard gets out - we follow into office - finger prints taken - guard clears the way out to van - and we quickly depart the area. Kinda gives you that warm fuzzy feeling dosn't it!
The entrance to the port was 'interesting' and very busy, we had supertankers wizzing down either side of us one after the other. I didn't realise just how busy the canal was, it is constant 24 hours a day. On our way to the immigration office we had to pass over the huge Gantun lock - wow its pretty impressive and quite intimidating to think that little old Honalee will be tied up alongside a supertanker to get through the locks. We had the officials on the boat the other day to measure us up, now we only have to get our watermaker working and we are ready to go through.
We are now beginging to stock up for the Pacific, the logistics of buying for 6 months let alone storing it on a yacht is going to be a nightmare. Our neighbours on the marina bought nearly a 100 bottles of wine yestrday along with 70 flats of beer (24 in each) - this is how much space we have for food not including water or beer! I'd like to be on their boat! While we were shopping yesterday we came across quarter bottles of spirits for trading in the Marquesas for fish - they were 50p each! if it gets us some tuna or dorado great!
Anyhow - off to start making an inventory of stores on the boat in 90* plus heat!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
26th January
We upped the anchor and moved eastwards towards the middle of the Hollandes Cays this morning. This is a small anchorage protected by a large reef with mangroves on one side of us and another island inhabited by a family of fishermen and coconut farmers.
We went ashore to see if they had any fresh fish and came back with a ‘takeaway’ which consisted of 3 freshly smoked fish and a large coconut. I was invited into their cookhouse to pick which fish I would like – it was like stepping back in time. I could quite imagine that this was how we lived in the middle ages and yet here I was in the 21st century, to me this is squalor but it is how they have lived for centuries and know nothing better. They were a lovely family and made us most welcome, the Father told me his name was Robert and was most impressed when I told him my son was also called Robert! Everything came to $4 – so maybe I will go back and buy a mola or 2 from them – this is a pittance to us but they can live on $10 a week quite easily here.
What at first appeared to be a tranquil anchorage soon turned into a riotous afternoon when several crew from the other yachts here (all Frenchies!) decided to party on the beach. After having the audacity to ask us to switch our wind generator off because it was too noisy (we don’t call it ‘Das Stuka’ for nothing) they proceeded to sing and shout all afternoon – including chanting their national anthem. We were tempted to play Abba’s ‘Waterloo’ at full blast – or invade the beach – after all the Frogs are used to having their beaches invaded – they just got lucky at Hastings in 1066!
27 -30th
For the past 3 days we have been back in Porvenir, we were intending to have just the one night here but we have been held up by a cold front that has brought high winds and high seas. Nothing that the boat or us couldn’t handle its just that we really don’t want to put us or the boat through anymore stress than we have to.
Still – we have had great fun, there are another couple of British boats that are in and we have become good friends with their crews. Most nights we have ventured ashore for a ‘session’ at Hotel Porvenir, with our evenings finished with a stroll back along the runway and onto the jetty for a bouncy wet ride back to Honalee out in the anchorage.
Water is getting to be a premium onboard at the moment, we are down to one tank so we are being VERY careful as we don’t know when we are going to be able to fill the tanks. This evening we went ashore for a shower at the hotel which cost us a dollar to use the room and shower. When I say room – I can only liken this to a concrete room with 2 beds, a breeze block wall that divides the toilet from the bedroom. The shower is a spout that comes out of the wall – now when you haven’t had a proper shower this year it seems like pure luxury even if it is cold and intermittent. Washing is done off the back of the yacht with a fresh water rinse – better get used to this as we may have to go a month without washing on our way to the Marquesa Islands.
The past couple of nights have been interesting, one of the boats started to come loose and was bouncing off its neighbours in the night with much shouting and abuse (it was a German boat hitting English ones). Today our dinghy came loose from Honalee and drifted off to the mainland 20 miles away. Luckily it was spotted and we managed to get her back, without this we would have been well and truly snookered.
Our next port of call should be Portobello a few miles from the Panama Canal. Portobello is where Sir Francis Drake was buried, he was taken out to sea and buried in a lead lined coffin, to this day legend has it round here that you can hear Drake’s drum beating on a still calm night. Most nights round hear all our neighbours can hear is ‘Das Stuka’ off the back of Honalee as she generates enough power for me to recharge the computer to write my blog.
30th
Sadly we left Porvenir this morning at 6am, I will miss this place as we’ve had a great time here. Its only a tiny place run by a bunch of old age pensioners but it has a certain charm, and although they must get 100’s of visitors a year they went out of there way to make us feel so welcome. We made the effort to say goodbye to all of them, even the little lady who did our laundry came out to say goodbye us.
We didn’t make it to Portobello it was getting late and so we headed into Isla Linton 8 miles further east. As we were coming in we could hear whistling coming from below, Nigel went to investigate and started to shout that there was smoke coming from the engine compartment – Oh sh*t! It seemed as if our engine was on fire, thankfully the smoke turned out to be steam, but the engine was severely over heating and we had to get in fast. God knows what would have happened if we had been further out or coming through shoals or reefs. Long and short if it is that the impellor for the salt water intake has disintegrated and the engine will have to be stripped tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Happy Birthday Robb!
19th & 20th January
All important day today (19th) - its Robb’s birthday! I can’t get cell phone reception so we can’t wish him Happy Birthday – we miss both him and Heather, I’m sure they would love the adventure but not the sailing.
Both mornings we have had the Porvenir wake up call at 7:15am, 50 feet above our mast the flight from Panama City brings in another 2/3 guests at the hotel. We bought 2 lobsters and a huge crab for $10, so with beers at the hotel costing $1 we are living like kings – well the boys are I can’t stand lobster or crab.
20th – Today we sailed over to the Chichime Cays 5 miles from Porvenir, these are 2 islands surrounded by a coral reef, the pilotage coming in was rather hairy as the charts for here are hugely out of date. These 2 islands are supposed to be home to just a couple of coconut famers, but we have got here to find a hotel – well I use the term loosely. It’s a wooden hut with a palm roof, bring your own hammocks, all the food, free coconuts, beer $1, all for 10 bucks a day! But hey the view is great and the ants and land crabs clear the crumbs up off the floor for free.
There is a little lad that lives here with his Mum and Dad, we had bought a big bag of lollipops for the kids on the islands, his face was a treat when him and his Dad rowed over to say hello and we gave him a lollipop – don’t think he sees too many sweets. Tonight is Nigel’s turn to cook – fish pie – there’s a surprise (but not one he caught) and then we are going to paddle ashore for a couple of cold beers at the ‘hotel’ with 3 lads who are backpacking round this part of the world. Desert will be ashore – wait for it………….you guessed it…………..fresh coconut! Better get used to it me thinks. We been told fresh coconut milk has a mild laxative effect……….no I’m not even going to go there!
Paradise Found!
Monday 18th January
We have found a small spot in paradise! At lunch time today we arrived in the San Blas Islands, checking into the capitol Porvenir at the western end of the archipelago. The islands are a bunch of desert islands on the north coast of Panama inhabited by the Kuna Indians. Well I say capitol - and I use the term lightly, this place is about 1 acre in size , split in 2 by a small run way which is home to Porvenir International Airport.
On arrival we duly checked into ‘Immigration’, oh what a joy to behold! There sat the immigration officer in his baseball top in an office that I can only liken to Mr Legg’s milking parlour in our old village of Trematon – passports stamped and then onto the ‘Customs Man’ - next door ‘office’ (just as salubrious) hand over $26 and that’s us checked into Panama – Welcome to life in the San ~Blas!
We hadn’t been here for 10 minutes when out rowed the ladies selling their ‘molas’ no not teeth but an embroidered square that takes about a week to hand sew, some are very intricate and cost from $5 upwards – I intend to buy several of these for my girlfriends back home. Next to come our way was the man selling the lobsters, unfortunately some flaming great Irish boat got in between Ted and his much longed for lunch – sorry all sold out - I come back manana! Much swearing was had!
After we’d checked in with immigration we asked the all important question – do you have a bar? Si Senor its on the other side of the runway at the Hotel Porvenir. So we walked the 100 yards to the ‘Hotel’ sat down under the big palm covered bar and ordered 3 cold ones from Frederico, the owner/bar man/cook/flight controller/baggage handler. Here we met ‘Hap’ an Hawaiian carpenter on his holidays – a spaced out ex Vietnam vet – great guy who introduced us to ‘Charlie’ the mayor of Porvenir. Charlie must be 80 if he’s a day, wears beer bottle glasses as he’s as blind as a bat and dresses like a chav in his Nike joggers and baseball top. Charlie and his brothers Frederico and Jesus run Porvenir – the Kuna Mafia! You want to know anything - Charlie’s your man!
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