March 21, 2006
Underway again
It’s hard to believe that we’ve been gone from Trinidad nearly a month now. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we will leave Curacao and the Eastern Caribbean, where we spent nearly a year. We have been waiting here for good weather to the west, which means winds of 25 knots or less and waves less than 10 feet. The stretch of water in our path is infamous for difficult conditions; friends of ours who sailed around the world said it was the worst weather on their trip. The strong easterly trades from the Atlantic collide with winds rushing down from the Andes, and an east flowing current near shore. So, it’s worth it to wait a bit.
We’ll sail around the northern tip of Colombia, then west to the San Blas Islands off Panama’s south coast before making for Colon and the Panama Canal. The San Blas are also well known among cruisers as lovely and mostly undeveloped. They are a remote, semi autonomous region in Panama, governed by the Kuna Indians who live there. Lots of lovely anchorages, snorkeling and maybe a lobster or 2... The remoteness means we’ll be out of touch for 3 weeks or so, but I should have plenty of time to write once in Colon, as the wait to transit the Canal is 3 weeks or so.
Hope you are well and spring is arriving on schedule!
David and Susanne
May 2, 2006
We spent over 3 weeks in the San Blas Islands, east of Colon and the Panama Canal. I had been planning on about 2 weeks, as spring is coming on and we want to be in the South Pacific for as much of the summer cruising season as possible. But I am very glad we extended our stay. The San Blas are the nicest place we have yet visited on our trip, and we spent a real vacation there. There are over 300 islands in the archipelago, which stretches down to the Colombian border. You could compare it politically with the US Indian reservation system, but it is very different in that it is their land which they fought to defend in 1925. Backing from the US ensured a higher degree of self governance than that enjoyed by other Native American groups in Panama.
Many Kunas live in families, in thatched huts of tightly woven bamboo. Most of them live in villages on islands or on the mainland, a few, such as the Flores family that I met, live on separate islands but are still connected to a village. Although the villages can be quite crowded, they are very clean, if a bit smoky from the woodfires still widely used for cooking. Bits of modernity have crept in, Kunas in the western San Blas are in reach of cell towers and some have cell phones. Villages have generators and solar powered payphones, and some huts had propane powered refrigerators, stoves, and/or TVs. Most families have at least one ulu, dugout canoe, that is the car. During morning rush hour, groups of ulus paddle or sail off to fishing spots or to family farm plots on the mainland, returning in the afternoon. All the land belongs to somebody, although the sea appeared to be a common resource.
The most well know thing about the Kunas are their molas. These are works of embroidery, normally about 12 x 18 inches, that Kuna women make in similar, but not identical, pairs and wear as part of their blouses. I found it hard to appreciate them till I began to look at them closely. A traditional mola is an intricate geometric pattern cut from yellow, orange, burgundy and/or black cloth in layers and stitched together. The sizing of the components is ideally regular, and the stitching is very fine and in the same color as the layer, rendering it nearly invisible. The patterns are usually abstractions of trees, mountains, or the elements of a family. More recently, other colours have come into use, and more representational images show up. Sometimes these are of things in the Kuna world, and sometimes copied from outside. I saw a Pokemon mola, and one of the RCA dog listening to “his master’s voice” on the gramophone!
In most anchorages, mola ladies visited the boat with their wares to entice me to buy, although a smiling denial of “no compramos ahora, gracias,” was well received. I visited several villages known for good molas, once as part of a small group which was fun and leveraged our buying power. It was easier to negotiate prices when we were buying several, and could split pairs.
We visited 20 anchorages, 2 twice, mostly away from villages. We would get up, listen to the daily radio net, do a boat project, snorkel, eat lunch, maybe move the boat a few miles, snorkel, and prepare dinner to a lovely sunset. Sometimes we met up with other cruisers but mostly we relaxed on our own. I was glad to have brought lots of groceries as there is not much available in the San Blas. Fresh produce are available irregularly, when small freighters from Colombia or western Panama cruise through, and Kunas make a tasty bread that is like a baby baguette, but a little denser.
Snorkelling in the shallows around the islands was generally good, and fabulous when we could find a nice drop off on a sunny day. The colors of the corals, sponges and fish were like an animated stained glass window, and the more I looked the more I saw. Corals were usually soft earth tones, pale yellow, umber, sage green, soft lavender, in a wild variety of shapes: brain coral, helmets, stag branches, elk horns and fan branches. Sponges were sci fi tubes and odd shapes, in bright yellows, oranges and purples. Fish were every color, often shifting as they swam through the light as though they were made of Thai silk. It was always interesting to see what looked like a vividly patterned, visible fish swim into a coral outcropping or even drop to the bottom, and blend in so well you would not have known he was there. We saw squid (they liked hanging out under Cheshire), nurse and reef sharks, a tiny seahorse, sting rays and, (my favorite) eagle rays, cruising by majestically with a pilot fish riding along. Unfortunately we also saw 2 Portuguese man o war jellyfish towards the end of our stay, which almost scared me out of the water.
The only disappointment was that David was hoping to catch crabs and lobsters. Unfortunately they went out of season just as we arrived; we noticed that they seemed to be molting. This didn’t stop visits from Kunas trying to sell them to us, as well as fish. Also he did not see as many crustaceans as he would have expected, and those were small. The Kunas go after them pretty aggressively and sell them to buyers for restaurants. But David did manage to catch several tasty fish, usually just as we were getting ready to anchor.
When we arrived, we met a band of young Chilean musicians making their way home from an extended tour which included Seattle! They were nice lads, performing at night at the restaurant while waiting to find a boat to take them and their manager, aka their dog Aurelio, towards Colombia and home. We gave them a ride onwards 20 miles, their first sailboat trip, and everyone, with the possible exception of Aurelio who seemed a bit anxious, had a good time.
Finally it came time to leave the San Blas, westwards towards Colon and the Canal. We stopped overnight in the town of Portobello, lovely port, named by Cristobal Colon himself and one of the former depots for the annual Spanish treasure fleet. This resulted in several forts around the bay and visits from worthies such as Sir Francis Drake, who is reported to have been buried at sea just outside the harbor, near Drake Island. As we looked for a place to anchor, David saw a familiar Cal 34 with burgundy trim, and sure enough we read Merinda, Olympia on the side. It was our former Martin Marina neighbor Don Marcy, who sailed south over 10 years ago and had been in Panama for 2 years. We spent an enjoyable evening catching up over pizza before continuing in opposite directions; he to Cartagena, we on into Colon harbor.
We traveled to Colon in company with 2 other boats: Jean, a Moorings Leopard 38 and Moonshadow. We gave them an hour head start and passed them before sailing through the harbour breakwater. You can take the racer cruising, but you can’t take the racing out of the cruiser, I guess...
May 5, 2006
Yahoo, we are going through the Canal!
Our transit date was moved up to May 8, thanks to a timely phone call to the Canal Authority from yours truly to snag a vacant spot, a whole week earlier than originally scheduled. This means that Mark, David’s brother who is visiting us, will be able to do the transit with us. We will also have as crew Breeze and Debbie Filina, from Blue Sky.
Since a transit is a 2 day affair, we’ll start Monday evening and complete it Tuesday afternoon. There are 2 webcams on the Canal, one at Gatun and one at Miraflores. We will lock up at Gatun at night, and it will be difficult to predict when and to see us. We should pass through Miraflores sometime after 1 on Tuesday, so try to watch for us then.
We have done one transit on our friend’s boat, so have an idea of what to expect. It will be a little scarier on our own boat but we are looking forward to it and to be out of Colon and back into the home waters of the Pacific.
We’ll be joined by Cindy Mullins on May 17 in Panama City for the trip to the Galapagos. Then it’s on to the S. Pacific!! I'll write more after the transit. Wish us luck!
May 15, 2006
Through the Canal and into the Pacific
We’ve now been in Balboa, Panama nearly a week after a pleasantly uneventful transit of the Panama Canal. The week leading up to it, however, was anything but uneventful. Since it is necessary to have four line handlers in addition to the skipper on the boat, plus advisors supplied by the Canal, many of us cruisers line handle for each other, usually before we go on our own boats. This not only saves money, hiring them can cost up to $140 each, but is a good way to get insight into how it works before it is your turn on your boat.
We line handled for our friend Tim on Midnight Blue on April 29-30, then spent the next day checking out Panama City (grocery stores, chandleries and a good Chinese restaurant), before heading back on the bus to Colon. David’s brother Mark was due to show up the next day, but as we feared his journey to the boat did not go quite as planned, and he did not arrive till May 3. In the mean time, the people who had promised to line handle for us backed out, so we needed to recruit 3 line handlers for our own transit. After a day plus of dinghying around the anchorage and knocking on hulls: “Hi, I’m Susanne from Cheshire, are you available to line handle for us?” Boy, did that get old fast. I was getting despondent, and David and Mark really wanted to escape Colon for some R&R: read fishing. Fortunately some new boats showed up, and I was off like a flash with David to sign them up first! Then, our transit date got moved up to May 8, and Mark could go with us, so all of a sudden we were set.
We were able to get out of Colon and go a few miles down the coast to the Rio Chagres, a lovely jungle river complete with alligators, toucans and some boat friends from the San Blas. David and Mark had fun chasing and catch two fishes, but we were seduced by lobster soup with our friends on Australia 31 for dinner. We also enjoyed a nice hike on an abandoned railroad grade before heading back Colon-ward, one day to go to the transit!
May 8 went by in a flash with groceries and other final errands, then we ferried our line handlers Debbie and Breeze of Blue Sky to Cheshire. We knew they would fit right in when Breeze started singing along to David’s latest Frank Zappa album! Jimmy Wong, our first advisor, showed up around 6:00 PM and requested an early dinner as we were scheduled to begin locking up in Gatun at 7. We were rafted with Manukai and Zeferin on the outside, as we had the smallest motor at 25 HP. We had met Zeferin, Sandy and Joan, in Trinidad, and Manukai, Harley and Jennifer, joined us to line handle on Midnight Blue, so we were in good and friendly company. All went smoothly as we rose the 80 feet up to Lake Gatun, bidding farewell to the Caribbean which has been our home for 1 day shy of a year. We tied to a mooring ball in the Lake, and the boys went off to celebrate with the other boats while I faceplanted after 1 glass of wine; just like after O-My-God races…
Next morning David and Mark got in a quick fishing trip, and caught one rainbow bass. While I jumped in for a refreshing dip, first looking around for alligators! Just before our next advisor Ruben arrived. Jimmy had successfully passed along our request for ice for the cooler, as it can get very hot. Ruben brought so much that we shared with Zeferin and Manukai. Ruben spoke excellent English and was the most outgoing advisor we met, holding forth on the state of affairs in the canal zone, how the ship traffic was managed, etc. Unfortunately I was galley slaving most of the time so just caught bits, but the 30 mile trip to Pedro Miguel lock went very quickly. The down locks at Pedro Miguel and Miraflores went just as smoothly as the up locks had. The only bummer was that we were too far back in the Miraflores locks for the web cam to see us! Oh well.
By 3 PM Cheshire’s hulls were in our home ocean of the Pacific, and Ruben let me do a little happy dance on the foredeck, which I was forbidden earlier as it might have jinxed the remainder of the trip. Off we went to the Balboa Yacht Club where we took a mooring, and saw off Debbie and Breeze. That night we joined Harley and Jennifer for a delicious dinner in the old quarter to celebrate their anniversary and Mark’s departure the next day, although once again I was fighting the desire to face plant. It was amazing how tired I got even though I didn’t physically do a lot or even feel too stressed.
In the week since, we have been tackling boat chores in preparation for the trip to the Galapagos and French Polynesia. We will be joined on the 17th by our friend Cindy Mullins for the Galapagos leg and hope to leave Panama by the 19th. Friends on boats ahead warn of windless conditions and adverse current for the first part of the trip, so I suspect we will motor for the first few days. Every time we prepare for a trip, it always seems a bit scary, but gets a little easier as we get more used to the routine.
We are facing some big decisions soon that will determine our itinerary for the next 18 months, the critical issue being where we go to avoid next winter’s South Pacific Cyclone season. The 2 main choices are New Zealand or the Marshall islands. We’ve found that the following things are important to us:
- Not going to too many places and feeling rushed
- Going to places that are best or only visited by boat
- Getting off the cruiser highway to where there are fewer boats
- Having time to get to know local places and people
- Doing routes that are a little challenging but that don’t stress us or Cheshire too much
At the moment, we are leaning towards entering French Polynesia via the Gambier islands, at the end of the Tuomotu archipelago; rather than the Marquesas islands, to which most cruisers go to as their first landfall. The Gambiers are more remote and less visited, and would also be hard to get back to later in the trip. It will add about 2 days overall as going to the Marquesas, but it seems like it might be worth it. Next, we will want to be near Papeete during Bastille day festivities in mid July, which feature lots of local events such as dance competitions.
So many lovely Pacific islands to visit, and we are finally getting closer!
Love, David and Susanne
Balboa, Panama
June 9, 2006
We made it to the Galapagos Islands!
We are anchored in Wreck Bay, on Isla San Cristobal in the Galapagos after a 10 day passage from the Perlas Islands in Panama. This was a fairly difficult passage as it was upwind, and during the first half we had either little to no wind or occaionally too much as we made our way through the doldrums and squalls. We celebrated my birthday on June 5, and our equatorial crossing on June 6, with cake and champagne, pouring a little over the side to keep Neptune happy. We arrived here on June 7.
We’re not sure yet how long we’ll stay as we need to fix a few things. This passage is quite hard on boats; several we know broke backstays and forestays, and one ripped a sail. From here, we’ll sail to French Polynesia. At this point we are interested in going to the Gambier Islands, at the SE end of the Tuamotu archipelago, rather than to the traditional destination of the Marquesas, because it is less visited and would be difficult to go to from anywhere else. We would then cruise through part of the Tuamotus to Tahiti and Moorea, and on west from there.
Cindy flew down to join us in Panama, but we were delayed too long for her to make the passage with us. This may have been for the best because that was one of the worst passages we've had - contrary winds, unpleasant seas, the possibility of scary pirates around Isla Malpelo..
I will write more soon about the passage from Panama, and about the Galapagos which promises to be a very interesting visit.
Hasta la proxima ves
Susanne y David
June 20, 2006
Galapagos Update
The Galapagos islands are volcanic, with sparse, scrubby vegetation. It’s a bit like the area around Bend in Eastern Oregon. We’ve walked to the interpretative center and the Loberia, or sea lion beach. Yesterday we joined Ann from Bogtrotter in a tour of the island with Darwin, a local taxi driver. We walked around the crater of El Junco, an inactive volcano with a small lake in its crater and visited the Galapagueria, a reserve for breeding the local tortoise species in captivity. There are an estimated 1500 tortoises left here, and the young are vulnerable to predation by hawks as well as from many of the introduced species such as rats and feral cats. I haven’t seen turtle soup on any menus, so I assume the threat from humans is less than it used to be. Whalers used to stop in the islands and fill their holds with turtles, who can live for months without food and water. As a result, three of the fourteen species that used to exist in the islands are extinct, and Lonesome George is the last member of another species on Santa Cruz.
These tortoises were smaller than the leatherbacks we saw in Trinidad, but still quite formidable. They can reach 80 pounds and live as long as 150 years. The breeding program is recently successful. Genesis is the first turtle born there and is now just over a year old, with a shell about 9 inches across. Since then 10 more juveniles have hatched and are waiting to grow large enough to safely roam outside their pens.
On our walk to the sea lion beach, we also saw large black iguanas. They are well camouflaged, looking as though someone animated the boulders that they like to bask upon. We saw one when he moved, then another, then five, then fourteen! photo They spit when we got too close.
The sea lions, on the other hand, appear pretty fearless. There are a number in the harbor, and just like their cousins in the Pacific Northwest, they love to bask on boats. Like several other cruisers, we returned one day to find one stretched out on the transom! Fortunately he, or she, left when requested. Our friends on Saudade were not so lucky. Their visitors hissed at them when we returned from dinner, forcing them to climb on the other side of the boat! We notice that many local boats are adorned with barbed wire to keep them off.
Although we are ready to move on, we have had a very pleasant stay here. Restaurants have been plentiful and cheap, although they mostly serve the same 4-5 items. The climate is cool and dry, with occasional showers but short in duration. We have had a large swell for the last few days, probably from a storm somewhere to the south, which got so large that the water taxis stopped running before we returned to Cheshire. Fortunately we were able to bum a ride with a tender from a tour boat. We prepared Cheshire for a hasty exit if necessary, but rode out the night OK.
From here, we will go to Puerto Ayora, aka Academy Bay, on Santa Cruz for a day or two, to see the Darwin Institute and a few other sights. We also hope to find a few things, such as aluminum plate to reinforce the solar panel brackets, since that is the largest town in the islands. Our last stop here will be Puerto Vilamil on Isla Islabela. From there, we begin the longest passage of our trip so far: 2900+ miles SW to the Gambier Islands on the SE end of the Tuamotu archipelago, in French Polynesia. Most boats go to the Marquesas islands, nearly the same distance at 3000 miles. However the trip to the Marquesas is attractive because there is usually more downwind sailing, and the Marquesas are about 150 miles closer to Tahiti with more possible stops between.
We had originally planned to go the the Marquesas, and may still if we find the trip to the Gambiers more upwind than we prefer. However the Gambiers are appealing for two reasons: they are off the “Coconut Milk Highway”, with fewer visitors; and we will likely visit the Marquesas when it comes time to sail back to the Pacific NW, so why go twice?
Now that we are approaching the South Pacific cruising grounds, it’s easier to think about how to plan our itinerary. The wind and cyclone season dictate where and how we can travel. The tradewinds here below the equator are from the SE, sometimes more S, sometimes more E. This means that as one moves west, it is pretty tough to get back east because you have to fight the prevailing winds. We’re now thinking about going to NZ instead of the Marshalls this winter. Although the passage there can be difficult, we will need to do some more boatwork, and fellow travelers have been seducing David with tales of large and wily brown trout to be found in the South Islands.
To get to New Zealand from the Gambiers, we’re thinking as follows for an itinerary: Tahiti, possibly with stops in the S Tuamotus although presently we have very little chart detail of these areas; the other society islands: Moorea, Bora Bora, etc; one or more of the Southern Cook Islands; the island nation of Niue; and Tonga. This feels fairly doable in the months that we have left before the end of the year, which is when the South Pacific cyclone season begins.
But there are so many other islands, especially in the western Pacific which is also somewhat off the Coconut Milk Highway! So if finances permit, we may stay out another year and explore Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomons, the Marshalls, Tuvalu and/or Kiribati. Then in 2008 we’d head south again, probably stopping in New Zealand, and seek the westerlies that lie below 30 degrees south in order to wail back towards the Americas and home. This is a challenging passage: windy, long, cold and with no stops before the Austral Islands of French Polynesia. Then we’d cruise up through Tahiti, the northern Tuamotus and the Marquesas before the trip to Hawaii and then home to WA, in the fall.
It seems like so much time, four years versus our original two, but we have come to appreciate how much time one needs for these trips even when things go as planned; which is rare. And while we are out, I’d like to explore as much of the area as possible, especially less frequented islands such as those in Micronesia. We may come this way again, but I know not to count on it, and if we do, why then we will have a better sense of where we want to go.
For Dick and Jane, and others interested in our progress, our final waypoint off the Gambiers is 23 20 S, 134 50 W. I am trying to subscribe to Yotreps, which can provide near daily reports on our progress, and if I am successful I will let you know how to find us. I hope you are ready for a great summer.
Happy Fathers Day from David and Susanne!
