Carol
08/11/2009, Panama

Kirk on Gallivanter had told us about how he, Cath and Stuart enjoyed the Rio Chagres on their trip to Panama, but the entrance was so tricky that we were going to pass it by if the swells were too high and the breakers blocked the mouth. We were in luck as the weather cooperated and we easily hugged the tall cliffs with the ruins of Fort San Lorenzo on one side and the Lajas Reef on the other. The mouth of the river was narrow but deep and the river was 100 to 200 feet wide and 50 feet deep in places. We meandered along the turns of the river through unspoiled jungle listening to loud insects and howler monkeys. The scenery was gorgeous. There were towering hardwood trees, ferns, pampas grass, palm trees, flowers and grass islands for 6 miles up to the Gatun Dam. The Dam is right on Gatun Lake in the Panama Canal. We even saw a cruise ship go by behind the Dam. We anchored in a basin next to the Dam but Ron was worried they might lower the level of the river and it would be too shallow for us to leave. So we reanchored about 3 miles down river. We hadn't seen another cruising boat since Naranjo Abajo so we didn't worry about anchoring near the middle of the river. The howler monkeys were so loud for exactly 1 hour (4:30-5:30) that we figured it must have been Howler Monkey Happy Hour. There were pairs of parrots flying through the treetops, more insect noises and not as many bugs as we thought there would be in the middle of the jungle. We fell asleep under a beautiful full moon and flowing river. The next morning we dumped buckets of fresh water over our heads before we picked up our anchors and motored the rest of the way out of the Rio Chagres. Now we're ready for our final overnight sail.

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Carol
08/11/2009, Panama

We left Portobelo on August 2 and decided to split the trip to the Rio Chagres by stopping at Isla Naranjo Abajo for the night. We put up the mizzen, main and jib and had a brisk sail to the anchorage between the island and the mainland. It was so beautiful and completely sheltered by surrounding reefs. We were only 10 miles from the Canal and there were huge freighters and tankers anchored right outside the reef waiting to transit. That night we could see the loom of Colon and the Canal. The next morning we motorsailed between the anchored ships and Colon. We had our Panama Canal beer as we passed by the breakwater opening and the tall concrete red and green channel markers. We saw a very large tuna boat (see picture) come out of the Canal. Even though it's been 32 years for me and 17 years for Ron, the Canal is still an impressive sight.

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Carol
07/28/2009, Panama

We motorsailed out of Chichime (E. Lemon Cays) leaving the San Blas Islands for mainland Panama. It was about a 60 mile sail, so we decided to stop at Isla Linton to break up the trip. the anchorage was in a channel between Linton and the mainland and was so pretty. The island is uninhabited except for a family of monkeys (which we never saw) and the jungle was lush and green. The fishermen had several net-like structures anchored nearby which we learned later they were "farming" cobia. The next day's motorsail (the wind was in our face again) was only 10 miles along the coastline to Portobelo (named Puerto Bello, beautiful port, by Columbus and also spelled Portobello).

Portobelo is a huge natural harbor and has quite a history. It was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502 on his fourth voyage. It was used to transfer tons of gold and silver to Spain. Between 1574 and 1702 there were 45 fleets of galleons sailing with at least 30 million pesos each onboard. The Real Contadurin Customs House was used to store these riches traded between the Americas and Spain. In one century a THIRD of all the gold IN THE WORLD passed through this building. I'm impressed! So, of course, they needed defenses against pirates (Henry Morgan, Sir Francis Drake, Johnny Depp) and there were three forts built. We were anchored just below the Bateria Santiago with it's many cannons pointed at Alaunt. There was another fort, San Fernando, across the bay. The above picture was taken at Fort San Jeronimo right in town. The present Portobelo is constructed into some of the ancient coral walls of the forts and outlying buildings. The town was small enough to walk everywhere (Ron's foot is feeling better) and we found internet access and many grocery stores to supply the boat for our sail to Rio Chagres and Bocas del Toro. We caught a bus to Colon yesterday ($1.30 ea) and shopped in a huge supermarket. What a culture shock for us after 2 weeks in the San Blas Islands without even seeing a car - roads, cars, trucks, buses, and a train to the Panama Canal. It looks like we're leaving in a few days and will be out of internet service until we get to Bocas del Toro - our final destination in Panama.

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Carol
07/27/2009, Portobello, Panama

I discovered zip lock ice for our Alaunt Happy Hours. I have an aluminum ice cube tray that takes up too much freezer space and only made 12 ice cubes in 2 days. So I started filling quart-sized zip locks with water and fitting them into my freezer like a jigsaw puzzle. I ended up with a nice sized block of ice that freezes in a few hours. I just use my ice pick and fill my Happy Hour cups.

The price of alcohol in Panama is very inexpensive compared to Colombia. We'd tried some box wine in Colombia that was "almost" undrinkable. In Panama we found Concha Y Toro box wind from Chile that is very good for $2.40 a liter. Of course this discovery came about through rigorous testing. Ron's gin in Colombia was $35 a bottle, but in Panama he found "Caballito" and "Champion" gin for $1.25/250 ml. He bought both brands for a taste test before blowing $4-$5 on a whole bottle. The label said they were bottled by the same company, so there's no apparent difference between the two. The local "Balboa" beer is $12/case. We're going to be here for a long time.

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Ron
07/14/2009, Panama

Before we left St. Thomas, we were intending to spend about 4 weeks in these islands. This archipelago is made up of over 340 islands and stretches for over 100 miles along the Panamanian Coast from the border with Colombia to about 50 miles from the Panama Canal. All the islands are very low and are covered with palm trees. Along the mainland is untouched virginal rainforest. Since we got a later start from St. Thomas than planned and got held up for a while in Curacao, we decided to cover the northern-most one third and most popular islands. There are outlying reefs protecting the island groups that have huge crashing breakers and many wrecks on them. Once inside, all the passages between islands are short day hops but require careful navigation between and among the numerous reefs. (Hurray for GPS and a good cruising guide book. I also was given software for a computer map program from another cruiser and got a small hockeypuck size GPS that plugs into the computer - it's pretty cool)

I think I mentioned before that this is my third trip here. Once on my way to St. Thomas from the west coast in the early 80's and a short stop with Steve Van Arsdale on "Sassy" in 1992. In the early days it was "eyeball navigation" and depth sounders which worked fine if there was sun overhead or you could get a sounder reading. The depths between islands are over 100 feet then shallow abruptly without much warning. We covered the area from Rio Diablo on the southeast coast to Punta San Blas. Our favorite spots included the Coco Bandero, Holandes and Lemon Cays. Each have great protected anchorages (some better than others) which are deeper than we are used to in the Virgin Islands. Here we often anchored in 30+ feet of water with up to 200 feet of chain out. If you anchor in shallower water you'd end up on the beach when the wind shifts - which happened everyday. It also seemed to shift whenever we were moving between islands so we were always going into the wind, no matter which direction we were headed that day. At least the winds were almost always light - 10-12 knots max.

The main differences from my previous visits were: first, the number of boats. As Carol mentioned there are a lot of cruisers that seem to be based here full time and many more passing through. Up until the late 1990's the area's principal currency was the coconut, which was traded to Colombians for fruit, clothing, canned goods, coffee, rice, batteries, etc. Now the "mola" (their embroidered artwork) is their main export and they take U.S. dollars for them and fish, lobster, etc. that they sell. Also a few islands have some (but very limited) food goods for sale - eggs, canned goods, onions, etc. There are cell phones here - we even had two teenage girls come out to our boat in a dugout and ask if we could charge their cell phone as there was no electricity on their island! They were in shorts and bathing suit tops which was unheard of earlier as all the women wore the more traditional Kuna dress. This traditional dress is still quite prevalent but there are many who no longer wear it. Some islands are more traditional than others. Often whenever we'd get our anchor down we'd be approached by Kunas in dugouts (some with outboards) selling molas, jewelry and other currios or fishermen selling fish, lobster, crab (one group offered us a turtle which is illegal - we told them to throw it back in). We did buy some molas and some lobster ($5 for 5 lobster) but couldn't buy something from everyone. Some got quite indignant when we wouldn't buy from them. Apparently now you can call on the cell phone and have fuel delivered to your boat at the outer anchorages. We heard there is a vegetable boat that makes the rounds, but we never saw it. You can also call for a launch to take you from an outer anchorage to one of the islands with an airstrip and fly to Panama City for health care, shopping, or connecting flights. Some of the cruisers leave their boats to be watched by neighbors and fly off for a month at a time. Progress, I guess. All in all it was very enjoyable, but now we were looking forward to new places.

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Carol
07/13/2009, E. Holandes & E. Lemon Cays, Panama

Our first morning in San Blas we listened to the Single Side Band Radio and the Panama Connection Net (8:30 every morning). The net controller was right here in the E. Holandes and we learned plenty of information from the cruisers on the net, i.e., customs and immigration hours in Porvenir, a restaurant in El Tigre, and a 5:00 Happy Hour at BBQ Island tonight in our anchorage. Everyone brought an appetizer (finger food), books and DVD's to trade and your own beverage. The island is maintained by the cruisers and was gorgeous! (see picture) The lawn was almost manicured with the ever-present palm trees, white sandy beach for the dinghies plus a grass palapa and picnic table. We had so much fun meeting and talking with everyone. There are so many people who have been here for years - quite a community of ex-pats.

Our next Happy Hour was in the East Lemon Cays at Banadup Island. This island is owned by Mr. G (a Kuna) and he has a small store, a bathroom (a grass hut on stilts over the water), happy hours with $.75 beer, fish fries and pizza parties. We dinghied over on a Friday fish fry night ($5.00 includes one beer) and tied up to the ricketty dock next to the "bathroom". We met Mr. G's family and cruisers, some who had been in E. Lemon Cays for over 2 years. The fish was finally ready and served buffet style with rice and a cabbage salad. There was such a good turnout, one of the cruisers had to go get more silverware.

The social life is quite active in the San Blas Islands as happy hours and parties are announced on the Panama Connection Net and most of the islands are only an hour sail away.

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