We had lots of trepidation preparing for our sail from the San Blas to Colon (Shelter Bay Marina). It had been very windy the last three days with waves crashing over the reef and a forecast of 20 - 25 knot winds with 8 ft. seas. We waited a couple of extra days but finally ran out of time, and with the wind seemingly abating we took off for Portobello on Wednesday, March 4th.
We had talked to some locals and found out you could sail inside of Escribanos Reef, which would give us some protection from the big seas. We had been cautious about sailing that close to the shore coming down, but found it was a piece of cake going north. The charts have a zillion little squiggles in this area but it was at least 50 ft. deep the whole way and we enjoyed a beautiful beam reach in 15 knots of wind all the way to Portobello.
We anchored in our old spot at Portobello and got up early the next morning for an enjoyable sail in somewhat lighter winds all the way up to the Canal entrance and Shelter Bay Marina.
It was great to be back in the protection and social world of the marina, but the spell was soon broken when both our macerators (that operate the heads) failed at the same time. The next week was hell trying to get the heads running again (we needed them to go through the Canal and we also had guests arriving). I will spare you the details, but this is one job I hate doing and I had to do it four times since the first fix didn’t work. Ugh.
On Saturday, with me still deep in the head repairs, Meryl attended a party put on by Latitude 38 magazine for people going on the Pacific Puddlejump. They gave a special presentation on sailing around Tahiti and details of activities planned in French Polynesia for the arriving PuddleJumpers. We got our pictures taken as a group and individual pictures for a future article in the magazine. We were pleasantly surprised when the electronic version of Lat 38 featured us along with three other couples talking about why were were sailing to Tahiti.
With our friends Annie and Tryg due to arrive later Saturday evening, we needed to get the boat cleaned up (and deodorized). This is always somewhat of a challenge as the guest berth serves as our “garage” piled high with sails, suitcases, foods, and other detritus. They arrived late Saturday night with a duffel bag full of needed boat parts and just as the forward head and boat were somewhat functioning again.
Having Annie and Tryg here was wonderful. They took the marina van in on Monday to the Reys Supermarket with Meryl to begin our provisioning for the South Pacific, leaving me free to install the new aft head pump and new macerator for the forward head. We had hired a local guy to help with the plumbing issues on the forward head, but he was a mixed blessing. He managed to burn out the new macerator pump I had just installed the day before, forcing us to order one through the marina at over twice the price of the one A & T brought down in their suitcases. This must be another of those “tests” we endure to make us stronger people.
We did get a couple of breaks, however, to take a nice nature walk up the Kennedy Loop where we saw a whole pack of capuchin monkeys, the kind with the white faces and chests. They were having a great time leaping from tree to tree over our heads. Every once in a while we heard the weirdest sound, like a fighter jet in the distance making a low pass. We later found out that was the sound of the howler monkeys who were deeper in the jungle. It’s a very erie sound at best.
The rest of the week was spent provisioning and preparing for the Canal transit. We had delayed our planned Tuesday transit until Thursday to give us a little more time to get ready. On Tuesday our agent stopped by and dropped off four large blue ¾" poly lines and eight huge round fenders that we will use going through the Canal. The boat is starting to look like a garbage scow and the realization that we going through the Panama Canal is starting to sink in. There are so many horror stories (just a few days earlier a boat got slammed into the wall when the boat it was rafted to didn’t tend its lines quick enough) that everyone is antsy about the transit. Also, it's the final commitment for those who considered staying in the relative safety of the Caribbean Sea and are now headed for the wild Pacific.
We had talked to some locals and found out you could sail inside of Escribanos Reef, which would give us some protection from the big seas. We had been cautious about sailing that close to the shore coming down, but found it was a piece of cake going north. The charts have a zillion little squiggles in this area but it was at least 50 ft. deep the whole way and we enjoyed a beautiful beam reach in 15 knots of wind all the way to Portobello.
We anchored in our old spot at Portobello and got up early the next morning for an enjoyable sail in somewhat lighter winds all the way up to the Canal entrance and Shelter Bay Marina.
It was great to be back in the protection and social world of the marina, but the spell was soon broken when both our macerators (that operate the heads) failed at the same time. The next week was hell trying to get the heads running again (we needed them to go through the Canal and we also had guests arriving). I will spare you the details, but this is one job I hate doing and I had to do it four times since the first fix didn’t work. Ugh.
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| Our 15 minutes of fame in Latitude 38 magazine. |
With our friends Annie and Tryg due to arrive later Saturday evening, we needed to get the boat cleaned up (and deodorized). This is always somewhat of a challenge as the guest berth serves as our “garage” piled high with sails, suitcases, foods, and other detritus. They arrived late Saturday night with a duffel bag full of needed boat parts and just as the forward head and boat were somewhat functioning again.
Having Annie and Tryg here was wonderful. They took the marina van in on Monday to the Reys Supermarket with Meryl to begin our provisioning for the South Pacific, leaving me free to install the new aft head pump and new macerator for the forward head. We had hired a local guy to help with the plumbing issues on the forward head, but he was a mixed blessing. He managed to burn out the new macerator pump I had just installed the day before, forcing us to order one through the marina at over twice the price of the one A & T brought down in their suitcases. This must be another of those “tests” we endure to make us stronger people.
We did get a couple of breaks, however, to take a nice nature walk up the Kennedy Loop where we saw a whole pack of capuchin monkeys, the kind with the white faces and chests. They were having a great time leaping from tree to tree over our heads. Every once in a while we heard the weirdest sound, like a fighter jet in the distance making a low pass. We later found out that was the sound of the howler monkeys who were deeper in the jungle. It’s a very erie sound at best.
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| Our solar cells are at risk going through the Canal when the line handlers throw their lines with heavy monkey fist to the boat, so we covered all our panels with air mattresses. |
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| Getting ready to cast off from Shelter Bay Marina for our Canal transit with our friends Annie & Trygve Johnson. |
Walter and Meryl, Love the air mattress idea! Looking forward to your next electronic landfall! May delightful breezes propel you and fish jump onto your lines! -- Heather, Derek and Grant
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