09summer cruise: SailBlogs

Shipwreck Party and We're Going Home!

Carol - rain, water tanks full — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:03:56 -0600

This picture was taken at Darrion's birthday party. Darrion and Dyllan own the Calypso Cantina and the theme was "Shipwreck". As you can see, we had our lifejackets on and we were up "S--- Creek" without a paddle. The other costumes were funny as well: Aliens shipwrecked on earth, survivors from the Titanic and many tattered t-shirts and cutoffs. There was free food (a curry dish), a cash bar and a slide show. I was in one of the pictures with Darrion taken on Christmas Eve. (Continued...)

Big Bight Break

Carol - hot and sunny — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:23:06 -0600

That's me sitting on my beanbag with a glass of wine at Happy Hour in Big Bight. We took a break from Bocas Del Toro and Carnival by going "around the corner" to Big Bight. It's only about an hour away from town and is one of our favorite anchorages. This was our fourth time there and there still wasn't another boat anchored in the Bight. We even skinny dipped in broad daylight. From time to time we saw some dugouts come in to fish, but no one else. Ron finished installing our new sump pump we'd ordered from the Marine Warehouse in Panama City. We took a dinghy ride around the anchorage exploring a short river and then finding a huge mangrove lagoon. We had to cross a shallow sandbar at the entrance and followed it quite a ways back into the mangroves and trees. We found a dock and a wooden pathway leading to a clearing. Saturday, February 13 was raining all day so we took the day off to read and let our rain catcher put fresh water in our tanks. It was so weird to wake up to the howler monkeys calling to each other from the trees surrounding the Bight instead of watertaxis whizzing by close to our stern in town. On Monday we motored back to civilization and Carnival in Bocas del Toro. (View Post...)

"Yo Soy Marinaro"-The Panama Mariner's Card

Carol — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:09:32 -0600

Look, I have my own hotel in Panama! As our Tourist Cards were expiring, we decided to go to the mainland town of Changuinola and apply for our Mariner's Card. The watertaxis to Almirante were fast and only $14 round trip for both of us. They cruised across Bahia Almirante at about 35-40 mph and we were there in less than a half an hour. The port of Almirante is very busy with a Texico Fuel Dock, barges, dredgers, and freighters. We continued up to a narrow inlet lined with stilt houses and outhouses in dirty water with lots of trash. We were advised to hire a private taxi from Almirante to Changuinola as the bus travel was uncomfortable and not that much cheaper. Our taxi driver, Javier, was very friendly, spoke English and drove us through the beautiful mountains and hillsides to Changuinola, about 13 miles away. We saw many banana plantations, appropo for the "Banana Republic". Changuinola is a large city of about 50,000. Javier took us directly to Immigration and in less than an hour our paperwork was processed and they relieved us of $70. Unfortunately, we misunderstood that the Mariner's card was good for 90 days. It is, but we have to "check in", in Changuinola, every 30 days - tricky! We walked along the main drag of town lined with "malls" (glorified variety stores) and met up with another cruising couple from Bocas del Toro. Ron and Dorothy, who were also obtaining their Mariner's Cards, found a washing machine for their boat for $109.99 - what a deal! We had beer at the Chiquita Banana Restaurant and Bar and called Javier for a ride back to Almirante. He loaded the washing machine in the watertaxi (no extra charge) and we speeded back to Bocas del Toro taking a short cut through some very shallow water. The town is in full preparation for Carnival which begins Thursday, February 11. The big parade and party is on Fat Tuesday, February 16. We're going sailing to Big Bight for a few days and will return for Fat Tuesday. (View Post...)