We had a great sail down to Panama from Jamaica. The waves were quite large but there was a very long swell so the ride was relatively comfortable. After four days at sea we reached the Panamanian coastline in the dark and weaved our way through the many tankers at anchor awaiting their Canal transit. Looking at the twinkling lights on the shore I had a vivid recollection of being a child travelling with my parents in the States, it was late at night and we were on a bus going out to our plane and I was so excited about the prospect of the adventure that lay ahead.
Having received permission to enter the harbour we headed to the anchorage and put our anchor down for the night amongst even more tankers. The next morning we headed into Shelter Bay Marina and were greeted by our agent Neil accompanied by the customs lady, all formalities completed within an hour. Then the man from the Canal rocked up to measure us for our transit and we just had to wait for a date. We had been told to use an agent as the amount of time saved, let alone the lack of hassle, would be more than compensated for by the reduction in mooring fees, and so it proved.
We had heard that the waiting times were up to three weeks and so had bypassed the San Blass Islands, intending to head back to them once we had our transit date. However we were offered a date within eight days of arrival and were advised by another boat that we would only get two days there and it probably wasn’t worth it. There is a joke in our family about anticipation of an event being half the experience, Andrew’s belief not always shared by the rest of his family especially in Fair grounds! However on this occasion I was really happy to sit still and prepare for our transit, we have long realised that you can’t visit every place, we will just have to come back to the Western Caribbean another time. It is obvious there is lot of exploring to be had there that we were not aware of.
The marina was situated in the old US naval port for Fort Sherman with the jungle literally butting up to it. There was a laundry, mini market, small chandlery, bar, decent restaurant and most importantly a swimming pool for cooling off in in the afternoon heat; full of fellow sailors there was always someone to chat to. We set about servicing our engine and generator and generally getting the boat ready and the days flew by.
There was a rather unpleasant domestic incident on another boat that the men around me thought I should intervene in, being another female! We had a Jungle incident when out on a walk, Andrew in true Dallas style, insisted that it was fine to leave the path and venture into the undergrowth. Having suffered another cold his hearing was very poor, following behind him I could hear rattling in the undergrowth accompanied with a fierce hissing which became nearer and louder and louder. I suggested we turn around immediately, he told me to stop panicking to which I replied, “F...... run you can’t b..... hear!” I am pleased to say he did as he was told for once.
We took the organised bus into Colon, catching a glimpse of the canal and then entering a gated shopping centre to get some provisions. We had been told that there was a lot of crime in this area and we definitely felt we were in the third world. You can buy pretty much any medication without a prescription so we stocked up on medicines, including a new one to solve the constant indigestion I had been suffering, joy of joys problem solved. The journey back took forever in the heat and we decided to stay put for the rest of our stay on the Caribbean side.
Ben has always said that he would like to go through the Panama Canal with us if he could. So once we had a definite date we emailed him and asked him if he would like to come. As luck would have it the timings worked perfectly for him. As an added bonus he arranged for Sam and his friend Hien to fly down from Uni in Boston. They all duly arrived the night before departure such a joy to see them all, and to receive some documents from home together with a very precious Iridium Go satellite hotspot to enable us to obtain weather in the Pacific.
We left the marina after lunch with our extra fenders and long lines rented from our agent. We anchored outside to wait for our Pilot, and got two for the price of one as our man was undergoing an examination. We had to wait a little while for the tanker we were transiting with to arrive. They no longer just let yachts go through the lock system. So you have to travel with a tanker or large ships. You normally have to raft up with other yachts, but we were lucky and got to tie on to a small Cruise ship. I definitely had a Statue of Liberty moment as we waited to enter the first lock, it seemed surreal that we were finally there and about to enter the Pacific AT LAST.
We had three locks to transit on our first day travelling up twenty six meters to the man made lake in the middle. We entered behind the tanker which was manoeuvred by two tugs and then by the locomotives on the side of the lock and tied up to the cruise ship ‘Discovery’ port side too. The gates closed behind us and the water rushed in, you wouldn’t want to fall in. We reached the top quite quickly and then the four locomotives pulled the tanker into the next lock, travelling up quite a steep ramp in the process. The whole performance repeated itself two more times and then we were spat out in the dusk into Gatun lake in the middle, the second largest man made one in the world. We were instructed to tie up to a very large rubber buoy for the night, we were all in stitches as we had to land Ben onto it and he had to trot as it rotated at speed whilst he tried to secure our lines.
It was actually my birthday so it seemed appropriate to have a few drinks after supper, especially as we were in such a magical setting. We cranked the music up and sat out on the back deck chatting away until one in the morning when the wrinkles called it a day. Our pilot was supposed to come onboard the next day at nine, he arrived at six to find a boat full of sleeping people. We all rushed about and off we set on leg two of our journey somewhat worse for ware but excited all the same. It was a long motor through the lake and down the river to the next three locks, about forty four miles, so we had plenty of time to eat a much needed large fried breakfast. Travelling through the cut passing large tankers on the other side was an unforgettable experience and all the more impressive as it had been open since 1913. What a job it must have been in the heat to cut through the mountains, 10,000 lost their lives in the process.
Our pilot was fascinating to talk to and happy to answer all our questions. There is much national pride in the canal and apparently every young Panamanian aspires to work there. It makes a profit of about US $ 1.7 billion each year which is astounding. Some of the larger new NeoPanamax vessels transmitting through the new locks pay over US$1,000,000 each. He chatted about the country in general and one very interesting fact was that there is no road into Columbia, the PanAmerican Highway goes from Canada and just stops in the Jungle. So it is not possible to drive from North America into South America, the Panamanian’s have their very own natural wall!
Motoring out of the canal you suddenly see the Panama City Sky line and the Pacific Ocean stretching before you and it is all very impressive! Our pilot was picked up by boat and we made our way to the Marina La Playita where we had a reservation for a few nights. Sadly no pool here to cool off in, but there was Panama City to explore and a celebration to be had. We grabbed a yellow taxi and headed into the old city for drinks and dinner and then more drinks.
We found a great bar to start the evening in and then a fabulous restaurant overlooking the city skyline where the food was really very good. Then a roof top bar for cocktails and then a night club for some more. This is not the natural habitat of Mr. Richards but he certainly gave it his all on the dance floor, well the crowd certainly loved him. I thought I was going to die laughing, I believe there is photographic evidence....
Sadly our shipmates left us the next day, what a fabulous time we had had with all three of them. I left Andrew on the boat to set up our new Sat nav phone and grabbed a cab to the supermarket to start provisioning for our Pacific crossing. We had been advised to fill the boat to the gunnels with provisions whilst we had the opportunity to buy them at reasonable prices. The boys at the super mercado could not believe my two trolleys of goods, I had three of them to help me put it in the taxi. As they couldn’t speak a word of English and my Spanish is non existent I couldn’t explain that all this food and alcohol was for my Pacific crossing, so I think they just thought I was a very greedy alcoholic!
The one thing that we had failed to understand when we were planning our trip is that Panama is a destination in itself. We had been focused on the Canal experience and it was fantastic but we realised that there were some great places to visit too. The climate is really nice too, not too hot in the day and very cool at night allowing for a good nights sleep. The only fly in the ointment was that Andrew won the latest round of Gin Rummy making the score on the trip 12 - 6 and he is now insufferable.
We set off to explore the Las Perlas Islands for a few days and were not disappointed. The islands are famous for the TV series, The Island with Bear Grylls. Away from the big city there are a string of islands with very little habitation and hundreds of birds. I particularly loved the Pelicans, who in this part of the Pacific are grey and much bigger and tamer than their cousins in the Caribbean. They almost swoop through the rigging before plunging into the water right next to us filling their pre-historic beaks with fish and then bobbing in the water looking very pleased with themselves. We sailed through schools of golden rays and the sea was bright red in places and looked like there had been a mass murdering in it, but which was caused by a type of algae.
We had a very sociable time in Las Perlas bumping into Charles and Fung off Wilderness in Isla Tobago. We had last seen them in Rhode Island so it was good to catch up on their exploits. Then in Isla Chapeba where the locals were all enjoying the usual Sunday family outings on the boat, we were welcomed with English music and then visited by the two young Argentinians responsible for it. Fifteen and nineteen respectively they came on board for a chat and we were very impressed with their views and perspective on life. Then in our final destination Isla del Rey we shared the anchorage with Maria and Dietmar on Greyhound, our first meeting but hopefully not our last as they are coming our way.
We headed back to La Playita for a final provision. Arriving mid afternoon in the heat I was thrilled to find Rosemary and Francoise from Zig Zag tied up behind us, who we had met in Shelter Bay, early evening drinks being much preferable to a late night shop. The next day we attended a seminar organised by the Pacific Puddle Jump, a rally of sorts that we have joined. There are boats leaving from all over the West coast of America and Mexico as well as Panama, and all at different times, but there is a Cruiser net that we all have to check into each day and it offers an additional level of safety. The talk was very informative with speakers from Mexico, Fiji, Tahiti, Tonga & New Zealand and gave us some good pointers for our trip ahead as well as contacts when we arrive in these places. It was really nice to meet lots of other cruisers as well who were all heading in the same direction as us.
We grabbed a cab and headed to the enormous Albrook Mall, it seemed to go on for miles and sold everything under the sun. Having found the essentials in the hardware store and done some late birthday shopping I let Andrew off and headed to another supermarket for a final provision. Two more shopping trolleys, only two traumatised young men this time, my reputation in tatters! Hullabaloo now fully stocked and low in the water. We took on fuel the next morning, squeezing every last drop we could into the tank and motored out of the marina, happy to be on our way. Panama is a great city, the people are incredibly friendly but the diesel fumes from all the tankers in the bay and the general smog had even started to affect my airways.
On the way out of the Panama bay we had the most amazing encounter with a Minke whale. It was about twenty foot long and very curious and basically played around the boat and in our bow wave for a good couple of hours just like a dolphin. It was the most awesome experience and I have a lot of it on video for any non believers to its size. At one point whilst swimming in front of us it got the timing wrong and obviously realised we were going to hit him, one thrash of its tail and it turbo charged ahead. We could not believe our luck to have such a close encounter with such a magnificent creature.
Our last stop on the Panamanian coast was in La Rondo where we spent twenty four hours waiting for the wind. Close to the jungle we heard some very strange noises coming from the trees, it might have been Howler monkeys, it might have been Jaguars, I am just glad I wasn’t on land to find out. The sun rose, the wind appeared, Galapagos here we come.....
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