Let's try a new ocean - Panama Canal Time!

March 30, 2007 - Friday
We've been here at Balboa Yacht Club for a few days now, just downstream from the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal. We've been running around getting cleared into the country and getting the paperwork started for us to transit the canal.
Here is Elinore steering us down the main channel with a strong cross current. Mom is giving lessons.
This is what we see from our anchorage - the name seemed interesting as well. The ship traffic is fascinating.
We went up the Miraflores locks to see how they looked up close. Here is a ship locking down to Pacific sea level.
The canal company has a very nice restaurant overlooking the canal - very pleasant way to watch the ships.

We are scheduled to go through the canal on April 6th but our agent is trying to get us an earlier date if possible. We don't really want to go through on the 6th because that is Good Friday and we are concerned that by that time, things are really closing down for Semana Santa, at which time the country comes to a stop. We'd like to not have to find officials on a major religious holiday - but, we'll go through as soon as we can and take what we get. Then we'll shove off for the Yucutan Peninsula, Isla Mujeres. Elinore will be flying out on Monday because of much unfinished business/new job interviews in San Francisco. The indefinite nature of our travels does not give her an easy schedule. We will let you know what our actual transit date is so that you can watch it on the webcam if you want. www.pancanal.com is a site with 3 webcams that update every 20 seconds or so and give you a dynamic view of the ships passing through (and hopefully us).

Never disrespect the weather gods

March 25, 2007 Sunday
We left you yesterday, feeling good at having passed the dreaded Punta Mala. We weren't able to sail to the Perlas Islands as the wind shifted and put them directly upwind, so we turned for Isla Otoque. We had originally selected that destination as it was easy to get into after dark. The wind got lighter and all afternoon we enjoyed smooth seas and light winds. We must have gotten a little overconfident. At sundown, we decided to have a little celebration for Andi's birthday. We got out a bottle of Foxen Syrah that we had been hoarding for several years, a special Spanish chorizo, and other treats and laid them out on the cockpit table. After several glasses of wine, Andi got reckless enough to propose a defiant toast to Punta Mala. Within 5 minutes, the wind came up into the 20 knot range (plus) and the seas started to get lumpy. There she was in her party dress, mopping up spilled wine. The party was cut short by the need to tend to the sails. Soon the seas had assumed the classic Gulf of Panama washing machine configuration. Saeta would rise over one wave and as she came down the back side she stuffed her nose into the next wave along and then did that several more times at which point her speed was down from 5 knots to 3.5 knots. The 5 knots was already slow because we were pushing a terrible current going the other way. But 3.5 knots is seriously slow. At that rate, it was going to take us forever to get to the anchorage - and it did! It took until 11PM until we were anchored and that evening period was the worst conditions we have experienced since leaving California. Fortunately nobody got seasick - in fact, Andi and Elinore sat at the table down below playing cards for quite a while. But the seas were short and steep. Miserable, with the boat pounding and pitching. Not dangerous, just unpleasant. I don't mind getting a little beat up if I am going fast and I don't mind going slow if conditions are pleasant, but getting beat up and going slow was too much!
We found our way into the anchorage at Isla Otoque using the miracles of modern navigation. Our radar could see all the surrounding islands and the semicircle of our chosen anchorage. That exactly matched up with our electronic charts, so we drove the little red boat on the chart down the dashed red line, right into the anchorage and dropped the hook in the shelter of the island.
This morning, we awakened to a lovely anchorage in calm conditions. We decided that we would enter Balboa on Monday morning, giving us an extra day to rest up and decompress. The ladies decided that they would rather celebrate the big birthday in the fleshpots of Isla Taboga which is so close to Balboa that the anchored ships reach all the way out to the island. So we motored over to Isla Taboga, which didn't have nearly as nice fleshpots as the guide books tried to lead us to believe. However, we had a nice filet of Corvina lunch. Now we are back on the boat and the ladies are playing cards again, much to the consternation of one of them who is not showing her usual winning form.
Panama is much cooler than Costa Rica - I wouldn't have expected that since it is closer to the Equator. But the Humboldt Current that comes all the way up South America from Antarctica discharges into the Bay of Panama, bringing much cooler water. We can still swim in it - it is maybe 75 degrees, but that is a far cry from the 94 degree water of Golfito. We slept under sheets last night. I'm wearing clothes again. I think I like Panama.

Running fast and hard

March 24, 2007 - Saturday
We've been too busy to write much ever since Elinore, Andi's daughter, arrived in Golfito. We should mention the wonderful cruising community we met at Golfito. We had some fun parties and dinners. It does sorta pay off to stay in one place for a while and get to know people. It was great, in spite of the heat and humidity of Golfito.
Once Elinore was there, we set about clearing out with all the officials and then had an overnight 142 mile sail to Isla Coiba in Panama. We spent a night there and then did a 50 mile day trip to Ensenada (Bay) Naranjo. Again, we didn't hang around other than to have some great meals and to enjoy samples from the cases of duty free wine that we bought at the Panama border. The next night we did another 50 miles to arrive at Ensenada Benao, the last harbor before going around the dreaded Punta Mala. There we ate a tuna that we caught in the morning, ending our long fishing dry spell.
The weather forecasts for Punta Mala were all favorable, so at 0400 this morning we pulled up the anchor and started around. It wasn't bad at all. We were pushing a current that was slowing us down 1.5 knots or more, but at least the seas weren't their usual "washing machine" style. It was a little lumpy, but not bad.
So at the moment, we have passed Punta Mala and are on our way to the Perlas Islands. We are crossing the shipping lanes, but no ships are in sight visually or on our instruments. After a night in the Perlas, we will check into Balboa and start making arrangements for our canal transit. The word among the cruisers is that the Northbound transit can be arranged and started within a week, especially if we use an agent (which we probably will). Stay tuned. Oh yeah, don't forget to write.

Still in Golfito

March 16, 2007 - Friday
Sometimes life seems like an uphill climb. We were trying to get out of Golfito so that we could meet daughter Elinore in Panama. But we were waiting to our Ship's Document to arrive by mail. And we waited. Finally we decided that we would check the post office ourselves. It turns out that, the package being to big to fit in our marina's PO box, the clerk just threw the letter into a file drawer. And it had been there for A WEEK!
So since we have been so roundly delayed, we figured we might as well wait until Elinore gets here and then leave for Panama. But of course, Customs is closed on Monday, so we have to wait until Tuesday. That means very few stops in the islands of Panama. If the weather is good, we will have to be moving. At least, if the cruiser net is correct, the wait to get through the canal is not very long if we are going North. So we can make up some time there.
So what about Golfito. There is a very nice, if small, cruiser community here and we have enjoyed the company. We've been doing flamenco some. What is unique about Golfito is the heat and humidity. The water is around 90 degrees and so is the air. It has been raining in the afternoons for the last week, so the rainy season may be starting. We are told that, once we get around the corner into Panama, the climate will change again. It will get cooler and dryer. Oh, darn! Here are some more pix.

Here is a typical Golfito waterfront scene.
And here is a church with a creative use of one of the two staples of construction, corrugated metal.

Golfito

This is a view we see a lot - kicking back in the cockpit and reading. We have gone through so many books. In the heat of the day, we are not disposed towards physical activity.
Here is Golfito looking back towards the center of the city and the old banana piers. About 10 years ago, United Fruit pulled out of Golfito and it became a ghost town for a while. Now it is making up the slack with tourism and other ventures.
This is the little marina where we are now staying - well, we're renting a mooring and using their showers and book exchange. We stayed in a slip in the big fancy marina next door for 3 days and enjoyed electricity and fresh water washdowns for the boat. But, those marinas are corrupted by the big sportfishing boats, who seem to have no concern about the price of things.
We had only planned to be in Golfito for a few days. Well, our fuel tanks are full and we have loaded up on groceries, but we still can't leave. We are waiting for our Ship's Document to arrive in the mail - a mail famous for it's slowness. The Ship's Document is issued annually by the US Coast Guard and it is impossible to enter or leave a country without a current version. Ours has expired, so until the new one gets here, here we sit....

More Drakes pix

Here us the waterfall that was the object of all of that riding. The pictures don't do it justice. The pools in the river had small fish that looked like trout, but our guide had some different name for them.

And Cowboy Richard led the way down the hill back to the harbor, only suffering moderately after 4 hours in the saddle.

Then, this very same night we did another flamenco show. We are getting good at performing with no rehearsal and no practice. Fun.
We really liked Drakes Bay. The rainforest was amazing...and a bit humid, of course. So tonight, we are leaving for Golfito to reprovision before leaving for Panama.

Drakes Bay

At Drakes Bay, we took the dinghy up a river in the rainforest.
The next day, we took a horseback trip up to a waterfall. Here is cowboy Richard











Andi had this view of the rainforest over the top of her horse. We rode in the river at times, but the horses were surefooted.

Finally we had to park the horses and go the last little bit on foot. The blog only allows 5 pictures per story so I'll start another one.

Bahia Uvita pix

Before leaving for Drakes Bay, we stayed at Bahia Uvita, the source of the mosquitos. Here is Andi on the sand spit that only exists at low tide and Saeta anchored in the bay. As soon as we got back to the boat we found all the mosquitos described below.

The attack of the mosquitos

Mar. 3, 2007 Drakes Bay, Costa Rica
Yesterday while anchored at Bahia Uvita, we rowed ashore to walk around. When we got back to the boat, we found that the outside of the hull was covered by thousands of baby mosquitos. Some were bigger than others, but they were smaller than the ones we catch trying to feed on us at night. It's too bad we didn't think to take some pictures of all of them because I've never seen anything like it. We freaked out! We found that by splashing buckets of water on the hull, we could dislodge them. But then they just flew onto something else although we drowned some of them. Once we got the hull sort of cleaned off, we decided that we wanted to be somewhere far from mosquitos, so we pulled up the anchor and departed at once for Drakes Bay. We assumed that the wind of sailing would blow all of the little bugs away. I figure that there were 10,000 of them in the beginning.
We don't know why they chose our boat in the first place. We were anchored 300 yards offshore but maybe an offshore wind blew them out to us and our boat was the only island in sight so they picked it. We've had birds land on the boat when they got tired of flying and needed an island (but I digress).
Well, the sailing might have gotten rid of some of them, but there were several hundred still with us when we got to Drakes Bay (5 hours). We again threw water on them and swatted with a flyswatter those who got inside. Andrea was the relentless killer (Albert Schweitzer she wasn't).
By dinner time, we began to realize that truly drastic measures would be needed if we wanted any sleep and wanted to awake without needing transfusions. So we set up the table in the cockpit, made a pitcher of drinks, and set out dinner so that we could stay outside for a while. Then we closed up the boat and lit a bunch of mosquito coils. Folks in the tropics know what those are. With the boat closed up, it got smokier and smokier and finally there were no bugs buzzing around the lights. By this time, dinner and drinks were done and we opened up the boat and put Andrea's custom bug screens over all the windows. She made these before we left, not fully appreciating how valuable they would be. After airing out the boat, there was not a single bug to be found and we spent the night absolutely uneaten. Given that we started with 10,000 mosquitos (give or take a few), it is remarkable that neither of us have a single bite!
Once in a while, if we anchor too close to shore or if the wind is offshore, we get mosquitos. But it is not all that common, especially since we left Mexico which has marinas built in swamps. No-see-ums are much worse as they raise an itchy welt that can last for a week.

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In the jungle

March 1, 2007 Thursday
It turns out that we had a very successful flamenco performance while we were at Bahia Ballena. The French couple on the next boat had children in the luxury hotel business and they set us up with a show on short notice. It went surprisingly well. We totally winged it. Neither of us bothered to practice at all and so we just got up and had fun.... just the way I like it. Andrea was happy, too. I think she is awesome when she just lets herself dance without thinking about choreography and routines. And my guitar playing seems to have jumped up to a new plateau. Not bad for no practice.
Then we started moving South. We visited Isla Cedros further into the Gulf of Nicoya just to see how it was. It is the dry season in Costa Rica and things get kinda brown. Cedros was OK, but we started thinking about Panama and getting ourselves scheduled for the canal, so after a day at Cedros, we sailed to Bahia Leona on the other side of the Gulf. It was only about 15 miles and we got to sail fast the whole way across. Wonderful. Bahia Leona had a luxury hotel there which reportedly welcomed cruisers, so long as they spent some money in the restaurant or bar. Well, those were the good old days. Now, they want $20/person for a day pass - then you get to spend money in the bar. But it was a really nice hotel with lots of wildlife around. We saw some macaws that must have been 3 feet long!
This morning, we got up at 2AM and caught the ebb tide to get a boost as we left the Gulf of Nicoya. 71 miles later, we are anchored at Bahia Uvita, our first real jungle anchorage. The jungle begins just below Bahia Leona and will continue all the way through Panama. It is much greener and very lush. Unfortunately, the humidity is very high and there are some big thunder clouds forming above the peaks just in from the shore. We say lightning last night, very far away. But tonight, we might see some a lot closer. Lightning is one of the cruiser's worst nightmares, because if lightning strikes the boat, there is a very good probability that it will wipe out all the electronic devices aboard. The cost of that is staggering - one of the main reasons why I pay for insurance.
Early this morning before it was too hot, Andi cooked up some new recipe that she got from a Costa Rican book. You would be amazed at how well we eat on this trip. Yesterday she made chicken mole with a chicken we bought at a little local market. 20 minutes in a pressure cooker and it was falling off the bones. Yum. The only thing we are missing is really good wine. We've gone through our stocks and now we are having to drink what is in the stores. They have some good wines, but very pricey.
In a few days, we will be in Golfito, where we are going to stay for a while and travel inland. There are marinas there and we are looking forward to not being on the anchor for a while. We haven't been in a marina with docks since Barra de Navidad, Mexico. They are expensive here, but I'm looking forward to plugging in and running the air conditioner. We have fans everywhere, but not the same.
Don't forget to write. Pictures later when we have internet.