Our leisurely breakfast was interrupted by the local cruising VHF channel going red hot with news of the Chilean 8.8 earth quake and the tsunami warning in our area and details of a tsunami coming our way. Since we were only anchored in a couple of metres of water we decided to join the other 30 boats and head out to sea and wait until it had passed. We waited... and waited... and waited, but nothing happened and after the expected time we went back to our anchorage. An hour later another warning, this time a 6ft wave only 30miles away; so once again we upped anchor and headed out to sea... we waited.... we waited and still nothing happened!! End of the drama. Oh well it is better to be safe than sorry.
Yesterday we took a tour up the Chagres River and visited another Indian tribe; very different from the Kuna Indians in San Blas. The Embera - Dura tribe, an attractive, happy and healthy race, were friendly and more excepting of tourists. Their bodies are covered with painted tattoos and the men only wear a loin cloth and the women not much more. The men were all very lithe and muscular with rippling six packs and pert buttocks. I really had to keep myself in check. (Penny's writing this!!!) 
The river trip included a spectacular ride in a dugout canoe through the jungle and then a simple but very nice lunch of fish and plantains (cooking bananas), followed by local dancing which we were invited to participate. Part of the show was to be decorated with tattoos from the ink of local vegetation. It is supposedly not permanent and lasts only about eight days. I had a traditional tattoo painted on my arm which at the time seemed quite attractive (as far as tats go), but when I awoke the following morning I found the dark indigo ink all over my hands and my face!! 
We have been busy supplying the boat with food, beer, wine and yet more wine for our trip across the Pacific and also getting the last minute checks done and guess what??? De ja bloody vu. Two days before our planned departure we were hit by the boat behind us. We were both on a mooring; pretty safe you may think, but oh no!!! He put his engine on to charge his batteries but accidently put it into gear and rammed us at about the rate of six knots and taking out our starboard rail, one of the large winches and our Dan buoy. As you can imagine we were pretty pissed off, first to be hit by a cargo ship in Anguilla and now this. Both times we were either at anchor or on a mooring just minding or own business. Now all our cruising friends want to travel with us, as they think we are the magnet for disasters and they will all be protected!!!
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Comments [3]
Hope the cat is ship shape again, and you're on your way across the Pacific. Look forward to catching up with you on this side later in the year.
The Panama Canal is an amazing engineering project, it was first started back in 1880 and after several false starts and thousands of lives lost it was finally opened in 1914. It consists of three huge locks on the Caribbean side followed by a 20 mile trip across a large manmade lake and then a further 3 locks to get you down to the Pacific side. The large ships tend to go through in one go taking about 12 hours to transit the canal, while the yachts go through in two days.
Our transit started with the arrival on board of our Advisor/pilot, who checks we have at least 4 line handlers with the correct ropes and gives us the rundown of what to expect. We then head out from the anchorage to the first set of locks which we shared with a huge container ship and 2 other yachts. The yachts have to raft up and stay together until we have transited all three locks. We happened to be in the middle, which can be an advantage as your line handlers haven't got to do anything and you have a very expensive fender either side of you!!. It was all going well until one of the other yachts hadn't tied a proper knot on one of their lines and the boats started to come apart. Not a good thing as there is a lot of turbulence as the water is pumped into the lock to raise the level. A bit of quick action from our crew and it was under control.
Once through the first set we anchored the night in the Gatun Lake for the night. It wasn't long before we had a bit of a party going and a couple of the girls (no names mentioned) ended up skinny dipping.; quite brave considering we had seen a large crocodile, that afternoon, enjoying a siesta on the river bank. The lure of fresh water was too good to resist. 
Our next advisor arrived at 6.00 in the morning to take us the 20 miles across the lake and through the last set of locks- Miraflores. Part of the requirements the Panama Canal Authorities put on any transiting boat is that we feed and water the advisors and if it isn't up to their satisfaction they can stop the boat and order food in at your expense. I don't think our advisor had any complaints as Penny cooked a huge fry up for breakfast and good old Aussie burgers for lunch.
The last set of locks went without mishap and by 3.00pm, for the first time in three and half years we had anchored in the Pacific Ocean. The only thing to dampen the celebrations was that the saildrive which had been fixed in Shelter Bay was leaking oil again, but this time a lot worse. - Oh for a good marine mechanic!!! We straight away started organising for yet another haul out. - the joys of boating.
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When you are cruising never have a time scale!! We still haven't transited the canal because we found some water in one of the sail drives and we need to lift the boat out to hopefully repair it. The plan is to have it lifted, fix the problem and then back in the water in the same day. Wishful thinking!!!We decided it was better to do it in Shelter Bay than on the other side where the marina is a lot more expensive.
We haven't had a very good run lately with mechanical problems on the boat. First the starboard alternator stopped working, and then the high pressure pump on the water maker broke, quickly followed with an oil leak in the windless and now the saildrive. Fortunately we found an ex yachty mechanic living in Linton who was a wiz at fixing everything, a very rare find indeed!
The latest delay enabled me to go through the canal as a line handler for "Aurora B", (42ft Halberg Rassy,) and experience first hand the transit. It was well worth doing and it should take a lot of the stress away when we go through on Saturday.
When Aurora B arrived on the Pacific side, Penny and I and Peter and Nani (Joule) decided to have a bit of a holiday away from the boats. We stayed in one of the good hotels in Panama City for a night. It just happened to be carnival time, not that we saw very much of the street celebrations - I think it was too many cocktails around the pool!!
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Our time in the San Blas islands is finally coming to an end. We are booked to go through the Panama Canal on Thursday, 11th February; so we need to start heading back to Colon and start getting ready for our transit. The last month here has been absolutely wonderful. We certainly understand why some cruising boats never leave. There is one American who has been living on his boat here for over 12 years. Part of his time is spent keeping one of the islands clear of rubbish and debris, and he gets quite upset if anybody messes up" his" territory.
Friends of ours from England, Barry and Kate, have been with us for the last week. They flew from Panama to San Blas islands. The aerodrome takes up the whole island, with a couple of admin huts located on the side of the runway. Because it was a small plane, baggage limit was 12 kilos per person, since they were carrying an alternator and several litres of wine for us, they where 26 kilos over the limit; not that it mattered as the total excess baggage cost was $14.43!!!
It has been 6 weeks since my skiing accident and it was time to remove my plastercast (which I don't think I mentioned was fibre glass) The trouble was to get it taken off properly it would involve a flight to Panama City to one of the hospitals there. We decided to have a go our selves so with a hacksaw, pliers and chicken scissors we managed to prise the cast off without drawing any blood!! Now all I need is some good physio.
Today we went ashore to one of the islands Chichime, where three families live. As usual they wanted to sell us their Molas they had made, unfortunately we didn't have any money with us, but Penny had a large bag of goodies to give to the local kids so she ended up trading them for one of the molas she liked. The kids were happy with colouring books, pencils, chalk and lollypops and the women were happy with make-up, nail polish and perfume. One of the Kuna women wanted to trade her sarong for Penny's dress. The chief of the village was delighted with the pair of shorts we gave him and he sent one of the lads scurrying up a coconut tree for a coconut for each of us. It was a win win situation all round.
The Kuna Indians have such a simple beautiful way of life. Only about 15yrs ago they traded in coconuts and didn't have a currency. When the Colombian trading ships come in the whole village turns out for the event. The large sacks of coconuts are weighed and clothes, toiletries and general supplies are handed out. Time doesn't stay still and it looks as if there could be rapid change in their culture as they get mobile phones, electricity and TV,s.
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The San Blas islands are a vast archipelago on the Atlantic Panama eastern coast composed of 340 islands. The area is cut off from any road transport and nearly everything has to come in by boat or small plane. The area is inhabited by the Kuna Indians, who are physically very small people and have managed to preserve their unique culture and customs. The people are very friendly and it is extremely safe as crime is nearly unheard of. The villages that they live in take up the whole island with small palm thatched huts closely packed together. The men spend their time fishing in dugout canoes or tending their small cultivated patch of land located up the coastal rivers on the mainland; while the women make molas by sewing and cutting different layers of colourful cloth which they wear themselves and sell to the tourists.
We have been in the san Blas islands for 2 weeks now and are beginning to think it is one of the best places we have visited in our circumnavigation to date. The climate is perfect around 28 to 30 degrees with a cool breeze blowing. There are no bugs, as long as you don't get too close to the mainland, where you can be eaten alive by "No-See-Ums" -a small bug that can get through the mosquito screens. Behind the coral reefs the seas are calm and there are lots of beautiful anchorages you can go to. A typical one is a small island about a couple of hundred metres long covered with palm trees and surrounded by beautiful white sand. On the windward side there is usually a shallow reef extending about half mile, while on the other side you can anchor the boat in 10 metres of crystal clear blue water. The only thing you have to be mindful of is that the charts aren't too accurate so it's best to leave an anchorage around midday when the sun is high so you can easily see the sand bars and coral reefs.
Our time here hasn't been all sunbathing and swimming - the social life has been rather hectic of late. Firstly the arrival of Voyageur (ex Stella), David and Susan who are doing their second circumnavigation with the World ARC, When we spent a good week cruising together catching up with all the latest gossip and doing a great deal of partying and just as they left to go through the canal "Joule" arrived from Cartagena to continue our nightly revelry. Because of all the socialising we are beginning to run out of supplies and there is nowhere to go to restock. We rely on the occasional veggie boats that come randomly to the island. The wine stocks are becoming quite desperate and it looks like we might have to drink that Sri Lankan whisky after all!!
We did have a bit of drama a couple of days ago when we were on route to Snug Harbour in the east of the San Blas There was a request from a lone female yachtswomen whose engine had broken down and was drifting close to the reef. She said she was unable to sail as there was no wind. As we were only about 4 miles away we went to assist and ended up towing her all the way back to Nargana, from where we had left five hours previously!!
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From Portobello we did a short couple of hour trip to Isla Linton a shelter anchorage frequented mostly by yachties who often stay here form months at a time. One Dutchman ended up marrying a local and opening a little restaurant and has been here for 12 years. At places like this you meet some very interesting people, such as the 69 year old gold prospector who had spent the last 3 years in Bolivia looking for gold and now has moved to Panama to do the same. I don't think he was doing too well as he was living out of a van and just had all his meagre possessions stolen. We ended up shouting him a meal and few drinks, not that it was that great deal as 3 fish dinners, 5 beers and 2 wines came to the princely sum of $24.
The next part of the journey we weren't looking forward to as the 42 miles to the San Blas islands are often quite rough and it's usually a hard beat to windward, something you tend not to do when you are doing a trade wind circumnavigation. Fortunately the wind was from the north and we ended up doing a fast 9 knot reach all the way to Porvenir the check in place for the San Blas islands.
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