Well, we never thought we’d say it, but we are back at Balboa Yacht Club. We were having such a good time in Las Perlas, too. The four of us walked over to the north end of the Isla Contradora on Wednesday afternoon to use the internet cafe and check out the local bars and restaurants. While Dallas and Wes were on the computer, Tiff and I strolled into the local crafts store and purchased a handmade bracelet and a big, floppy hat, respectively. After chatting with a cruising couple from San Francisco aboard the sailing vessel Ecos, we made our way to the resort for happy hour. Some local workers were clearing a tree from the pool area, and Dallas thought it very strange to be watching someone else engage in the kind of work that he would typically be doing. Also odd was the fact that as soon as a small (10-person) plane landed on the runway across from the hotel, the rest of the guests at the pool bar suddenly got up from their chairs and walked over to jump on the plane in their wet clothes. I guess they make day trips from the city on a regular basis.

Anyway, we decided to head somewhere else and eventually settled on Gerald’s, a German restaurant. There we had the pleasure to meet Tony, a Panamanian with great insight into matters both foreign and domestic. He told us of his experiences assisting with several Survivor TV series including the American series, the German, and the French. He gave us the inside scoop, stating that while the Americans were serious about the isolating the contestants from civilization, the European contestants would venture into the village at night to get drunk and eat restaurant food!

Tony also informed us that despite the difficult historical relations between Panama and the U.S., he did not believe that any anti-American sentiment currently existed among the Panamanian people. On the contrary, he said that they were grateful for the wealth obtained as a result of the creation of the Canal and pointed to Colon as an example of what happened when the Americans (and their money) left the country in 1999.

After a couple of hours of great conversation with Tony, we quickly made our way back to the boat. We managed to beat the rain thanks to some islanders who let us catch a ride in the bed of their truck. The boat became very hot that night as a result of having all of the hatches closed, and at one point in the night I got up to see if there was any wind outside in which to cool off, but there wasn’t. I don’t remember checking on the dinghy at this point, but I’m sorry to say that in the morning, it was gone! We have wavered between believing it to have been stolen versus it getting dragged away in the current, but since the outboard engine was not on it (thankfully) and other boats nearby still have their dinghies, it seems likely that it was the latter.

Rather than dwelling on how unfortunate this was, we turned on the engines, quickly cruised around looking for it, and decided to motor back to Panama City to get a new one. Upon arrival, Wes got in touch with his contact for marine supplies and received a quick response, so just like that, we now have a new dinghy!

We had a cool rain shower en route to Balboa

The Panama City Skyline

The new dinghy

Ahhh.  Let’s see.  Wednesday.  What’s on the calendar for today?  Oh yes. 

12:30 am — Finally get permission to tie up at the dock to fill our water tanks before leaving the Balboa Yacht Club. Then Wes takes the helm and the first watch to motor out the channel and through the ship anchorage.  Winds are light and on the nose, so we decide to motor all the way to Las Perlas.

2 am — Get up when port engine seems to have caught a line in the prop.  Both engines seem to be OK, so keep going.

4 am — Wake up to give Lauren a hand when we are in the midst of fog and lightning with zero visibility.  I suggest that she cut one engine to reduce our speed to make it easier to hear and spot any traffic. Then back to bed.

5:30 am — Start my watch just as the sun is starting to come up.  We can see the northern islands of Las Perlas as well as the coast of Panama in the distance.

8:30 am — Pick up a mooring on the south side of Isla Contadora and drop the dinghy in the water to row ashore.  Notice that something 60 fish are visible below the boat and that there is something large and white streaming from the port prop shaft!

9:30 am — Walk across the island.  The sights of Contadora include numerous waterfront mansions both finished and under construction, an open-air elementary school where the kids are enjoying recess, 60 ft bamboo patches, vines hanging vertically from the forest canopy, and odd red bugs everywhere.

10:00 am — Reach the other side of the island to visit the “Super Mercado”.  Until you’ve seen a small grocery store on a small island, it’s hard to explain.  Pringles – $2.75.  Big liquor selection.  The fresh fruit and vegetable section is just some wooden shelves that have between 2 and 20 of whatever happens to be available and hasn’t completely rotted yet.  Postcards from 1978 or so.  Pick up some ginger that may help with seasickness in the future.  Visit the Internet Cafe which will be open from 3pm to 5pm.

11:00 am — Walk on the beach to explore a small cave exposed by the large tide.

11:30 am — A leisurely paddle back to Pura Vida and then tea and biscuits on the “yacht”.

12:00 pm — Lauren and I suit up for a quick swim to free the line from the prop, check out the fish, and take a look at the bottom.  The line was easy to remove and the bottom doesn’t look awful — some algae and missing bottom paint, but there are no barnacles, and Wes’s patch is still holding well on the starboard keel.  Down at about 15-20 feet there is a large school of silver fish that are joined by what looks like several yellow tail snapper more than a foot long.

1:00 pm — Lauren uses leftover rice from yesterday to mix up a concoction that includes black beans, onion, tomato, corn, lime juice, cumin, and a little jalepeno. Served on corn tortillas that we have had for quite some time but are still good when heated.  Yet another first time success from the galley.

1:30 pm – Blog & stretch out with my book just in time for my afternoon nap.

Isla Contadora is much more to our liking than anywhere we’ve been so far.  It’s beautiful, typical island life at the island life pace. The skies are clearer, there’s been a cool breeze, and we’re back to a simple life on the hook.  Not a bad day at the office so far.  Hopefully there will be some time to relax later this evening…

Good news! We are leaving the isthmus! I think it is time to leave Panama City before it loses its luster completely. Fortunately, the rest of the crew agrees (although we are a democracy—we only need 3 out of 4).

 That is not to say that we haven’t had more good times here since I last blogged. There have been several noteworthy experiences. For example, Tiffany and I enjoyed trying to dance to the Latin beats on Calle Uruguay, although we found the doh (pause) di-doh-doh beat in every song a little monotonous. Also, Wes, Tiff, and I returned to the city a couple of times to explore, get some last minute provisions, and have some authentic food–the fresh Covina (sea bass) truly melts in your mouth! In the process, I’ve been getting a better grasp of Panamanian culture as well as the Spanish language (notwithstanding bouts of miscommunication with taxi drivers and street vendors).

Sea bass in garlic sauce with rice and vegetables

Residential area in Panama City

Did he say $1 for 1 grape?

  

 

 

 

We are leaving late tonight so that we will arrive in Las Perlas around sunrise tomorrow, giving us the day to explore the islands and the associated marine life. Personally, I can’t wait to be spending the hottest part of the day in the water, either snorkeling or scuba diving!

By the way, I think it is worth mentioning that since the salt life is pretty unkind to electronics, the shift keys on my  keyboard stopped working. This meant that I could no longer type with exclamation points, so naturally I had to find a new keyboard here in the city. Now I can sufficiently express my enthusiasm toward the wildlife that we will see in the Las Perlas, not to mention the Galapagos!!

World Wind Patterns

The image above shows the predominant winds for the whole world.  Most of our sailing will be in the trades, with nearly all of the Pacific crossing in the southeast trades.  Where the southest and northeast trades meet, there is an area of light winds, rain, and squalls know as the doldrums or the ITCZ.  Its exact location and width varies throughout the year, but in the eastern Pacific it is typically between 5 and 9 degreees north lattitude.  Once we make it through the ITCZ (hopefully about half way from Panama to the Galapagos) we should have nice tradewinds all the way to Fiji.  In order to get across the ITCZ as soon as possible while also trying to avoid the contrary current near the coast of South America, we’ll likely head south-southwest until we pick up the trades and then change course toward the Galapagos.

Long pier used by the yachties and tugboaters

Taking advantage of the wifi on the veranda

The free water taxi takes us to shore

 

The showers very seldom have hot water (I’ve experienced it once, but I don’t think anyone else has).  I remember reading on-line in the cruising forums before we left about the various ways to install a hot water system on boats.  One person posted that if your cruising grounds were the tropics, a hot water system was just a waste of time, money, and space — nobody wants a hot shower in the tropics.  He was pretty much right.  The first cold shower I took actually wasn’t cold enough.  I kept thinking I’d get out when I still felt nice and cool after sticking my head out of the cool water, but it never happened.  You eventually start to adjust to the heat and humidity, but I’m still not quite used to the boat being so damp all the time.  It’s funny, but the cold showers are actually sort of a luxury.

There’s a TGIFriday’s across the parking lot with air-conditioning and a menu almost identical to the one in the states.  The service is quite a bit different, though.  They’re pretty laid-back and don’t mind you hanging out to watch a playoff game or just enjoy the air-conditioning and free Internet for the afternoon.  It’s not exactly a cultural experience, but the broccoli and cheese soup is good.

We’ve noticed that a few of the cruisers that we met at Shelter Bay have made it across the canal and are now here, but so far the only other cruisers we’ve been hanging out with are Zac Sunderland and his crew, as there’s no easy and obvious place to congregate.  On Friday night we went out in Panama City with Zac.  Since we know nothing about Panama City, we looked at one of the local tourist books, noticed that several of the discotheques were on a street called Calle Uruguay, so thought we might as well try it.  It was pretty similar to an upscale downtown nightlife district in the US with clubs, bars, and some great fare from street vendors who had setup food stands on the sidewalks.

We’ve been here long enough that we’ve been able to see the transition into the rainy season.  The days are all pretty similar now — generally cloudy although sometimes a little sunny in the morning and rain every afternoon that’s starting to become pretty heavy.  The rain lasts an hour or two and so far hasn’t rained in the morning or at night.

We would have left this weekend, but we were waiting to finish up our boat insurance for the Pacific crossing.  Although things didn’t get finished before the weekend, our insurer did respond to e-mails today and we’re pretty much done.  We should be able to leave for Las Perlas in the next day or two.  We’re hoping to have a day or two of good diving and pretty anchorages there before we head for the Galapagos.  We’re expecting the crossing to the Galapagos to have a lot of light and/or contrary winds, but once we get close, we should have some great tradewind sailing until we leave Fiji.