MOVING ON

11th July 2008
Current Position: 38 deg 32N
28 deg 37W

Horta, Isla Faial, Azores archipelago, Atlantic islands

Wow, a few miles under our keel since the last blog update, and this one is to bring us up to date with our position - the 'meat' will follow.

From Key West we sailed to Fort Lauderdale where we met Jim and David. Two single-handers heading for the UK. We all set sail for Bermuda on 30th May, arriving at St. George's harbour at 0730 hours, 11 June. 1,087 nautical miles sailed.

Had a great week in Bermuda, setting sail for the Azores on 17th June at 1300 hours. The trip was just under 1,900 miles and took 17 days. The conditions were generally good and a little more wind might have even been nice, but no complaints. A good passage - nothing broke!

So now here we are in the Azores and counting down to our return to the UK. I can hardly believe that we've been gone 2 years and that very soon we're going to be back in 'Blighty.'

Our trip has taken us from San Diego in California, to Mexico, Baja and mainland, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama and it's beautiful islands - Coiba, Perlas, San Blas and, of course, our Canal transit - Colombia, Cayman, Cuba, USA Florida, Bermuda, Azores and, in another 1,300 miles, to our landfall of Falmouth in England - 8,000 miles or so, and it's been a blast. The best thing, the people, the only reason for returning to the UK - the people! oh, and perhaps a small concern about a bank balance. See you all soon.

FROM BEAUTIFUL SAN BLAS, ONWARDS…
18 May 2008
Current position: 24 34 25 N
Key West, Florida 81 48 27 W

And so on the 11th of March, we upped anchor from Snug Harbour in the eastern San Blas Islands, having said our goodbyes to Maverick, Pangea and Song Line, and set out for Cartagena, Colombia. It was a beat to windward for 3 and a half days, with it’s difficult moments, but we arrived in Cartagena at 0730 hours, 14th March to find our friends from Finistere and Sucre, laying peacefully at anchor in the bay. The trip served to reinforce our feelings about Aphrodite and her ability, or severe lack of it, to make passage to windward; an item that will feature at the top of our shopping list for our next boat! We anchored off Club Nautico (and for those of you heading that way), it is charming and ramshackle, but a very warm welcome is given and lots of information proffered regarding local services - it would seem that everything is available in Cartagena. With a good aerial, Wi-fi is also available at anchor - pay John at Club Nautico. Colombia insists that cruisers employ the services of an Agent to check into the country - but it was cheap ($60-00 in total for in and out) and efficient. Later that morning our friends Celeste and Gary on Solsurfin arrived and so naturally a party was in order.
Cartagena has a wonderful walled ‘old-city’ that is a World Heritage site and is beautiful. We spent much our of time in Cartagena wandering around this intriguing place with its amazing architecture and the surrounding forts. Towards the end we hauled Aphrodite at Club de Pesca, for a bottom clean and re-packed our stern gland. The marina offers a 48 hour haul-out deal. You drive into a submerged cradle which they then hydraulically lift out of the water. 2008 prices $180-00 (US) for 48 hours. Before we knew it we had spent almost 4 weeks in Cartagena and needed to start making our way across the Caribbean - we have to be in North Florida by early June.
On 11th April we said our goodbyes again and set out for Grand Cayman - 699 miles north east of Colombia. Our forecast for the first 3 days was winds 15 - 23 knots and seas 12 - 15 feet at 5 seconds! We knew it was going to be bumpy!! We made very little headway during the first few hours - celebrating when we saw 3 knots on the GPS! The problem was the closeness of the seas, 12 to 15 feet seas in essence aren’t a problem at 12 - 14 seconds, but at 5 - 7 seconds, they made for a constant ‘stop/start’ bash that saw us taking a lot of water over the decks. Aphrodite tried really hard, but just couldn’t keep up her momentum in those conditions. Regardless, we plodded on and as darkness fell I checked our bilge (a little weakness of mine) to find it very full of water. Alarmed I drew Paul’s attention to the problem who immediately checked all the seacocks only to find nothing leaking. By this point I was using our huge manual bilge pump and was just keeping pace with whatever was coming in from wherever. Naturally it was dark - it always is when problems identify themselves, and I was all for turning back - 60 miles from Cartagena, 630 from Grand Cayman seemed like a no-brainer to me but Paul for the time being wanted to continue. Long story short, we were heeled hard over on port tack (for 8 days as it turned out) and our electric bilge pump, which we had used briefly earlier, had somehow vacuumed when we switched it off and had reversed it’s purpose, pumping gallons on water INTO our boat. We isolated the pump, I emptied the bilge with the hand-pump and we regained our status quo. The wind was howling and the seas up and so I finally gave in to not standing watch in the cockpit and we both relaxed below, maintaining our 20 minute ‘look-see’s’ for shipping.
By our fourth day, the seas subsided to around 6 - 8 feet and the wind dropped a little but also veered slightly more to the east, allowing us to ease off a little and picking our speed up to around 5 knots. By day five, things had eased a little more the seas down to around 5 feet, 15 - 20 knots of easterly wind and we were cruising along between 7 and 8 knots, sun shinning, happy faces!!! The best sailing we had had for some time, all four sails set - 270 miles to Grand Cayman. Then the wind died. We decided we would engine on through the night, hoping that we would have more wind in the morning. During the night we clogged 3(!!!!!) racor filters at $36-00 a filter, changed them all out and switched off the engine - at this rate we could have flown there for less. We continued to sail, with the wind dropping off, as we neared Cayman. At 0100 on the 17th of April I called up Port Security (we had just passed inside their 12 mile limit) to inform them or our anticipated dawn arrival. They took details of our boat, gave us a lat/long of the buoy they wished us to tie up to, informed us that we were in the middle of 5 cruise ships also all heading towards George Town with a similar ETA and suggested that we keep a sharp look- out!!!
0800 hours on 17th April on a beautiful sunny, but once again, very windy morning, we secured to our FREE mooring buoy off George Town in 20 feet of crystal water and radioed Port Security to confirm our arrival.
699 nautical miles (all to windward)
189.5 hours
21.2 engine hours
In Grand Cayman you are not allowed to leave your boat until checked in, and due to the 5 cruise ships in port that day, we were not called until 1600 hours. For anyone intending heading that way, check in is free, very efficient and friendly and you are allowed to remain on the FREE (!!!) buoy for as long as you like - within reason. It is also possible to anchor, but you must notify Port Security of your intended lat/long for approval. The waters around the boat were full of coral and just standing on the side decks we could see sizeable and colourful fish.
We spent a very relaxing 9 days in Grand Cayman - very odd to be in an ‘English-speaking’ country for the first time in 18 months.
We had thought hard and long about our next stop - Cuba - we really wanted to spend a week or two there, but knew that potentially it could cause us real problems on our entry into the USA. Although George hasn’t banned ‘foreigners’ from entering the USA from Cuba, he has introduced very stringent policies to discourage Americans from visiting Cuba - including fines of up to $250,000-00 and/or imprisonment. I had called US Customs when we were in Colombia to double-check whether we would be breaking any laws, as non-Americans, by coming to the USA from Cuba. He confirmed that we were not committing an illegal act but that we would very probably undergo a heavy-duty check in once we reached Key West.
We decided that we could live with that and so set out for Maria La Gorda, Cuba on
26th April 2008. We set off on a gusty wind with one reef in the main and the mizzen and staysail, just off the wind and so expected a slightly easier passage. We had read all sorts of conflicting information regarding Cuba - we would be boarded 12 miles out, had to have copious amounts of paperwork available, if not boarded then had to call the Guarda Frontera as soon as we entered Cuban waters which, depending upon which book or website you read were anything from 12 to 25 miles off. There is still very little information available regarding Cuba, even Noonsite doesn’t carry correct information. We did come to find, after our arrival, that Nigel Calder has written a GREAT cruising guide to Cuba, a copy of which was very generously given to us by an English cruising couple (Jeffery and Jerry on Katinka) and really is a must for anyone considering cruising Cuba. We left Grand Cayman with a lat/long for the marina at Maria La Gorda (the ‘Fat Prostitute!’) still not knowing quite what we would find there. There is in fact, no marina, no buoys, just an anchorage off a diving resort, in a lovely bay, in, once more, absolutely crystal clear waters where you can still clearly see the corals and fish in the 30 feet we dropped anchor in. We had repeatedly called the Guarda Frontera through the night as we approached Cuba, but raised no response. As we closed Maria La Gorda the next morning I continued to call the Guarda. Hearing nothing I then put out a call for ‘Any Vessel’ and got a response from the English sailing boat Katinka, who informed us that our lat/long was good but that there was no marina, just an anchorage. We dropped anchor, tried to raise the officials one more time and then gave up. It was 0800 hours, 29th April 2008, 245 nautical miles from Grand Cayman.
Katinka arrived back in the anchorage and told us to expect a ‘boat load’ of officials at any time, and so we relaxed and waited. When we dropped our anchor the water was like a mirror, by the time the dive boat arrived with the 8 (possibly 9, I can’t clearly remember) officials the surface had picked up to quite a chop, so much so that we had to remove our solar panel in order for the dive boat to come alongside safely and disgorge it’s cargo of ‘officials’ on to our boat. Not knowing quite what to expect, from the various information we had been able to garner prior to heading to Cuba, I had decided it might be prudent to ply them with home-made chocolate cake and had got the oven on as soon as we had dropped anchor. We had read all sorts of things about people arriving in Cuba and being turned away, straight back out to sea - our anchor was down and I wanted it to stay that way for at least 24 hours!
So we had, the ‘Resort’ manager - a lovely lady who had come along as translator and general organiser. A doctor, female, to make sure that Paul and I were free of scurvy and the pox! An Agricultural Advisor, to check every bean, lentil and grain of rice on board, along with vegetables, fruit and anything else edible that he might potentially be able to confiscate for himself! A vet, a Port Captain, a Custom’s Agent with a lovely drug dog, and a security guard to make sure that we didn’t try and give anything nice to any of the officials. By now the boat had a good rock on with the building chop and I was starting to get a little concerned about how the dive boat was going to get back alongside us to remove Tom Cobley and all without clouting and damaging us, when the first of our officials started to feel sea-sick. Small mercies eh? Within 15/20 minutes most of them were ready to part with their breakfasts and my fudge brownies (all of which were devoured in record time) and were quite happy to leave without too much fuss - although we were left with a mountain of paperwork, and instructions to head ashore within the next 10 minutes to pay various officials, various amounts of money.
They returned ashore and we followed to a ‘wet landing’ Cuba is expensive to check into - all those officials! Outside of Guatemala it’s the most expensive place we’ve checked into. The resort was much like any other dive resort I’ve been too - we were initially surprised to see so many Americans there, and on talking to them, discovered that they leave the States for somewhere like Cayman or Cancun and then come to Cuba - where they don’t stamp anyone’s passport - and then return to the USA the same way. We spent four relaxing days there doing very little and then left for Havana on 4th May, my birthday.
The trip to Havana was approximately 260 nautical miles (as the crow flies) and we anticipated around 2 to 3 days with the current we expected to get once we had rounded the south west peninsula. It was, once again, however, all going to be to wind. Our first 24 hours saw us make 42 miles!!!! This was going to be a pain. Day 2 saw us in the Florida Straits, close to Cuba, tacking across the shipping lanes and a line wrapped around our prop! We argued who would go over the side mid ocean to cut it off. My argument was that I should as if anything went wrong, Paul was more able to haul me back aboard than I would be able to him, but in the end he won out with, ‘if I let you do that and something awful happened, your Mother would NEVER forgive me.‘ We had to dump all sail and even then were unable to stop the boat but Paul got into the deep blue, wearing a harness and line that I gripped as if his life depended on it! In the end it was all very easy and he was back on board in less than 15 minutes, warmed up, dried off, we got the sails back up and continued on our very frustrating way. We were sailing well - from side to side!!! In the first three days (72 hours) we had sailed 269 miles and had actually made 76 in the direction we wanted to go!! By day 4 the wind altered slightly making it even harder to make Havana, but giving us a good course for Key West, Florida - my mind was made up - I just had to convince Paul that Havana was always going to be there. So we agreed, altered course for Key West putting us on a tack crossing just east of the shipping lanes due west of Havana. It was late afternoon, I’m contemplating the culinary delights I’m going to conjure up from the galley now that we are on an easier tack, when my ‘bilge-a-phobia’ creeps up on me and I take a peek. We are FULL TO THE TOP - the worst I have ever seen it. So much so that I get out my biggest saucepan and start bailing. Paul as usual is all casual and relaxed - which personally I find hugely irritating when the boat’s filling up with water! I emptied the majority of the bilge and started searching for potential leak sources. I’d had my suspicions regarding the stern gland since we (that’s Paul) repacked it in Colombia and concentrated my search there. It was dripping as it should be, but then, in the torch beam I saw a ‘gush’ of water run in along the side. Not knowing where this could be coming from I handed over to Paul who traced it back to the starboard cockpit locker and the cockpit drain. We opened the locker and I was horrified to see the remnants of the pipe hanging on by a corroded jubilee clip. The pipe split and water gushing through as we pounded - for once it was daylight! We tacked to get the inlet above the waterline and then Paul set about temporary measures - we didn’t have a piece of pipe of sufficient length to replace the rotted piece so Paul turned it around, the opposite end still in reasonably good condition and then jammed a bung into the open end. - giving me something else to examine every 30 seconds for the next 24 hours!!!! While this was on going we had a little encounter with two container ships zeroing in on us as they exited the eastbound shipping lane. Calling them both as Merchant Vessels at position, etc, etc, I informed them that we were undertaking repairs to our vessel and were unable to alter our course and would they please take avoiding action. Neither responded, and so on Paul’s advice I issued a Securite to which the US Coast Guard responded, but neither of the vessels, then much to my relief one made an abrupt course alteration and passed behind us, the other continued on his collision course and I spilled the main and attempted to bear away behind him while Paul laboured in the starboard locker. Thankfully, at what seemed like the last possible moment, the damn boat seemed to understand the situation and suddenly piled on the revs, passing ahead of us, by not much! 24 hours later we made our way into Key West where we happily dropped our anchor - now all we had to do was get through US Customs and Immigration - we knew it wouldn’t be easy. For the last 24 hours we had had a non-stop fruit/cheese/egg/veg fest. We had stocked up on the above as we expected supplies in Havana to be thin on the ground and so had left Grand Cayman with a full fridge and freezer. Having aborted our trip to Havana we now had a stash of produce that we either had to eat or dump.
We dropped our anchor at Fleming Quay in Key West at 1230 hours, 9th May 2008 and headed ashore to notify Customs and Coast Guard, expecting a full shake-down. Following instructions we telephoned Customs, and, to our amazement were told to call back the following day around mid-day as there was no-one available to check us in!!! We were astonished. Thankfully I asked the officer for his name, made a note of it and said that we would call back. We wandered around Key West, reminiscing about our trip here three years previously when we had been looking for a sail boat and an adventure. The following day we called Customs and Immigration, as instructed at mid-day, and were requested to come to the airport for check-in. Right up to the point where they asked us where we had come from I was going to say Cuba, I fully intended to tell the truth. The question came and all of a sudden I heard myself say Grand Cayman, I think I was more surprised than Paul. Anyway, once again, long story short, I think the officials wanted to get off as much as we wanted to get away and so there was no real probing. They were, I think, a little embarrassed that we had entered the United States of America 24 hours earlier and had been told to check back the next day! Not only that, but when I gave them the name of the officer that had told us to come back the next day, they revealed that it was their boss - the head of Customs and Immigration! So much for 9/11.
And that just about brings us up to date. We’ve been relaxing between replacing pipes and bilge pumps oh, and I forgot, had our diesel polished when 12 hours out of Key West we discovered gallons of salt water in both of our diesel tanks. We think that with the beating of the last 1000 miles we have taken seawater into our fuel tank vents. We found a diesel polisher and spent one night in a marina in Key West - $120-00 for one night!!! We were soon back out an anchor and, the following morning. woke to a lovely surprise. To those of you that know them, we awoke to find Kurt and Agatha and their son and family, anchored right next to us! We really had not expected to see them again since leaving Panama and so were delighted. They are now heading for Virginia where they will be putting their boat on the market, and we for Fort Lauderdale/Fort Pierce and then starting our Atlantic crossing towards Europe.

Apologies for the out-of-date blog. On leaving San Blas we had a 270 mile windward bash to Cartagena in Colombia, but it was well worth it - what a great city. From Cartagena we then had a further 699 mile beat to Grand Cayman which took us eight days/nights, was hard work, in big seas and strong winds, but the boat was great and gave us a pretty smooth ride in the circumstances. Now, having spent a week in Grand Cayman it is time to head out to Cuba. We leave this morning for Maria La Gorda on the southwest corner of the island and expect to arrive around Monday. Once in Cuba I will endeavour to bring the blog up to date! In the meantime there are photos of Cartagena and Grand Cayman in Aphrodite's Album.

CARIBBEAN CRUISING

Our first passage on leaving Colon was a windward bash, in 20 knots in company with David and his friends on ‘Bella’, to the historical town of Portobelo on the ‘Spanish Main.’ The bay of Portobelo was discovered by Christopher Columbus on 2nd November 1502, and in 1586 Portobelo was chosen as the Caribbean transhipment centre because of its magnificent harbour and convenient location. It soon became one of the most important sites for transferring South and Central American riches. From Portobelo tons of gold and silver flowed to the commercial capital of the Spanish empire – Seville. From 1574 to 1702, 45 fleets of galleons were sent forth, none of which carried less than thirty million pesos of riches. The town was highly fortified and much of the fortification still stands today, including the ‘guns of Portobelo’ which are still in their emplacements. The wealth that arrived in Portobelo was a strong draw for pirates, the like of Henry Morgan, who worked the Spanish Main and with an assault troop of 460 men, he sacked the town.

A fascinating place and a fabulous harbour, totally sheltered, we dropped our anchor ‘under the guns of Portobelo’ – literally – next to our friends on Bella who had arrived several hours before us (53 foot power boat!!). The following day we were alerted to problems on board Bella, she was making water and the source of the leak couldn’t be found. A few hours later the problem was contained although the source was still a mystery. Paul and I headed ashore to explore this historic town. At the dinghy landing we met an old American gentleman named Dick who is an ex-cruiser and now allows other cruisers to moor their dinghies at the dock on his waterside property. Dick’s a very interesting man, and along with his wife Pat, has researched and written about much of the history of the area. On realising that we were English and that Paul has a fascination concerning naval history, he dug deep into his sea chest and pulled out original silver pieces of eight and gold dubloons!

The next morning we hauled anchor and continued our windward bash towards the island of Isla Grande, our first Caribbean island. We pulled close in to shore and anchored in 9 feet of water!! A bizarre feeling. Having cruised the Pacific for the last year where we had to make allowances for rise and fall of tide, we had rarely anchored in anything under 30 feet. Now in the Caribbean, the most tide we will encounter is likely to be a foot or less – the advantage of this is that we are much closer to the shore and once we were happy that our anchor was set, we dived in and swam through the shallow, warm, clear turquoise water to the white palm-fringed beach – heaven. Unfortunately the anchorage turned a little rolly and so the next day we bashed on, once again, towards the San Blas archipelago. San Blas comprises 340 coral islands and is very unique. They are home to the indigenous Kuna Indians who have best preserved their culture and traditions out of all the tribes in the Americas. The area is also home to one of the most untouched stretches of virgin rainforest. Each of the inhabited islands has a strict hierarchy of tribal leaders, each village having three ‘Sahilas’ or village chiefs. The Kuna nation is then ruled by three Caciques or high chiefs. When arriving in an anchorage at an inhabited island, it is not unusual to be invited ashore to meet the village chiefs and part with some dollars! This has yet to happen to us! And so after beating up and around Punta San Blas, we arrived at our first San Blas island – Chichimi. The island is surrounded by reef and therefore, even on the windward side where we anchored, the water is calm. The sound of the waves crashing on the outer reef at night is a little disconcerting however, but the entry through the reef into the lagoon was pretty easy and once inside we dropped our anchor in crystal clear water and were immediately approached by a group of Kuna women in their dug-out canoe, selling Mola’s. These are beautiful appliqué squares, varying in size, some sewn into shirts or blouses, others that make gorgeous cushion covers and wall hangings. They are very intricate and are made by sewing and cutting different layers of colourful cloth. Every mola is different and they usually depict forms of bird, animal or marine life. Molas are Panama’s most famous handicraft, are very beautiful and very difficult not to buy – now I just have to learn to say ‘no gracias’ – a boat this size can only have so many cushions! Tomorrow we head out for the East Lemon Cays where we are hoping to join our friends Kurt and Agatha on Maverick, a couple we first sailed with in Mexico over a year ago. We will then cruise down through the archipelago and then have a 200 mile windward bash to Cartagena in Colombia before heading north west towards Cuba, some time towards the end of March. A cruising boat could easily spend a year in the San Blas alone, unfortunately our schedule only allows for 2 to 3 weeks – we will have to come back on a future cruise!?

NEW YEAR, NEW OCEAN

My apologies for the poor layout of this entry. I have just spent 15 minutes putting in the carriage returns etc, where they are required only to watch it revert back to this! Hope you can make sense of it because I'm not doing it again!

Following a lovely Christmas and New Year with Daryl and his girlfriend Maria, who treated us to the luxury of a Marriott hotel for New Year’s Eve, things in Panama took a definite down-turn. In fact, I am/was so fed up with it all that I am just going to attach one document here that explains most of what happened – I don’t want to think about it anymore - it’s now a problem for Visa – but, in a nutshell, this is what happened, outlined in a letter to Visa and various attachments:

BACKGROUND TO CHARGE ON VISA ACCOUNT
CHARGE FOR £832-11 ON 8TH FEBRUARY 2008, BALBOA, PANAMA

Dear Sirs

Further to a telephone conversation today with Disputes, I asked, due to our poor Skype connection if I could e-mail my details regarding what I consider to be an overcharge on my account, and confirm, in writing, that I am disputing it. The charge has been levied by the ACP – the Panama Canal Authority. I have tried to take up this matter with them but we have reached an impasse and I would ask that you dispute it further on my behalf.

I will try and keep this information as concise as possible.

When you arrange your Panama Canal transit by Visa, you authorise a payment for your transit – in our case $600-00 and they note a buffer of $850-00. They are not allowed to take money from this buffer without contacting me first with their intention and explaining why they feel a fine is necessary.

In my case, they neither contacted me to seek my consent, or kept within the buffer limit. Not only did I not consent to this over-charge, I dispute that it is payable at all.

In brief, when you transit the Panama Canal, a boat our size (a small one!) is assigned a Transit Advisor, these are people who work for the Canal in another capacity but for overtime act as a ‘pilot’ on our boat, instructing us on speed, direction etc. They are trained for this duty. They basically board your boat and take control of it for the day, making all decisions to which we the owner’s and our line-handlers respond.

A bit of background. All sailing vessels have to sign paperwork acknowledging that they can reach a speed of 8 knots. Everyone signs this otherwise you would not be allowed to use the canal. The canal authority knows that most sailing boats can’t engine at 8 knots and are happy if you maintain 6. This means that on a South to North transit (Pacific Ocean to Atlantic Ocean) (as ours was), you generally collect your Transit Advisor at around 0800 hours and make your way to the first three locks, the Miraflores and the Pedro Miguel. Once you are through these locks you then cross the Gatun Lake and, on arriving at the other side, you go through what they call ‘down-locking’ and eventually end up in the Atlantic. Most sailing boats are scheduled to either spend a night in the Lake at the Gatun Locks, or to down-lock sometime between 1600 and 1800 hours.

On the day of our Transit our Advisor informed us that we would be down-locking through the Gatun locks at 1600 hours and so we were happy that we would have plenty of time. This is a very relevant fact.

Having gone through the first set of locks we headed into the Culebra cut and our alternator belt snapped. At the time this happened an explosives barge working for the canal appeared behind us and our Transit Advisor decided that we should tie alongside while my husband fixed our belt. This took 15 minutes and we were back under our own power and ready to cast off. Our Advisor decided that we should stay with the barge until we reached a place called Gamboa as this is where the barge was heading so we should go along with us. OUR TOTAL TIME TO FIX OUR BELT WAS 15 MINUTES. You will see the relevance of this a little later on.

So, we dropped off the explosives barge and continued on our way, making between 6 and 6.5 knots as instructed by our Transit Advisor.

At around 1330 hours, following a call on his radio, I don’t know who from, our Transit Advisor consulted his paperwork and informed us that he had made a mistake and that we had a problem. He had mis-read our lock EXIT time for our lock ENTRY time, and only now did he realise that our lock entry time was 1400 hours – it was obvious to us all that the speed he had asked us to proceed at was not going to get us there in time, he didn’t however ask us to increase our speed. He explained to us that the reason he had made this mistake as that it was highly unusual for a sailing boat to be given a locking down time anywhere before 1600 hours and so he had narrowed in on the 1600 hours time on his transit schedule and not realised that this was our exit time, as this was a perfectly normal ENTRY time. In an e-mail I have had from him in the process of my disputing these charges, he almost admits to this, but obviously is by that time very concerned for his job and his future with the ACP and is now no longer so forthcoming. You have to understand that working for the Panama Canal is a highly prized job – on average they make around $150,000-00 a year where most other Panamanians are making around $400-00 a month. He’s not going to jeopardise that.

We arrived at the lock at 1545 hours (which was right on time for what we thought was going to be a 1600 hours down-lock) and were informed that we would be staying in the lake overnight. This was not unusual. We had already transitted the canal three times previously acting as line handlers on friends’ boats and were pretty au-fait with how the system worked. On two of our previous transits, the boats we were on actually made a slower passage than us and remained in the Lake overnight and then proceeded to down-lock the next day. Neither boat was charged delay – both boats had signed the 8 knot speed clause, neither boat was able to attain that speed.

The following day we down-locked and arrived in the Atlantic.

A few days later we came into Shelter Bay marina for a week in order to prepare for our crossing to Florida. On arrival at the marina I signed into my Visa account to check the balance and make a payment. I was horrified when I saw that the Panama Canal Authority had deducted $1575-00 from my account without my permission. I phoned them immediately and they said they were very sorry they had tried to contact me but as they had no contact details they had gone ahead and made the charge. THIS IS NOT TRUE, when you complete the paperwork you fill out a section of contact details, and for me (as it is with most sailors) I gave my e-mail address – there was no e-mail from the ACP. They then explained to me that as we had been late for our down-locking they had charged delay fees.

This is my situation now:

I DIDN’T AUTHORIZE THE CHARGE TO MY CARD and they failed to contact me in the manner I had indicated on our paperwork.

Even if I had authorized the amount, they were never allowed to take more than $1450-00, as it is they took $1575-00. ($600-00 Transit Fee and $850-00 buffer)

I have been disputing this charge for a week with the Canal Billings office and they have finally told me that they have no intention of refunding my funds.

Had our Transit Advisor not made a mistake in the mis-reading of his paperwork, we would not have this problem now. Naturally he isn’t admitting to this any longer for reasons of job preservation. But, this is the crux of the issue.

You will note in the e-mails that have gone back and forth from myself to payments that initially they were trying to blame ‘engine problems,’ until I pointed out that we DID NOT have engine problems just a broken belt which was fixed in 15 minutes and did not impede our ability.

I think that perhaps the easiest thing to do here is for me to attach the string of e-mails for your information.

I really do apologise if this appears to be a long convoluted explanation and I hope that it makes sense to you.

Firstly, my initial e-mail to the ACP Billing’s Office

SIN 6004022
Dear Sirs
I am writing to clarify the situation regarding charges for my transit on 04 February 2008. I have spoken to Collections who have given me a breakdown of our transit charges, and am astonished to find that we have been penalised for Transit Delay. The transit on our own boat was our fourth. On each previous occasion we arrived at Gatun Lake, or the locks between 1600 and 1730 hours. On the day of our transit, we arrived at the locks at 1530 hours and were informed that we would be staying overnight in the lake.
We logged our transit – in our ship’s Log and on a chart, and there are a number of discrepancies with the information given to me my the Collectors Office.
We picked up our Transit Advisor – Elvir Macmillan - at 0805 hours and went into the first lock at 0905 hours.
We exited Pedro Miguel lock at 1105 hours and proceeded through the Culebra Cut. In the Culebra Cut our alternator belt snapped and we had to stop engine for 15 minutes. At the time we had an explosives barge behind us and our Advisor requested that the barge take us alongside. We did not request their assistance, and had they not been there, would have anchored briefly, changed the belt and continued. However, we were taken alongside at 1205, our belt was replaced in 10 minutes and we were ready to proceed under our own power but our Transit Advisor decided that we ‘might as well stay with the barge’ until we got to Gamboa and cast off there. We cast off at 1245 hours – a total time alongside of 40 minutes.
I would like to make the point here that this is not a complaint about our Advisor, we were very pleased with the professionalism and enjoyed our day with him very much.
We made a good passage through the Lake and were told by our Transit Advisor that we were scheduled for down-locking at the Gatun Locks at 1600 hours. He was very pleased with our progress. However, at approximately 1330 hours our Advisor noted that he had made a mistake regarding our down-locking time and that we were in fact scheduled to down-lock at 1400, EXITING the locks at 1600 hours. He informed us that there must have been a mistake in our scheduled down-lock time as he considered that even at a speed of 8 knots, it would have been impossible to have reached the first of the Gatun Locks by 1400 hours taking into consideration our exit time from the Pedro San Miguel lock, the distance to travel to the first Gatun Lock and a speed of 8 knots
We were all very pleased with our progress and were surprised that when we arrived at the Gatun Locks at 1530 hours, that we were not going to down lock at 1600 hours. The Lock Master confirmed that 1600 hours was the time of or EXIT, once again, something our Advisor felt was a mistake. When this mistake became evident we discussed with our Advisor whether there would be penalties levied against us. He stated that in his opinion we had had a very good transit, making good speed, that he felt our down-lock time had been a scheduling error and that as such there would be no excess charges.
Regardless of this we spent a very pleasant night in the Gatun Lake (as on our previous transits) and proceeded with our down lock the following day.
Could you please investigate the extra charges that have been levied against us and explain to me why it is that we have been charged delay when our scheduled down-lock time was, firstly mis-understood by our Transit Advisor, and secondly, impossible to meet. Can you please explain to me why it is that although we made better time between the locks than two of the previous vessels we transitted on, we have been so heavily penalised, when they were not? I can understand and accept paying a towing fee for the time we spent alongside the barge. The amount of time we were alongside however was not an hour and a half, but 40 minutes.
I would ask that in the light of this information you might review these excess charges. I look forward to your reply.
Best regards
Elizabeth Hanson,S/V Aphrodite
Copy for information: Elvir Macmillan, Transit Advisor
ACP RESPONSE
Good day Ms. Hanson, in reference to your northbound transit on February 4, 2008, our records indicates the following:
1. Your arrived Miraflores locks at 0859 and cleared at 1002
2. Arrived Pedro Miguel locks at 1017 and cleared at 1050.
3. At 1200 we received the report of the engine problem, while passing by Cascada reach and that the tugboat Chame II was already assisting.
4. At 1240 we received the report you were at Gamboa, the engine was fixed and was proceeding with the transit at a maximum speed of 6 knots. We will like to point out the Panama Canal Authority require a minimum full ahead speed of 8 knots.
5. Passing Buoy 25 at 1500.
The times could be a bit different from your log. Our system records the Panama Canal Authority official time, which is the official local time.
On your previous transits you were probably scheduled to remain at Gatun Lake, but for this transit, you were schedule to lock down with N-01 who had as schedule wall time of 1430 and an entering time of about 1500. This schedule was perfectly accomplishable, if not for the engine breakdown experienced during the transit and the maximum full ahead speed of 6 knots. The levy for the transit delay is based of the previous facts.
On the tugboat, she was not schedule for this assistance and the charge is not for the time that you were alongside the tug only, also includes the time the tugboat need to reposition to the point before she got diverted.
Please, if you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact us.
Best regards,
Ronaldo E. Achon
Gerente Interino, Sección de Tráfico Marítimo y Arqueo
My response
Estimado Senor Achon Thank you for your quick response to my enquiry regarding extra charges for our transit. I would like to clarify the reason we did not proceed through the Lake to the Gatun Locks at a speed of 8 knots. It was not because of an engine problem. There was no problem with our engine, the problem was that our alternator belt snapped and took 15 minutes to replace and we were very fortunate that the barge was able to assist. Within 15 minutes of the belt breaking, repair had been made we were underway using our own engine and able to proceed unassisted, however, our Transit Advisor decided that we should stay alongside the barge until we reached Gamboa. We took his advice as we didn't realise that there would be such a large charge for this service. Following the repair of our belt, we were still able to make good time but our Advisor told us to maintain a passage speed of between 6 and 6.5 knots as he had read on his schedule that we were to enter the first 'down-lock' at 4.00 p.m. and if we were to proceed faster, we would have to wait. We proceeded at the speed requested by our Advisor. At 1.30 p.m. our Advisor checked his paperwork and realised that he had made a mistake and had read our EXIT time as our ENTRY time. By the time he realised his mistake it was too late for us to make the 1400 schedule. I have contacted our Advisor and he has confirmed this error in an e-mail to me. Please advise if you would like me to make a copy available to you. Of the previous transits I have undertaken, the first one was a sailboat that proceeded at 5.5 knots and arrived late for his 1600 hours down lock. He was re-scheduled to a later time of 1800 hours, when we down-locked and passed through without penalty. What I would like you to understand is that the snapping of our alternator belt, which was fixed in 15 minutes, wasn't the cause for our late arrival. The mistake in our down-locking time was the reason. As I stated in my previous e-mail, I think it is entirely fair that we should pay for the assistance given to us by the barge, but I feel it is deeply unfair that we should be penalised so greatly for a mistake made by our Transit Advisor. I would appreciate your opinion on this. Regards, Liz Hanson
ACP RESPONSE
Dear Ms. Hanson, if you do have an e-mail from the transit advisor, please let me have a copy. Making a mistake reading the lockage time is something, but the transit controller is constantly update the time, on every reporting point, meaning that the advisor did not pay attention to the information provided on the radio neither.
We will have to conduct a further research before we can decide on this issue.
Best regards,
Ronaldo E. Achon
Estimado Senor Achon
My apologies for my delay in replying, I lost the wi-fi signal at the marina last night.
As you will see from Mr Macmillan’s e-mail (our Transit Advisor). When he boarded our boat on the morning of the 4th of February, he was expecting that we would be scheduled for down-locking at the Gatun Locks at 1600 hours or later. We introduced ourselves, he checked his paperwork, saw Gatun Locks 1600 hours and set the speed of our passage accordingly. What he didn’t realise until later was that he had mistaken our EXIT time for our ENTRY time.
At around 1330 hours, and I can’t remember if it was following a call on his radio, he checked his paperwork again and realised the mistake and told us. He had read our exit time as our entry time. By 1330 hours it was too late to make the 1400 hour lock. The plan he had for our passage though did indeed get us there in time for a 1600 hour down lock.
I can see that it was an easy mistake to make and we really don’t wish to cause a problem for Mr Macmillan, he was professional, knowledgeable and a pleasure to spend the day with, but neither can we afford to pay the extra charges for an error that was not our fault.
The following is Mr Macmillan’s e-mail:
Paul and Liz, I am sorry to hear you are been penalized. I will enquire on this matter. Usually it is common to reach Gatun anchorage at around 1530hrs. given the the transit time in the morning and an avg. speed of 8kn. with a locking time assigned at 1600hrs. or later. It was surprising for me to hear from transit lockage at 1400hrs. Now then, I dont believe you are been charge for assitance while replacing your belt...it was for safety reasons and to remain secure to the pusher boat was to clear safely that area while awaiting for your engine to cool down. There was no mistake made in terms of lockage time it is just that it was assigned two hours ahead of regular schedules for handlines cruising at avg. 8kn. and commencing transit at 0800hrs. As I said will check with our office on this matter. I dont have the final word on this and my expertise is out in the field to assure the customer a safe transit. This we accomplished.Keep me posted. All the best, E.MacMillan.
I would respectfully request that in the light of the above, you are able to review the situation.
Best regardsLiz HansonS/V Aphrodite
ACP RESPONSE
Good day Ms. Hanson, we understand you were at Gamboa at 1240. You stated that the advisor realized his mistake at 1330. Where was the boat at that time (50 minutes after passing Gamboa)? The distance between Gamboa and Gatun is 21 Nautical Miles, running at 8 Knots that should take about 2.6 hours.
Your lock down time was not 1400, the wall time for the vessel you were locking down with was 1430 and entering the chamber at about 1500. If at 1330 he realized his mistake, why he did not speedup to get to Gatun at 1500?
We will contact Mr. Macmillan for more details.
Regards,
Ronaldo E. Achon
Gerente Interino, Sección de Tráfico Marítimo y Arqueo
MY RESPONSE
Estimado Senor Achon Thank you for your response. I really don't know the answer to your questions, we just followed Mr Macmillan's advice. I am sure that when you contact him he will be able to resolve the matter for us. I will await your reply. Best regards, Liz Hanson
ACP RESPONSE
Estimada Sra. Hanson, we already spoke with Mr. Macmillan. With the information provided by him, we believe, that the charges are valid.
Regards,
Ronaldo E. Achon
I really don’t believe that these charges are valid. As per all transit’s through the canal, we followed the advice of our Transit Advisor, he got it wrong and now we are being penalised.
I’m not sure how you/we proceed in such a matter. As I have stated all along, I am obviously willing to pay for our transit, and was willing to pay for the tow, but am now re-considering that.
Would please let me know what possible re-course we may have and if we can stop this charge.
My apologies for the length of this e-mail, I wasn’t quite sure of any other way of explaining it!
There is one other thing, early in January we had a different problem with the ACP and I am wondering if one has reflected on the other. My husband say’s I am being neurotic!!! But I wonder?
The details are best explained in the following, which is a copy of an e-mail and one or our witness statements
Dear Elvir
Many thanks for your continued offer of support. I have to say I feel so upset as this is the second problem we have had with the ACP. I've attached a document that explains what happened to us in January when an ACP tug boat pulled up our anchor on the 2nd of January, when we were ashore. We have a number of statement's all of which have been submitted to a Mr Hogan. What the statement doesn't explain is that the buoy they pulled up had lots of little anchor symbols on it and the name of our boat, but this didn't stop them. As a result we had a meeting with the ACP with Rene Horos and Rodolfo Hogan. They promised to investigate and accepted responsibility for damage. After six weeks and numerous e-mails, including photographs of the damage, photographs of the guy who pulled up our anchor (a Senor Quintero) photographs of our anchor buoy, and promises that an inquiry would take place and that our damage would be fixed, we have heard nothing. Just over a week ago, having submitted repair costs of approximately $1,500-00 I still heard nothing and so set a deadline for a response. What we have to do is haul-out our boat so that we can remove our windvane and take it to a workshop where a jointing pin can be removed by a hydraulic press so that the gears can be re-meshed. Without this work we have no windvane and it is rather vital to us so this is something else it would seem we are going to have to find money to fix. Anyway, the response didn't happen and so I said that I would write to the Chairman of ACP. Then we get fined for our Canal Transit!!?? I am so at a loss as to what to think. If there is anything you can do on our behalf, then obviously we would be very grateful, but I appreciate your position and know it can't be easy. I can make copies of all statements and photos to you, should you think it would be of any use, I expect not. I am sorry that this has turned into a saga and even more sorry that with both these incidents our memories of Panama will not be happy ones. Thanks again and best regards, Liz and PaulWITNESS STATEMENT
INCIDENT WITH ACP SECURITY AND SAILING VESSEL APHRODITE IN LA PLAYITA ANCHORAGE, 2ND JANUARY 2008 STATEMENT FROM CAPTAIN DAVID JANSSENS/V SUCRE I was in my cockpit on the afternoon of the 2nd of January 2008 when I heard a lot of shouting from a boat nearby. The boat was Liberty Call, and when I looked I noted that he was shouting at an SCP Security vessel that was attempting to hook the yellow anchor buoy that belonged to the sailing boat Aphrodite. The Captain of Liberty Call was waving his arms and shouting 'No, no.' The ACP guys looked across at Liberty Call and then proceeded to pull up the yellow anchor buoy. As soon as the anchor buoy had been pulled up Aphrodite started to drift back very rapidly as it was a very windy day. The man on the ACP boat realised what he had done and threw the anchor buoy overboard, back into the water. In the meantime I could see that Aphrodite was going to hit Liberty Call and I therefore jumped in my dinghy to go and help.
A number of other people from other boats had also seen what had happened and were also in their dinghy's rushing to help. Unfortunately Aphrodite struck Liberty Call and then the wind vane steering on Aphrodite became entangled around the bow pulpit and anchor chain on Liberty Call. I was trying to unwrap the chain from around the wind vane as the anchorage was very 'choppy' that due due to the high winds, and every time the boats rolled the strain of the anchor chain around the wind vane steering was pulling the mechanism apart. At this point I injured my arm. The damaged looked very bad and I didn't think it would be possible to fix the wind vane. The impact also smashed the stern light on Aphrodite. I also noticed that the stainless steel pulpit on Liberty Call was damaged. We managed to free Aphrodite from Liberty Call and then a number of epople boarded Aphrodite and started the engine in order to re-anchor the boat. Davaljanssen@hotmail.com
Back to my letter to Visa
I look forward to receiving your thoughts and advice on the matter of these charges. Can you withdraw the payment while it is in dispute? I’ve always found that he who has the money has the power!!
For information, it is almost impossible to get a phone call out of here and my only means of communication is e-mail. Could you therefore please respond to me by e-mail? Many thanks for your time. I look forward to receiving your advice.
Best regards
Elizabeth Hanson
So, that sums up the remainder of our time in Panama.
It was therefore with a mixture of relief tinged with much sadness that we sailed out of Shelter Bay marina in Colon on the 19th of February and headed east for the beautiful islands of San Blas. Relief, to be moving on from Panama, but deep sadness to be leaving our very good friend and sailing ‘buddy’ for the last 10 months, Daryl, behind. This is where our roads part – ours to cross the Caribbean and head back ultimately to Europe, his to voyage out across the Pacific Ocean to French Polynesia, Hawaii and eventually back to his home town of San Francisco. It’s been great matey, lifelong memories, we’ll miss you very much and look forward to seeing you again somewhere. Bon voyage xx
AND SO, CARIBBEAN CRUISING

Our first passage on leaving Colon was a windward bash, in 20 knots in company with David and his friends on ‘Bella’, to the historical town of Portobelo on the ‘Spanish Main.’ The bay of Portobelo was discovered by Christopher Columbus on 2nd November 1502, and in 1586 Portobelo was chosen as the Caribbean transhipment centre because of its magnificent harbour and convenient location. It soon became one of the most important sites for transferring South and Central American riches. From Portobelo tons of gold and silver flowed to the commercial capital of the Spanish empire – Seville. From 1574 to 1702, 45 fleets of galleons were sent forth, none of which carried less than thirty million pesos of riches. The town was highly fortified and much of the fortification still stands today, including the ‘guns of Portobelo’ which are still in their emplacements. The wealth that arrived in Portobelo was a strong draw for pirates, the like of Henry Morgan, who worked the Spanish Main and with an assault troop of 460 men, he sacked the town.

A fascinating place and a fabulous harbour, totally sheltered, we dropped our anchor ‘under the guns of Portobelo’ – literally – next to our friends on Bella who had arrived several hours before us (53 foot power boat!!). The following day we were alerted to problems on board Bella, she was making water and the source of the leak couldn’t be found. A few hours later the problem was contained although the source was still a mystery. Paul and I headed ashore to explore this historic town. At the dinghy landing we met an old American gentleman named Dick who is an ex-cruiser and now allows other cruisers to moor their dinghies at the dock on his waterside property. Dick’s a very interesting man, and along with his wife Pat, has researched and written about much of the history of the area. On realising that we were English and that Paul has a fascination concerning naval history, he dug deep into his sea chest and pulled out original silver pieces of eight and gold dubloons!

The next morning we hauled anchor and continued our windward bash towards the island of Isla Grande, our first Caribbean island. We pulled close in to shore and anchored in 9 feet of water!! A bizarre feeling. Having cruised the Pacific for the last year where we had to make allowances for rise and fall of tide, we had rarely anchored in anything under 30 feet. Now in the Caribbean, the most tide we will encounter is likely to be a foot or less – the advantage of this is that we are much closer to the shore and once we were happy that our anchor was set, we dived in and swam through the shallow, warm, clear turquoise water to the white palm-fringed beach – heaven. Unfortunately the anchorage turned a little rolly and so the next day we bashed on, once again, towards the San Blas archipelago. San Blas comprises 340 coral islands and is very unique. They are home to the indigenous Kuna Indians who have best preserved their culture and traditions out of all the tribes in the Americas. The area is also home to one of the most untouched stretches of virgin rainforest. Each of the inhabited islands has a strict hierarchy of tribal leaders, each village having three ‘Sahilas’ or village chiefs. The Kuna nation is then ruled by three Caciques or high chiefs. When arriving in an anchorage at an inhabited island, it is not unusual to be invited ashore to meet the village chiefs and part with some dollars! This has yet to happen to us! And so after beating up and around Punta San Blas, we arrived at our first San Blas island – Chichimi. The island is surrounded by reef and therefore, even on the windward side where we anchored, the water is calm. The sound of the waves crashing on the outer reef at night is a little disconcerting however, but the entry through the reef into the lagoon was pretty easy and once inside we dropped our anchor in crystal clear water and were immediately approached by a group of Kuna women in their dug-out canoe, selling Mola’s. These are beautiful appliqué squares, varying in size, some sewn into shirts or blouses, others that make gorgeous cushion covers and wall hangings. They are very intricate and are made by sewing and cutting different layers of colourful cloth. Every mola is different and they usually depict forms of bird, animal or marine life. Molas are Panama’s most famous handicraft, are very beautiful and very difficult not to buy – now I just have to learn to say ‘no gracias’ – a boat this size can only have so many cushions! Tomorrow we head out for the East Lemon Cays where we are hoping to join our friends Kurt and Agatha on Maverick, a couple we first sailed with in Mexico over a year ago. We will then cruise down through the archipelago and then have a 200 mile windward bash to Cartagena in Colombia before heading north west towards Cuba, some time towards the end of March. A cruising boat could easily spend a year in the San Blas alone, unfortunately our schedule only allows for 2 to 3 weeks – we will have to come back on a future cruise!?

08 NOVEMBER 2007 - 22 DECEMBER

SO, WHERE ARE WE? - OH YES, PARADISE


Photos: Aphrodite’s Album

Isla Parga
Western Panamanian islands
Isla Coiba and Santa Catalina
On passage from Isla Jicaron
Islas Perlas to Panama


And we truly were. We dropped our anchor at Isla Parida by Isla Gamez. The sun was shining the water crystal clear and turquoise, the bleach-white sandy beaches beckoned from under the swaying palms - gorgeous - just what we signed up for 18 months ago. Liberty Call had arrived 24 hours earlier and Second Wind were still around. That was it apart from fishing pangas. There is NOTHING in the Western Panamanian islands - no shops, no WI-FI, no bar, no restaurant, nothing but gorgeous islands with excellent snorkelling. A large part of the islands form a National Park and the largest of the islands, Coiba, is home to a Ranger station housing around 30 Rangers who patrol the islands. Once you get to the Las Secas islands you are ‘in the park’ and will be approached to pay $10 per person for an 8 day stay. We actually stayed around 5/6 weeks and only ever paid once although the guys used to come and see us regularly for a chat! When paying, don’t expect a receipt. They will approach you in an anchorage and take your money and may ask for a copy of your boat’s registration, but they won’t give you a receipt. This isn’t a problem. The first time they came to us we were at Briancanco and they told us that we had to go to Coiba to pay. We asked if we could pay them as Coiba is almost the most easterly of the islands and some way away. They said no, we had to go to Coiba. They next day they returned to Briancanco and took our money - no problem! However, I digress, we are still in Isla Parida where we make the acquaintance of Carlos when he taps on our boat early one morning to see if we would like to buy fish and lobster. During the time we spent in Isla Parida - the boys - Daryl and Paul went fishing with Carlos and his buddies, leaving at 5.30 a.m. one morning, in the hope of learning some ‘age old’ methods of catching or baiting that would improve our hit rate. They were somewhat surprised to find that there was no equipment in the panga when they set off into the rainy sunrise. Soaked and shivering they finally arrived at a spot where Carlos said they would catch fish. He then leaned over the side of his panga and proceeded to haul in his net set the previous day!!! So, no new fishing skills, bait setting tricks, AND, NO FISH! The nets were empty except for rays, which were all released. Daryl actually went lobster catching with these guys also one wet cold rainy morning. It sounds like we were back into bad weather but generally it was gorgeous. Just cold and wet early in the morning on fishing days. Anyway, back to Daryl and his lobstering - he spent the entire morning diving in and out of the panga, until, finally exhausted, he flopped back into the boat having caught ZERO lobsters!!! Bless! Fortunately for us the local guys had bagged around 80 to 100 and at three for $5-00 we all ate lobster that night.

So, we sailed out of Parida/Gamez on the 13th of November, and continued to sail the whole day, (for you non-sailors reading this, I mention this as of the 3,600 miles we have under our keel so far, at least 40 percent of them have been under engine - possibly more) arriving at the Las Secas Islands. As we made our approach into the bay at Isla Cavada, two 40 foot whales surfaced just feet from our boat, dived under the boat and re-appeared just an arms stretch from the port side they continued to swim around us, blowing and diving, putting on the most amazing show in close quarters. To be honest, a little too close for me. When the pair of them ploughed head on for our stern I finally chickened out and started the engine, as I had decided it might possibly dissuade them from ramming us! As it turns out I missed the most spectacular whale activity possibly of my life. Just feet away, Paul tells me, they dived, their flukes spectacular, right off our stern. We motored into the cove at Cavada. This particular island is privately owned and is home to a very expensive ‘eco’ resort. The private property, no landing signs could only be read close up, well, that was our excuse, but we couldn’t really wander any further inland and so the following day we dropped down to Isla Pargo (still in the Las Secas chain) and found our first excellent snorkelling. The anchorage was great on the north side of Pargo between the two smaller islands. The best snorkelling (and it was good) was all around the westerly of the two small islands. There was also a couple of good hikes to be had here. A few days later we sailed, once gain, to the Islas Contreras chain, and anchored in Briancanco. Since leaving Parida, we hadn’t seen another boat. En route to Briancanco I caught my first Dorado (aka Mahi-mahi, Dolphin (not flipper!)) It wasn’t huge but it tasted great! Briancanco is where we first made the acquaintance of Willis and his colleagues from the Park Rangers office. It’s also about where Paul (smoker for 40+ years) ran out of cigarettes - remember, no shops, bars, restaurants = no cigarettes. Bless, the first day he took out all the nubs of cigarettes from the trash (luckily for him there were many as you can’t leave trash in any of the Western Panamanian islands) picked out the remnants of tobacco, dug out his pipe and then tried to ration himself. Just to complete the enforced ‘no-smoking’ story, four days later I found a cigar which kept him going for almost 24 hours. Anyway, back to Briancanco - EXCELLENT - snorkelling at the western headland of the bay, but all around the western side of the bay there was great coral and fish. From Briancanco we engined across to Isla Uva - and just after we set our anchor our alternator belt shredded itself - no worry - we had plenty of spares.

I think I mentioned before that in Golfito we had found a ‘better fitting’ alternator belt - number 15455 (a number that will now live in my memory for ever) and so, once we had established that this was the best fit belt we could find I headed out to the auto shop to buy several spares - as our belts are inclined to shred around the 50 hour mark. Not wishing to be too boring, so in brief, Aphrodite originally had a dynamo which we replaced with an alternator and it is fractionally out of alignment and hence we get through alternator belts. Anyway, not a problem because I just bought six 15445’s which should keep us going for quite some time. (Note the mistake?) No I didn’t either until we were anchored in Uva, miles from anywhere and trying vainly to fit the new belt the 15445 in place of the now stripped old belt - 15455. Merd!! Daryl, (who is a bit like sailing with West Marine) has two emergency ‘build your own belt’ kits, unfortunately neither of which worked adequately. If the issue was power only it wouldn’t have been such a problem, but our alternator belt also drives our engine cooling pump so, no belt, no engine, no shop, no belt. We decide after much thought that we actually now have to try and sail back, at least to Isla Parida, where we may be lucky and get a panga or fishing boat to the mainland. To continue east is taking us further away from any possibility of resolving our latest little difficulty. So we say our goodbyes to Daryl who is sailing to Coiba and head out on a very light breeze to retrace our tracks to Parida. Two hours (maybe three) later we have at least one knot of wind and are about 600 yards away from Daryl who is still at anchor! But we are getting a good push now from the tide - straight towards rocks. This is the point at which we gybe the cruising Shute but with so little wind, end up with a wrap. Paul tries to rejoin the DIY belt and Daryl (now up anchored) stands by. At this point the Ranger boat arrives but is in a emergency and so is not able to tow us but are certain that it would be better for us to proceed to Coiba rather than heading back to Parida. It is at this point that Ranger Rodriguez calls across to Paul ‘does he want cigarettes’ Paul, thrilled, shouts yes please and I head below to get the fish landing net for the handover. Rodriguez then shouts across to Paul ‘do you want cigars’ Paul, as long as it has nicotine in, would take a plant at this point (this is where he has now been tobacco-less for 5 days and I drop my alternator belt bombshell - he did remarkably well really. I arrive back on deck with the net to scoop up his much needed ‘injection’ just in time to see the park boat speed off into the distance and over the horizon, leaving Paul aghast and perplexed. Anyway, the wind finally comes back and we have a great sail to Coiba and drop our anchor at the Ranger station anchorage. It’s soon dark but we head in for a look around and are met by Rodriguez, clutching a jiffy bag containing two packs of cigarettes and the five biggest cigars I have ever seen. This little stash cost a staggering $35, but at this point Paul would have probably been prepared to exchange the boat. We were told that there was a mechanical engineer arriving at the island tomorrow and that he may have a belt for us. Sadly this didn’t work out and so it was determined that I would go to the mainland, 50 kilometres away, in a fishing boat.

As luck would have it a tourist panga came to the island later that day and it was agreed that I could head back with them to Santa Catalina from where I should be able to travel inland and find an alternator belt. The ride over was great, around 1 hour 45 minutes on flat seas - the speed was staggering. I arrived in Santa Catalina, a tiny place and set out to find a bed for the night. This thankfully was not too difficult. Although Santa Catalina is a tiny place, one store, one bar (cold beer!!) it is a huge surf spot and so I soon found a surf shack full of twenty-something guys running around semi-naked - it was terrible! It was also the owner’s birthday and a big BBQ and party was planned for that night - all guests invited - well, you have to have some luck! The next day I was up early and on the bus to the nearest town., 2 hours away. It had seven ‘auto type’ stores in which I found one belt! Knowing that this wasn’t sufficient I jumped on another bus for another 2 hours which took me to another much bigger city I now can’t remember the name of, that was so big I had no idea where to start and so got into a taxi and asked him to take me to ‘todo tiendas para auto’s’ I had an hour before I had to catch the bus back to get me back in time to get the next bus back to Santa Catalina. In one hour we went to 9 stores and I managed to find ONE belt (I now had two!) I decided that I would take a couple of belts one size down and a couple that were one size up and hopefully, please God, they would work.
So, clutching my belts, I just make it back to the bus station for my first of two 2 hour bus rides. The first bus is delayed by an accident and I arrive two minutes after my last bus back to Santa Catalina has left so my only option now is a taxi back to Rollo’s place. I had left at 5.00 a.m. that morning and got back just after 6.00 p.m. - knackered. Through a dive instructor living at Rollo’s surf camp - who just happened to be from my home town of Nottingham, England (!!???!!) I was able to get myself a ride back to Coiba the next day in the dive ‘support panga’ along with the cook and accumulated cool boxes and bags of food to support the three day dive trip. That morning, early, I had gone to the one store in Santa Catalina and bought a few supplies. Three thousand cigarettes for Paul, flour, sugar and 36 eggs. The eggs were in cardboard egg trays which were held together with tape. We waded out through the surf to the awaiting panga’s and set off into a dark and threatening sky. Approximately 20 minutes out in building seas and light rain, the engine stops for the first time. (It stopped a further three times but the driver thankfully was able to coax it back to life each time) In the meantime the seas are now HUGE, the rain is driving so hard that I ended up with a badly blood shot eye from the force of the rain in my eyes. Why didn’t you close them? The waves were so big and the panga was slamming so hard into them, over the top of them, down the front of them that you had to keep your eyes open so that you could see the next big one coming and open your mouth in order that your teeth didn’t smash together as the shock shot up through your spine. I was now also soaking wet and FREEZING COLD. My eggs were also soaking wet, or, to be more precise the cardboard trays, which had virtually disintegrated and so I was nursing them on a seat pad and hopelessly trying to hold them together in the soggy cardboard; I was also aware that I had at least one broken egg between my thighs but was determined that somehow I was going to get these dam eggs back to our boat. I had considered hurling them overboard a number of times so that I could free up my hands to hold on, but it had become my mission to get these eggs to Aphrodite, besides, I was now so cold I had no feeling left in either of my hands. Coiba finally came into view three hours after we had left Santa Catalina - I was so relieved I almost cried. They took me alongside where I handed up my precious cargo of (33) eggs to Paul and was then passed up myself - my hands and forearms were so numb I couldn’t pull myself up onto our boat. Neither could I take off my soaking clothes. Paul delighted to see me return but concerned about my condition took me into his arms and said ‘I told you you should have taken a coat!’
In my absence the boy’s (who had now been joined by Trevor on Nakiska) had had two days of the heaviest rain we had in weeks. But the next day, trauma’s forgotten, the sun came out and we headed out to Isla Rancheria. From Rancheria, a few days later we headed over to Bahia Honda where we had been told that we could get fruit and veg, milk etc. and Daryl and Trevor set off for Isla Granito on the east side of Coiba.

We arrived in Bahia Honda and, and before we could even get our anchor down, we were surrounded by children in dug-out canoes selling Grapefruits, bananas, papayas, pineapple, to name but a few, but no onions and I was on a mission for onions, so we launched the dink and headed into the island. This place is home to around 600 people. They are probably around half a mile from the mainland but the mainland is all dense rainforest with not so much as a path, let alone a road. We never did quite work out how the lovely people of this tiny island exist. On coming ashore we were led by two local children, to the tienda. The tienda was smaller than our Head and the proprietor sat there alongside her bottle of bleach and one 10 year old onion - which, in my sorrow for her, I bought! So we now asked our little guides ‘es otro tienda en isla?‘ Oh yes they say and off we skip to the other side of the island where we arrive at a larger, but still very small tienda that does however sell sodas and milk. So stocked up we head back across the island. On our way back I hand out to as many children as I can, packs of paper and pencils. I had nowhere near enough and we returned to the beach looking a little like the pied piper. If we ever do this again I will make sure that we carry more ‘goodies’ to give to these lovely people who were so grateful for a pencil and 10 sheets of paper each. We left Bahia Honda the next day and joined Daryl and Trevor at Isla Granito. WOW. We’d had good snorkelling most places we’d been to in Western Panama. but Isla Granito is special. Here you snorkel with turtles and sharks - OK so they’re only 4 foot white-tipped reef sharks, but they’re still sharks, hundreds/thousands of fantastic fish, lobsters, eels and all in excellent visibility. We could have stayed here for weeks. But we’ve been here now for 4 weeks, still have the rivers to explore on Coiba, before heading off around Punta Mala and onto the Perlas Islands (another hundred or so uninhabited islands) and be in Panama by 22nd December where Maria, Daryl’s partner will be arriving for Christmas and New Year.

We had a wonderful time chasing around the east side of Coiba - watching white-faced monkeys on the shoreline catching and eating crabs, Iguanas sunning themselves on rocks and alligators - yes alligators - on the river banks. There is one quite large river in Coiba which we navigated as far as we possibly could until we became ensnared by the dense mangroves and had to turn around. Floating back down the river on the outgoing tide and therefore with our engine switched off, we were able to watch , without disturbing, a family of ‘white-faced’ monkeys lunching in the trees along the banks of the river. We also found one particularly good waterfall along the shoreline - the sort you could stand under and shower. But time was now marching on and so we decided that it was time to head south to our last stop in Western Panama at the island of Jicaron, before heading east.
We said our goodbye’s to Trevor (and his lovely boat Nakiska which we would like to think we might own next year - watch this space!) and had an unenjoyable passage to Jicaron to find that the anchorage was a surf zone! Both Daryl and I had caught a very large fish each on the way down. Daryl having landed his first meant that our’s got to live another day. We did still have to land him though in order to get the hook and lure out. He gave us a fight and in fact even had Paul sweating for the best part of an hour. You almost don’t want to put it back after that, but Daryl’s fish was more than enough for three people. Oh, I should mention here that had our fridge and freezer been working we would of course have kept the fish. However it, the fridge/freezer, had died at the same time as the alternator belt had snapped and so we’d had not so much as a glass of cold water for some weeks now. Anyway, I digress again. Not much to say about Jicaron actually as we had a particularly uncomfortable and rolly night there, heading out early the next day, December 12th, for Punta Mala and the Las Perlas islands, 200 miles away. The wind was up and down more times than a pair of whore’s draws the next 24 hours and on the nose, so we sailed or motor-sailed for the best part of it, passing the most southerly point of our cruise - 07 deg 06. 08 N at 0010 hours so now it‘s all north-up from here to Europe. At 1600 hours the next day we are 6 miles away from Benao Cove and around 18 miles from Punta Mala. For those of you who don’t know, Punta Mala is another of those potentially ‘bad’ places to be. There is a strong adverse current off PM, coupled with the strong head winds we were now trying to beat into, it didn’t take us long to decide to pull into Benao Cove, which we could still make in daylight. We knew we would have a rolly night as the bay is open to the swell at this time of year, but was well-protected from the north easterly wind. So a rolly night was had and we headed out at 0700 hours the next morning into no wind! But therefore an extremely calm and simple run around Punta Mala. Unfortunately we had to engine the whole way across the Bay of Panama arriving at Isla San Jose, the most south westerly of the Perlas Islands, around 0300 hours. As we are still ‘depth-less’ we stood off until daybreak and then headed into our first Perlas anchorage, dropping in a gorgeous bay alongside Liberty Call.

We spent two days at Isla San Jose before heading north to Isla Gonzalez. The only reason we went into Isla Gonzalez was to try and obtain diesel for Daryl who, following our passage to Perlas, was now running on fumes. The pilot books all state that petrol is available at Gonzalez but don’t mention diesel but we go there anyway. We had a great sail and as soon as our anchors were down Marcel paddled out in his dug-out canoe to see if we wanted gas or diesel. That got organised for the following morning and so we headed to shore in the hope of finding a small bar or café where we could ‘eat out’ for the first time in six weeks. Marcel told us this would be no problem and so we headed into the centre of the village where we were told that Marcel’s wife would make us dinner. I forgot to mention that Daryl, bless him, had gone ashore a little before us and when we washed up on the beach (literally) there he was clutching cold beers. This was the first alcohol any of us had had for almost 6 weeks, and cold at that - BLISS. We headed into one of the village’s stores and it I was perhaps the affect of the alcohol that got us to agree that rice and iguana would be lovely thank you very much. Marcel went off to organise this delightful meal, leaving us in the shop. The store owner pulled out a table and three rickety chairs and asked us to sit - so we did and had another beer. Around this time a lady arrived (whom we assumed to be Marcel’s wife) took us up to the counter and asked us what we wanted to eat so, in our limited Spanish and somewhat confused, we said, rice, beans and perhaps a little fish or chicken? So she buys, or more correctly we buy for her, rice, beans, cooking oil and one or two other things we never see again, and off she goes and we return to our wobbly table and our cold beer. Another 15 minutes pass and in walks a lady with three plates of rice and iguana. Neither Daryl nor I are too happy about eating this poor creature, Paul has no such reservations, but out of politeness (and hunger) we all tuck in. Bellies full we wonder what happened to the beans that we’d bought to go along with this meal when the second lady reappears with three plates of rice, beans and fish. Not wishing to offend anyone, we tuck into our second ‘meal’ with a little more relish than that poor iguana.

The next morning Marcel rows out 30 gallons of diesel in his dug-out canoe with one paddle, we fill up and head out to Contadora - the only fully habited island in the Las Perlas. We had another great sail and anchored on the south side of the island - where we had been told we would probably be able to get our first internet signal in 7 weeks - and headed ashore and into the first restaurant we came to. We had SALAD - mountains of it, we had Filet Mignon and New York Strip steak, we had cold beer, wine, cold water, ice cream - we were in heaven. We were also at the Romantica hotel and restaurant, run by Charlie; affectionately re-named Crazy Charlie by us. Crazy Charlie makes Basil Fawlty look like the world’s finest hotelier. It was worth if just for the entertainment value alone, but the food was gorgeous and not just because we hadn’t had meat for 7 weeks. Returning to the boat that night I found we also had INTERNET - hooray, I was so happy to be able to contact my family, particularly my Mum, pay my visa bill - which turned into a saga that I won’t bore you with other than to say that because of one missed payment during our delay in the islands, they had cut my credit limit from $14,000 to $700 and it couldn’t have happened at a worse time bearing in mind our imminent canal transit and opportunity to purchase parts for our broken fridge, depth gauge, gps, etc., etc. Anyway, undaunted I Google-searched for the Chairman of Tesco Visa and sent him a little letter explaining my feelings regarding the matter. The upshot of which resulted in our credit limit being re-instated some 15 nail-biting days later.

So where were we? Oh yes, Contadora. We had 3 or 4 days there and then a couple of nights at Pacheca before finally heading in to Panama, arriving on December 20th.

Watch this space for our next disaster - you won’t have to wait long, it’s already happened but I can’t write anymore today!! Will try and update by next week. Happy New Year to everyone.