February 2008

February 14 2008
Location: Bocas del Toro, Panama
Nautical Miles Traveled: 0

Happy Valentines Day! We’ve been waiting for two weeks now for a good weather window to head East, it appears that our departure is now going to finally happen! While the weather still hasn’t settled all that much along the coast we decided to go ahead and get our Zarpe from the Port Captain today. A Zarpe is an international departure document for maritime vessels that gives us permission to leave a port with a specific destination port listed. Our destination will be Colon where we’ll have to check in with the Port Captain there. We’ll leave Bocas del Toro later today or tomorrow and make our way through the archipelago to Crawl Cay or Blue Field where we can anchor and wait for the seas to settle a bit more, then we’ll do the overnight sail to Colon. If the entry to the Chagres River, 8 miles West of Colon, is not to rough then we’ll make our way up the fresh water river for a week or so, before continuing on to Colon. We will not have internet access until Colon but once there we’ll update again with new photos and logs of our trip from Bocas del Toro to Colon along with the happenings in the most dangerous city in Panama (don’t worry moms, we’ll be safe!)

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(Bruadair anchored in Bocas del Toro, photo courtesy of Tracy Watkins, s/v Land Fall)

February 16 2008
Location: Bocas del Toro to Auree Caye, Panama
Nautical Miles Traveled: 10.25

We didn’t have far to go today but 10 nautical miles is a good start. Our original destination today was supposed to be Crawl Caye but it was a bit rolly there so we anchored at Auree Cay, less than half a mile from Crawl Caye. Toady’s trip didn’t include any sailing as the wind had shifted to the south just as we raised anchor, that would have put the wind right on the nose and a sailboat can’t sail right into the wind. It was probably better that way as the area we traveled in today was marked with lots of shoals that we needed to dodge. Weather today was overcast but cool and the total trip took us three hours. Our friends on Boisterous also raised anchor and followed us as they are also on their way to Colon.

Once anchored we launched the dingy and went over to Namaste for a quick hello. Sandy and Cheri had come the day before and were also waiting here for the seas in the Caribbean to calm before heading to Colon. After a quick chat we took off and headed to the south shore of Bastiementos Island where we saw a few buildings. Along the way we rode over some very very shallow water and were amazed at the corals and fish beneath us. We tied up our dingy at the dock in front of the small tienda which was stocked with basic supplies and ice cold sodas. To the left was a large restaurant which was closed, but normally caters to the large crowd of tourists who come to Crawl Caye Channel for the spectacular snorkeling. To the right of the tienda was a small gas station where we topped up with some gas and next to this small building was the lobster trading house. This area is well known for it’s free divers who dive down as far as 60 to 80 feet with a single breath of air to collect lobsters. Here in this building the lobsters are sold to buyers from hotels and restaurants. We had arrived late in the day but there was still some lobster for sale, $2 each for decent size ones.

The rest of the day was spent planning for our offshore trip to Colon and collecting weather information from our pactor modem and ham radio. Tonight’s dinner menu is pork chops and gravy served over rice. One of my favorites.

February 17 2008
Location: Auree Caye to Bluefield Lagoon, Panama
Nautical Miles Traveled: 15

The seas out in the Caribbean have calmed a lot since yesterday to today ended up being a great day to get through the narrow cut in the reef. Before heading out though I really wanted to check out a small village a mile south of where we had anchored in the island of Isla Popa. There are two Ngboe Indian villages on Isla Popa, the two villages are known simply as Isla Popa Numero Uno and Isla Popa Numero Dos. I went with the crew of Boisterous to the smaller yet closer village of Isla Popa Numero Dos. David decided to stay behind as he had strained his back and wanted to take it easy and get some rest.

Our dingy trip to the island, while short, was excellent. I had with me William and Henry, the two older boys from Boisterous and as we slowly motored over the shallow corals we were amazed at the colorful and lively corals but the large fish including snappers and French angel fish. Had there been more time to stay here this surely would have been an excellent place to snorkel. I put it on our list of places to come back and spend more time at. Unfortunately a weather window has opened up and we need to take advantage of it now as it might be another week or two before another weather window appears.

Upon arriving at Isla Popa Numero Dos a long, well built wood dock presented itself as the starting point for our small adventure. Once the dinghies were tied we followed the dirt path up a hill where the village was situated. On the outskirts of the village were clean, neatly groomed thatch roof on stilts. In the center of the village was an impressively large school with a soccer field and vollyball net. Adjacent to the school was an open area with a thatch roof that appeared to be a meeting place of sorts. As we walked through the village the children came out and followed us at a distance. A soccer game started while other kids kept a close eye on us. The only adults we saw were from a distance up in their homes. In past experiences children seem to be much more receptive to visitors. Also centrally located within the village all by itself was a single pay phone. I guess staying in touch is important no matter where you live. We visited the only tienda in town and as a courtesy I bought a couple of noodle soups.

After visit in Isla Popa Numero Dos we took off in the dinghies again and headed over to the small island of Crawl Caye. It only took a few minutes to circumnavigate this small island where a small restaurant and snorkeling business operate for the needs of the tourists that come to visit. After our trip around Crawl Caye we headed over to the tienda on Isla Bastiementos for a cold drink then back to our respective boats where it was time to get ready to make way to Bluefield.

At 1:30pm we raised anchor and made our way carefully through the shallow corals and headed out through the break in the reef which at this time was relatively calm. Once past the reef and safe in deeper waters I put out the trolling line and set an easterly course towards Bluefield Lagoon. The seas on this trip were 6 to 8 feet but nicely spaced out so it wasn’t too uncomfortable. We motor sailed at 6 knots slowing down briefly about half way to reel in the Bonita we caught on our green and yellow lure. This lure has caught a lot of fish for us despite it’s rusty hooks and many missing pieces. I suspect that we’ll soon have to switch to one of the many new and unused lures though. A short while after catching the Bonita we heard the wonderful sound of the fishing line being pulled off our reel indicating another catch. But this one was not like any other we’ve had. The line kept going and going, and fast. I tightened down on the drag which creates more friction thus making it harder to pull the line out. Even with the drag down almost all the way the line kept coming out as the fish on the other end kept making runs. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I was able to put slack in the line and the fish was able to shake the hook. While we weren’t able to land this fish we at least didn’t loose all our fishing line. Boy, it must have been a really big one, I’m thinking a Wahoo or Tuna of some type.

After three hours of motor sailing we arrived at Playa Raya, the first little inlet to the west just after entering Bluefield Lagoon. The waters here were very well protected from the swell outside the lagoon and incredibly beautiful with it’s palm tree lined beaches and stoney cliffs. We didn’t have the anchor set when the first visitors started showing up at Bruadair and Boisterous. The first visitor in their dugout fish and coconuts to sell, the second had sea shells and brightly colored hand woven bags. Another gentleman rowed out and wanted us to volunteer to help build a new road in town but we explained that we were leaving the next morning. I liked him as he asked me if David was my grandfather. David didn’t find this so amusing though, go figure.

As the sun set and the wind shifted to come from land we could smell the sweet aroma of flowers in the air. We have no idea what flowers were doing this but it sure was pleasant. We took a few minutes after sunset to finish getting the boat ready for our offshore trip tomorrow. The weather forecast I got this afternoon indicated light winds from the West with 5-8 foot swells from the East. Also leaving tomorrow morning are our friends on Boisterous, Namaste and Wayward Wind.

February 18 2008
Location: Bluefield Lagoon to Escudo del Veraguas, Panama
Nautical Miles Traveled: 30

We raised anchor and left Bluefield at 10 am, today’s forecast offshore being 5-8’ swells with winds from the West at less than 10 knots. Once through the shoals on the North side of Bluefield and into the open Caribbean Sea we realized the swells were exactly as forecast. Most of the swells were in the five foot range but there were plenty in the 8 foot range as well. We steered a little off course so that we weren’t bashing right into the swells so as to have a slightly more comfortable ride. The winds were really from the wrong direction and too light to put any sails up so we continued to rely soley on our motor.

After an hour of being out the roar of the water rushing by the hull was interrupted by the sweet sound of fishing line peeling off the reel. A few minutes later we had another Bonita in the cockpit being filleted.

During this trip we stayed in radio contact with the three other boats. Late in the morning Sandy on Namaste said he had talked to a friend on the ham radio and it was reported that the seas were pretty rough outside the breakwater at Colon. After some discussion we decided to divert with Namaste and Wayward Wind and headed South to the small island of Escudo de Veraguas which lies 10 miles off the coast of Panama. We felt it would be safer to anchor here and wait until the following day to proceed to Colon when the water at the breakwater entrance was forecast to be more conducive to a safe entry. (Boisterous though decided to press on and we later found out that they had a safe passage and had arrived in Colon without any issues).

Escudo de Veraguas is a small island that is uninhabited except for the occasional fishermen that come out for days or weeks at a time to collect fish and lobster. The south side of the island is lined with rocky cliffs with caves and an occasional beach. The south side is considered to be a safe place to anchor but with the heavy swells we felt it would make for an uncomfortable night as the boat would rock sharply back and forth. So we opted for the West side of the island. It was a little more protected here from the swells but we still rocked pretty good throughout the night. We anchored in clear blue waters with a white sand bottom just a couple hundred feet off the beach. It wasn’t the ideal anchorage because the winds were coming out of the West with the beach so close behind us, had our anchor decided to not hold we would have ended up on the beach. But as our Spade anchor usually does it held us firmly in place for the night.

February 19 2008
Location: Escudo de Veraguas to Colon, Panama
Nautical Miles Traveled: 105

At 10am we raised anchor which started out really well but ended up taking a lot of effort to get the anchor out of the sand. It was so well dug in that we had to use the boat to power over the anchor and pull it out backwards. Nice to know it was dug in so well with a lee shore so close behind us.

We took out on the south side of Escudo de Veraguas where the water was a bit calmer from the large swells coming from the North. But once out from behind the island we found ourselves in 6 to 9 foot swells just off the port bow. While the distance between the swells were not too close it was still a very uncomfortable ride. Swells from the NE and winds from the West can and did make for some very choppy waters. And occasionally we would climb to the top of 10 to 12 foot swell, sit for a second looking out over the ocean then quickly slide back into the trough waiting for the next climb. David and I got into our watch standing routing where we took three hour shifts for this 24 hour trip. It was too rough to really cook anything so David opened a couple cans of ravioli, other snacks through the day included hard boiled eggs, sandwiches, snickers bars and crackers. Ashley did okay on this trip staying curled up in a ball in the aft cabin almost the entire trip.

With the wind so close on the nose we decided to motor sail with the staysail and jib. This allowed us to take advantage of the one knot current in our favor. We were making such good speed that we actually had to shorten sail to slow the boat down so as not to arrive in Colon before sunrise. There would be too much commercial traffic around this port of entry so daylight would be critical to ensure a safe entry.

At 3 am I crawled out into the cockpit to relieve David and start my watch. Shortly after David went down below to get some rest I heard the engine slow in rpm on it’s own, also deciding it needed a rest as it quietly died. I immediately woke up David, this was not something I could try to fix on my own. Here we are sailing just off the wind which at this course would put us on land about three miles from the breakwater entrance at Colon. We were using the engine to point us a little high to get us right at the breakwater, that wasn’t happening now.

After checking the fuel filters and confirming that they were good we decided to tack and sail away from shore heading North. This would give us more time to find out why our engine stopped running. After checking this and that I decided to add diesel from the two six gallon jerry cans that were on deck. This was my last option as everything else checked out okay but I was sure we couldn’t be out of diesel, my calculations showed we had left with enough in our tank for at least 250 miles and we were only going 175. But after adding 12 gallons of diesel I hit the start button, and wouldn’t you know it, our little engine purred like nothing was wrong.

After running the engine for a half our to make sure it wouldn’t quit again we changed course and continued on towards Colon. I was perplexed as to why we would have run out fuel when I double checked my calculations and the only thing I can think of is that with the boat rocking and pitching so much that the last bit of diesel was sloshing around in the bottom of the tank so much that the pick up tube couldn’t pick up diesel, only air.

Fortunately the 12 gallons lasted the rest of the trip and we approached the large breakwater at Colon. There was about 40 plus container ships anchored outside the breakwater and we carefully made our way around them. It was quite intimidating to see such large vessels, some of which were moving to the narrow entrance of the breakwater ahead of us. When we were one mile out from the break water I contacted Cristobal Signal on our VHF radio of our position and requested entry into Colon with passage to the Flats (the anchorage for pleasure boats). Cristobal Signal is like air traffic control, monitoring and controlling all traffic in and out of Colon and the Panama Canal. We were given clearance to proceed through the breakwater and on to the Flats. Just was we lined up to enter the breakwater I noticed a huge 600’ ship behind us also lining up to enter. He was doing three knots and was one mile behind us. I contacted Cristobal Signal again to confirm we would not conflict with any traffic while entering through the breakwater, specifically with the big ship behind us. Traffic control told us to proceed and that we would be fine as long as we could speed things up. So opening the throttle and motoring at 5 knots we entered the calm waters of Colon. What a difference that breakwater can make, nice flat waters and only a few more miles to go.

Once to the Flats we motored to the back of this designated anchorage and set our hook in a soft mud bottom in 30 feet of water. But it didn’t hold as we slow started to drag. So I motored forward taking the strain out of our chain while David brought in our 150 feet of chain hand over hand. It didn’t help that the wind was blowing 15 to 20 knots making it difficult for me to keep the bow into the wind to make this an easy job for David. Finally all the chain was in and the anchor was up. We repositioned ourselves and dropped anchor again. And still we couldn’t get the anchor to set. Usually this is never a problem for us, maybe this is why no other boat was anchored here. So after another 45 minutes we had the chain and anchor up again. Now we decided to find a different place to anchor and fortunately this time the anchor held.

After we got settled at anchor and all the equipment stowed and turned off I got together with Sandy and Cheri from Namaste and we went to the Panama Canal Yacht Club by dingy and then on to the Port Captain’s office where we officially cleared in.

The rest of the day was spent napping and resting. David and I agree that this passage from Bocas del Toro to Colon was probably our second roughest passage ever. I hope it can only get better from here!