We made it through the canal!!!

We made it through the Panama Canal, and we are now sitting in the Western Caribbean. How great is that? Our trip through the canal was flawless and easy. The weather was perfect all the way and we were able to make it in one day. I had gone through the canal, on another boat 4 days earlier, so I knew what to expect and that made my trip so easy. My one hired line handler and my friends from Leo Scotia and Panchita were awesome. For those coming behind me I would recommend Luis as a competent crew. He treated me well. His phone number is 67770222. He also arranged for lines and cabs. Now the other side of the story!!!

We were told on Monday that our advisor would be at our boat at 6:00 am by the canal control. Everyone knows they are always late so my crew for the trip was going to arrive at 5:45 giving us plenty of time to get ready. Last Friday, on the boat I went through on, the advisor was 1 1/2 hours late. At 5:20am Signal Control calls me and tells me my advisor will be there in 15 to 20 minutes, and I have no crew. I see my crew on the dock at the same time the pilot calls me and say he is here and could I bring the boat out into the channel it meet him. I still had no crew on the boat. I figured I had to take the boat into the fuel dock to pick up everybody instead of waiting for a panga. On my way to the dock in the dark I ran over a mooring line and wrapped it around my prop. This is a 1 inch line and it stops me dead, Oh %%%%#!#!!#!!!#####(abbreviated short version of the 4 minute ranting and raging. My crew isn't on the boat, the pilot is out in the channel waiting, and if I cancel the trip now it would cost me about $1500 plus maybe some fines as well. It is still dark so I put on my mask, no fins, and jump in the water with a fishing knife to see if I can cut myself loose. I have zero visibility because it is dark!!! I find my prop and start hacking away at everything, including my hand, as best I could. Each time I went down I had to search for the prop in the dark and only had a couple of seconds to keep cutting. After about 5 minutes I had enough of the line cut away that the prop would turn. I still felt a big knot but I had to get going. I made it out to the pilot boat about 10 minutes late, but the shaft was vibrating pretty bad. My Auto Prop wouldn't pitch right so I could only go 6.4 knots. I decided to give it a shot anyway thinking I would ruin the cutlass bearing, but hopefully make it through. If I would have broken down in the canal and had to be towed it would cost $2000 an hour for the tow, plus a whole bunch of fine and penalties. We actually made pretty good time and were able to go through the last locks with a small freighter at 2:50. We were told it would be a two day passage so I was very excited to get through in one day. We limped into Shelter Bay and found a slip. Yesterday I dove on the boat and discovered more damage than I expected. There was in fact a huge knot of rope still around my prop, and all the vibration had broken off my strut which supports my drive shaft. I was really lucky to make it through at all. Now I have to figure out what to do. I am able to haulout here which is a real blessing, but it is very expensive to do so. I now have plenty of time to figure it out. I am just stuck here in Paradise till I do.

Helen's last week on the boat(she goes home for 3 months to spend time with her mom) will be here, at a marina sitting around a pool, sitting in an air-conditioned room doing the internet, or reading on a soft cushy couch in air conditioning. She says she can handle that for a week. I however will be here off and on for two months. So by the end of my time here I will know everyone's name, life story, and have tons of new stories. I was planning a trip home and now my shopping list is a bit longer... till later our thoughts and love...and yes, life is still good!

I just found out the part I mess up is over $1000 ugh

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Panama City were are here

Our crossing to Panama City was very easy with little traffic to worry about. We did get caught in one storm, lightning on all sides and approaching us… and had a water spout touch down about 100 yrds away from the boat. I had to do a 180 degree turn to avoid being sucked up by it. It was only about 200ft across, and was kicking up maybe 3 ft seas in the middle. I don't have any idea on the wind speed, but it looked pretty scary. Once we arrived in PC we took a mooring at the Balboa Yacht Club to start the process of going through the canal. Across from us was Grace, Jim and Kay, who invited us for Happy Hours. We met Wolfgang from Germany and Ed from the U.S. Parked behind us was Natasha, from Poland, who is single handling her small sailboat around the world. She is one leg from finishing this 2 year trip. We were all getting things repaired-boat life is not just Happy Hours. There is work involved to keep this lifestyle going.

The first duty once we arrived here in a Panama City was to get checked into the country. We were told the steps to follow only to find they had changed. They were even different from the day before. Every cruiser we met had a different story to tell and paid for different inspections . We found a taxi for $8 hr to run us around and help with the process. Our first stop was the Port Captain. We were told we no longer check in there and need to meet a Port Captain representative at our boat. The phone call was made and off we went. Instead of the boat we meet him and the health inspector at the BYC bar. The PC took our paperwork and issued us our clearance papers. The health inspector told us we needed to be fumigated because we came from Costa Rica but he would let it slide for a $46 fee. We received a clean bill of health and no receipt. No one else we have talked to have been charged or inspected by the health inspector, others had an agricultural inspection, and still others had a $20.00 something inspection. We then went back to immigration and received our visa for 90 days. We were legal for the time being.

My next order of business was taking care of the alternator and Honda Generator. I called Honda America about warranty and was told since I am out of the country the warranty in not valid. After a long conversation about not standing behind their products and what good is a warranty he hung up on me and left me to find my own help at my expense. So much for customer service.
The next day I hired Prado to take me to the local mechanics. I took the alternator to a local shop and the generator to the only Honda dealer and hoped for the best. We drove through at least ½ to 2/3 of Panama City that day. Mostly on the back streets and saw the real Panama. Both projects were fixed quickly and I am back in power.
The next week was spent doing all the paper work for the canal transit, and scheduling line handlers, renting 125ft lines, and finding 20 tires. The process was actually much easier than expected and we saved $400 in agent fees by doing it ourselves. About the only other thing we really did accomplish was to spend $600 on provisions and visit the large mall to get a phone and just walk around. We are set to make the crossing. Four days before our scheduled transit I was able to crew on Ecos, a friends sailboat, that would give me great experience on what to expect. The transit was two days and I was ready to tackle the Panama Canal in my own boat

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Traveling to and around the Perlas Islands

We were expecting this portion of our trip to be both long and nerve racking because of all the ships moving to and from the canal. The currents against us were supposed to add to the tension. To our surprise neither the ships nor currents became an issue. We made great time in pretty benign conditions. Our first land fall was on the west side of Isla San Jose called Ensenada Bodega. This was a very shallow bay with five distinct beaches to explore. We all felt we were anchored in a lagoon created by Disney. That evening we had a 3 dingy raft up and floated around the bay and down a short river drinking rum to celebrate our last step before the Panama Canal.
We stayed two or more nights in all the anchorages we visited in the Perlas chain. Each had something different to see and enjoy. On most of the islands we were able to trade with locals for lobster, mangoes, and avocados. Lobsters were small to medium in size and we averaged paying less than two dollars apiece. The people have no concept of conservation so they collect every single lobster they can find. We ended up with a couple so small they could have been mistaken for crawdads without the claws. It won't be too many years till they have stripped the local areas of all lobster. Another island we visited was Isla Pedro Gonzales. Here we anchored in a cove next to a small village of about 400 people. Upon dropping our anchor Maurice came paddling out with his leaking dug out canoe to sell us avocados, and then asked for a tow back to the shore. His paddle was a palm frond and it had broken on the way out to us. The homes were all identical except for color. We were not sure if they were government built or private industry, but they were all the same. There were two small stores, which barely had any staples, and seem to cater to the snack and beer crowd. Maurice saw us and took us in to his favorite store. The Spanish they speak here is a different dialect from the Spanish we understand, it's a blend of languages. We did anchor on the other side of the island and found one of the most pristine beached in all of the Perlas islands. We found out later that locals were paid to keep the beach free of trash. Again we were offered avocados, mangoes and found shells to collect. Unfortunately the whole island is planned for full development.
On the Southern tip of Isla Del Rey we anchored in a small bay north of Punta Cocos. At high tide we took a river cruise and enjoyed the mangrove covered shoreline. There were a lot of birds but not much else. We moved to anchor off of Isla San Telmo to look for a one hundred year old submerge submarine. We spent 3 hrs snorkeling and searching for the sub and couldn't find it. Only one of the cruising guides even mention the sub and it doesn't give the exact location. Our friends in San Cles had snorkeled on the sub last year so I knew it existed, but where? Just before giving up and moving I spotted a odd shape emerging from the water next to shore; it was round and appeared to be the hatch. Sure enough it was the sub. The location is just off the only sandy beach in about eight feet of water. Terri on San Cles tells the story about sub better than I could so I give you her account:
"Everyone else got a close-up look at the Sub Marine Explorer. One of the earliest submarines ever built, it was constructed in the mid 1860's by German engineer and U.S. immigrant, Julius H. Kroehl. It was reportedly more advanced technologically than the infamous Hunley and was designed to retrieve things from the bottom of the sea, but with the Hunley disaster still fresh in the their minds, the U.S. government was too gun-shy to show any interest, so Julius and some partners formed the Pacific Pearl Company and took the sub to Las Perlas, Panama where she made several successful dives for pearls. Unfortunately, nitrogen poisoning was an unknown danger at that time. Julius and the rest of the diving team died of a mysterious "fever". The sub was ultimately abandoned and is now a rusted hulk in the shallows off Isla San Telmo."

Just before we left Isla San Telmo to move up the shore on Del Rey we experience a very violent T-storm and saw our first water spout. It was about a quarter mile away, but still very impressive. The storm lasted less than an hour. Our next stop was a spot behind Isla Spiritu Santo. I spent the afternoon in the dingy searching for lobster in the outer islands, but none could be found. Our charging systems were still giving us major problems so we moved on. We had to run the engine three to four hours every day to keep up with our needs . The alternator was only putting out 22amps and our Honda generator was having reverse polarity problems.
We anchored off of Isla Casaya, which was surrounded by reefs except a very small opening 100 magnetic degrees off of a white sand beach on an adjacent island. I was very nervous but made it in. Once the tide went down I couldn't believe how dangerous it really was.
Our last anchorage in the Perlas islands was Isla Bayoneta. I was getting really concerned about all the projects I had to take care of on the boat and just wanted to get to Panama City and get started. We said good bye to Lea Scotia and Panchita for the time being and headed for the city.

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Isla Santa Catalina to the Perlas Islands

Isla Santa Catalina is an island off of the village with the same name. Santa Catalina is a famous surfing area in Western Panama. The village itself was full of young surfer dudes from all over the world. Since the surf was so good the anchorage was very rolly and unsettled. We would not be spending much time here. When the tide was low a reef protected the anchorage, but when the tide went up we lost our reef and it's protection. Our first trip into shore to find the restaurant named Jamming Pizza was a good surf landing with no real problems. Leaving that evening was a little more eventful in the dark, but we only took on eight to ten inches of water in the dink. The next day when the surf was much higher we tried to land in a different location and swamped the dingy and both Helen and Joan (on Panchita) fell out and into the water. The dink was totally swamped, but didn't roll. It would have made a great video on what not to do! We did find Jamming Pizza at the end of a half mile muddy road. It was a cool place but they didn't open till 6:30pm and we didn't really want to have to walk back to the boat in the dark jungle. We ended up at a small beach front palapa by the dingy landing. Great food and a good price.
With such an uncomfortable anchorage we moved on to Isla Gobernadora. It was an open anchorage, but at least it was calm. The next morning we travel about 30 miles to Ensenada Naranjo. Naranjo is a very pretty and somewhat protected anchorage on the mainland of Panama. The water was clear. The fish were big, and the beach was inviting. We made one hike into the jungle looking for monkeys. At the end of the trail we found a herd of cows, a wild lemon tree, and mangoes. We kept hearing the monkeys but never saw them. It was nice to see the different terrain just a short walk away from the beach. Our next hop was an overnight passage to the Las Perlas Islands.

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Isla Secas and beyond

Our first anchorage in the Isla Secas was on the east side of Isla Cavada. We were very surprised to find Panchita anchored there waiting for us. We had not seen Panchita for about 3 weeks so it was a good reunion. Isla Cavada is a private island as are a lot of the islands in Panama. There is a very exclusive resort on the island where the minimum accommodations are $300 a night. The funny part is all the rooms are separate and they are Yurts. Yurts are canvas covered structures on wooden platforms. All are very nice and come with every amenity you can think of (yes, even internet), plus the locations of each yurt was incredible,... but they are still tents! We were told we were not allowed on shore so we didn't push it and try. The next day we decided to go to a friendlier island that was still in the Secas. The island is in the southwest section, and called Isla Pargo. Only Rains book shows you can anchor there, but it was probably the best anchorage we had since leaving Mexico. We were protected on three sides from the weather and the visibility was 25 to 30 ft. The best so far. We were able to hike the island and snorkel in clear water right off the boat. Most of the fish we have seen before but it was still amazing. We stayed 3 days and probably should have stayed a week. When we left the Secas we decided to skip the Isla Coiba park islands because of cost. The cost varies depending on what they think they can gouge you for. Some friends of ours were told it would cost the $150 a night to anchor and $20 per person per day. They settled on $150 flat rate for 2 days and no receipt. When they moved to a new anchorage they were hit up for the same fee. As you can imagine this is out of my budget. Instead we went to Isla Medidor. We were told it was beautiful. With all the coming and going of construction workers the beauty was overpowered by the noise and commotion. We stayed one night and moved on to Bahia Honda. We checked out where every cruising guide said was the best place to anchor and ended up finding our own place near the entrance. We had much more protection and clear water so we were happy. That evening two families came by and offered us fruits and vegetables for trade or money. We scored bananas, spinach,culantro, mangoes, and avocados. The next day we tried to help one of the men fix his outboard, but he need to go to Panchita to finish the project. Later another local needed help with his spark plugs and I happened to have the right tool for the job. The next day I dove, looking for lobsters and found a 12 place setting of steel dinner plates. Later that day a load of local kids came over to see us and get whatever we were handing out--pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers and steel plates. We stayed three very enjoyable days at this anchorage, but moved on to Isla Santa Catalina to find a place called Jamming Pizza. At the time we thought it was Jammin' Pizza, so the quest was on.

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