THREE THOUSAND MILES TO THE FRENCH MARQUESAS

With three thousand miles ahead of us to the French Marquesas Islands we set off in fair winds and started to settle into our tried and tested routine at sea. After dinner I take the first watch as Andrew finds it difficult to sleep in the day and I can sleep in broad daylight. He then takes the late evening, I relieve him around two am and I do until about 5 or 6 am and after breakfast together I turn in for my second sleep and then sleep until I wake up, which feels like I am having a lie in. Sometimes we nap in the day but as and when one of us feels the need, so we are both up together for most of the daylight hours. Then sundowners and cards, weather permitting, before dinner and into the watch system. Routine is important at sea to help pass the day, almost as important as interesting and tasty meals, just not too spicy whilst we get our sea legs!

We had left Santa Cruz just behind Cheglia so we were in radio contact with them for the first couple of days as we both headed South to 10 degrees to cross the ITCZ in search of better winds. We posted each day on the cruisers net for the Pacific Puddle Jump our position and conditions and really enjoyed reading all the other boats posts. It became part of our routine to read them with mid morning coffee when I woke up and it was really nice to know there were other boats out there and to hear their news each day. One boat reported that due to a mispronunciation of a non English speaking crew member that the new word for squalls on their boat was squirrels and soon the whole fleet were reporting encounters with these hairy creatures.

There was also a SSB net that we were part of but although we could hear them there were only a few occasions when we managed to communicate, as we were a few days and several hundred miles ahead. Andrew’s father became the editor of the South Pacific Times keeping us up to date on the news from home. In particular the Brexit fiasco which we passed on to other Brits on the Ocean.  We were all keen to know if we would still be Europeans when we checked into the French Marquesas with the right to stay as long as we wished, or were going be limited to three months and subjected to a lot of hassle posting bonds etc. , as the non-Europeans were.

We sailed for most of the trip wing on wing with our Yankee poled out and managed to achieve two hundred mile days. Once we were accustomed to riding the bucking bronco we included exercises into our daily routine in the form of squats and using the BBBR bands, the moveable floor all adding to our core strength! The skipper incorporated this into his morning schedule whilst I was having my lie in and in addition took it upon himself to hoover every day. He got quite stressed one morning over coffee suddenly jumping up and proclaiming that he had forgotten to hoover whilst I rolled about laughing, what is it about boats that make men so domesticated!

Our night watches were well lit by the moonlight and the amazing stars which I could stare at for hours. They were all in the wrong place, the North Star was no longer visible but we could now see the Southern Cross and Venus made an appearance towards day break lighting up the sky like a street lamp. We couldn’t quite make ourselves go to bed together for the night and not keep a watch, even though we only ever saw two fishing boats, but it was easy to snooze on deck. One evening I was feeling particularly sleepy in my rather cozy day bed that I had made up in the cockpit and concerned I wouldn’t wake up periodically I set the alarm on my iPhone to go off every twenty minutes. Unfortunately I wasn’t woken by the phone nestled into my ear but by the skipper who had been asleep below in our cabin and been woken by a load buzzing, whoops!

We were relatively lucky with the weather having to only motor on a couple of occasions and we only had one really bad squally night. The rest of the time the winds were very friendly and we even managed to hoist our kite on a few occasions. We gave it the nickname The Monster though as it is really rather large and can only be flown in up to fifteen knots, in truth we are both rather scared of it!

We put our fishing rods out on several occasions but never managed to land a fish. We had one fly into the pilots berth through the window one evening and even better one that landed in Andrew’s bunk. There was an almighty screech as he got into bed with it.  Apparently it was wet, cold and slippery and it made quite a mess of the sheets.

Every few days we had to change our clocks as we passed through different time zones, each time taking us further away from GMT. The time passed surprisingly quickly with the help of our new addiction to the American version of House of Cards and the many books we had downloaded. In the middle of one chick flick I will admit to an overwhelming desire to go to a large departmental store and purchase a vast array of goodies like my heroine. I also had two occasions both at night when the cabin got very stuffy and I was convinced that I couldn’t breathe and had to rush on deck, which may have been a panic attack. But in general I loved the vastness of the Ocean which is lucky as there is a lot of blue sea out there and not a lot else.

On the negative side we had a lot of breakages throughout the trip. It started with our starboard primary winch that failed to work, push button said no! It turned out to be a blown fuse which we were able to replace once we had taken the head lining down. Then the generator overheated and failed to work. It turned out to be a broken impeller and we have three of those so we managed to get it working again. Despite this it became somewhat temperamental and we started to notice that the voltage would just drop out if we used it for more than twenty five minutes at a time. But it hung in there and we managed to keep making water and charge our batteries even if we polluted our lungs with all the black diesel smoke creeping back into the boat.

There were lots of little breakages as you would expect and poor Andrew spent a lot of time mending things. The sink pump breaking was a bother and I spent one evening washing up in a bucket until we discovered we could hit the pump with a hammer and it would work for a little while. However three days from land we had two rather more serious malfunctions.

We noticed that the hydraulics were slow and at first thought it was due to our batteries which were not keeping as much power as they should have due to the short bursts of charging they  were getting from the generator. On inspection of the system we discovered that the hydraulic oil level was very low so dug around in the lazarette and found some oil in a container left by the previous owner, god bless him. We filled up the tank and the sails whizzed happily in and out again.

However in the midst of all this we had turned on the engine and our service alternator had failed. This had two consequences some rather irritating mood lighting one evening when we had to motor for awhile and rather more worryingly our only way of generating power was now our rather unpredictable and failing generator. Our lovely boat is very easy to double hand but the consequence of that is that everything requires power to work. Our Yankee and mainsail and our powered winches, then obviously all our instruments, our heads and of course our fridge, freezer and oven. And heaven forbid if we had to actually helm the boat!

We both took ourselves off to contemplate the consequences of no power on the good ship Hullabaloo three days out from land. I decided there was enough cooked food in the freezer and plenty of tins to keep us going, although the thought of losing the contents of said freezer wasn’t great. The water tank was pretty full, we had plenty of bottled water, several torches and a hand held GPS, a small staysail which we could unfurl by hand and of course The Monster.  We had a working engine and the alternator that charged it (but not the service batteries) was fine and maybe the mood lighting would help light the way. We decided we would be fine although we were concerned about the lack of facilities in the Marquesas when we arrived and very twitchy every time we fired up the generator, breathing a huge sigh of relief when we completed our twenty minute charge and got to live for another few hours.

On day nineteen we spotted land. We were somewhat tired and a little grumpy at this stage and our faces lit up.  We had decided to stop at the island of Fatu Hiva rather than go to Hiva Oa where we were supposed to check in, as it would be an upwind sail to return and the anchorage was supposed to be spectacular. As we rounded the end of the island the ruggedness of the Jurassic Park coastline took our breath away. As we put our anchor down amidst the spectacular rock formations and were greeted by a local from the hillside chanting a Hakka in welcome as he hunted a pig for his dinner we knew we had arrived somewhere special. And the feeling of achievement was fantastic!!

THE GALAPAGOS

Finally it was time to begin our crossing of the Pacific. We checked the weather and were happy to see that the wind was starting to fill in, we would have to motor a little but that is to be expected crossing the ITCZ  (Doldrums). As we pulled away from the Panamanian coastline in flat seas enjoying our breakfast we were waved off by a school of jumping spotted dolphins, literally leaping several feet out of the water around us. The wildlife in the Pacific already much more diverse and lots more to experience along the way. Happy Days!

Now we had begun our crossing we both instantly felt more relaxed. We were fully fuelled, watered and provisioned. We had a good access to weather information with our new Iridium Go and everything was working on the boat, for now. We knew there would be failures along the way but we would just have to deal with them as they happened. The main thing was we were finally on our way! Neither of us were worried about the long sails ahead and we were happy it was just the two of us, no deadlines to meet just adventures to be had at our own pace.

Which is lucky as the wind was flukey and we spent our time putting the sails in and out trying to motor as little as possible to preserve our diesel supplies. We started posting on the cruiser net with the aid of our new Iridium Go and discovered that our friends on Zigzag were not far away. It was fun to be able to speak on the old VHF or email on the brand spanks new iridium to find out what weather conditions they had in their part of the Ocean. We stuck our rod in the water and were surprised to find a small quivering Bonito tuna on the end of it when we went to reel it in for the night. Goodness knows how long it had been on the line trailing behind us but it was still alive and just enough for a fish supper. Marvellous!

On day four we crossed the equator. Tradition has it that the first time you cross the line you must make a sacrifice to Neptune and anyone who has crossed it before dresses up as him to oversee the proceedings. It was a first for us both so we took it in turns to wear the crown and trident that the skipper had spent the morning making. I shaved off all of Andrew’s hair and he dyed mine red. Then we each poured a shot of our best rum into the sea, a huge sacrifice, before drinking some of it ourselves. All very silly but hopefully enough to ensure us fair winds and a safe crossing. Even if I was now married to a thug who looked like an extra from Coronation Street!

We arrived in the islands in the early hours and the skipper took the opportunity of heaving to for the first time. He was certainly very pleased with himself when I awoke from my off watch and we then motored into Wreck Bay on the island of Saint Cristobal. The Galápagos Islands are very careful of their eco system and therefore there are quite a few hoops one has to jump through in order to be allowed to stay, and quite a lot of expense involved. A couple of hours after our arrival we were boarded by eleven officials and a diver was sent down to check that the scrub we had had in Panama City had been effective and we were not bringing any foreign crustaceans into their waters. We had been told that if we did not pass the test we would be sent back to sea, luckily we did. We had had to obtain a dubious fumigation certificate in Panama and our agent in the islands had obtained our cruising permits. They checked our holding tanks, the food we had brought and made sure we had the necessary recycling bins onboard and notices pinned up to warn anyone not to throw rubbish etc into the sea.  Lots of money changed hands amongst much smiling and nodding and we were pronounced fit to stay. Again the cost of an agent was well worth it and I am sure greatly facilitated our entry.

Zigzag had arrived a couple of hours before us and had also successfully completed the checking in process so we all decided to go ashore and celebrate our arrival on these glorious islands with a local lunch. The town is pretty run down with lots of unfinished buildings and therefore a lot of bare concrete on show, but the locals are very friendly and lunch was cheap and tasty. We loved the hundreds of sea lions that seemed to be everywhere we looked, some were sleeping on the rocks, some in the middle of the street. The babies were playing with each other in the shallows whilst daddy looked on barking at any creature that got too near his little darlings. Returning to the boat for an early night we had to shoo one sea lion off the back of Hullabaloo, waking the next morning we discovered we had been sleeping with two onboard and they were very indignant when politely asked to leave. Time for Sea lion defences, all fenders tied on the aft platform in a variety of ways to ensure no further invasions, they are very cute but also very smelly and they bark a lot.

There isn’t anywhere to leave a dingy in town but the water taxis are frequent and only cost US$1 per person each way. On our second day we went ashore for an explore walking through the town and then along the sea front passing some newer and more attractive hotels and restaurants. We followed a path and eventually found ourselves on Punta Carola, a beautiful sandy beach covered in Sea lions many having a snooze whilst the locals played around them. They are very tactile creatures and love cuddling each other which is very sweet to watch. Continuing down the beach we came across black marine iguanas amongst the fray and the by now common pelican, these with brown feathers. 

We also found a circle of University students who had landed a turtle and were conducting experiments on its body temperature by sticking thermometers into any orifice they could find whilst covering its head with a towel. The poor thing did not look very happy. Reaching the end of the beach we came upon a small light house on the rocks. Andrew proceeded to climb the steps and on reaching the summit was very taken aback to find a large sea lion barking in his ear. So surprised that he fell back down the steps and even now is quite twitchy at the sound of a bark, I may use this to my advantage! Some local street food and a cocktail on the way back to the boat helped restore his equilibrium.

On day three we had arranged to go on a tour of the island with Francois and Rosemary. Our taxi driver, Alberto,  picked us up and drove us into the Highlands stopping first at El Junco Lagoon at the summit of the now extinct volcano. Here there is a huge fresh water lake with lots of frigate birds and spectacular views of the island. It reminded me of a sunny Sussex downs.

We then visited a sanctuary for Giant Tortoises, what beautiful grand creatures. From the eighteenth  century their numbers on the islands have been greatly depleted as they had been thrown into the hold of naval and Pirate vessels alike as a good source of living protein that could be killed to order. Our guide told us how they incubated their eggs and could determine the sex of the young tortoise by the temperature applied, 27 degrees for a boy and 29 degrees for a girl. The youngsters then live in cages for the first couple of years of their lives, then in an enclosure until being set free onto the island between the ages of three and five. They live to one hundred and fifty, not a bad innings and an awful lot of leaves to consume in that time.

Next we went to a beach for a well earned swim and whilst walking down through the trees Alberto pointed out the local flora as well as some Mocking birds and Darwin’s eponymous finches. A nice lunch in town and back to the boat for some R&R. The next morning Rosemary and I went to the vegetable market to replenish supplies and were pleasantly surprised with the variety and quality of the produce. Most items cost one dollar and our shopping bags were soon full. 

In the afternoon Andrew and I went to visit the Interpretation Centre, a free museum which was surprisingly informative about the history of the Islands. Over the years there have been many settlers and it is in fact only over the last few decades that Ecuador has been trying to preserve the ecological integrity of the natural habit and its wildlife.

We got  back to the boat to find a steady breeze and decided to up anchor and over night it down to Isabella as there were no winds forecast for the next few days and we did not want to use up seventy miles worth of diesel. Arriving early in the morning we were thrilled to find that the anchorage was much more scenic than Wreck bay, which was full of commercial boats and where the water was actually rather dirty. Here we found blue waters and only two other yachts, one Into the Blue we had met in Shelter Bay and we were drinking coffee onboard within the hour and hearing all about the tours we should take.

There were the usual sea lions but also some very curious Puffer fish, the most adorable tiny penguins swimming around the boat resembling incoming missiles and the odd baby black tip shark swimming by to add a little frisson to the proceedings. Our agent Stephen arrived in the afternoon with the necessary Zarpe and we were now checked into Isabella the second of the three anchorages we were allowed to stay in. We had the crew of Into the Blue onboard for drinks which became a very jolly affair and then retired to bed ready for a full nights sleep.

Venturing ashore the next day by water taxi, US$2 per person here, we wandered into town where the roads are covered in sand, a much sleepier place than St. Cristobal. I had read that there was a Flamingo pond by the main Square so was a little disappointed to find it inhabited by a solitary Flamingo and an Oyster catcher. Returning to the boat we discovered a supply ship had arrived which remained in the bay for several days whilst it unloaded its cargo with the use of a small barge. With no dock to tie up to at any of the islands the unloading of freight is a lengthy business.

We had booked a tour to see the Lava tunnels for the next morning and duly boarded MY Cactus with about ten other passengers and our guide for the day. We set off at speed down the coast, stopping at a solitary rock in the middle of the Ocean to see some Boobies. Approaching our destination there was a big sea running and our driver had to pick his moment to pass through the reefs, it was quite a ride and very lucky that he knew just what he was doing! We were then served an excellent rice and chicken salad before motoring through the lava tunnels. They were formed about five thousand years ago from a volcanic eruption as the hot lava met the cooler sea and are extraordinarily beautiful. Some of them formed bridges and they are set among crystal blue waters and interspersed with the mandatory wild life. We saw a fur seal, a fluffy version of our new shipmates, some Penguins and a very magnificent Great Hawk, and of course there were lots of Pelicans and Frigates, but we are getting a bit blasé about them. 

We ventured over the lava on foot to find some blue footed Boobies and very quickly came upon a courting couple. They have the most wonderful blue feet which are a product of the herrings and sardines that they eat and the darker the blue in the males the more likely they are to score, as this shows that they are excellent fishermen. Once they have pulled their bird they prance around lifting there feet in a bizarre manner and flapping their wings behind them whilst cooing, quite a sight to behold. I have it all on video complete with the guides commentary and as he is telling us that the females make nests out of guano up pops her tail, David Attenborough eat your heart out! 

Leaving the tunnels on the same fairground ride to get back out to sea we then motored back down the shore until we reached our snorkelling destination. We followed our guide and he took us to several lava tunnels under which we could see lots of white tipped sharks of various sizes. I was a little hesitant about this to begin with but they were all too busy snoozing in the shade to be bothered about us. One of our party found two fully grown sharks the largest about six feet long which were a sight to behold, for the few seconds I dared look at them! Andrew was slightly taken aback when the smaller of the two swam past him within a couple of feet. He looked even less sure when he cut his head on one of the tunnels while looking at some other sharks and was then bleeding into the water. But it didn’t stop us enjoying the awesome experience of swimming with several giant turtles on the way back to the boat. They didn’t seem at all fazed by our presence and we could dive down and swim alongside them, a truly memorable experience.

The next evening there was a fiesta in the main square. We had dinner with Martin, Lydia and Nico off Cheglia whist we waited for the festivities to begin. The whole town seemed to be out for the evening and in true Spanish style the whole family were there from the oldest members to the youngest. The first band on stage were five girls who were more suitably dressed for a seedy night club but the main attraction, a thirty piece Salsa band, were phenomenal! The town danced their socks off and we gave the Salsa a good go but I fear looked somewhat amateur. We called it a night at one am when a dreadful Sasha Distelle copy took to the stage but the party went on until six am.

Our next tour was to see the Super volcano Sierra Niegra with our charming and informative guide the pirate. We drove to the bottom of the volcano and then set off on foot to the rim of the crater which took us about fifty minutes to reach the first view point. The crater is the second largest in the world with a circumference of 45 km. The view was spectacular and the landscape in the centre a mixture of different lava from different eruptions over the years. These happen every ten to fifteen years. We set off to view the latest eruption from June last year which had flowed down the back of the crater and added an additional 1.5 km of land to the Island.The landscape is extremely bleak and I felt like I was on the moon as we crunched through the ash and fine pumice, the minerals sparkling in the sunlight. We were very lucky to be allowed to visit the new Lava field but not allowed to damage in anyway nature’s latest work of art. It was definitely worth the round trip of sixteen kilometres and my only complaint was that our guide may have addressed us all as his beautiful friends one too many times by the end of the day, or maybe I was just tired!

Our final stop in the Islands was in Santa Cruz which we duly set sail for. A pleasant sail but a poor wild life day as I only saw two large Manta rays performing a synchronised double back flip.  Arriving in the bay we snuck into the corner with the commercial boats as advised and put out a stern anchor and were happy as Larry in what is otherwise a very rolly anchorage. We went ashore for dinner finding a very nice fish restaurant having had a stroll around what is by far the busiest of the three towns we visited in the islands.

We found several old friends in the bay and had a very sociable few days. Zigzag invited us to visit the underground lava tunnels with them and Rosemary’s niece Alison who was visiting.  We hired motorised electric scooters setting off rather precariously to begin with balanced on the tiny saddles. However I soon got the hang of it and quickly worked out you could go downhill much quicker if you just freewheeled. Unfortunately Rosemary’s scooter was faulty and quickly ran out of power, we eventually managed to raise the owner on the phone who suggested we plug it into a power socket. I had to point out there weren’t very many of those on our country road and he agreed to bring us another bike. It took him awhile to find us as we had got rather carried away on our speed machines and overshot the tunnels by quite a distance. New bike delivered we retraced our steps and found the entrance with the help of our rescuer who was waiting for us outside. 

The tunnels were made by boiling lava forcing its way through the rock. This then cooled and the lava eventually crumbled away leaving huge underground tunnels. This one was 3.5km long and about 10m in circumference. It was lovely and cool below ground and very dark with he odd light bulb to light the way. Reunited with our steads we returned to town and were then royally entertained on Zigzag for dinner.

A weather window was opening up for our Pacific crossing so we readied ourselves for sea. Laundry dropped of and the hull cleaned for the third time since our arrival, Andrew particularly proud of his underwater antics, The water is so rich in algae and a brown sludge quickly builds up which is unattractive and not good for boat speed and we had three thousand miles to go to our next landfall. We took on fuel which was delivered to the boat by one of the local taxis in canisters. We lucked out as he had a fuel pump and we didn’t have to decant it ourselves which everyone who had ordered it in advance in St Cristobal had had to do. We had a final provision in the Saturday morning farmer’s vegetable market which was quite an experience and himself actually enjoyed the shopping experience for once. A last minute beer hunt proved unfruitful as it was election weekend and the shops were not licensed to sell beer for the duration. Perhaps we should ban the sale of alcohol in Westminster until they sort out Brexit!

Drinks on Cheglier then drinks on Hullabaloo we made the most of our last nights attached to the land.

Sunday morning dawned and we waited for our agent to arrive with our final papers. Apparently delayed by the election, perhaps the custom officials had the dt’s, he finally arrived with the necessary official and we were free to go. We loved our time in the Galapagos and were glad to have been despite the expense. However we all decided that the best way to see them would be on one of the local cruise ships which are allowed to visit many more place than us yachties. 

As we motored out of the harbour a shark jumped out of the water on our starboard bow which seemed a very fitting finale to our time in the Galápagos Islands. Now just three thousand miles to the Marquesas.....

PANAMA AND THE CANAL

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 had several walks into the jungle, keeping to the paths, and saw lots of white faced monkeys in the trees, a couple of Toucans and lots of beautiful birds. The most memorable of these was the Weaver bird with their strange tear dropped nests hanging from the palm trees and their song which sounds like a dripping tap. There were supposed to be two crocodiles in the marina but we didn’t spot them, neither did we actually see any snakes. 

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!

When we got to the first lock, we had to wait for our tanker to arrive and when it did we went in in front of it. This time we were on our own so Ben, Sam, Hien and I had to take a corner each as line handlers. The men on the side threw us a very hard ball to which we attached the loops in our lines, it was a good thing they knew what they were doing as if it had hit one of us it would have caused quite an injury. We fed the line through our ropes and they hauled them up to the side and then we secured them on deck. The tanker then started to enter the dock pulled again by the locomotives on the sides, it was quite a relief when it came to a stop just behind us! Then the water poured out and we began our descent, adjusting our lines accordingly. A whistle was blown and our lines were thrown back to us and on we went to the next lock and started the process all over again. By the time we finally entered the Pacific side after the third lock it must have been after three pm so it is quite a long day. But what an awesome experience and something I will never forget.

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....

The next morning the lovely Hien left us to return to Uni and Sam had some college work to do so the rest of us grabbed another taxi and the driver agreed to give us a tour of the modern city. It is quite an impressive place, very different from the Old Town with a lot of Skyscrapers and a mixture of Residential and Business properties, it reminded me a little of Monte Carlo. We then met Sam back in the Old Town for dinner, finding a very cool roof top bar for some delicious Tapas. The Old Town has a great Hispanic laidback vibe, we just loved it.

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.

Andrew found us a beautiful anchorage in Isla Bona, a small island just off the coast twenty miles around the bay. Completely on our own with the exception of hundreds of Pelicans and Frigate birds all fishing around us; it was truly special. A fishing boat spoilt our peace in the early evening but they seemed friendly as they lay their nets around the bay and then settled in for the night, making their beds up out of bits of cardboard. We woke early to set sail and where rather surprised to find that they had moved their nets in the night and had completely hemmed us in and we couldn’t get our anchor up. We were even more surprised to see them leave the bay in their boat and I have to admit I was a little concerned for a short time that they were preventing us from leaving but they were back in half an hour and set us free, no idea what they were trying to say to us but lots of smiling all around.

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.....