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January 1, 2010 New Years was a blast in Bahía and now our thoughts turn to our next destination. We will be heading to Panama City, Panama to provision for our trip across the South Pacific. We would stay here to provision but our visas are going to expire soon and it is very expensive to extend them for an additional two months. Time to get out of here anyway. Estuaries have a way of trapping you, despite the fact that you don’t get to do all the things you really love about cruising. Most notably fishing, snorkeling and surfing.
Thomas and Patrick from Victoria received a Texas hold’em set for Christmas and their parents asked if I could teach them how to play. So we sat down and had a couple of poker sessions up at the restaurant. They are bright boys but hard to keep the two focused for any length of time. They really wanted to learn however, so I was able to teach them the basics. Seemed that they really liked the concept of bluffing and they used the bluff many times to win against their parents later on.
January 3, 2010 Before we leave Bahía, we really wanted to have a cockpit table built for Savannah. We have a small (18”x24”) that we use for the two, wedging it under the back rests of our cockpit cushions. But that doesn’t work so well for a group of guests. I drew up some plans for a full size table that will nest around our steering pedestal while we are at anchor. We will actually have to remove our steering wheel to mount the table. I hope it will work out as I planned it. Bruce from 5th Element (he now resides with his wife, Olenka, in Bahía) knows of a retired guy in town that does woodwork and we head over there on his Portrunner bicycles. These are folding bikes with small 12” wheels and really long steering necks. I wouldn’t want to take them off road, but they are pretty fun to ride around town. Even though they’re small, they zip right along. Of course, when we arrive at the man’s house, we find that he is on a road trip and won’t be back for a month. Bruce knows of another guy that we can use and we head over to his place. Bruce didn’t really want us to use the second guy because he is building a table and a set of dining chairs for him, and their dining room set keeps getting delayed for one reason or another. We arrive and he agrees to build the table for us, and to do it in a week! Sorry Bruce. Yet another delay for your table and chairs.
January 5, 2010 Tomorrow, Dave and Sherry from Soggy Paws will be leaving for the Galapagos Islands and we have a going away diner for them with all the cruisers. They are experienced sailors and we look forward to getting the current information on checking into the Galapagos Islands from them. The island policies seem to change radically each year and one doesn’t know what to expect for this season. We wish them farewell and hope to see them later this year somewhere in French Polynesia.
January 7, 2010 Can you believe it? Our cockpit table is ready to be picked up. We had kept dropping by each day to see how the progress was going and to clarify minor design features. The amazing thing about the table is that it was built entirely without power tools. Or even modern tools. He built the table with a handsaw, rope, glue, nails and sand paper. The most advanced tool was a decent hand planer.
In a couple days I was varnishing our new table ashore in the “project area” at Amistad.
January 10, 2010 Many of us will be leaving soon and Phil from Cynosure thought it would be a nice gesture to have a staff appreciation party. Never missing an opportunity to get together, we all agreed and had a potluck luncheon today. The restaurant is closed on Sundays, which allows us the use of the facilities. All the cruisers donated money to purchase gift certificates to a local pizzeria so each employee will get a dinner out with their family. Each of us also brought a potluck dish to enjoy during the afternoon. Jodie decided to bring a seven layer dip and chips. Needless to say, it was a big hit with everyone. Remarkably, none of the workers at Amistad had ever had a seven layer dip before. They were most interested in the refried pinto beans and the black olives. I know it sounds amazing, but many had never eaten a black olive before. We had a fun afternoon with the staff, and they were very appreciative for the gift certificates. They really are a great group of people, down to earth and beautiful.
January 15, 2010 Our departure day is nearing, today Jodie and Kim from Victoria rented a taxi to go to the city of Manta, 90 minutes away. For those of you heading to Bahía, Manta is the nearest spot to provision. The cab cost $35-40 dollars for the day and you are expected to buy him lunch, which is always inexpensive in Ecuador. It is a huge hassle not having any grocery store in Bahía. I went to the Port Captains office and took care of our International Zarpe to exit Ecuador and arrive in Panama. No problems getting the Zarpe, all we need to do now is get our passport stamped by immigration to leave the country.
Later in the evening we went to dinner at the only Mexican restaurant in town with Portia and Steve from Dream Caper. On the way our young taxi driver decided to make a came out of it and race Portia and Steve's driver (remember these are biclye taxis). Our driver came from behind to win.
January 17, 2010 Today Puerto Amistad’s is having its employee holiday party. They are meeting here in the morning and heading across the estuary to Canoa for a full day party. Magi asked if I could fill in for the security guard so he could attend the party and of course I said yes. Probably a good thing Tripp didn’t ask me and I’ll leave it at that. At nine a.m. everyone arrives and I get the keys to Amistad. I don’t really have any official duties, but people will want beers and sodas and I’ll facilitate that. Actually, during the course of the day I served quite a bit of beer, filled a propane tank, swapped an empty propane tank for the hot water heater, fired up the BBQ and finished up varnishing our own cockpit table. And I had to put up with all the friendly ribbing from the fellow cruisers about being selected to do security. In the evening, we had a farewell dinner at Claudia’s Pizzeria for all the boats leaving Bahía. A total of five boats will be departing on Tuesday: Savannah, Victoria, 5th Element, Neos and Sprit. So it was quite a large gathering of 30+ people. Poor Claudia needed help from some of the cruisers so she could keep up. Olenka, Jodie and Kim provided the helping hands.
January 19, 2010 We awake at 4 a.m. today. Why do you ask? Well, it has to do with two things. First, high tide is at 6:40 a.m., and we need to cross the bar out of Bahía at high tide. Second, this is why we are up sooo early, is Immigration. They wouldn’t come yesterday to stamp us out, like any reasonable agency would. They insist on stamping us out on the day we leave. Even when we are leaving the anchorage at 6 a.m.! Every other country we have been to has happily checked us out a day, or even two days early. I feel sorry for the poor guy who had to leave Manta (the nearest Immigration office) at 3:00 a.m. to meet with us at 4:30. All of us are awake and we go ashore one final time. Tripp is waiting for us with a pot of hot coffee (he has his moments) and we only wait a couple minutes before Immigration arrives from Manta. Each of us take our turn with the immigration officer and in short order, we are ready leave. I brought my computer into shore to get one last internet connection before checking out of civilization for a week or more. With my computing finished, I began playing the animated movie 9 for Patrick and Thomas from Victoria to keep them occupied. After thirty minutes, they were hooked and completely bummed that we had to turn it off to leave. Kim and Pierre would not hear the end of it for weeks and weeks until the boys could watch the whole movie. They actually returned to the States after they reached Panama and rented the movie so the boys could finally see the ending. We leave Bahía at 6am and follow Victoria, 5th Element, Spirit and Neos out across bar. I feel kind of bad about this and I’ll explain why. Everyone but us split the pilot fee for exiting the estuary. We didn’t pay because we didn’t want the pilot. In anticipation of us leaving, I had followed another boat out three days before in the dinghy with our handheld GPS. After marking the outbound route (a wet and uncomfortable dinghy ride) I returned to check the GPS track with our previous track that we had entered into the estuary four months previous. They were exactly the same path. This makes sense since there were no major storms that had occurred to shift the sand bars around. I let everyone else leaving with us know what I had verified and that we wouldn’t need a pilot to get out. But I guess they felt that they wanted the pilot anyway. So they arranged for the pilot without us and split the cost among themselves. We hung back as the pilot guided them out and were the last to leave the estuary. (I would have gone first, but everyone was motoring so fast out of the anchorage. It was like a race or something. We finally just let everyone pass us and exited last.) Finally we were out of Bahía! We motor sailed with the group towards Punta Ballena, planning to anchor around the corner in Jama. We pulled into Jama around 2pm (Victoria was already there having steamed away from us early. Pierre was a delivery captain for most of his life and the man doesn’t know the meaning of the word slow). All of us want to clean our hulls and Jama was reputed to have clear water. But visibility was less than a foot there. We were all a bit stumped as to why, but no one got their bottom cleaned. We all jumped in and ended up only cleaning along the waterline. The barnacles got a temporary pardon that day. Jama also let us down as a calm anchorage. Tucked behind the point provided no protection as the swell wrapped around and rolled us all night. We had both of our flopper stoppers out and it was still pretty uncomfortable at times. Even Neos, a large catamaran, got rocked during the night. 5th Element left the anchorage at midnight, figuring if they couldn’t sleep, they might as well be going somewhere. The rest of us awoke early and we (of course) were the last to leave at 7 a.m.
January 20-21, 2010 Our next stop on this passage is Isla Gorgona off the Columbian border. Isla Gorgona is a national park and lies approximately 245 miles to the north of Jama. Victoria slowly pulls away, motoring much faster than us; and we catch up to and pass Neos who has slowed down due to engine problems. We have light winds all day but are able to sail off and on when possible. The next morning we find Neos is still right behind us. Quite unusual as even a small discrepancy in speed or direction adds up quickly on the water. I’m going to let the picture do most of the talking here. Fish on at 8 a.m. At 9:50 we land this Dorado:
Around noon we cross an unmarked long line. A long line is a fishing technique that uses, you guessed it, a very long line with fish hooks placed every 20 feet or so. Most fishermen place an elevated flag marking each end of the line. Most, but not all. We have seen these lines extend for miles in either direction. Smarter fishermen have floats that have a leader attached to the line, allowing the line to sink to a depth of 8-10 feet. Others tie the line directly to the floats and the long line is at the surface. When approaching the lines, it is impossible to tell if the line is on the surface or submerged. Avoiding the lines is par for the course and we have snagged a surface line once before. Using our boat hook, it is possible to push down on the line and free it from your keel or rudder. While freeing the line you are dragging the entire length through the water. The floats form into a nice inverted V behind the boat. We have heard stories of boats dragging lines during the night, only to discover the line in the daylight. You can imagine what the fishermen must be thinking when he goes to retrieve his line and it is simply gone. Gone gone. 40 or 50 miles gone. Less than a minute after we snag this unmarked line, a panga shows up. I wave. They wave back. I’m trying to engage the line while underway and it’s a bit tricky. They can see me working the boat hook. Before I even get to my third attempt, the panga pulls up to the line and cuts it in two. I wave. They wave back. Then they proceed to gather each end of the long line to splice them together. Well, it’s their line. They know best. We are able sail most of the day and night with variable winds, motoring slowly when the wind died out.
January 22, 2010 With daylight we find that we are still sailing within eyesight of Neos. We joke on the radio that we couldn’t have kept this close if we had been trying to do so. During the day some fishermen approach to see if we want any fish. Of course our coffers are full and going to remain that way for some time with that Dorado. Shortly after they head off, we have to divert from our course a couple miles to avoid their long line. We arrived at Isla Gorgona, Columbia (02°57.65N 78°10.15W) just before 5 p.m. Thank goodness. Both us and Neos are ready to catch up on some sleep. 5th Element arrived here yesterday about the same time and left early this morning. He left Jama six hours before us but is now a full 24 hours ahead of us. We pickup one of the three moorings and are soon visited by park officials telling us we had to come to shore within the half hour to register. We asked if we could check-in in the next morning, stating that we were exhausted and need to sleep. But he was adamant that we check in immediately. Neos grabbed a mooring behind us and were kind enough to pick us up in their dinghy, ours was deflated on deck. We head in and make our landing on a rocky shoreline. The four of us pull the dinghy up to a sandy spot and make our way into the office. Inside things quickly got out of hand. Despite the fact that the island was a national park, it felt more like we had entered a resort. All we wanted was to stay for the night on the mooring and visit the park the following day before departing. The fees quickly started to add up. We thought that there had to be some mistake. Especially since another cruiser we knew had stopped here a few weeks ago and told us what they had paid to visit. That was explained away by them telling us that that employee had been fired, in part for not charging proper fees. At first it seemed like it was going to be less than $50 USD to stay the one night and visit the park. We all thought that was a bit pricey, but we were willing to do it for the opportunity to rest. Then they informed us that was $50 per person, per night! We expected to pay for a mooring fee and a park entrance fee. What we didn’t expect was that in addition to the mooring fee, there was another fee to sleep on your boat ($17 pp)! Then the park entrance fee was a three day minimum! All this information came out in bits and pieces. We finally got them to break down the fees and we figured out what we had to pay. All this took nearly an hour. Due to the high fees ($100 per boat for one night stay) we all decided to continue on to Guayabo, just across the Columbian border in Panama. Of course, Jodie and I took our sweet time before leaving the mooring; enjoying a peaceful dinner together.
January 23-24, 2010 We are tired today. All day we are both feeling out of it. We feel it is mostly due to our watch schedule being off after leaving Gorgona last night, that and the lack of decent sleep for the past few days. We really needed that break last night at Gorgona, especially since we had mentally prepared ourselves for it. There is little wind this morning, but the current is helping push us north at a brisk pace. The wind finally does pick up around noon and we’re able to sail for the remainder of the day and through the night. As night falls, we can see Neos slowly pulling away from us in the light breeze. The following morning we call Neos on the VHF radio and find out that they are currently fifteen miles ahead of us. We make loose plans to meet up with them at one of two anchorages in Panama, Guayabo or Bahia Piñas. Just before noon we get hit by a white squall. We saw it coming (hard to miss a wall of water heading right at you) and had time to close all the hatches and stow the cockpit cushions below. We set the sails to heave-to (a sailing technique that allows the boat to slowly slide downwind while keeping the bow closely pointed into the wind) and head down below to wait it out. We’re lazy this way. Some would use the high winds to make some headway quickly. But it is cold and wet, and the wind clocks around you as the storm passes overhead. Not the greatest sailing conditions. We prefer to lie in our bed and read a book, occasionally sticking our head outside for a look around. After an hour, the storm has blown by and left confused seas behind. We motor for a time while the prevailing winds build enough strength to sail again. Light winds are the story of the day, but the favorable current allows us to sail between 3 and 6 knots per hour all the way through the night.
January 25, 2010 We passed Guayabo, the first anchorage in Panama at 4am in the dark. We continued on the 10 miles to Bahia Piñas, arriving just outside the bay at 6am as the sun was rising. Piñas is made up of two bays, the smaller side houses a fishing resort. We do a drive by of the resort before taking up residence in the larger bay. Neos is nowhere to be seen and we figure that they had either stopped at Guayabo or continued on to the Pearlas Islands. The bay is calm and a perfect setting for relaxing and catching up on much needed downtime. Plus, we have the entire bay to ourselves. We clean up Savanna inside and out, eat some breakfast and spend the remainder of the day relaxing.
January 26, 2010 Finally I get the chance to clean the bottom of Savannah. What I find are daisy chains of barnacles hanging from the rudder post. And a solid layer along the bottom of the keel, some larger than an inch in diameter. My normal plywood scrapper is no match for the thick shells and calcium like bases that keep the barnacles attached. Finally I ask Jo to hand me our claw hammer and I smash, hit and scrape the barnacles off the hull. This afternoon an Immigration Officer showed up at the boat and stamped our passports into Panama. He charged $30 for the service and then tried to get us to pay another $60 for the panga driver. We were accustomed to paying for taxis to bring in officials in Ecuador but we felt we were being shook down for cash. We gave the panga driver $40 and said, “No mas”. They weren’t happy, but left and proceeded into the resort located around the corner. The more I thought about it, the madder I got about the whole ordeal. What could we do though? I’m sure they went and pulled the same panga fee scam with whomever they came to check into the resort. We were just unfortunate to be in the bay at the same time. This was just the beginning of our dealing with crooked Panamanian officials.
January 27, 2010 We spent the day relaxing and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. There is a river outlet over on one side of the bay and pangas travel in at out during the high tide. We thought about getting the dinghy out and traveling up river, but then got too lazy to go through the effort. Locals from the nearby villages row past us on their way to the resort to sell their crafts. Carved bamboo and coconuts souvenirs are held up for us to see. We decide to leave at 6 this evening to arrive at Isla Del Rey in the Perlas Islanbds the next day. We start the engine and it fires up fine, but each time we bring it back down to idle, it dies. I’m thinking fuel filter but the vacuum gauges on our Racor filters aren’t in the red zone indicating a blocked filter. There is however another fuel filter located directly on the engine. It’s called the primary fuel filter even though it is technically after the Racor filters. I’ve never changed the primary filter and I guessing that it’s time. We drop the hook back in the water, deciding we better take care of the problem before leaving.
January 28, 2010 One reason that I’ve never changed the primary filter is that I’ll need to bleed the fuel after replacing it. Bleeding the fuel system means removing any air that gets into the fuel lines. After swapping in a new filter, we follow the engine manual step by step to bleed out the air. Well, almost all the steps. I try to start the engine without completing the final step; cracking open the fuel injectors on two of the six cylinders. Jodie figures out where I went wrong and points out the final step necessary to finish the bleeding process. With the two injectors backed off, the engines fires right away and I retighten them. With the engine back on line, we are ready to try once again to leave Piñas and head for the Perlas Islands. At 5 p.m., we pull anchor and head out of the bay. As we round the point to head north, we encounter headwinds and 4 foot seas. Seems that there has been a stiff breeze blowing during the day and it has done a fair job of churning up the ocean. We slog through the chop and things smooth out after a few miles away from the coast.
January 29, 2010 We arrive at Isla Del Rey around 3:30 in the afternoon. We find five other boats anchored; surprisingly, all are catamarans. We don’t find Neos among them, but that doesn’t surprise us. They needed to get to Panama to have their engine repaired. We settle into the middle of the anchorage as the lone mono-hull. The wind is gusting to twenty knots over the hill facing south. The limited fetch from the beach doesn’t allow the wind waves to form up very tall. All in all, a nice spot to hang out for a couple days; which is exactly what we end up doing.
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