Cruising is a study in Contrasts

Actually our life is split into two very different lifestyles; home in the US with our family, friends and now our new community of Shrewsbury, Vermont and our cruising life aboard "Scott Free" with a different group of friends and community. This later existence provides a much wider scale of certain experiences - in particular recently is frantic activity/pain/fear vs boredom/pleasure/comfort. Our first two weeks back to the boat, "on the hard" at Shelter Bay Marina,
Colon, Panama we had both ends of the scale. When the boat is up on stilts in the boatyard the plumbing doesn't work - think back to chamber pots! It's the rainy season and the boat is covered with canvas so there's little light below and WOW, is it hot! Plus of course the boat is filthy. Frantic activity and pain are the dominent feelings for several days. Once in the water however the cover comes off, the breezes blow and the toilet is usable - heaven, comparatively. The manager of the marina, Bruce and his wife April, live with their children and their pet sloth (see here) on their boat "Chewbacca". They really helped us out with boat projects and in two weeks we were ready to head east. We took off in with thunder storms on all sides to motor towards the San Blas islands: the next day and twenty miles from our destination the engine stopped. There was very little wind and we were not far from the coast so immediately the pit of my stomach tightened up. There had been storms with thunder and lightning off in the distance for two days and one was
approaching. Scott started working in the engine room and I watched the wind indicator start moving up. Soon we were in 20+ knots of wind and pouring rain. Happily Scott changed a fuel filter and got the engine working but it stopped twice more. Changing fuel tanks (we have 2) seemed to help but we didn't know why. The "bad" tank had more fuel than the good one and we didn't fill up in Panama as it was cheaper in Cartageña. So now I'm also worried about running out of fuel before we reach there (Scott doesn't worry; he gets frustrated). We managed to get into Porvenir, an administrative location for the Kuna, and get our paper work done just before it closed for the day.

We are on a "schedule" unfortunately. We need to be in Trinidad by Nov. 18 and that is 1,000 miles away from Colon, Panama. We stupidly bought round trip plane tickets from there. As we go 6 miles/per hour at the best, that is a lot of traveling. And then, of course, we got a later start from the marina than hoped. Everyone thinks we are crazy as this is a notoriously difficult passage, against prevailing winds and currents (and of course along the coasts of Columbia and Venezuela).
The next day the engine stopped several more times. Now, except for the squalls, there is little to no wind right now. This makes it possible for us to make this trip - but you have to have an engine! Scott got it started each time but only for a while. We managed to get into the Coco Bandares islands (through a narrow reef entrance - I was holding my breath) and they are as close to paradise as you can get out - think Bali Hai. This is the pleasure/comfort end of the experience and it IS definitely heightened by the anxiety experienced earlier. If you enlarge the picture of me after a lovely swim you'll still see the worried look.

The next day we swam, snorkeled etc. and Scott spent time cleaning, tightening and changing oil filters. So we set to out sea the next morning early for Columbia - two full days and a night away. Twenty five miles out and three stops later we turned around and returned back to our anchorage. Fifty miles with no gain and a lot of anxiety (me) and annoyance (Scott).
The next day he spent hours going over the entire fuel/air system, found a broken hose clamp and declared the problem solved. Happily for us, not long after that a Kuna man in a dugout brought over some crabs for sale. They are huge and we bought just one as we had a lot of fresh fish on board. Scott caught two more earlier out to sea. We cooked it and picked off quite a bit of meat which I combined with some heavy cream and green onions to put over the fish. Wow! That made us forget the engine for awhile.

We were off again the next morning. This time, after more problems, I suggested we head towards the nearest mechanic. Much to Scott's frustration this was going back towards Colon. But the engine continued to quit and he aknowledged it was the best decision. We managed again to anchor near the "Swimming Pool" in the Eastern Holandes islands and he made a VHF call out for help. Several people called to talk and make suggestions. One of them really sounded promising, cleaning out the fuel hoses with compressed air from our air tank. After accomplishing this difficult task, he declared victory again. We would be running some tests tomorrow. The anxiety in the pit of my stomach continued however, although the pot luck on BBQ island that night temporarily shut it down!)


But this time it worked! It took 100 miles before I really relaxed - it didn't last long! Our first day the weather was perfect - flat seas, a gentle breeze and sunny skies. There were a lot of tall clouds way off in the distance. Well at 10PM that night we entered them - all night long we traveled through a series of squalls and the seas built and built. Think of being in a washing machine, in the dark, in the pouring rain with wind in the 20's, gusting to the 30's. One of us is glued to the radar trying to see little dots that indicate other boats out there as there's no visability outside and the other is in the cockpit hanging on for dear life.
Meanwhile we found out just how poorly we had stowed things away! Bottles, dishes etc. crashed into each other in the shelves and a lot of things hit the floor. Scott saw the computer sliding off the table and managed to slide underneath it - saved! We were however extremely lucky that none of the exciting lightning bolts came near us. Other people have not been so lucky out here - several have been hit and have every piece of hardware fried on the boat. This is not only expensive and time consuming but makes it hard to find shore!

It was a long and sleepless night for both of us and as dawn approached, the storm abated and eventually the seas started to calm down. By noon the sun came out and we could start to put the boat back together. We had several "hitchhikers" during the night - two tiny birds, one shown here, huddled below decks at times and found respite from the storm. The last despite finding a moth to eat and some fresh water to drink succombed to exhaustion and we found him lifeless on the bunkroom floor.

Our engine was fabulous thank goodness and we made very good time on the crossing. By early afternoon we realized that we could make it all the way to Cartagena. The grand entrance to the harbor, guarded by twin Colonial forts with the Columbian flag waving proudly over them, looked wonderful to us. And then to make our joy complete, our old friend John, manager of the Club Nautico marina, was able to find a berth for us (that evidently had been promised to others we heard later).


Now this is the other side of the contrast - the opposite of activity/fear/pain and it is bliss. At 5:30PM we were tied up tight to the dock, in the cockpit drinking gin & tonics, followed quickly by great leftovers and then into the flat, soft, dry (I managed to drum up the energy to change the sheets) bed in the quiet boat. We slept for 11 hours straight!

Now Shelter Bay Marina - soon Peru

We are in Shelter Bay Marina at the Atlantic end of the Panama Canal and have had a wonderful reunion with our good friends Benno and Marlene from "Diesel Duck" (that's them with me in the picture here). It's been years since we've seen them but we've always kept in touch.
Tomorrow the boat is being hauled out - up "on the hard" in cruiser language. It will be a crazy day getting the boat closed up but we hope to leave for Panama City by the end of the afternoon. We're staying there for two nights and then flying to Peru on May 1st. We'll be there, treking and sightseeing with our friends Honoree and Walt on "Will of the Wisp" and later Brenda and John on "Willow" until June 21. Then we'll head home to Boston and Vermont for the summer.

A walk on Isla Grande

Isla Grande is a popular vacation spot for Panamanians but is really quiet during the week. It was a fifteen minute dinghy ride from our anchorage at Isla Linton and we spent a half day there exploring.

There are no cars so a well beaten path leads along the waterfront in both directions from the main dock. Surfing is popular at the east end of the island.

There a charming quirky hotel named "Sister Moon" sits on the edge of the cliffs. They have built a one person non demonination chapel or meditation chamber overlooking the bay. You might be able to read the sign if you double click on the picture.

We also took a steep path up to the lighthouse on the northeast end and got a lovely view. On the way we saw superhighways of leaf eater ants. This is truely remarkable. A wide swept path leads from the current tree (their garden) to their nest and the ants march in huge numbers to and fro, carrying their large burdens. Double click on this picture to see them up close.


This area of Panama is in the Colon Province. It has been long neglected by the government. Balboa was on the ship in 1501 that cruised this coast for the first time and he later was the first European to lay eyes of the Pacific. Columbus landed here in 1502.

Sir Frncis Drake died near here in Portobello, once one of the most important ports in the Spanish empire but now a sleepy very poor town. There is a very Jamacain feel to the community with a lot of Rastafarian culture and reggae sounds always in the air.
We set sail for our last passage for awhile early on Thursday morning. It was only 28 miles and another beautiful day. The coast is very scenic and we took a brief look into Portobello. We'll stay there on the way back to the San Blas in the fall. Approaching the breakwater in Colon was very exciting. Over 50 huge tankers were anchored off shore, presumingly waiting for their canal transit.
It was the middle of the day and happily no one was moving so we had an easy entrance through the large cut in the breakwater and motored down to the Shelter Bay Marina. Our slip was easy to access and several folks helped with our lines so we were all settled in by lunchtime. We'll be hauled on Monday, hopefully.

A visit to the monkeys of Isla Linton

Our last anchorage in the San Blas was at Chichime for two nights. We checked out with the Port Captain in Porvenir and then waited there for some good traveling weather. We were buddy boating with "Nautibear" for awhile. It was a lovely morning when we pulled up the anchor and sailed down the green hilly Panama coast. Our destination was Isla Linton. This is a private island owned by Allan and Rosalind Baitel, conservationists working with Florida State University.


They run a animal rescue operation behind their home on the mainland. We had been warned by several people not to land the dinghy on the island. Several people have been bitten by the monkeys when they didn't have food with them (or maybe enough food). Scott was very anxious to see them up close and went over there several times without success.
Our last night Hans called to say he could see them, so Scott was off and enjoyed his visit very much! He offered pieces of banana to the monkeys on his paddle and they loved it.
Hans and Suzanne have kyacks too so we all paddled through a mangrove cut to the Panamarina in the next bay. Jean Paul and Sylvie Orlando, a french couple, run it and it's a wonderful place to have lunch. We had our main meal of the day here. Scott had pate, octopus, and chocolate cake and I had a Caprese Salad, steak with shallots and baba au rum. Unbelievable!!!

Heather's Birthday and yet another repair job!

Another year has rolled around and my birthday celebration was another great one. Hans and Suzanne from "Nautibear" had us over for a dinner on their beautiful Nauticat 42 in the "Swimming Pool" anchorage in the western Holandes Cays. There was fish curry, chocolate cake and champagne. Scott gave me an IPOD! That morning we did yoga on the beach for two hours with Suzanne leading us. They all sang "Happy Birthday" as well. What a terrific day.

Scott has been working for days on our water maker. It came with the boat but has never worked. We really didn't need it before now as water was always available. Here in the San Blas however this isn't true so we were hoping to fix it.
Scott is a big man and even though our boat is bigger than most, the machinery is always in small cramped locations. The water maker was no exception. I took this series of pictures to show you how difficult it could be. Unfortunately it still isn't as he needs to replace some hoses and didn't have them on board!

A visit to a Kuna village, Rio Sidra

About three and a half weeks after leaving Cartagena our water supply started to get low. We carry about 220 gallons of water and that will last us about four weeks with one quick shower a day each and careful conservation in general (wash dishes in salt water and quick rinse only in fresh for example).
The possibilities for water in the San Blas are few and far between. We talked to many cruisers and asked for current experiences on the morning SSB cruiser's net. Most boats now seem to have water makers and other's were jerry jugging water. We've done that and it's a lot of work. We're trying to avoid repeating that experience.

So we sailed over to Rio Sidra which supposedly had a dock with a hose. All the fresh water comes from the rivers on the mainland. It's piped directly from the river to the closer islands. We anchored off the island and Scott took the dinghy in to investigate. The water was deep on the dock and it was calm, so we gently edged it in and tied up. The water pressure however was not enough to bring water in the hose to our tanks. SO out come our little 5 gallon jerry jugs! We had lots of observers in this process. We were the morning's entertainment.

The Kuna People & Molas

The Kuna Indians call themselves the Tule. They inhabit around 40 islands in the San Blas island archipeligo of 400 islands and a large strip of land on the mainland. There are also Kuna further inland in the Darien but 40,000 of the estimated 62,000 live on the islands. They are small and crowded! See my next blog entry on a visit to one of them. Originally they painted geometric designs on their bodies but now these designs are sewn from several layers of bright cloth, called molas.

They cut sections from the cloth to reveal the layers below and then sew the edges almost invisably. This is sometimes known as reverse applique. The whole piece is covered in designs revealing different layers of cloth - either geometric or representational.
Almost all the women sew molas. They wear a pair of them on the front and back of their blouses and sell them whenever possible. Every day, at least once a day, one or more women will come in their dugout to sell you some molas. Some of the master mola makers are men. We bought a number of molas from two, Venancio Restrepo (above left in his boat) from Isla Maquina and Lisa Harris (above right)from Rio Sidra. Lisa is a transvestite. Homosexuality is very accepted by the Kuna and as property passes down in the female line (women propose marriage and a man moves to his wife's family's home), it is not unusual for a man to decide to become a woman.

Cruise ships have recently started to stop here in the San Blas and some women have started to make "tourist molas" - two examples of these are in the top right picture and the one just above right. They are done with regular applique and embroidery rather than the traditional reverse applique. They use simpler color combinations that they've learned will sell well.
Of course they are still lovely. Traditional colors are maroon, orange, black and blue. Examples of these are held by Lisa and Venancio. They are very bright and to most cruisers, irresistable! One commen topic is "How many have you bought? And from whom?"

We're up to 16 on this trip. We also purchased a number of them in Cartagena and had them made into bags, aprons and pot holders for gifts. A few of our new ones are really works of art. All of them are beautifully crafted and charming - and a lot of work!

Kuna Yala, The San Blas Islands, Panama

We left Isla Fuertes at 10 AM and had a great sail almost the whole way. Later that night we had to motor sail as the wind died down but that kind of peaceful eventfree night on the water is very welcome. We took turns on watch as usual and both got some sleep. Early the next morning we could see the mountains of Panama in the distance and soon the palm lined islands of the Kuna Yala (Land of the Kuna Indians), known on most maps in spanish as the San Blas.

We were nervous entering the reef but kept a good visual watch on the water and our navigation charts. Once inside the outer reef there are many small island groups. We were headed first for the Eastern Coco Bandares. It was the perfect time of day for the eyeball navigation necessary to thread our way through the coral reefs into a perfectly protected, absolutely gorgeous anchorage. Friends there on "See U Manana" gave us some helpful advice on the entrance and soon we were anchored in paradise. Several other boats were there although it couldn't be called crowded. Two of them we had met before in Cartagena, both with five month old babies! The scene on the beach nearby that afternoon was charming. That's the two babies having a bath in the water and playing with the four parents on the right (double click on the picture to see a close up of the babies).

This island group does not have any permenant Kuna residents. They come out in their ulas (wooden dugouts) to gather coconuts and sell molas or fruits, fish and vegetables. We bought a huge stem of small bananas and hung it on the back of our boat. Yes, they do all seem to ripen at once! They were green, green, green and then suddenly - they're all yellow. I made three banana breads over a week's time - plus of course, banana pancakes etc.
We did a lot of kyacking around to the islands and reefs for snorkeling. The water was crystal clear and the snorkeling very good. The coral and vegetation was particularily nice although we didn't see the amount and variety of fish we saw in Bonaire. We swam constantly and read the rest of the time. That's "Scott Free" at anchor on the right.
We've really enjoyed our two person kyack and have ventured out into rougher waters occasionally and found it very stable. Scott wants to try some surfing down the waves but we haven't found a good spot away from the coral reefs. We keep it up on the bow tied down when we're not using it and it has it's own sunbrella fabric zippered cover to protect it from the sun.
We didn't move the boat an inch for five days. It was great just sitting still for a change!