We did it! We made it to Panama! It took a mere 13 days to traverse the 1,000+ miles from Key West to Colon, Panama with the 2 day layover in Swan Island. Granted, it would have taken about 3 hours to fly here, but that would have cost us a little more than the $20 that we spent on diesel and wouldn’t have involved nearly as much adventure.

As it turns out, most of the adventure occurred during the first half of the passage. In fact, our overall experience prior to Swan Island was just about the polar opposite of that which we experienced afterward. For over four days, 15 knot winds blew from the east, the seas were only a few feet, and judging by our average speed of about 4 knots, the current was not a major impediment. 

With all four of us taking turns at the helm, we kept a schedule of three hours on, nine hours off. We later shortened the night watches a bit to provide quicker relief to the weary and begin to shift the watches backward in time so that the toughest watches were rotated among the crew.

Other than staying awake, the major challenge of the passage seemed to be simply fending off boredom! Each of us had our own methods of doing so, of course. I think that for me, it was useful to establish a routine of daily tasks in order to avoid becoming lethargic, to read something that piqued my interest (“Real Life in Castro’s Cuba” by Catherine Moses), and to remind myself how fortunate I was to have so much time to myself. It was also very nice to get the crew together for sunset dinners in the cockpit. It is probably no coincidence that this seemed to be the only time that we were all awake. Yes, true to form, the Clow brothers are not missing many meals aboard Pura Vida. In fact, Dallas has begun taking pictures of the food in preparation for a blog dedicated to one of his favorite topics.

Hard at work in the galley

Another diversion during the passage came in the form of two dolphin sightings. The second occurred on the last day of the passage. The wind had dwindled to just a few knots, and after playing with the sails for a few hours in vain, we resorted to using an engine. The sound of the motor must have attracted the dolphins attention, as we soon found ourselves hosting a dolphin convention with at least 20 in attendance!

The dolphin convention

Putting on a show

Speckled dolphin

Watching the dolphin show

We arrived in the channel at Cristobal in the Republic of Panama around 4:00 a.m. on Monday morning. The AIS showed over 100 boats in the vicinity, but fortunately most of them were anchored, and traffic was limited to a few 500-foot tankers. From there, we proceeded to Shelter Bay Marina and helped ourselves to a spot on the T-head of the dock. We awoke early the next morning in order to announce our arrival and determine customs and immigration procedures. Dallas was told that while the office staff at the marina could handle the paperwork for us, there were many fees involved, so naturally, we decided to take care of it ourselves. It was something of an ordeal, however. The first step according to the instructions we were given was to go to the immigration office. However, once there, Dallas was ranted at in espanol for several minutes regarding all of the paperwork that he should have obtained prior to coming. Then we went to obtain the necessary papers and had other issues. Little did we know that since we did not clear customs in another country prior to Panama and thus did not have a “zarpe” (clearance papers), we would get so much grief. In fact, they informed Dallas that they had the authority to charge a stiff penalty and even take him to jail! Fortunately, though, we got away with a “next time you better have this…” and were sent off to the 3rd office. Our advice to cruisers planning on cruising straight here from the U.S.? First, get a “courtesy clearance zarpe” from U.S. customs. Then, consider paying the marina staff the $100 so as to not have to mess with it.

The only real advantage of handling the paperwork ourselves is that it provided an impetus for us to explore the city a bit. The marina is cut off from the downtown and is surrounded by nothing but jungle and former American army barracks, but cruisers tend to stay close by due to the high crime rate in nearby Colon. However, our brief excursions around Colon during the daytime by taxi seemed safe enough while also giving us an opportunity to get to know Panama a little bit. What we learned cannot be summed up in a few words (although the following come to mind: “air-brushed”, “straight-forward”, and “worn”). Fortunately, though, Wes brought his camera, so I will let the pictures do the talking. (Check out the photos link at the top for more photos of our trip thus far.)

The city bus

Apartment building

So it looks like we will be spending most of our time in Panama here in the marina. Fortunately, there is a pool, and we have air conditioning and high speed internet on the boat! In terms of how long we will be here, we are waiting to find out what the mechanic says tomorrow about the cause of the low oil pressure alarm sounding on the port engine. We are also going to try to purchase new solar panels after discovering how difficult it can be to support our refrigerator and auto-pilot when running downwind.

Shelter Bay Marina Pool

We will keep you posted regarding our scheduled transit through the Canal as well as the specific procedures involved. We are gathering info from our fellow cruisers, and it sounds as though it will be quite an adventure! What’s more, we discovered that each boat’s transit through the Miraflores lock, the last of the three, will be broadcast by webcam, so we will try to determine what time we will be going through just in case anyone wants to take a look!