Panama

We've continued our slow meander through Caribbean Central America from the Columbian Islands to Northwestern Panama. A look at the map shows the Columbian islands at the North end of the arrow and our current corner of Panama on the pointy end. In this edition of our blog, we have what you've been craving. Pirates! Crocodile attacks! Huge Spiders! read on...

I've gotten a little bit better at creating blogs. Clicking on any of the pictures should show a larger version, particularly useful with the maps.


We start our tale in the Albuquerque Cays just south of where we left off in the last installment. You'll see mainland Columbia well to the South, but Columbia was once much larger. When Central America got divided up, they retained these islands off the Nicaraguan coast. The Albuquerque Cays are populated only by a group of young Columbian Marines doing a tough duty playing soccer on the beach and fishermen based out of San Andres. And a few tourists in yachts. In our wanderings around the islands we came across several brightly colored lizards. The anchorage is only pleasant when the seas in the central Caribbean are mild, which is rare. We managed to time our trip to include several mild days and one when the ocean was perfectly flat. We did a lot of exploring in the dinghy and snorkeled around many underwater caves. We stayed until the waves started picking up and then headed South to Panama.

Our passage took just under two days. We had quite a light show the first night with several lightning producing storm cells directly in our path. We detoured well out to the East to avoid having the unpleasant experience of being struck by lightning and made it to Panama intact.

After spending a few days checking into the country, exploring the little town of Bocas del Toro and getting Pami a ticket back to Idaho, we went exploring a few of the many bays in this area with companion boats Pelican's Flight and Tempest. In the first bay, Dolphin Bay, we were set upon by pirates. Some approaching us while still underway and some waiting until we were defenseless at anchor, they came in their pirate vessels seeking booty from the gringo yachtistas. The demands made by these fierce Caribbean scoundrels were for cookies, pencils, notebooks, magazines (to cut out pictures), spare clothes and to perhaps engage in trade. A few coins in exchange for local bananas or avocados, both so green and hard as to be entirely useless as food. We gave up some suckers and magazines and risked photographing the rogues as they stood off in their vessel to peruse their haul.


The second bay, just around the corner featured beautiful scenery and a tiny restaurant run by an Austrian couple, The Rana Azul or the blue frog. They are open on Friday night and Sunday noon. They rest of the time, the owners work on their little estate and do a bit of canvas work for additional income. The Rana Azul is a gathering spot for the various expatriates who have built homes in this area. All traffic is by boat since there are no roads. It's quite the eclectic international group.

Pami then started her trip to the states, first by water taxi to Almirante, just to the West of the wrecks shown on the map and directly under the word SWAMP. Not as bad a place as it sounds from the map description, but no garden spot either. From Almirante, she took a taxi to Changuinola (now people can't tell you you don't know chit from Changuinola) and then got a 8 hour bus ride to San Jose Costa Rica to catch a plane to Boise. Meanwhile, I spent my first bachelor week sanding and varnishing some of the boat interior that's difficult to work on when both of us are in the boat. It was hard enough to keep myself and the dog out of the varnish for a week. It's hard to explain to a blind dog that the saloon floor she used to jump up on is now outside being varnished and there's nothing there but a hole with a bunch of wires and hoses. Cloe and I managed pretty well considering the circumstances.

During the second week of Pami's trip, I was joined by Chris Wilson who came down to check out the pirate life and work on his Colorado tan. We went from Bocas to the Rana Azul for a pizza and introduction to the young pirates who heavily taxed Chris' high school espanol. From there we headed to the Islas Zapatillas, the slipper islands. We wondered about the strange name until we saw them on the horizon. Low and long, they look just like a pair of bedroom slippers, minus the bunny ears. We were joined by a monohull and a trimaran and enjoyed socializing with them as well as exploring the islands and doing some snorkeling.

From the Zapatillas, we headed to Ensenada Popa, renamed Toucan Bay by the resident gringo Dave, formerly from the Spokane, WA area, who gave us a tour of his place and has become a good friend. He has the dock, a caretaker's residence and his interim house done and is working on his main house on top of the hill. The holes for his footings can be seen in the photo.

Chris holds the title of most-favored-boat guest. To unseat him, you'll have to do the dishes nightly, swab the decks, be ever congenial, flexible and adventuresome and then something more. We had a great time together.

When Chris left, I had a week of exploration by myself mixed with a few boat projects before Pami returned from the states. I met her in Changuinola and we took a bus/water taxi ride home together. After unpacking and becoming reacquainted with friends and the humidity, we headed out to explore the Loma Partida or Split Hill area. It's a small island in the middle of a narrow pass between the mainland and Isla Popa. There are quite a few homes there, both Indian and Gringo as well as a small Tienda or store with an attached Gasolinera.

The gasolinera is a hoot, a gas station without a pump. It's a small wooden building built on pilings near and partially over the water. Inside are a dozen or more plastic 55 gallon drums filled with gasoline. In the middle of the room is a cradle on which a gas drum sits on it's side. The plug has been removed and the drum rotated so that the hole is up. When a customer comes in, they put a big funnel in his jug and then rotate the drum so that the gas sloshes out into the funnel. Most of the gas goes in the funnel anyway. The rest soaks into the wood floor of the wooden building. Not a no-smoking sign in sight in any language. If a boat with built in tanks comes to the dock, they fill 5 gallon buckets, carry them to the boat and siphon them in. We've braved the gasolinera twice without being blown to bits.

From Loma Partida, we were joined by South African friends Roger and Frankie aboard their boat Infinity and by their friend Brad in his dinghy who led us through the shoals to a bay named Cauchero. It's a beautiful anchorage in the not too often visited Bahia Chiriqui Bard and his wife Karen are cruising sailors who have bought land and are settling in Panama.




They were kind enough to introduce us to many of the area's attractions and took us on a dinghy trip up one of the nearby creeks where we saw an incredible variety of tropical plants that we usually think of as growing in pots and only with lots of TLC.

At a couple of places up the creek, local Indians were working on dugour canoes, made from a single tree. The trees are cut high in the mountains and schlepped downriver without the aid of any mechanical contrivances.











The trees farther up the creek had the most amazing buttress root systems which often formed the banks of the creek.











After awhile, the creek became too log-choked for us to run our motor and we had to paddle the dinghy through the jungle.
















Brad and Karen helped us transplant an orchid from a rotting log to a coconut husk we found floating in the creek. We've had one bloom so far, but orchids are temperamental, even in their native climate.









Unfortunately, poor Cloe fell in and was attacked by a crocodile before we could get her out. She lost both her hind legs but is recovering. Since she sleeps most of the time, the lack of mobility hasn't cramped her style much.

(Just kidding - she has started sleeping with her front legs out and her back legs curled up.) Strange looking dog...





Back in Bocas, we recently took a trip back to Changuinola to renew our visas and do some grocery shopping since the mainland stores are much cheaper than in touristy little Bocas. We stocked up on durable and freezable items including 10 pounds of ground pork to make sausage (the Central American versions of sausage are nothing to get excited about). Pami made about 5 pounds of breakfast sausage and 5 of Italian sausage which should keep us in spaghetti through the coming months. I helped by grinding black pepper but found the little hand crank pepper mill far too slow for the 8 tablespoons of pepper required. One of the advantages of having the tool room right next to the galley is the ready availability of power tools in the kitchen.










We went out to dinner in Bocas for my birthday at a great little restaurant run by a German lawyer and a Spanish engineer who have decided to cook instead.
Now that we are stocked with groceries, we're ready to head off exploring the local area some more. We'll probably head towards the San Blas islands next month and then on to Cartagena, Columbia for Christmas.



Richard, Pam and Cloe

Belize, Honduras, Columbian Islands

It's been nearly a half year since I've updated out blog. We've been cruising in the

islands of Belize, Honduras and Columbia and are just about ready to head to Panama for

hurricane season.

In December, we were in Belize where we enjoyed a visit from Frank Walker and Annie

Cosho. We brought them from Belize City down through the outer Cays to Placencia. From

Placencia they took off inland and toured ruins before returning to Boise.

From Belize, we made an easy overnight passage to the Honduran island of Roatan where we

anchored in French Harbor to check into the country. There are a couple of dive resorts

in French Harbor as well as a teeny seaplane doing scenic tours. French Harbor is one of

the more popular anchorages on Roatan due to it's close access to shopping and good

protection from winds and seas.

Pami started hosting the Northwest Caribbean Cruising Net one day a week. Every morning,

many cruising boats from all over the 413000 square mile area from S Florida to Honduras

tune their SSB radios to a particular frequency for the net. Someone gives the area's

weather report and boats underway and anchored can check in and stay in touch with other

and ask important questions like 'where can I get parts for a 30 year old Perkins

diesel' or 'how much does it cost to check into Belize on a Sunday'. Since only one

person can talk at a time on the radio, there needs to be a net controller who

coordinates all the radio traffic. Now everyone in the entire area knows Pam on Tisha

Baby as the friendly voice on the morning radio net.

While in the French Harbor area we attended several fun social events including a dinghy

raft-up where cruisers get together in their dinghys for appetizers and drinks. My

brother David came to visit and we spent much of his visit holed up in French Harbor

waiting for the rain to stop and the seas to go down outside before we could finally

sail to the West End. Better luck next time, David. John and Marion Fordemwalt had

better luck with the weather when they came a few weeks later.

Back on our own after the Fordemwalt's visit, we explored the Cayos Cochinos, the pig

islands which are part of a marine reserve fairly close into the mainland. We were

greeted by three little 14 year old boys who sailed out in their dugout canoe with black

plastic sails. They were looking for candy or whatever they could bum from the visiting

gringos. Pam told them in Spanish that if they brought her a coconut the next day, she

would make them cookies. The next morning while Pam was on the net, they boys showed up

with coconuts and I fed them a big plate of cookies. While chowing down, they commented

several times on what a big motor we had for our dinghy so that I was sure to know they

wanted a ride. Since Pami was still doing the net and could use some quiet, I took them

all out in the dink and one by one let the drive. There is no speed at which the ride in

a 9 foot boat gets too bumpy for a 14 year old. Whichever one had hold of the throttle

held it wide open while we bounced over the tops of the waves and the other two hooted

and hollered at the top of their lungs. It was wonderful to remember how fun it is to be

14. After a bone jarring ride and a quick tour of the island that they lived on, we

returned to the boat to get Pami so that we could introduce her to the boy's island and

all their families. It was a delightful day and we were relaxed, happy and totally

unprepared for the disaster that was about to strike. (I should write a melodramatic

novel some day). That evening I broke the pull cord on our Honda generator. We usually

rely on our solar panels for our power source, but when it's overcast, we get a boost

from the little Honda 2000i. It's compact, reliable, easy on the gas and quiet, but what

a bunch of stuff to take apart to get to the pull cord. We were up until after dark

getting it all back together.

While in Honduras, we decided not to return to Guatemala for the summer, but to work our

way down to Panama where it's close enough to the equator that hurricanes can't form. To

get there, one has to travel Eastward around Cape Gracias a Dios on the Honduras-

Nicaragua's border. Columbus named it Gracias a Dios : 'thanks to God' after spending

months trying to get around it. The Caribbean trade winds blow pretty consistently from

the East and one has to be patient to wait for a Northern winter storm that has enough

strength to change the wind direction to something northerly. We waited and started

motorsailing ENE in light winds as such a weather pattern was approaching.

Unfortunately, it was stronger than we had anticipated and by the time we understood how

strong it would be, it was too late to go back. We finished the trip in 30 knot winds

with 10 foot seas. Quite a bit bigger stuff than either of us had been in before. It was

pretty nerve wracking. After 30 some hours, we arrived in the Cayos Cajones well off the

coast where we spent nearly two weeks snorkeling, fishing, socializing with friends in

the anchorage and waiting for good conditions to continue our trip South. The Cajones

are mostly reef, with only a few tiny islands. Pami was ready for land by the time we

left.

Our next stop was Providence, a Columbian island nearly 400 miles from Columbia. It's

much closer to Nicaragua and Panama and is populated mostly with people of English

heritage, descendants of Henry Morgan and his crew. It is an island that has resisted

tourist growth for the most part and is a unique place to visit. There are no large

resorts or extravagant, rarely-occupied vacation homes. Just a lot of locals who have a

simple existence doing a little fishing, a little farming and a lot of partying on

weekends. We took a land based tour of the island one Sunday, ending up at a beach where

the locals have a weekly horse race on the beach. Two horses is enough for a race and

many more wouldn't fit on the strip f beach. We later gathered a bunch of our cruising

friends for a day trip around around the island on Tisha Baby. Our big deck space makes

it a good tour boat. We filled out our visit with lots of get-togethers, good meals -

mostly cooked on the boat, and a hike to the top of a hill with a large cleft known

locally as 'Morgan's Arse'.

From Providence, we've moved South to Isla San Andres which is more like Columbia's Hawaii. We've had a week of ding out, shopping, getting ice cream and even going to movies. Real civilization. From here we'll head out to two more isolated, unpopulated reef systems and spend a few weeks there before entering Panama.

Bye for now... Richard and Pam

Happy Holidays from the crew of Tisha Baby

Happy Holidays! It's been about 4 months since I sent out any sort of newsletter and I can tell you that rumors of our demise are greatly exaggerated. We spent a lot of the remaining summer months hiding from the heat and humidity inside the boat with our little window AC's running. But we also did some interesting travel and practiced our craft at living on a boat.

THE RIO DULCE

During the summer, we visited Casa Guatemala, the local orphanage, for their children's day. No classes, just a lot of fun and pseudo-sporting events put on by the teachers and volunteers. The events included a race to fill up a bucket from the river using only articles of clothing like t-shirts and hats and another event in which the children roll over a lineup of their team members for time. We were amazed to see how well taken care of and happy these children were. The orphanage is located on the side of the river. The buildings are pretty much open air, though volunteers had been doing some work to better enclose the dormitories so that the rats and bats couldn't get in and bite the kids. The volunteers were next on the list, they had to live with the critters for the time being. The volunteers, along with the kids, raise corn and other crops to feed the kids. I had always expected an orphanage to be a somewhat glum place, but not here. It's a wonderful organization. I'd be remiss, and Sally Struthers would never forgive me, if I didn't put in a plug for donations to the orphanage. Check it out at
http://www.casa-guatemala.org/

In October, Pam's son Abe came out to visit us. The heat was easing up a bit after several days of 100 degree plus temperatures with 95% humidity which just about did me in. It was impossible to work on anything outside without my reading glasses filling up with the continual stream of perspiration coming off my face. And yet, all the locals were pretty content. I guess I just haven't become totally Central Americanized yet. In preparation for some travels with Abe, we secured a dog sitter and, after giving the pooch a good scrubbing, we were ready to go.
















Abe had a warm reception to the Rio by our local friends, led by our Spanish teacher, Ileana.


















Then, after discussing the options with Abe, we decided to forgo the Mayan and Guatemalan cultural attractions and get out to some blue water in Belize.

BELIZE QUICK TRIP

We stayed close to the Rio Dulce in case a tropical storm became active. We motored out the Rio Dulce gorge and then visited Nicholas Cay and later Ranguana Cay and then the little town of Placencia before returning to the Rio as tropical depression 13 was brewing off the coast of Honduras. At the little beach bar at Ranguana Cay, visitors had hung up T-shirts to commemorate their visit. Prominently displayed in the middle of the collection was a BSU football shirt. Go Boise State! Small world...

Travels in Honduras

After Abe's visit, we traveled to Honduras with cruiser friends to see the Ruins at Copan. The Mayan temples were built one on top of the other. If you want to build a big temple, why start from scratch, when the previous leader that you'd just as soon people forget about left a wonderful starting point? At Copan, archaeologists have tunneled in between some of the temples and one can see pieces of the earlier temples by taking tunnel tours. In many ways the temples that were covered up with new construction are in better shape because they have been covered the last 15 centuries instead of being weathered and broken down with tree roots. In the same area is a bird refuge named Macaw Mountain. Since our dog sitter had previously donated two birds to the refuge, we simply couldn't pass up the opportunity. Seen here is Pam with a Macaw eating a button off her shirt.

More Mayan Ruins at Tikal

After returning from Honduras, we made another ruins trip, this time to Tikal in NE Guatemala. I think Tikal has the steepest temples and they were the steepest I care to climb. we were there on a day that was absolutely clear and the views from the top of the temples was amazing.

The Boatyard and Leaving the Rio Dulce for the Winter

After this trip, our next trip was up the river to the boat yard to have our boat hauled and the bottom repainted. It's a marine railway, with big boat carriers traveling up inclined railways made from old railroad rails. We ended up staying in the yard for about 8 days. The crew working on our boat found the poor repairs that had been done years previously that had allowed water to seep into our aft 'sealed' flotation compartments. In the picture here you can see most of the fiberglass cut away from our port skeg. While we were in the boat yard, I replaced the impellers in our motors that provide the cooling water. During the process:

• A bolt broke while one of the boat yard workers was taking the old pump apart for me.
  
• I figured that 3 bolts were good enough on an impeller housing, so I put it back together with three
• In the process of putting the lower end back on, we didn't get the motor's water pipe lined up with the pump and didn't realize it, being too much of a moron to test the motors in the yard with a garden hose attached.

So all went along until all the repairs to the fiberglass were finished, we were painted and had our bill paid and they put us in the water. The port engine wouldn't pump water and so we had to be hauled out again, whereupon:

• We took the lower end to a machinist's to try to get the broken bolt out.
• At the machinist's, we ruined the old seals without getting the bolt out.
• I decided that I'd probably have to get a new motor, so I had them put us back in with the lower end missing from my port engine.
• Some friends heard of our plight and pointed us to an outboard shop in town who took it all apart and repaired it for about $60 US.
• We then had to haul our outboard out of it's well while in the water to attach the repaired lower end. A grueling day's work.

At last, we headed down the Rio Dulce, the repaired motor began to put up an awful squeal. At wit's end, I turned it off, thinking I'd try to get it looked into in Belize. After a couple of days of putting around on one motor, I checked the lower end oil for water and found none, so we started it up again and it's been working fine since. I guess a seal needed a little time to wear in.

We've been cruising Southern Belize for two weeks now and are anchored off the little town of Placencia for Christmas. We just got in yesterday just in time to go to the little community center for the children's Christmas program. Pretty much like any kid's Christmas program, but noisier and with a lot more jumping around and more chaos. It was delightful. We haven't had time for pictures yet here. More later.

Best wishes to all of you
Pami and Richard