Hi there everyone! I’m writing this onboard Azimuth about 30 miles into our journey, bought to you by the power of Starlink. Here’s our current position as of 1300 local time:
lat: 8° 8’58.26″N, lon: 79°12’45.36″W
Distance travelled: 30.4 NM
Average Speed: 5.3 Knots, Max Speed: 7.5 knots.
Right now we are just ambling along going almost dead down wind, doing about 5 knots. We are just South of the Perlas Islands off the coast of Panama. These have been our home for the last 10 days and very nice they were too. Officially we left Panama about 10 days ago, so we have been “hiding out” with our friends on Coral Moon, waiting for some wind to blow from the right direction Today was the day!
We were anchored off a very nice eco resort island for the last two days, and so last night we took the chance to have a few beers at the beach bar and a nice meal with Mark and Donna so we could talk about the upcoming passage and plan stuff together. It was a lovely evening.
Here’s some selfies of the moment we all left!
And finally a last image of land for another 4000 miles!!!!!
Last time we left you, we had just transited through the Panama Canal and dropped the hook in the Pacific Ocean for the first time. This time we will tell you a little about what we have been up to in Panama City and in the case of Ailsa, the UK!
So Ailsa flew home to see the family for a couple of weeks a few days after we arrived leaving me on the boat to sort out many things ready for crossing the Pacific.
Whilst back in the UK for two weeks, Ailsa managed to pack alot in! She and Judith (her mum) first went up to Stirling to see our middle son Caleb where he is in his final year at University studying Philosophy
Back in Nottingham again, our eldest son Ethan and his girlfriend Becky came over from Belfast in Northern Ireland to stay for almost a week.
Vinnie, our youngest also took a trip up from Bristol, where he is studying film and television production at Uni. He stayed for a long weekend and caught up with his mum.
Ailsa even had chance to have some nights out with old friends too.
Meanwhile back in Panama City. I took a trip back to Colon and helped our friends on Coral Moon, Donna and Mark as a line handler for their transit of the Panama Canal. It was a lovely day and a bit less stressful for me as just a line handler instead of the skipper. We were rafted up with a catamaran for all the lock transits. I shared in their joy of arriving in the Pacific.
It was great for me to have Donna and Mark close by on the anchorage. We had several trips out together to source parts in Panama City. One particularly memorable day was spent hunting for stainless steel tubing for solar panel installation. We found an amazingly cheap place. However, the tube came in 6m lengths, impossible to get back to the boat. We asked if we could cut it? No problem, the said and directed us to a chop saw outside where we cut the steel ourselves, sparks flying everywhere, in sandals! No health and safety here!
Yes, we now have starlink on board Azimuth. So far it is pretty amazing. Very fast and works anywhere in the world.
We also even took a couple trips just for fun. A couple of great days out in the Old Town part of the city. This included a trip to the very interesting Panama Canal history museum.
The pictures of people looking sad were those that we sent to Ailsa, to convince her we were having a really bad time without her!
Shopping trips were a plenty and Azimuth started to fill up with food and booze ready for the crossing to the Marquesas. And in the interim, I got on with the list of jobs …. which at times felt never ending! The freezer fix was particularly troublesome, took me a long time to track down the leak and fix it, and finally re-gas the damn thing!
Ailsa arrived back on 14th March, after a long exhausting journey. Still from the UK to Panama, via Amsterdam in 18 hours is not too bad. It was lovely to have her back onboard Azimuth. It had been a strange couple of weeks for me, as we haven’t really been apart since we left the UK, almost two years ago.
More shopping ensued, and the final jobs were ticked off the list. We did get chance to have one more little outing to the old town together.
Eventually our time was officially up in Panama, and we needed to check out! Three months seems to have flown by in this amazing country. It has been a revelation and totally unexpected. We just thought it was a place you travelled through the canal. No it is so much more. A diverse mixture of cultures, landscapes, wildlife and people. We highly recommend a visit.
Checking out was easy. However, so far the weather has not played ball. There is literally no wind for the first 900 miles of the trip. So we are currently “hiding out” in the Perlas Islands. about 25 miles from Panama City waiting for the right weather window. As I write this, it looks like about a week away.
So we fueled up Azimuth at the local marina, for 80p a litre! Cheap! And sailed to Las Perlas. Great sail in light winds with lots of birdlife to see on the way.
Its perhaps a good job that we did stop here in Las Perlas, because Azimuth decided to have her last stand before the Pacific. So far I have had to fix the Generator (fuel filters and control panel fuse), water maker (priming pump and high pressure gauge), projector (wiring), oh and this morning the toaster went on the blink too! We are in the process of cleaning the bottom too before we set off, its covered in weed.
Not al work though, last night we helped Mark celebrate his birthday with beers, burger and sausages on the beach!
Join us next time as we set sail to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia! There may be several smaller posts and position updates as we sail across the Pacific to the Marquesas, so watch out for those. Depends whether Starlink is good! Adios!
Last time we left you we were anchored in Portobelo. Well it feels like a lot has happened since then! As I write this, Azimuth is now anchored in the Pacific Ocean, and it feels a whole world away from the Caribbean.
So we pulled up the anchor in Portobelo and had a lovely downwind sail to Colon and the entrance to the Canal. Its only 20 miles down the coast, and the swell had died down. Ahead of us on AIS were about 200 vessels. There was a huge field of cargo ships and super tankers at anchor outside the entrance to the canal. The entrance is guarded by two huge breakwaters that form a harbour. It was a bit nerve racking entering through the entrance to this harbour. As we approached, two huge tankers were leaving the canal, so I had to time it to sneak in the entrance just after they left. We headed over to the North side of the Bay, where we dropped our anchor outside of Shelter Bay Marina. Its wasn’t the most inspiring of places. The water looked dirty, and we were surrounded by wrecked ships!
A bizarre thing had happened to me over the last two days. After our trip in to the mangroves, the next morning I woke up to find what looked like a burn mark on my right leg and my leg swollen up below the knee. It was quite painful to walk. After a couple of days it was getting worst to the point that I thought I needed to get it checked out. The next morning we took the dinghy in to the Marina, paid the extortionate dinghy fees, picked up a taxi and headed in to Colon. The marina were actually very helpful and sorted the taxi as well as arranging for them to wait for us whilst we visited the doctors. After a half hour ride which took us over the Atlantic Bridge across the canal entrance, we arrived in a pretty rough looking area of Colon an were dropped right outside the clinic. With our terrible Spanish, we negotiated the reception and paid $12 for a consultation with a doctor. After a 30 minute wait, we went in to a little back room, and a lovely woman who spoke perfect English saw us. She checked my leg and decided that it was just an allergic reaction to something, probably a plant? No idea what! Anyway, the main thing was it was not infected, so she prescribed me an antihistamine crème to help reduce the reaction. The whole process could not have been easier. Who needs medical insurance???
The taxi was still waiting outside and whisked us to a huge supermarket to start the process of provisioning for crossing the Pacific. Rey supermarket was probably the biggest we have seen since leaving the UK, and had a great selection. We filled two trolleys, one just for Ailsa’s wine! Loaded in to the taxi and he whisked us back to the marina. A crazy dinghy ride back to Azimuth piled with shopping and we could relax for the rest of the day.
The wind picked up strongly in the next day. It was rough too, with the swell coming through the entrance in the breakwaters, and waves crashing over the top of the breakwaters. We kept checking throughout the day, but the anchor looked good, and we had 60m of chain out too in only 8m of depth. As it got dark the wind picked up more, and started blowing 30knots, (force 7), with heavy rain and squalls. We watched a movie as we do most evenings, and at the end of the film we went out in to the cockpit to check on everything. The scene outside looked different? Had one of the boats that was anchored next to us left? I checked the chart plotter and couldn’t see our position? Strange? Then I zoomed out a bit on the display, and oh my god, Azimuth has dragged! And not just dragged a few metres, we had dragged 0.25 miles! Directly behind us was a huge wreck, an upturned tanker, about 100m in the pitch black. The wind was howling. My adrenaline went in to overdrive. I don’t think I have ever started the engine so fast! Ailsa immediately started to pull up the anchor and I stopped Azimuth from drifting towards the wreck. Thankfully it went smoothly, and 10 minutes later we dropped the anchor in a new position, this time putting out 80m of chain! Thankfully the chain held tight. Still I slept in the saloon that night next to the anchor alarm, whilst the wind howled and the rain lashed the boat. A close call for us, but one that we can say we survived!
Another trip in to Colon the next day had us doing more shopping and loading provisions. We are probably about 50% done at this point. Our friends on Coral Moon, Donna an Mark turned up in the marina too. Along with their guest Kev, they had agreed to be our line handlers for the canal transit. I would return the favour later in February.
The day before our transit, I got an email from our agent, and the time for arrival of the Canal Advisor who would transit the Canal with us on Azimuth was set at 0330 on 23rd February. So we got Azimuth some more diesel, and headed in to the marina and collected our lines and fenders. That was quite amusing as they completely filled the dinghy and Ailsa and I had to perch on top! Later that afternoon I picked up the “crew”, Donna, Mark and Kev and we all had a meal together and an early night. I actually slept really well, despite the pre-transit nerves. Up at 0300, the canal advisor, Hector, did show up. Now we had been told the day before by the agent that we would be going through the canal with at least one other boat, probably 2, and we would be rafted up in the lock. The first thing Hector tells me is that we would be transiting on our own. That meant that all crew would be required to handle 4 lines, 2 on each side of the boat to hold Azimuth in the centre of the lock chamber, whilst I would be at the helm. Kev, was a little unsteady on his feet, and we had all assumed that he wouldn’t have to do anything, and would just be a passenger for the trip. Unfortunately now, he would have to step up and be one of the line handlers.
We pulled up the anchor in the dark and started motoring towards the outer channel.
Leaving Anchorage at 0330
We passed under the Atlantic Bridge and then had to hold position for an hour whilst we waited for the huge tanker called Stadion, 180m long to receive their pilot and enter the first of the Gatun locks. Once they were in place, we headed in to take our position at the back of the lock behind Stadion. The locks are huge. As we approached, 4 guys were standing on the lock walls 6 metres above us with monkey lines. As we passed by, they threw the lines, port side first. The crew had to catch these lines and tie them with bowlines on to our much heavier hand lines. With both sides attached, I manoeuvred Azimuth in to the centre of the lock, about 20m behind the huge tanker. Then the 4 guys on the lock walls pulled their lines in to retrieve the hand lines and put them on huge bollards. The crew pulled these lines tight and Azimuth was held firmly in place. The huge lock door shut behind us, and almost immediately water started to enter the lock.
As Azimuth rose, the crew had to pull on the lines to take up the slack. Azimuth was buffeted a little bit by the currents, but it was not too bad. Eventually, the lock filled and the huge tanker in front of us moved slowly forward. It was held by lines attached to 4 trains that moved slowly along the lock wall. With a signal from Hector, our lines were released from the wall and the crew had to pull them in, and we moved forward too behind Stadion in to the next lock.
Following us on AIS
The whole process was repeated twice again as we moved through another 2 sets of locks. Eventually we found ourselves 25m above sea level at the exit of the third lock in Gatun Lake.
Some of our friends were watching us on webcam!
The whole process had taken 2 hours and we were greeted by glorious sunshine low in the sky across a very peaceful lake. Phew…. first part done!
It took about 5 hours to motor across the lake. There is a dredged channel that is used by all traffic and being a small little boat, we had to stay right at the edge of the channel. Its quite daunting at times as you share this channel with huge ships. For at least an hour, we were alongside a 200m container ship, about 20m on our port side. This would be crossed by ships going in the other direction and we would get thrown around by the wakes of these large boats. Also we had tugs manoeuvring around at the stern of the big ships helping them make the tight turns in the channel. 20 miles later and the lake finishes.
In the “cut”
At this point we entered the Calabra Cut. This is where the monumental amount of work took place as the engineers cut through the mountains to build the canal. The cut seems quite narrow when you are sharing it with these huge boats.
There were still 3 locks to go before we would reach the Pacific. We thought it would be a case of the reverse of what we had done coming up to the Gatun Lake. However, Hector let me know that we would be rafted up against a tourist boat called the Pacific Princess instead.
Pacific Queen, we shared the lock alongside this boat.
They would be against the lock wall, and we would be rafted to them. That turned out to be a lot easier. All I had to do was manoeuvre Azimuth alongside the Pacific Princess and tie up. All good, except the Pacific Princess had about 100 tourists all watching! Cameras and videos were all running as we approached. Put the pressure on to get the process right!
It all went smoothly. It was more tricky in the last lock as the current was very strong. This is where sea water mixes with fresh water and causes all kinds of strange behaviour. Going down, Pacific Princess and Azimuth were positioned at the front of the locks. Stadion was behind. As Stadion entered behind, it would push all the water forward too making the current strong.
It was fun being next to the tourist boat. Everyone staring at us!
It was an amazing feeling though when that last lock opened. There in front of us was the Pacific!!!! We motored out with a feeling of elation, all of us with big smiles on our faces. We all still had smiles on our faces as we motored under the Bridge of the Americas.
Entering the Pacific!
We dropped off the lines and fenders at Balboa Yacht Club, and Hector was picked up too by the Canal Pilot boat. Beers were opened and we headed up to the anchorage about 2 miles further up and dropped the hook at 1530 that afternoon. 12 hours for the transit. 42 miles to go from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Our route across Panama!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our amazing crew from Coral Moon, Donna, Mark & Kev. Awesome!!! Also, Hector our Canal Advisor, who was a lovely guy and really knew his stuff.
It feels amazing to be in a new ocean, and we can’t wait to start exploring!
Join us next time as we explore Panama City and prepare to set sail to the Marquesas Islands!
The last time we spoke, we had just arrived in the Central San Blas Islands. This time, we will tell you a bit more about this beautiful part of the world as we get ready to take the next big step in our journey … transiting the Panama Canal.
We had had most of the San Blas Islands to ourselves up to this point. Now we had arrived in the more popular central region of these incredible islands, and had to share it with a lot more cruisers. No more desert island anchorages to ourselves? Oh well, its still an amazing place to visit.
First stop was a small group of Islands called Coco Banderas. These islands are about 2.5 miles off shore from the mainland and are surrounded by a huge outer reef that protects the lagoon inside. When we arrived it was flat calm, and not much wind, however the wind picked up over the next few days and in the end it made the place pretty rough to anchor in. That had the effect of clearing out most of the other boats and eventually we had the place to ourselves. It is an idyllic place where you can jump off the back of your boat and snorkel over the coral reefs, or simply take a swim to the nearby island and float in the water off the beach.
After a couple of days, we realised we had some new visitors under the boat, several nursing sharks! That made jumping in the sea all the more “challenging” although they were not big and more frightened of us then we them? They fought over any food scraps that we chucked overboard that was entertaining.
Feeding nursing sharks in Coco Banderas
After a week or so, we decided to pull up the anchor and move to the Hollandaise Cays. These are probably the most popular for cruisers and we can see why. It didn’t feel too crowded and actually there was plenty of room to anchor. Another stunning set of islands surrounded by an even bigger reef. The wind was blowing pretty hard here, but the anchorage was flat despite the huge rollers that were hitting the outside of the reef. We took a trip to the local bar with our friends Donna and Mark on Coral Moon.
beach bar, tables in the sea!
We took the dinghy to go and explore some of the outer reef where you could walk out in very shallow sand a long way against a strong current and then float back to the dinghy. In the channel whilst in the dinghy we saw a stingray pass underneath us.
The colour of the water in the shallows of the outer reef was so inviting and a really beautiful place to swim.
After another few days we moved to Lemon Cays and met up again with Donna and Mark. This was a little more developed. We were anchored in a group of 3 islands, the main one called Banedup and all the islands had a bar!
One night, we managed to buy a couple of lobsters from some local Kuna Indians. We had fun with those as this was the first time had ever cooked these!
Unfortunately we were rapidly running out of money and food! The local vegetable boat turned up to the rescue a few days later and we stocked up lots of fresh produce. We went a bit mad, and when the bill arrived, it completely wiped us out. The guys took pity on us and actually gave us $5 back! Oh well, we thought, that’s fine, we had enough food to last for a couple more weeks until it was time to head further up the coast to real towns where they have ATM’s and shops where we could stock up again. A couple of days later another official boat turned up in the anchorage. It turned out that we needed to pay another anchoring fee for the central San Blas islands. They wanted us to pay $115! I told them in very bad Spanish that we only had $5 left! Could we pay by credit card? They told us we could do a bank transfer…. errr… ok, we said. We tried, but of course, the UK bank was having nothing to do with transferring money to a panama bank! So it was a fail. What could we do we asked? You have to leave the San Blas was the reply …. Bummer!
Donna and Mark took pity on us, and took us to the bar that evening and we got very drunk.
We both felt terrible the next day, so stayed in the anchorage and went snorkelling to a nearby island over an old wreck on the beach.
Then the wind died for the next 4 days. We were in a bit of a quandary at that point. We had said we would leave, but it was a 45 mile trip to the next place along the coast to a place called Linton Bay and that’s an 8 hour marathon motoring session in no wind. We decided to push our luck and ended up staying another 4 days until the wind picked up again! We got away with it, and got to do another 4 days of lovely snorkelling and exploring.
Eventually the wind did pick-up and we set sail towards Linton Bay. The wind was very light but the sea was totally flat too and Azimuth glided along at 5 to 6 knots. Then the wind died for an hour or two. At this point we noticed a small rip in the Genoa, so took the opportunity to do a repair whilst at sea. We motored for an hour and then the promised winds started to kick in. Great we were sailing a beam reach in still flat seas with 15 knots of wind. Perfect sailing. Then the wind stepped up a gear! Ok, so now its 20 knots, but the seas were still flat and we are doing 8 to 9 knots towards our destination until…. Another gear change! 25 knots, sea state picks up rapidly. Quickly we reefed down and for the next two hours surfed our way down the coast at times hitting 11 knots. We were relieved to finally get round the island in to Linton Bay. The relief was short lived though … the place was rammed full of boats. The only place we found we could anchor was on the edge of the pack and we had a terrible night of rolling and pitching in a large swell. Probably the worst anchorage we have had since we left Madeira.
After suffering this anchorage for a couple of days, we decided enough was enough and headed round to Portabello Bay. This was more like it! A huge bay that was very well protected. Its easy to sea how this became the main Spanish Port in Panama and where they exported all the gold from Suth America as well as traded slaves coming from Africa via the Caribbean. The local population called themselves Conga, from their African roots and they are descended from slaves who escaped from the Spanish and set up villages in the area surrounding Portabello.
The town is a simple easy going place today, but you can tell it was a closely guarded community in the past and the sheer number of cannons and 7 forts in the bay show how serious the Spanish were. That didn’t stop Francis Drake from attacking the place as well as Edward Vernon in a fierce battle. A good deal of the town was demolished by the 5000 cannon balls that Edward fired on the town in one day! However the Spanish rebuilt and the town has an interesting history.
The local bar called Casa de Vela (or house of sailors) is run by an eccentric Italian called Francisco, who is passionate about his history and we enjoyed his stories of the battles.
We took the opportunity to visit all the forts in the bay. One of the forts is built on three levels, one at the beach, one on an escarpment further up the hill and the last on top of the hill. It was a tough climb in the heat of the day, but well worth the effort. We could hear the howler monkeys in the trees all around us as we climbed through the forest. Check out the huge spiders!
On another day we took a trip with our friends Donna and Mark into the rivers and mangroves at the end of the bay which were beautiful. We even saw some monkeys in the trees at the side of the river. A very special unspoilt place.
Well the time is approaching for us to go through the Panama Canal in to the Pacific! A few days ago we left Portobello for the short sail to Colon and the entrance to the canal. We are currently anchored in the flats outside the entrance. We took a trip to Colon to start the provisioning for our trip across the Pacific. Oh and it seems that on that trip in to the mangroves, something got me good on my right leg, which is currently swollen up like a balloon! The doctor in Colon said it was nothing to worry about, and gave me some cream. Fingers crossed!
Finally, have you wondered what it is like to be anchored in a boat next to the jungle? Well watch the video below taken by our friend Donna very early in the morning. They were anchored right next to us at the time. Enjoy!
So join us next time as we transit the canal, and drop anchor in the Pacific!!
Last time we left you on Xmas day in the stunning Islas Pinos. This time we will travel a little further in to the Kuna Yana or the San Blas islands and tell you about our adventures.
We spent a couple more days in Islas Pinos and then decided to move North to a place called Bahia Masagandi. We had a lovely sail taking a long tack out from the island and a close reach took us past a real stereotypical desert island, called Iguana Island stuck out in the shallow reefs.
We had to keep one eye on the intermittent depth sounder, when it worked the depths alarmingly jumped from a safe 17m or so to patches of only 6 metres under the keel. We had to rely on the Bauhaus charts again here, because our CMAP charts were still only a crude blocky representation of the land with no depth soundings at all. Sailing in the San Blas has been wonderful so far. Force 4 winds whisk you across the boystrous seas that sparkle in the sunshine and change colour from deep menacing black through to azure blues depending on the bottom you are crossing.
Eventually we reached the headland guarding the entrance to Masargandi and headed more downwind through a narrow channel between two islands. Reefs showed themselves on either side of us with breaking white waves. We turned in to a wide open beautiful bay with mountains on one side covered in thick impenetrable rainforest and jungle.
Eventually the wind died and on came the engine for the (easy?) approach in to the Bay. I was following what looked like a 15m deep channel on the chart quite relaxed when there is a monstrous bang and Azimuth lurched a shook for a second and slowed markedly! Looking over the side, we saw the ominous light blue colour of a coral head. We had grounded! Arghh! Azimuth still had forward momentum and no sooner had the coral head shown itself than it disappeared in to a dark blue colour. Talk about a wake up call! Engine revs immediately to zero while we flapped about looking overboard for the sign of other coral head nasties. We wavered around, but nothing else was to be seen.
Our track to our anchorage whilst very slow was uneventful and we dropped the hook in 10metres. For the entire time, our depth sounder had failed to work! Oh well it’s a fickle beast, and I guess the next time we have Azimuth pulled out of the water, I will do something about fitting a new one.
We got on the radio and let our other two buddy boats Sirena and Coral Moon know about the position of the rock, so they would be able to take avoiding action. I got the hookah out straight away and dived the keel to survey the damage. I am glad to report that apart from the removal of the anti-foul and a foot long white stripe along the starboard side of the front of the keel, there was no other damage. A lucky escape indeed.
Having satisfied myself that Azimuth would live another day, the adrenaline subsided, the heavens opened, our friends arrived and we looked out the windows at the beauty and remoteness of Masargandi.
That afternoon, Mark and Donna on Coral moon invited us out on a dinghy expedition to explore the mangroves at the bottom of the bay. What a special place, we motored our dinghies through the warren of mangroves that closed in to narrow passages and opened out in wide open bays. Birds took off from the bushes as we disturbed them. Not a crocodile in sight though.
Exploring the mangroves in Masargandi
We had a couple of nights enjoying the peace and tranquillity of this place and stayed another night on our own after our friends had left.
New Years eve arrived and we had agreed to meet with the other cruisers at a place called Mamatipu for the celebration together. We set sail, very carefully avoiding “Azimuth Rock” which I had marked with a skull and crossbones on my chart plotter! Another exhilarating close hold whisked us along the cost to a small island covered in huts and a very pretty azure blue bay full of people in dug out canoes. Mamatipu is a very traditional Kuna Indian village, and after we arrived, all the cruisers were invited to meet the village chief and hear the “ground rules” for our visit to their island.
We also met Pablo for the first time. Pablo speaks very good English, because he had actually lived in the UK for 6 years where he was married to an English woman he had met in Panama. She had arrived on a yacht. Pablo explains that he was expelled from the village when he requested that he wanted to marry this woman. Kuna tradition expressly forbids relationships with foreigners. So he was forced to leave. In the end it didn’t work out for Pablo in the UK and he eventually returned to his home village and married a Kuna woman.
So that afternoon, Pablo took us on a tour of the village and we realised how densely populated it was for an island that is about a mile square. 400 adults and 1200 children lived in thatched huts. In the centre of the village was a huge thatched hut called the “Congresso” where it was mandatory for everyone to meet everyday. We got such a warm welcome from everyone and were surrounded by kids pointing at us and saying ‘grande’ (tall), all of us blokes were over 6 feet tall, and stood at least a head over the tallest Kuna Indian.
We were eventually directed to the chiefs hut and sat at a table outside. We shook hands with the chief and then his aide explained about the community in near perfect English, and talked about the celebrations that were happening over the next few days. He invited us to make a donation to the celebration which we all did, and the chief gave us his blessing and explained that we were free to roam the village and would be safe.
Pablo invited us to celebrate New Year with him and his wife in his compound next to the beach. He arranged for cold beer to be delivered and a fisherman supplied 10 lobsters, octopus and conch shells for a meal. We arrived that evening bearing stuff for the party. Lights were placed around the hut and tables set up. Pablo and a couple of the cruisers got a fire going using coconut husks as kindling and Pablo built a cooking frame from bits of metal salvaged from an old satellite dish!
It was a beautiful evening. A strong breeze blew across the beach and the sky was lit up by the stars. The beer was flowing freely. It took an hour or so to cook all the food and set up a long table where we all sat and had a delicious meal of lobster with side dishes that we had all bought from the boats. What a place to celebrate! I for my part had bought my guitar and songbook from the boat, and after a few more beers demands were made to get the guitar out! Ailsa and I sang our hearts out and everyone sang along, much to the amusement of Pablo and his wife. It was a lot of fun. The time flew by, we had celebrated UK new year and the Dutch new year already earlier that evening and now we celebrated Kuna New year at midnight.
Pablo announced it was time for us to go in to the village and see everyone. He told me to bring my guitar too. What a crazy experience was to follow. We were all pretty drunk, and I have never felt so welcome. Everyone in the village was out partying from the babies up to the village elders as we wound our way through the narrow streets with shouts from and to everyone of “Feliz Ano”! Pablo stopped at a hut where a bunch of elder guys were sat. He pulled up a chair for me and said play us a song! So I got the guitar out. A huge crowd appeared as we started “Jackson” by Johnny Cash. It was definitely not my best rendition but none the less a huge cheer went up a the end and demands were made for another song. We complied with a number by 4 non blondes with the cruisers singing along. Hand on heart I claim this as the strangest gig I have ever played! I think I shook everyone’s hand to shouts of Feliz Ano. It took at least an hour to go round the whole village, and it will be an experience I wont forget for a long time.
We got back to the boat at 2am. That’s incredibly late for us! Cruisers bedtime is normally around 9pm! Ailsa had a small incident getting back to the boat, she did what we affectionately call a ‘Jane’ one foot on the beach and one foot in a moving dinghy resulted in an almost complete fully clothed immersion in the sea. At least its warm here!
The next day was a very slow one. Much moping around. Been a while since we had a hangover. Our Dutch friends on Sirena arrived that evening with a huge bowl of Lobster Bisque that Linda had made from all the lobster shells that was delicious. Thanks Linda!
A day to recover and we were off again working our way further up the coast towards the Colon. It was another exhilarating sail, weaving through tight passages between small islands and reefs and past more Kuna villages. We arrived at Golondrina Bay, so called because in the guide book, it claimed the bay was full of Golondrina birds a local type of smallish heron. It was a nice anchorage with a very narrow entrance, and we took the dinghy out to explore. The bay was lined with mangroves, and we did see a few of the birds.
We decided to move on again the next day and headed through another narrow passage between reefs out in to the open ocean. A fantastic sail whisked us up the coast through more reefs until we arrived at a magical desert island anchorage at the isle of Aridup.
Aridup was surrounded by a boisterous reef and other satellite islands. The anchorage was roly, but we decided to give it a go, just because it was so spectacular. That afternoon we headed in towards the small strip of beach near the anchorage in the dinghy. We quickly had to do a u-turn as it shallowed up to a wall of reef. It seemed impenetrable, so we motored in the deeper water offshore and eventually made our way in to another bay and rowed the last section to a beautiful unspoilt beach.
The pelicans were swooping across the bay and diving in to catch fish. The sea was lightly lapping the shore and the breeze was blowing through the coconut palms. Truly a magical place.
We got a visit from some guys in a canoe and they sold us a fish for tea. Another guy sold us some coconuts. This really is an amazing place to visit by boat.
The next day I dusted off the snorkelling gear and headed out over the reef for some of the best snorkelling I have seen since leaving the UK.
It was still roly though! Our friends on Coral Moon, Donna and Mark had moved to another place very close to us called Snug Habour, so after two nights of rolling outside Aridup, we pulled up the hook and headed the 2.5 miles to Snug Harbour and a meetup.
Another amazing anchorage awaited. This one a huge flat lagoon surrounded by several small islands and reefs. Apparently this harbour had been used by boats for hundreds of years trading for coconuts. We ended up spending 4 nights here, just relaxing, and enjoying a few drinks with our neighbours on Coral Moon.
More fish was had this time traded for beer! A boat load of fisherman turned up who looked like they had already had one beer to many, but they were happy to trade 3 beers for a couple of delicious red snapper. A bargain in our opinion!
We moved on again a few days later. The wind had been quite strong for a couple of days and the sea outside the reef was rough but then the wind dropped and the sea state settled a bit. We set off and after an attempt to sail in no wind, eventually turned on the engine for a 15 mile passage to Farewell Island. We dropped the hook just off a desert island with a long sandy spit off one end. We took the dinghy into shore to go and investigate.
Another amazing place all to ourselves. We were able to walk out several hundred metres along the spit and still the water was only up to my waist. A really spectacular place.
After one night on our own at Farewell Island, we moved on again to a small group of Islands called Sabudopored. Now we had arrived at the edge of the central San Blas islands where all the cruisers hang out. It feels strange to be sharing an anchorage with lots of other boats. At least there is loads of room. Mark and Donna on Coral Moon are anchored next to us, and we have been taking dinghy rides out to the islands around us. The other day we had a picnic together on the beach! This place truly is paradise!
Join us next time as we explore some more of the San Blas Islands and work our way towards Colon. We will going through the Panama Canal on the 23rd February!
Well, I was pretty certain of our plans for 2024, but they did all hinge on one crucial factor. To enter the USA by boat, you have to have a B2 Visa. Normally anyone from the UK entering the USA does so by air, and in that scenario, you apply online for an ESTA or visa waiver. We kind of knew we had to sort out the USA visa, and we had planned to apply and get it sorted in Panama. Well imagine our surprise when we went through the long and drawn out process to find that the wait for the required in person interview at the Panama Embassy was 350 days! Yes, a whole year! Damn. We have to be out of Panama by March 21st. No way that we can wait for that kind of time. It turns out that the waiting time in other countries of Central America and South America are even worse. 800 days in Mexico!
So, the upshot of this calamity is that it is not going to be possible for us to travel to Hawaii or Alaska this year. Once we had got over the disappointment and shock, we decided on an alternative strategy. Instead of heading North, we now plan to head South instead…. We hope to get a B2 Visa for America somewhere on route, and then we can get to America in 2025. Fingers and toes are crossed.
Here’s the plan as it stands. Subject to change!
Jan / Feb 2024 Cruising the San Blas Islands
Feb 23rd 2024 Transit the Panama Canal!
March At anchor in Panama City
March 21st Sail to French Polynesia (3500 miles)
May 2024 Arrive Marquese Islands
May – Oct 2024 Explore French Polynesia & Cook Islands in South Pacific
Nov 2024 Sail to New Zealand
It’s a rough plan again, but it gives you an idea, and of course if anyone wants to come and join us anywhere on this route, let us know!
Last time we left you we were still in Cartagena in Colombia. It was time to pull up the anchor and set sail for Panama. We visited our local supermarket to stock up on supplies. As far as we had gathered, the San Blas islands are very remote and there are very few shops or places to get anything. Similarly we need some US dollars to get us from Cartagena to the next to the next potential ATM in Panama which could be at least a month or 6 weeks away. THe only way to get this money was to take the cash out of the ATM in Colombian pesos and then go to one of the myriad of small money exchange places in the old town and ‘do a deal’. So we were a bit nervous carrying 3500,000 pesos all in 50,000 pesos notes, a huge stack! All the money exchange places have glass windows pretty much straight on to the street, so agreed a price (which was actually reasonable) in exchange for US dollars and then stuff all those notes through the hole at the glass window. A few minutes later, the guy had finished counting out the $730 dollars and pushed that back through the window where I tried to stuff it in to my rucksack as fast as possible and disappear in to the streets without being observed! Thankfully we got away with it.
Our friendly marine agent Jose Bonillo organised our checkout for the next day, got our passports stamped and produced our Zarpe, the document you need to check the boat in to the next port. Our next port was to be Puerto Obaldia right on the border of Panama and Colombia. This port we had heard was one of the easiest places to check in to Panama and it also had the advantage that we would be able to sail North up the Panama coast and see all of the San Blas islands, hopefully on a nice beam reach.
Documents in hand, we waved goodbye to Cartagena, pulled up the hook and set off. The growth on our chain was something to behold!
We decided to stop again in the Rosario islands and wait for a weather window to get south. Thankfully the Colombian customs don’t seem to mind yachts stopping for a few days at the islands on the way South. We had a fantastic sail to Rosario and dropped the hook in the same place we had been before.
Sailing South to Rosario Islands
It took me three days to de-barnacle poor Azimuth’s bottom! Incredible amount of growth including huge mats of mussels languishing on the keel!
We were in the Rosarios for a week in the end, as the wind disappeared and then turned North so that it was coming from where we wanted to go. Eventually the wind gods aligned and the weather looked perfect for a 24 hour sail south.
Off we set early at sunrise and picked our way through the reefs on what looked like a very promising morning.
Leaving Rosario at Sunrise
The wind sort of died about 20 miles south and there was an annoying swell on the beam which made Azimuth loll around in a bad temper, bashing the sails and slowly making progress at 3 knots. As the afternoon heat built up, so did the wind and soon we found ourselves on a wonderful beam reach doing nearer 7 knots. This was more like it, although that swell was still there. We have often found that the wind picks up in the Caribbean after sunset and that’s what happened again. Steadily the wind built up, and up, and up! The Radar showed a whole line of squalls in our vicinity on a collision course with Azimuth. By this time we are doing 9 to 10 knots, but given our mainsail ripping experience on the passage between Trinidad and Curacao, we were both nervous about going anywhere near a squall especially as the wind was already force 6 at this point. So we furled away the Genoa and our speed dropped to about 6 knots on just a reefed main. We managed somehow to shoehorn ourselves through the line of squalls. The sea was pretty angry though and we took a few waves over the deck and rolled around. We both felt tired and a little sea sick and there was not much chance of getting any sleep. At first light, things always look better, but then the radar showed a big squall that we couldn’t avoid, off our starboard bow. It was an angry looking sky in the dim light and sure enough the rain started to pour and the wind to howl. The sea turned white around us as the tops of the waves blew off. Azimuth didn’t seem to care. Still with just the mainsail, I turned a little more downwind and enjoyed surfing waves at 10 knots for 20 minutes!
We approached Puerto Obaldia with some trepidation. The reports say that the anchorage is very roly at the best of times and we could see huge rollers heading in to the bay. Another yacht entered in front of us and made its way in. It turns out our CMAP charts are totally useless in this area, and so when I saw an uncharted rock off the headland of the bay pretty much where I had my way-point, I decided, no way! We made a sharp turn to port and headed back over the border to Colombia battling along the coast in force 6. We were both very happy to sea the little fishing village of Sapzurro in a perfectly protected bay just round the corner. Dropping the anchor felt a great relief!
After a great nights sleep, the fatigue of the last 24 hours washed away, the world felt good again! The wind had died to nothing, the sun was out with the occasional rain shower and the forecast looked good. Time to have another try at Puerto Obaldia. Up came the hook and we motored off round the stunning headland, to be hit by more rain! It is the tropics I guess. Arriving at Puerto Obaldia we didn’t know what to make of it?
Puerto Obaldia
The town was more like a little village of ramshackle houses and the port was a couple of jetty’s sticking out. However, the swell was still huge entering the bay, making the anchorage very undesirable. We dropped the hook in 10 metres and put out 60 metres of chain to make sure. Azimuth swung in the swell and dropping the dinghy and getting in it was a very tricky operation. Azimuth was bouncing up and down and slamming her back in to the waves right next to the dinghy. We slowly made our way to one of the docks and some really nice military guys helped us moor up and climb on to the rough concrete. There wasn’t much to the town really and it was swamped with water rushing off the rain soaked hills. We found a shop where we could get photocopies done of our paperwork and passports and then headed to immigration. All very easy and efficient. Then we were directed to the Port Capitan’s Office to get the boat checked in. A huge pile of paperwork was handled with a huge smile. One piece had at least 10 copies all of which had to be stamped in duplicate. He was a lovely chap and clearly happy in his work. Liberated of 220 dollars we were sent on our way. A quick visit to a ramshackle supermarket and we braved the boat trip back to Azimuth and negotiated the bucking back deck.
Feeling pretty pleased with ourselves then, up goes the Panama courtesy flag and off we set on the San Blas adventure. Just to help the sun came out and lit up the coast. It’s a stunningly beautiful place. Not what I imagined at all. The terrain in mountainous, covered in thick lush topical rainforest, shrouded in mist.
Leaving Puerto Obaldia
The sea is striped in deep blues and light turquoise around the reefs. Our first stop was to be the magnificent Puerto Escoses.
Sailing in to Puerto EscosesHuts on Stilts
A huge bay surrounded on all sides by impenetrable jungle with some wood huts on stilts built by the local Kuna indians. In 1699 the Scottish arrived at this bay and set up a village and a fort at the entrance which they called Fort Andrews. It was not to be a successful mission to set up a new outpost and at least 2000 of the 3000 Scots were to die from hunger and disease. An interesting story to read about if you have chance and a catastrophe that would eventually lead to the formation of the United Kingdom.
For us though, this place was heaven! It felt so remote and we had the whole place to ourselves.
Soon after dropping the hook, we were visited by our first Kuna Indian. He came paddling his dugout canoe, singing to himself in the rain. Pulled up to Azimuth and we managed to actually have a brief conversation. The charge was $10 to stay for up to a month. Also he asked if we would charge up his mobile phones?! Of course we said. He said he would pick them up later and off he went.
True to his word he turned up later that evening and collected the phones and in exchange presented us with two freshly picked coconuts still in their husks! Good deal I say!
I had some fun trying to get in to those the next day. They were most succulent coconuts I have ever had. Delicious. I hope for many more.
The nest day another boat turned up. It was a British boat called Coral Moon and on-board were Donna and Mark. A really lovely couple, and we have so far been travelling together ever since.
By now it was getting pretty close to Christmas, and whilst Puerto Escoses was such a tempting place to stay, there was very little phone signal, and we both wanted to be able to talk to family on Christmas day so we decided to head a little further North where there are a couple of Kuna Villages, one of them with a radio mast.
I mentioned that the CMAP charts were useless. Thankfully we have a copy of the excellent cruisers guide to Panama by Bauhaus. Some clever sailor has also converted to the charts in this book in to a format for OpenCPN. These charts are very detailed and so far have been (fairly) reliable. The next villages North of us were tucked in between a chain of islands creating an inside passage of very protected water. Leaving Scotland bay the sea was still quite boisterous but as we came in to protection of the island group the sea flattened to glassy flat and we sailed our way through the narrow channel in a wide open vista.
Leaving Puerto Escoses
Our first look at a Kuna village, they are incredible. Taking up all of a small islands space and virtually at sea level, the villages are a collection of thatched huts and some concrete houses, crammed as close together as possible and taking up all available of space.
We dropped our hook about half a mile off one of these villages.
Caledonia Anchorage
It was much busier with lots of dugouts and longboats, some with outboards running around between the two villages. Most of the them detoured to take a look at us, and everybody waved enthusiastically with huge smiles. Quite a few decided to pay us a visit too! One 10 year old boy pulled up with a boat of 4 year old kids to say hello. They appreciated the Chupa Chup lollies we had on-board. We got visited by the local nutter who we couldn’t understand a word he said. We got visited by people asking for Gasoline.
This continued all afternoon, but the best was saved until last. Just as the sun was going down and we thought we were safe for the night another long boat speeds up to us with 6 guys on it screaming hello and can they take a photo?? Of course I say. So they all jump up on deck! It appears these guys have probably had a skin full. A couple were struggling to stand up. They proceeded to drape themselves all over the boat and take photos. I tried to strike up a conversation. They wanted to know where we were from. Inglaterra I say… which the all seemed to like and started shouting Beckham, Beckham! Then I asked them if they celebrated Xmas here, and that started shouts of Feliz Navidad for the next 10 minutes and lots of laughter. They were great fun. We took lots more photos and one of me on the back with them all. Then they jumped back in their boat and headed off at great speed for the next village with promises that they would return the next day! Ailsa and I headed to make our tea, somewhat shell shocked but with a big smile on our faces too!
Guests on Azimuth!
We had one more journey to make for our final destination for Xmas. That was the island of Pinos where the Radio Tower is.
Sail to Islas Pinos
We had said we would meet the Coral Moon there too as there apparently was a little beach bar there, perfect to toast in Xmas day.
Another beautiful sail saw us arrive at Pinos Island, what a spectacular place. Very protected again, and a small village with a beach and the “bar” on stilts over the water.
Coral moon showed up that afternoon, and we took a trip to the village together and then went to the bar for sundowner beers. What a way to spend Xmas Eve!
Xmas Day arrived, and we were woken at 6:45am by our lovely children in the UK! I think it might have been punishment for being so far away! It was lovely to see all the family on WhatsApp and share with some of their day. They all went to pub for lunch. It looked like great fun to us. We wish we could have been there too.
We managed to cobble together a reasonable xmas dinner too….
During the afternoon, a couple more boats turned up, one of whom we had been anchored next too in Spanish Waters, Rolf and Andre on Rebel Rebel, and Bjorn and Linda on Sirena. We all went to the bar for Xmas afternoon / evening and had a lovely time, and the we went back to Coral Moon with Mark and Donna and properly toasted in Xmas day!
Celebrating Xmas with new friends.
That’s all for now folks. See you again soon with more tales from the San Blas.
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! How’s the hangover?
We hope you all have had a great festive season, and properly manage to celebrate the turn of another year.
We have some exciting plans for 2024. We are currently working our way North in Panama’s beautiful San Blas Islands. You can read about our experiences in my other post. Eventually we plan to get to Colon which is the town at the entrance to the Panama Canal. We then hope to transit the Canal which hopefully will be a painless experience. We are both excited at the prospect of reaching the Pacific and all the adventures that await us there. So much to explore and so many far off places that seem along way from the UK. We shall set off towards the end of March on that adventure. The first stop will be Hawaii which we hope to reach sometime in early May after a 4500-5000 mile ocean passage. It will be our longest passage to date. We will stay in Hawaii until about the middle of June when we will set sail for Alaska, arriving in early July. We then have all summer to explore Alaska and work our way South to British Columbia in Canada through the inside passage of the pacific coast. We hope to be in Vancouver or Seattle by late 2024, where we will get Azimuth hauled out and tucked up when we return to to the UK for a couple of months.
So if anyone wants to come and visit us, or even join us on an ocean passage? Here’s approximately where we will be:
Merry Xmas to one and all! Just a quick post to wish you all the best for the season. We made it to the beautiful San Blas Islands in Panama and have installed ourselves in a fantastic anchorage. Just to make you all jealous, the flat sea is a crystal turquoise blue, the wind is gently breezing through the boat and the palm trees on the shore, and the temperature is a balmy 29 degrees. Don’t think its gonna be a white Xmas here??!
We will catch up again with you all soon and tell you some more about the San Blas as well as our plans for 2024 in the Pacific! Maybe we can tempt a few of you to come and join us somewhere?
