Veggie Boat

Our weather data started showing a very good looking opportunity to travel north. It is a little sooner than we had planned to leave, but at this time of year the opportunities can be somewhat rare. For the past week or so, there have been several boats stuck in Providencia waiting to go north or south according to the circumstances of each. We remember last December, while we were in Providencia, when several boats were forced to stay there for several weeks. So with that in mind, we started working our way toward Porvenir to clear out of Panama and to stage our departure.

On the short sail from the Eastern Holandes to the Eastern Lemmon Cays, we heard on the radio that the 'Veggie Boat' was making the rounds in the Lemmon Cays. This was welcomed as great news as the 'Veggie Boat' had not been around recently and most people were now resorting to canned goods. This was to be our first (and only) 'Veggie Boat' experience. We arrived in time and after waiting patiently we got our chance. People buy a lot and he visits every boat so it takes a long time to make the rounds. The wait was worth it because the quality and selection was the best we have seen in Central America. They have obviously figured out what cruising boats want. We bought a wide selection.

On the subject of food, we do eat well on Ariel. Linda has become very expert at provisioning and planning a varied menu. This is very challenging as she needs to buy for several weeks in advance, often at stores with a much limited selection.

The Eastern Lemmons was much more crowded than we were expecting, but we found a nice spot and enjoyed a wonderful evening. The next day after a couple showers passed our area we went on to Porvenir, cleared out and got our Zarpe from the Port Captain and cleared with Immigrations. We did not stay in Porvenir as it was very rough in the anchorage. We moved on to Chichime. These cays are very far out on the bank and a good departure point. We are between a couple of cays that are lightly inhabited, each with three or four little homes. Like most cays there is no electric power and the only lights at night are from the anchored boats. We have been visited by several of the local residents wanting to sell fish or their handmade items. We weren't interested in buying anything.

This is a great location for our final nights in the San Blas.

A San Blas Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day we moved from Coco Bandero Cays to the Holandes Cays. Along the way we caught a pretty good sized fish, which was our hope, so we could have a special Thanksgiving Day meal. There are relatively few United States flagged vessels here, most seeming to be from European countries so it seemed a little different. There was no chance for turkey and all that goes with it, as getting even bare essentials here is difficult, so fish cooked on the grill was a great substitute. We are certainly thankful for all our blessings no matter where we are. The Holandes Cays are the furthest from the mainland and therefore they have the clearest water. We are anchored in thirty feet, but the bottom is quite visible. These cays are protected by a large and wide reef so while the surf is crashing nearby, it is peaceful on our side of the reef.

We are checking the weather closely now, looking for an opportunity to sail to Providencia, Colombia. Some may remember we spent most of last December in Providencia including Christmas. It is a two day, two night trip from here so we need a pretty decent window. There will be a few boats leaving once the window opens up so we will have company along the way.

Coco Bandero Cays

We are now in the Coco Bandero Cays and this so far is the most beautiful place we have been in the San Blas. We keep extending our stay here, but there is more to see so eventually we will have to let go. We can't post a picture, but if you look up 'The Panama Cruising Guide' 4th edition, by Eric Bauhaus, the cover photo (if shown on the net) is the Coco Bandero Cays. The guide, by the way is the best cruising guide we have used anywhere. We are anchored among several very small cays, each totally rimmed with sandy beaches and covered with coconut palms. We exercise by walking the perimeters of the cays.

We are anchored in a spot popular with the pelicans, so in the late afternoon we are entertained watching them dive for their supper. I have taken to rating their dives, just like the Olympic diving judges, especially if two or more dive together so I can rate the synchronized diving.

Somewhere along the way we picked up a gecko, probably during the summer at Red Frog. He is very shy so we don't see him often, but we do find his droppings. That is the one downside of geckos on-board. The other morning we found he had helped himself to our tomatoes we had left out.

Speaking of wildlife, we did see a crocodile while anchoring at Nargana, and a good sized one at that. We had been hoping for a sighting. We have also seen sea turtles, rays, dolphins and the beaches where we are now have plenty of starfish.

A part on our watermaker failed and it cannot be repaired until I can get a replacement. We now are collecting rain water to meet all of our water needs. So far there has been plenty of rain, so we are doing well in that regard.

Posted from Coco Bandero Cays

Nargana Experiences

Most of the inhabited islands of Kuna Yala, particularly to the west of our current location are traditional, meaning they live as they have for hundreds of years foregoing modern conveniences such as electricity. We have spent a few days at Nargana Yandup, here primarily because we can get internet and basic stores. We had no sooner anchored before we were approached by a cayuco. Federico introduced himself, and he is the one person we were hoping to meet in Nargana. Federico is a guide but also can take care of all of our needs ashore. We sent him off with our laundry and trash. We later found out how important Federico would be as wandering the very small island we couldn't seem to find the tiendas, as advertising is not necessary in such a small village. At the school we were told the internet was broken. A little later stopping for a couple of cokes at a small shop, we found they were surprised to hear the internet was broken and suggested it was only available in the afternoon and we probably misunderstood. Back in the afternoon I talked to a teacher who confirmed it was indeed broken. I only know this because I heard the word modem and then confirmed it could be weeks before it would be repaired. I also found out the the next island, Corazon de Jesus has internet. This island is connected to Nargana by a pedestrian bridge. I set off across the bridge not sure what I was looking for but on the bridge saw a teenager with a notebook computer and asked. He said the whole island has WiFi. Spirits lifted, I just needed to find a shady spot. I stopped at a pool hall (doesn't seem to fit the image, right?) bought a beer and logged on. One hour and two beers later all I had managed was to access our emails. It is free, but way too slow for any useful purpose. The next day we retrieved our laundry and then sent Federico off to get us some diesel fuel. Later I went and got in line at the bank to try and get some more cash. It was a long line, always outside in this part of the world as they control the number of people inside. After about an hour I got my turn at the teller to find out this branch is not capable to give me cash on my card. We are not short on cash so it is not a big deal. Later in town to try the internet again, we ran into Federico and asked him to show us the tiendas. He took us to four different ones and we bought some fruit and vegetables, but none of them were very large and they carried very little. The timing was right as the supply boat from Colon had just arrived so he took us down to the town dock where we bought five pounds of ground beef off the supply boat ( $12.50). The internet still wasn't any faster, in fact I got nothing done, so I decided to try very early in the morning. While I sat in front of the pool hall, waiting on the internet and trying to chat with the locals, Linda was out distributing small toys to the kids. She returned with the pack of them and I safeguarded my computer. I have learned that kids love to reach out and push a key or something and I didn't want anything to disturb my non existent internet session. The people here are just wonderful. We have never in all our travels met a friendlier people. While most of the people in Nargana have given up the traditional dress, there are still many women that still wear the traditional clothes with colors which are are so bright and vibrant. There is a mixture of homes on the island, probably about fifty fifty the traditional stick homes with thatched roofs and the rest poured concrete with tin roofs.

I finally got high speed internet. I went into the village square where the signal seems the strongest just after daybreak before many people were stirring. I couldn't believe the difference. I was able to get some bill paying done and setup some of our weather data emails which we will be needing. Pictures will have to wait for a better opportunity.

Posted from Coco Bandero Cays

San Blas Adventures

Each day is a new adventure. During our first full day in the San Blas, after we had settled in at Lemmons Cays along with another 7 or 8 boats, a guy came by with a bin full of molas, so we invited him aboard and spent about 1 ½ hours trying to narrow our selection down. They were of very good quality which is why we invited him aboard. We finally settled on a few molas and are happy with our purchase. A mola is actually part of a women's blouse, but have become an art form and are Panama's best know handicraft. They are made by cutting and stitching different layers of cloth. Actually it is too difficult to describe.

The next day Lisa stopped by and introduced herself. She came during a light rain so we had a good excuse not to invite her aboard. We had heard of Lisa long before arriving in the San Blas. Lisa is an infamous transvestite that does very well at promoting herself. Later in the day a family stopped by that wanted to sell lobsters. They were too small so we rejected them and hopefully all cruisers will reject undersized catch. Next the woman offered a mola, but it was poor quality, so after we said no to that they asked for candy for the child, at which point we sent them on their way.

The following day we moved to Salardup and for the first time had the anchorage to ourselves, but we also noticed a couple of huts behind a very beautiful sandy beach at the tip of the island. Late in the day a couple guys from the island paddled out in their cayuco. The native language is Kuna, with Spanish as a second language. One of the guys spoke Spanish and absolutely no English. After a long struggled conversation we realized they wanted gasoline so they could travel to one of the populated islands closer to the mainland. We agreed to give them a couple gallons in exchange for a couple coconuts. Coconuts are very important to the Kuna and a big part of their economy. We have been enjoying the best coconut we have ever had. We determined that one of these guys owned the island or at least his family does and they are running a day trip tourist stop or at least trying to. The next morning before we got underway, they passed us on their way in toward the mainland.

Also the next morning before we got underway, Lisa stopped by again. We explained we were just getting underway so we did not want to look at molas. When we arrived at our next stop, Green Island, Lisa was on a catamaran showing them molas, and by now we are old friends so of course we exchanged waves with her. Just after we got settled on the anchor a couple guys stopped by selling lobsters so we bought some. These seemed legal size, but certainly not what we would term grande which is how they referred to the ones we selected.

Arrived San Blas

We had observed while waiting behind Isla Linton for good weather to complete the last leg of our trip to the San Blas that our weather data was not matching the conditions we were seeing. We started wondering if being up against the steep hills and mountains not far off was creating some localized effects. We were rocking horribly at anchor from incoming swell so we decided to head out and see if we thought we could tolerate maybe ten hours of what looked to be very rough and confused seas. Once out we confirmed it was very rough but we decided to go on. The wind was just enough off the nose that we could get the stay sail out and that helped drive through the seas. It was what we call a washing machine ride, such as watching a cork bop around during the wash cycle of a top loading machine. Our trip took just a little over eight hours, so not bad. The boat down below needed a lot of straightening out after we arrived and we had a water mishap which was a big surprise. We were running low on water which influenced our decision to go, so we ran the watermaker for eight hours while underway, so we were really surprised to find we had an near empty water tank once we got there. Turns out that I probably hit the cold water faucet in the galley while below and being jostled around, didn't notice it, so we pumped just about all our water down the drain. We were so looking forward to those showers too. We recovered quickly by opening the deck fill to the water tank, building a small dam and began collecting rain water. By morning we had a 1/8 tank, good enough for coffee and showers.

We stayed the night off Porvenir so that we could check in with the Port Captain in the morning. After checking in we moved on a short distance to the Lemmon Cays. We have been blown away with the beauty and peacefulness of the San Blas, and we have yet to begin to really explore. We are now slowly working our way east toward Nargana. We have been without internet for two weeks now and we understand we may be able to get internet at the school in Nargana. We did hear on BBC the results of the election, but only because we made the effort, but other than that we have had no news but we are not complaining. Being disconnected is nice once in awhile.

Weather Is In Control

I went in to see the Port Captain in Portobello on Tuesday morning, with hopes to get underway immediately thereafter. While in town it began to rain, so I had to wait for a break before returning to Ariel. We put the dinghy away as soon as I got back, but then it began to rain again. Our planned destination was only about two hours away so we decided we would just leave when it stopped. At 3 pm we decided we would have to wait another day, not wanting to risk a late day or night arrival. The next morning looked good so we were on our way. We had no sooner cleared the harbor and the rain started in again and quickly became very heavy. We turned on the radar and navigated with it as visibility was very limited. The heavy rain continued unabated. We were approaching the point where we would turn in to go behind Isla Linton, our planned stop and the rain was still not letting up. We decided we would go to that point and just hold there. Amazingly at the exact moment we reached our turn in point the rain stopped completely. We went in and found a place to drop the hook. We didn't know what to expect, but certainly we were not expecting over 60 boats, but now that we have been here awhile we see it makes sense. A road runs nearby where it is easy to get a taxi or a bus into Colon for supplies. We have seen several boats making major provisioning trips. It looks like an affordable place to hang out during wet season. We had planned to leave the very next day, but the rains resumed and continued throughout the following day, dropping several inches. There are two seasons in Panama, dry and wet. The wet season runs June through November and since this is November we were forewarned. The rain finally let up the following day, with just intermittent showers and as much as we wanted to leave we were now facing strong trade winds coming from the east, exactly the direction we need to go. The weather is now beautiful so we will just hang out and wait for a change in wind direction, now forecast for early next week. There is a large fish farm operated here and a small village. We went in to check it out and found a small tienda so we picked up a couple of grocery items. Just 40 more miles and we will be in the San Blas.

Travelling To Portobello

Our trip from Bocas del Toro to Rio Chagras is indeed memorable. We arrived safely, but it is not an experience we hope to repeat. We left Red Frog anchorage in a slight drizzle, but that is to be expected in Panama. So after getting out into the open water we were able to get sails up and had a nice reach for a couple hours, before a distant squall disrupted the winds. We expected that once we got further along the winds would resume as they were, but they were no longer usable and remained that way the remainder of the trip. We had a very favorable current so we were not burning much fuel as we worked our way toward our destination. The afternoon was pleasant but very cloudy and some thunder could be heard in the distance. We had been hoping for a moon lit night but with the heavy cloud cover we started seeing that chance fading away. Neither of us are big fans of overnight passages, but it is necessary for what we do. It will take ten or more overnights to get Ariel back Key West, but we will deal with that at some future point. At about midnight the rain started and it lasted until 3 am, sometimes light and at times quite heavy. We had part of our enclosure up so we were relatively dry and amazingly there was not any strong wind with the rain. The lightening also started around the same time and it lasted until 5 am. During the night and well before the storm we saw only two ships, the closest a little more than six miles. So during the lightening, we were the only object on the sea both visually in all directions and according to radar. With a mast pointing to the sky, all we could do was pray and keep plodding along since it was out of our hands. Much of the lightening was cloud to cloud, but we did see strikes down to the water. As it was we did not have any strikes close by, and we are thankful for that. We were approaching our destination, the Rio Chagras as morning welcomed us. We entered the Rio Chagras but proceeded only far enough up the river to get beyond the effects of the incoming surf. The Rio Chagras is a beautiful tropical river surrounded by virgin rain forest. The river was dammed about six miles inland in 1910 to form Lake Gatun, which supplies water for the Panama Canal locks. The river is about 30 feet deep shore to shore and the water is clear. We anchored in the center, and we no sooner settled when we heard the familiar howler monkeys. Later the green parrots kicked up a racket. There were dozens upon dozens of them, maybe a hundred so in the trees on both shores and crossing from one side to the other usually traveling in pairs. They are beautiful to watch but the noise can be irritating after awhile.

After a comfortable night we continued on the next morning, crossing through the anchorage at the entrance to the Panama Canal, with many ships waiting their turn. We arrived in Portobello in the early afternoon, surprised at the number of cruising boats anchored. I counted about fifty. We planned to stop in Portobello as one last opportunity to provision before heading to the San Blas. Portobello was discovered by Christopher Columbus on November 2, 1502 on his fourth trip to the New World. Between 1574 and 1702 fleets of galleons carried away the riches. The fortifications from that era are still present. One of the notable buildings in town is the Customs House, originally built in 1630. It was used as a trade warehouse and for the offices of the Governor. The other impressive structure is the Church of San Felipe de Portobello, home of the Black Christ of Portobello. Captain Jacks is the place to go for cruisers and backpackers. We stopped in early in the day and met Jack. He gave us guidance on where to buy diesel and propane. The diesel was actually Captains Jack's, but dispensed by Dave at Consignment Daves on the waterfront. Jack only sells diesel in 15 gallon increments, the size of the containers he hauls it in and this was exactly the amount we could handle. His neighbor next door took our propane tank to fill and delivered it to our boat the next morning. They are filled by gravity so it can take awhile. We have checked out with the Port Captain so off we go again.

Sorry no pictures until we can get an internet connection. This update is via SSB radio.