Panama Canal

15th January 2009

09.20 N 079.54 W

We arrived in Colon to prepare for the transit fully expecting to have to wait some weeks before being allocated a slot. However, we found that there was, in fact, little waiting time and within a week we were booked to go. We had to find 4 line handlers to help us through and were delighted when ‘Happy Spirit’, who we had first met in Grenada, turned up and offered to help, in exchange for our help on their crossing. Along with Richard, from ‘Kachina’ we left Colon at about 5.30 in the evening on 23rd January. We were quite excited, and a little nervous as we set off. We transitted with 2 other yachts rafted up together, with us being on one side and the centre boat being in control. We went into the locks behind a large ship and the transit began. It is a little worrying to have an unknown skipper in charge of your boat’s safety, particularly when he and his crew are wearing little more than thongs, and there were a couple of tense moments, but all in all it went well. There are 3 locks going up, each taking us up about 30ft, to Gatun Lake where had to tie up to a buoy for the night.

In the morning we set off to motor across the lake, which took about 4 hours. There are another 3 locks going down and into the Pacific Ocean. I can hardly believe it!! A couple of days later we caught a bus back to Colon to do the transit again, as agreed, with ‘Happy Spirit’. It was a more relaxed affair for us, as the responsibility was theirs this time, and we had a lot of fun.

Our first Pacific stop was at La Playita, a couple of miles from the canal, where we needed to stock up for the long journey ahead. After arriving in a very positive frame of mind we were quite disappointed to find that there was a lot of unrest in the anchorage, with the dinghy dock owners refusing to allow dinghies to tie up. They charged $5 per day for the privilege of using the dock, but as so many people had not been paying and the dock was overrun with dinghies they decided that they didn’t want us there. This meant that we were virtual prisoners on the boat for a few days. There was no other way of going ashore apart from the marina around the headland and the weather was too rough for that to be an option. We just had to sit tight whilst the dock owners tried to find a solution to the problem. It was a bit expensive to go shopping there with the dock fees and taxi fares but we eventually got all that we needed (I hope!!) and headed off as soon as we could with Chinook wallowing a couple of inches below her normal waterline, with the weight of full tanks and several months supplies.

Las Perlas

14th February 2009

08.36 N 079.04 W

From La Playita we headed for Las Perlas Islands, a largely uninhabited and unspoilt group of islands just off the coast of Panama. They were a real treat after the hectic time in Panama and although we did a lot of hard work on the boat in preparation for ‘the longest passage on the planet!!!!’ we still enjoyed the islands. Our first stop was behind a huge rock at Isla Pacheca, which served as a colony for pelicans and frigate birds and each evening, as they all came in to roost, we were entertained by bright flashes of scarlet as the breeding male frigate birds inflated their crop (on the neck!) to attract the ladies. Very impressive! We stayed for a couple of days and it was here that we discovered the huge reduction in the sea temperature since the Caribbean. It was only 22 degrees!!! We had got used to 32 degrees! Anyway it’s too cold for me, although the dolphins who came to play in the bay didn’t seem to mind. I believe the temperature is due to the Humboldt Current, which comes up from Antarctica.

From there we sailed down to another group of small islands, the wind was so light it took us 6 hours to travel 11 miles – it felt like we were still at anchor! Anyway it was worth it as the sea was so flat and the scenery so beautiful. It was almost like being back in the UK (specially with the sea temperature) as the vegetation looked so similar from the boat and, being dry season, many of the trees had shed their leaves and some of the remaining ones were wearing autumnal colours. The ocean here, unlike the Caribbean, is tidal so we also found the shore to be riddled with rock pools and this too felt like a taste of home.

The water is teeming with life here and it was a common sight to see hundreds of birds in a feeding frenzy.
We anchored at Isla Casaya. Our friends, from Happy Spirit, turned up after a couple of days, and anchored nearby, so we spent some pleasant evenings in their company on the beach, where we built a fire and made a barbeque. One evening, as we waded back out to launch the dinghy, we noticed patterns of phosphorescence as we disturbed the surface of the water. On the way back to the boat we drove round in circles to watch the wake sparkling behind us and then I kicked my feet over the side of the dinghy to watch the explosions of light, like fireworks in the water. It’s just as well that this was so entertaining as we had forgotten to put the anchor light on and had some difficulty finding the boat in the dark!!

We had one more stop on Isle de Rey before kicking off to the Galapagos. Here we found the shore to be rich with fruit trees. Our fresh produce was getting quite low by this point so we were very happy to collect mangos, coconuts and almonds for the journey. Yummy.