Our Passage

We anchored outside Shelter Bay the night before as our uplift time for the pilot was 0400. The Panama Canal control centre gave all the boats an update at 2100 the day before and our uplift was changed to 0430.

0330 we were up and awake, still anchored but we could see the activity of two boats, one a yacht and one a large launch both close to us and both motoring. The canal advisor arrived on time at 0430 and told us to up anchor immediately and head towards the tanker that we could see already in the channel and motoring towards the locks. We asked about following the yacht in front which had picked up his pilot first but he said no just pass him and go ahead.

As we were motoring at 8kts towards the tanker, and passing the other yacht we discovered that the motor boat had decided not to come because he wanted to be in the lock by himself and not rafted to other yachts which would cost him another whole fee. We also discovered that we would be the lead boat of the two yachts as we were bigger. I had asked the advisor if it was because he was older/ more experienced but he said no it was the advisor on the biggest boat that was the leader. Our advisor Edwin was great, calm, knowledgeable, chatty, and a really nice guy.

Approaching the Locks at 0430

Locks Going Up

Below is a collection of photos to give you an idea of the Gatun Lake environment and traffic. A Park surrounds the Lake and you can only go on the lake by boat for the day if you want to look around. When you are crossing the canal there is no time to stop. We were hoping for an overnight trip to just take it all in but no such luck. There is constant work going on at the Pacific end of the lake and the big cut through which is impressive. But there is a lot of old building materials, drilling parts, and general construction rubbish just dumped on the sides of the southern end of the lake.

Line handlers on the yachts must pay attention to keep the yachts in the centre of the lock the lines must be constantly taken in or eased depending on the way you are going. As we were rafted with another boat we only had to manage the lines on the Starboard side. Geordie and Craig assisted by Graeme managed this easily while Barb drove us through under instruction from Edwin our advisor. Hew was in charge of catering, we had been informed it was very important to feed our advisor. He did appreciate a large macaroni cheese for lunch along with afgans and slices of banana cake along the way.

The boat tied alongside was a bit of a problem from struggling to come alongside, even when we were stationary, to wanting to drive and unhelpfully turning their wheel against the direction Barb and our advisor were trying to go! We were very glad to cast off from them when we cleared the final loch into the Pacific.

Going up in the locks to Lake Gatun the small boats follow the big boats, at the other end going down the small boats go first. The gates of the locks can be taken off for maintenance and they float.

Gatun Lake

Some of the locks recycle water but not all so you need to wait for the ship going down when you are going up as the water passes from one side to the other.

Going Down to the Pacific

Canal cameras monitor all the locks and you can bring the pictures up on the internet. -Eleuthera far left at the front of the lock, yacht beside us, and tug behind. The tanker was still coming into the lock.

In the Pacific

More than 12 hours after we had started we dropped the Canal Advisor off and Anchored at Isla Flamenco for the night.

The trip through the canal is awe-inspiring and an amazing experience that takes some time to assimilate. The work in the construction and continued running and maintenance of the whole area and the great bridges are truly awe-inspiring.

This blog has had photos contributed by all the crew. We hope you enjoy the read.

Next Blog: https://kiwiflyingfish.com/2024/05/panama-to-galapagos-passage/

San Andrés is a coral island, long and flat, full of tourists and nightlife, 30 flights a day, and a harbour facing east. There is no natural fresh water on the island, it is either roof collection or from the desalination plant.

Providencia is a volcanic island tall and lush, with water, a very large coral reef, few people, very few tourists, one ferry and one flight a day, and a harbour facing west.

San Andrés

Officials and Agents

When we first arrived we called port control and they welcomed us in. Then the navy turned up to inspect the yacht as we were anchoring. They were lovely young guys from the mainland of Coñombia and they had coffee and biscuits with us and stamped the passports and inspected the yacht. This was a great welcome.

Then we had to meet the agent ashore at the marina. He was recommended by Panama Posse and so we thought all should be well. I took all the papers in and met him on the dock. The immigration lady came to collect the passports, disappeared, and came back 20 min later. The port authority was there and I signed the paper and he gave it to the agent. The agent asked me for the tax money $ 35 USD each, plus his fee. I paid and he said he was just off to the bank to get the forms and would be back. That was the last we saw of him.

the agent had also organised to get the laundry done. I waited on the dock for two hours and no one turned up. I gave up at 5 pm and went back to the yacht. Meanwhile, I met Sylvie and Eduardo a lovely couple on a catamaran “Second Wind”. They told me another yacht in the bay had had problems with our agent.

The next day I went and had a chat with Oscar and Anya, who were on a cat called “Meow”. They were going in to see their agent so I asked if I could tag along and ask him some questions. Their agent Mr. Rene said he could help me with information but since I had already used the other agent I had to get the papers from him.

There were many WhatsApp messages and calls most of which the Agent did not answer. The night before we left I finally got the Zarpe so I could check out at 1730 via email. No sign of the receipts or tax card which I needed for the next stop in Providencia to prove that I had paid the tax.

After all the bad weather and anchor problems we decided to go anyway. We got Mr. Rene to give us the name of an agent in Providencia.

We called the harbour master and gave the Zarpe number and he responded with “happy journey”.

The day before we left we asked Mr. Rene if he could recommend a driver to take us on a tour around the island. He did so and it was his brother.

San Andrés Harbour

We spent several days anchored in the harbour 20kts gusting just under 40kts. The harbour is full of all sorts of boats and they are often rafted up together all on the same mooring. It also has a couple of wrecks and one schooner attached to the bottom on a sand bar. Many of the boats were not in very good shape.

The local boats are out day and night even in 35 knots of wind. the sea is fairly calm as the harbour sits inside the coral reef.

Our first anchoring was in sand and good holding but after going in for diesel and being held up, then trying to anchor in rain at dusk we missed the sand patch. The rest of the bottom is sea grass and in only 2 m of water and high winds, we were lifting the chain off the bottom.

We dragged later in the night as a squall went through at 38kts, as did the yacht behind us. They ended up badly scratched on the waterline by an old wreck.

Trying to re-anchor we popped the capstan circuit breaker when it jammed. Driving around in the dark in a storm, with boats all around, trying to stay head to wind, and an anchor chain jammed is not my idea of fun. Anyway finally got it fixed and had another go and held for the rest of the night.

The next day we put a lot more chain out and we were hoping to leave first thing the following morning. The anchor held all day and all night until about 5 am when the anchor alarm went off again. This time we just sat on the motors until daybreak and then departed with great relief to be away to Providencia.

San Andrés island tour

We decided to take a day off the boat for a trip around the island. Unfortunately, it was one of several wet days. But if you don’t take the chance you don’t know what you might miss.

We drove through town in a taxi and discovered it was a public transport-only day in town. The place is usually full of scooters, a few cars and trucks. Every Friday for half a day there are no vehicles so it is really easy to walk all around. None even parked on the sidewalks.

Just past the town centre is the airport with all the fences painted or holding panels by various artists.

There is a whole section on recycling made from recycled plastic bottle tops and pieces of bottles. The work was a great acknowledgement of the opportunity to recycle waste.

Firstly there were the sea creatures – fish, shellfish, crustaceans and octopus.

Then there were the sea birds.

The display ends at the main beach which has a wide walkway along the edge of town and ends in a tiny harbour for the local fishing boats.

Museum

The next stop was the museum which was very well done and we had an excellent guide. Entry was 10,000 pesos about $ 2 USD and you could tip the guide at the end.

The area had an old traditional wooden house from the colonial era with balconies upstairs and down and a detached kitchen and separate toilet block. The inside had old photos and period memorabilia.

There were also paintings on all the walls to tell a story such as the plantations, the music and instruments and the pirates. ( every pirate painting or statue bore a remarkable resemblance to Captain Jack Sparrow!)

When the British owned the island Capt Harry Morgan was in charge but he was basically just a pirate. He apparently had 48 wives and 150 children and died at age 50 of syphilis. Meanwhile, he was in San Andres and Providencia for 4-5 years and then became Governor of Jamacia. Many of the original island families had English names and spoke English and they still do. Spanish and Creole are also spoken.

At the end of the visit you had to go and learn the Salsa – a good laugh.

Captain Morgan’s Cave

This attraction was 20,000 pesos each and was like a wet dirty rundown discarded movie set.

The museum had a collection of old pistols, daggers and swords. Although they told us some were from Spain and some were found around the island I am not sure how many were authentic.

The grounds and paths are full of life-sized pirates of all shapes and sizes – male and female. As you can see Hew particularly liked one statue.

There are also old canons scattered around.

Captain Morgan’s cave was a large cave that was full of fresh, slightly saline water. It is apparently open to the sea somewhere underneath. This is where he hid his treasure – apparently.

More Salsa dancing lessons before you could get out..

Blow hole

The last attraction was the blow hole. We have many in New Zealand but it is not generally encouraged to stand on top of them. There is a channel which you can apparently swim through in calm water. We watched for about 40 minutes as people came and stood over the hole to get caught in the rush of air or water. You could not predict which you would get and it did not seem to make any difference depending on the angle or strength of the water against the cliff. Everyone there was happy and cheerful – just having fun. There were lots of tourist shops and many colourful restaurants and bars. The place was very busy.

Many of the buildings were partially or fully painted in pictures and various colours.

There is no natural underground water in San Andres and most of the water collection is all from the roofs of the houses into these small plastic tanks – many painted with designs as seen here.

Confiscated Buildings

Another interesting feature of the NE coast of San Andrés is the huge number of very large and expensive holiday houses. Scattered amongst all these are properties that are looking very well maintained are others that look like wrecks. The latter are properties that have been confiscated from the drug kings but where the ownership has been tied up in court to stop their sales. Until the government wins they can only just lock them up. It seems many have been in this state for several years.

Well, that was the story of San Andres. The Story of Providencia is in the next blog and also the continuing saga of officials and agents.

Forts

Shelter Bay Marina is built in the middle of what was Fort Sherman(Fuerte Sherman in spanish). It was the primary defensive base for the Caribbean sector of the Canal, and was also the US jungle warfare training center. The construction was begiun in 1912.

After the decommissioning of the US Army Coast Artillery Corps the forest area was used by the US Army Southern Jungle Operations Training Center (USARSO). In 1951 JOTC was founded and used to train Central American and US forces in jungle warfare, with an enrollment of approximately 9,000 a year. JOTC also taught a 10-day aircrew survival course, open to all branches of service, and a four-week jungle warfare engineer course. It was handed over to Panma in 1999. The fort included 23,100 acres  half of which was jungle. Further information on the Fort Sherman History:http://www.czimages.com/CZMemories/VAP/Sherman/fort_sherman_index.htm

In 2008 Fort Sherman was used in the filming of James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. 5

Many of the ruins can still be seen walking along the various paths from the marina but they are becoming heavily overgrown. There is still a small runway used by light planes and helicopters and the Panamanian border control forces still use some parts of the seaward end of the base

The jungle is taking over the concrete structures as can be seen in the photo below. This tree is growing directly on top of the concrete with the roots branching our across the structure.

To get an overall impression of the area here is a short video that James obtained using his drone. https://youtu.be/lIQTSWCReBU

Art

Inside various parts of the ruins are pieces or art work.

Flora

The trees in the jungle around Shelter Bay are huge as are the palms – about twice as tall as we have seen before. All have very straight trunks and a very high canopy. There is little undergrowth.

Fauna

Animals

There are hundreds of birds and animals in the jungle around Panama and if you would like to read further about them there is a good guide online https://www.inaturalist.org/guides/10921

Here are only a few that we managed to catch on camera. The monkeys fly through the tops and you can hear them crashing around when they are moving. They are fascinating to sit and watch and try and figure out what they are up gto.

On the track close to the rubbish bins in the marina, we found a whole family of Coati digging on the track to find insects.

Birds

There are so many birds but many were hard to get a photo of so here are only a few. I hve not yet managed to get a good photo of a Toucan though I have seen several. They are just too high up in the trees. More information is available at https://www.inaturalist.org/guides/10890

The hawks spend hours each day soaring over the marina and they are marvelloous to watch with their pinions spread so wide. It was the first one I had seen actually in the bush stopped on a branch.

The little swallows are also great to watch as long as they do not decide to nest in the boom or covers. They also love to fly over the pool and dip down and catch a sip of water, even when you are sitting in the pool watching. Unfortunately they are so fast I have not been able to get any photos/videos of this activity.

Insects

Sometimes one forgets the insects in the jungle so I thought I should include a few of these for you. There are many butterflies on all the flowers especially on the edge of the jungle.

There are four types of termites in Panama and we found thier activities in the jungle fascinating. They were very busy termites. We traced bacck the path they had formed on the track – it looked like an animal path but was formed by the termites. They were carrying pieces of freshly cut leaves and some dried leaves. Following them back we came upon a tree with the current nest in it, we can only assume the were off to build a new one.

Yacht Maintenance Progress

For those of you who are wondering about our progress of getting out of the marina to do some cruising – it has been slow. We were looking good at the end of the first week here with only two issues left to sort out. The freezer probe is not working correctly so we are having to turn it on and off manually but we are having problems trying to get a new probe.

The new set of starboard batteries were put in the day after on friday but unfortunately one of the wires was not put back as it was originally. This caused a fire on the switch board and since then we have and a week trying to sort it out.

The wiring diagram for the yacht is the original from the date it was launched in 2004 and many other items additional, and replacement, have been added since. The result is that the wiring is a birds nest with many unlabelled wires and wires in the wrong places. We have now had to replace not only wires on the starboard side but some on the port side and we still have a few to go. The chief engineer is not enjoying being stuck in the engine room with 35 degrees and 80% humidity.

The electrical gods have not been kind to Eleuthera with a combination of old age, microwave and washing machine, lightning, Raymarine switches, freezer thermostat probe, wind generator controller, battery charger and starboard house batteries and operator error replacing some cables after a fire!! Apart from the washing machine (we bought a new microwave from NZ) we are mostly repaired having managed to find various technical support here in the marina. All outside technical people come from Panama an hours drive away and are generally very expensive – the refrigeration guy was quoted at USD 180 per hour through the boatyard!

A bonus of our delay has been the arrival of some German/Austrian friends Beate and Bernard. We met them originally in Sicily and have stayed in contact for several years. We last saw them in the Canary Islands as we were about to set sail for the Caribbean. Great to catch up and share experiences and enjoy their company again.

Hopefully we will return to cruising in the coming week.

We flew out of Auckland to Los Angeles then after 6 hours on the ground direct to Panama City. Checking in online with AirNZ was torturous, having to fill in all the same days that you have already done so again. Check-in at the airport was painless. We were very early and it was worth it. 6 bags at 23kg each and 2 lots of hand luggage each.

Since there were three of us rather than two we used the Strata lounge which was peaceful and quiet, unlike the usually full and bustling Koru lounge.

The flight on AirNZ was uneventful and arrival at LAX standard was normal with all the queues.

Transit to LAX was 6 hours and painful. The Check-in counter didn’t open until 3 hours beforehand and there is almost nowhere to sit and wait in TomBradley and the food options are atrocious. I doubt if this problem will ever be fixed as there is not enough space in that part of the terminal. There is also nowhere to leave any bags for a few hours and go for a walk.

Check-in with Copa online was easy and at the terminal simple. Surprisingly all the bags arrived at each airport and none were damaged.

The flight to Panama was surprisingly good compared to our flight on Delta on the way home. New B737 Max and excellent food. The choice was Chilli con Carne or Chicken Chow Mein.

Departure and arrival on time. Easy smooth transit through customs and immigration – what a pleasure after LAX. The immigration asks for the total number in the group and then the individual total luggage and hand luggage. We had 4 pieces each total of 16 pieces of luggage and they did not blink!! Obviously used to large family groups. As the pieces went through the scanner the only item they queried was the fibreglass batten for the sail, they thought it was a fishing rod!! But when we explained, all smiles and waved us on.

Our pick-up was there but unfortunately, at the wrong terminal – it is all one building but the plane was parked in T1 and the bags were at T2. A short conversation and all sorted.

The view from the plane at dawn into Panama was beautiful. Calm, sunny, patches of fog and mist.

We arrived at rush hour so the first 20 mins from the airport to the freeway north was slow, but we saw some more parts of Panama that we hadn’t seen.

Panama City is very compact and surrounded by jungle.

The Atlantic Bridge is 4.6km long and has a clearance below it of 75m constructed by the Chinese Communication Construction Company. Finally completed in 2019.

Marina was unchanged same smiley faces, happy to see us, and lots of boats. Those that have been here longest with no owners on board were covered in mould. All our exposed sheets were mouldy. One of the first jobs was a full washdown.

During the unpacking, we were looking through the escape hatch to see a 1.2m barracuda looking back at us – seemed totally unconcerned.

Get gear on board, power up the yacht, remove the dehumidifier, turn on the water, get fresh food, and new seals on fridges before we could turn them on. Swim.

Wash the entire outside of yacht2 scrubbing one on the hose, unpack the new microwave, unpack other non-clothing items, and put swim fins back together. Swim! Lunch, siesta, Feeling shattered.

Continue unpacking. Visit from Office to ask when we wanted the 11 items delivers – we said the next day. Continue tidying up, and sorting out error messages on the fridge. Power to the solar controller to sort.

Also along with us are two yachts with chicken coups on board!! Apparently, it was a fun project during the covid lockdown and they have stayed. One of the chickens in Theo’s coup( it has 2 ) has done 5000 miles !!

Catch up with François who tells us he is staying on yacht 4 boats along as cook for a maintenance crew that is on board. Also tells us that many yachts have been struck by lightning this year including the 75ft motor yacht that he had a job on- it is completely dead. Apparently, the technicians are thinking that the new boats with electronics are creating a magnetic field in the boats and attracting the lightning!! Another thing to check.

Tomorrow off to town in the bus to get some groceries / check out the closest town.

Next Post : https://kiwiflyingfish.com/2022/10/panama-2-fascinating-flora-fauna-and-forts/