This morning Eric checked with Victor. No paperwork yet on us. He said he’d check again in a few hours and get in touch with us when he knew something.
We pulled out of our slip and ventured over to the edge of the fairway that leads into Bahia Limon. As promised, a big tug boat was waiting for us amongst the bushes just inside the fairway, along the peninsula that separates the marina from the bay.
We didn’t need any fuel at the moment, but Continue reading
Neither of us slept well. We were up with the first rays of light on the horizon and pulled up anchor shortly after the sun rose. Today’s ride was much better than yesterday’s. We were in a little more protected of an area and it made a huge difference. This morning, as Eric was walking into the kitchen, a wave came and threw him off balance. Somehow he managed to crunch his little toe against the wall. He heard his toe crack, and thinks it is broken. Sigh.
Eric also noticed the gauges didn’t seem to be working properly again. He went into the engine room and saw the connector was loose. He cleaned it and made sure it was firmly reconnected and all was good with the gauges again.
Well before Colon was visible, we could see some AIS targets on the edge of the radar screen that we knew were probably anchored around Colon. We could barely see the outlines of the ships up ahead. As we got closer, more and more targets appeared until the entire the screen was full of them. The ships went from distant outlines to intimidating masses anchored quite a way outside the bay. Eric has said at least 10 dozen times that he loves AIS. Thanks to AIS, we can tell which ships are anchored and which are moving, and if they are moving, what direction and speed they are moving at so we can stay out of their way. Fortunately, most of the ships here are anchored, and getting in looks to be fairly easy and straightforward. But not knowing if the ships were coming at us or not would have stressed us out to no end.
As the ships came into clear focus, we could vaguely see the outline of a huge industrial complex and a few skyscrapers on the shore. At 1100, Eric called port control on the radio and Continue reading
We really would have liked to stay in the San Blas at least two more days to take part in the special events. Today on Carti Suitupo there are festivities for the biggest holiday of the year for the Kuna people, when they won their autonomy from Panama. Mr. G had invited us back for the last day of the puberty party, which is tomorrow, where the girl is unveiled in her newfound glory, with the shaved head, ring in her nose and her body painted. But we were out of time and really needed to get to the canal. We knew from the radio net that between the anticipated festivities and the not so great weather we have been having, not a lot of boats have headed to Colon lately, which means the canal wait is probably short. It sounds like a lot of boats would all be heading out in the next two or three days, when the forecast improves and the holiday is over. We were afraid that if we arrived in the middle of the glut, we’d get caught in a long canal line.
The trip to Colon would take about 13 hours total, an awkward number. Yesterday we had gone back and forth about the best strategy. Strategy one was to Continue reading
At around 0330, we approached the east end of the San Blas archipelago. We were heading for the Canal Caobo, a channel just south of the group of small islands known as Holandes Cays. Eric slowed down to 1400 RPM. He set the radar/chart plotter so that the charts overlaid on top of the radar. He studied it carefully to make sure the land masses matched the chart exactly. He made sure the depth we matched the chart. We were relieved everything lined up. We proceeded slowly into the channel, carefully watching the depth sounder to make sure the depths continued to match the charts. This is the first time we have ever done a night entry without navigational aids, such as channel markers. Flying blind and relying on your electronics is a little scary. By a few minutes before 0600, we were as deep as we dared to go in the dark. We had hoped the sun would be rising by then, but it was still pitch black.
It was relatively calm in the channel — for the most part, at least. We did get the occasional bigger wave. It was a million times better than Continue reading
Day 3
At 0900 this morning the waves had climbed up to 6 feet. But then the wind died down to less than 10 knots apparent and the seas followed. By 1300 the seas had smoothed out quite a bit. It was still not flat calm by any means, but at least the seas were better. It was actually quite nice overall. With calmer seas, we could open the hatch downstairs for more ventilation, which helped tremendously in cooling it off and making it smell better. We tried to run the AC downstairs, figuring it would work in calmer seas, but it didn’t. That isn’t a good sign. We should have cleaned the strainer, it must be a bit clogged.
It was sunny and hot. In the mid-afternoon some clouds rolled in, which made being in the pilot house more bearable today than it was yesterday in terms of blinding sunshine. But even with the light cloud cover, by 1700 it was so bright in the pilot house from the setting sun that we could not physically stand to be in there. Eric saw a school of what looked like a 1,000 flying fish, the biggest school of them he has ever seen.
At about 1430 the wind started to Continue reading