We are making final preparations for leaving for the Panamanian waters and Islands. We will be leaving tonight or no later than tomorrow morning. We have enjoyed our time here at Land Sea Marina. Although Katie has been absent for a trip back to the US to see family, Tim has been a great host. Their services here are a welcome respite from the big marinas or completely remote on your own time. They have laundry service, cable tv, free wi-fi, kitchen for cruisers use, an on
your honor beverage fridge, PLUS-2 bathrooms with real private showers and toilets- complete with soap, towel and toilet seat! There are 3 good size grocery stores here, our favorite is Pearson's. They have some products the others don't and will deliver you and your groceries back to the marina, a great service for those of us buying for several weeks at a time! There's a duty free zone here also, although most of these stores deal mostly in large items like appliances, but we did buy a new stainless steel pressure cooker since the pressure valve on mine melted. There is liquor and cases of wine, and one Italian specialty store, many stores carry the same items.
We beached the boat last Sunday- was not our choice of day to do it, BUT, by the time Jim scouted out at low tide the 2 days before where he thought would work best, the tide rises later each day, and if we waited til Monday, we may not have gotten back off until after dark and then get back to our anchorage after dark. So we scraped the bottom, put anti-fouling on some patches, and Jim changed the prop back to a bigger one that came with the boat. It's actually a little too big, and so we can't push the rpm's too much, but it should make us cruise a little faster under motor. We were beat by the end of the day. The other 3 times we've beached her, we've had outside help, other cruisers and/or locals. This time it was just Jim & I, and the help that Bridget, & Micah added in.
Once we leave here, we may or may not go to Pedregal. A town just a short distance from David- Panama's 2nd or 3rd largest city. And I say we may because just last night our outboard motor started sounding funny. We were planning on leaving last night, but as Jim went to get diesel for our main engine, the problems started. There is no Yamaha dealer here, and there is a good one in David, which actually is only a 2 hr. bus ride from here, but we already checked out-before all this and can't cross the boarder via land already checked out. So we will go by boat which is a full days cruise. Jim has been on the phone with the dealer and let them know what parts we need. The problem is they don't have parts for anything smaller than a 25 horse- they obviously deal mostly with the local pangas/launchas which have larger engines. So this could take several days and Jim said he can put it back together and we'll have to baby it 'til we get to Panama City. Our original plan for between here and Balboa, Panama going 84 miles/19 hrs. to Isla Bolanos, which is East of Isla Parida, just South of the entrance channel up to Pedregal, and staying there one full day after arriving, tomorrow afternoon. Then 17 m./3 � hrs. to Isla Secas and staying there just the remainder of the day, 46 m./ 9 � h. South to Isla Jicaron, read and been told this is one of the most beautiful places in Pacific Panama, stay there one full day, 50 m./11h. To Islote Roncador our Southern most anchorage, stay one full day, 43 m./ 9 h. to Punta Guinico where we will pass our Southern most point through here on this journey. Depending on time arrive- hopefully will leave the next day for Isla Bayoneta-111 miles/25 hours in the Las Perles Islands. Stay at Bayoneta for one full day after arriving then moving to Don Bernardo Island to explore the "most beautiful beaches in the Perles Islands" we've read in one of the cruising guides, and some interesting trails, and a village where we can get some local produce. Then the next day going 25 miles/ 6 hrs. to Esmeralda, the Southern tip of Isla del Reay, and spend the remainder of the day, and to the village of La Ensenada at the Morro de Cambombia Islets a short 10 miles/ 2hrs., where we can buy, non other than Pearls of course, from the locals. Our last day in the Perles we will head then North 28 m./ 6 � hrs. to go by the Islands of Contadora, Sabago, MogoMogo where some of the Survivor Pearl Islands were filmed, then to our anchorage at Isla Pechequilla, the Northern most Pearl Island, to anchor for the night before heading to Isla Tobago just South of the Panama Channel and then to Balboa to get ready to go through the canal. Then we'll do all the canal/checking in paperwork, get measured and cleared, reprovision and possibly get Sunshine hauled out for a couple days to give her a complete sanding & anti-fouling before making the canal transit. Which I want to mention, we've read there are webcams along the canal, and apparently, as long as we don't get held up for one reason or another on the day of our transit, we can let you know our beginning transit time and you should be able to watch our transit on the internet. Cool, huh! The website is: pancanaltransit.com.