Punta Cocos, Isla del Rey

We spent another couple of days at Pedro Gonzales to visit with friends, Kevin and Georgie of South Moon, and then went off to Espiritu Santo to do some laundry. We had a bit of rain Tuesday evening (eight gallons worth into the tanks), and did laundry at the stream Wednesday morning. We managed to get everything dry and brought in from the clothesline, and John burned garbage on the beach, before the clouds really opened up at 3:15 PM. The weird thing is that these weren't anything like the black evil looking clouds of the day before, and yet they poured and poured rain for an hour until every container we had - buckets, jugs, tanks, mixing bowls - was literally overflowing with water. I was pouring gallons of fresh water into the toilet to give it a nice rinse, there was so much water. The cockpit teak got a nice scrub, and we both had plenty of water for long shower rinses.

Today we moved to the southern end of Isla del Rey. We were originally going into the Rio Cacique anchorage, but the SSW swell changed our minds. It's still a little rolly here and John just put out the rocker stopper, but it will be good for acclimating to the ocean swell again. We've been in too many flat anchorages since leaving Panama City and have lost our sea legs.

Barring any unforeseen adverse weather conditions (like too much local convection) we plan to depart for the Galapagos on Saturday. That will give us 10 days to arrive in the Galapagos by May 25 (and maybe if we arrive on Sunday, the 24th, they won't mind).

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?08,13.876,N,78,54.224,W,Punta%20Cocos,

Isla Pedro Gonzales

After a bit of a bumpy afternoon on Sunday with wind chop from the south, we decided to up anchor yesterday morning to pay another visit to lovely Isla Pedro Gonzales, a mere six nm away. Seeing it again has confirmed our opinion that this is one of the prettiest anchorages in the Perlas islands. It's comfortable as well because we are visiting during ideal conditions of very little breeze, and we're protected from winds coming out of the southern quadrant. There are two other sail boats in the anchorage, and a group of eight men who come in by panga and work during the week. We're not sure what they're up to since they do a lot of sitting in the shade of the palm trees lining the white sand beach. Every once in awhile they spend about 20 minutes clearing dead palm fronds and adding them to a couple of piles back in among the trees. The area they're cleaning up would make a lovely setting for a house. It looks as though either there once was a house on the site, or someone is getting ready to build one. We saw a stone path, carefully collected palm trees sprouting from coconuts, and a smoothed dirt area with hibiscus and a flowering tree planted next to it.

When we visited in January we anchored off the smaller beach to the NW where someone had been clearing the mangroves. Now we see what looks like a small construction site mobile unit and two square canopy tents. And the small shack we could see over on the big beach is gone, with only short foundation stumps marking the spot. Marcel, the panga driver ferrying the workers to and from the village around the point, says a hotel is going up. Whatever is going on, this continues to be the most pristine bay we've seen in Panama, completely free of garbage.

After a cloudy day threatening rain yesterday we woke to clear skies this morning. Thunderheads build during the day over the mainland and drift through the sky giving us occasional breaks of shade, but otherwise it's very hot (mid 80s in the cabin, so it's broiling outside in the sun). The water is 79 degrees but I felt some chilly spots when I cleaned the waterline yesterday. The no-see-ums are active here, but we're taking all the usual steps to try and keep them out of the boat - mosquito coils, fine mesh netting for screens, and long sleeves, light pants, and socks when we can stand it (this morning I decided I'd rather be bitten in a bathing suit than sweat in all that clothing - and that was at 7:30 AM!). Ziggy sleeps hard during the heat of the day, and comes out to chase bugs when the sun is setting. We left the anchor light off last night (as did the other boats) since it's a big bug attractor.

So far we are very happy to hang here and wait for our weather window to the Galapagos in a week or so.

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?08,24.016,N,79,04.970,W,Isla%20Pedro%20Gonzales,

Off like a herd of turtles

That's how John described our Panama City departure Saturday morning as we slowly sailed out of La Playita bound for the Perlas islands (yet again). Four similarly destined sail boats motored by us as we drifted under main and jib past an enormous tuna boat (complete with helicopter on the bow), container ships, and a mysterious barge with what appeared to be a small industrial city on its deck. We even had our photo taken by a crew member on one of the smaller ships. By mid-morning we could set the spinnaker, but were still only making 1.5 - 3 kts of speed. Just before noon something made John decide to douse the chute and within 15 minutes we were moving along with a nice breeze at 5-6 kts.

The wind was beginning to die by 2 PM when we were 25 nm out of Panama City with another 15 nm to go. I had been keeping an eye on a panga in the distance without paying close attention to it. It was unusual in that it appeared to be full of figures wearing yellow and neon orange. I imagined it might be a group of tourists or marine researchers because it seemed to stop or drift now and then. It slowly crossed our bow, but still at some distance away. As we drew closer to pass it on our starboard side, I got the binoculars out for a better look. Uh oh - the panga was stopped, the people were all wearing life jackets, the outboard motor cover was off (always a bad sign), and two guys were leaning over the motor trying to get it going again. A minute later I could see a man waving at us, and I called John up on deck for a look.

To divert to the panga we started the engine, rolled up the jib, and dropped the staysail. When we got close enough to speak to them, they signalled for a screwdriver. "Cruce?" (cross) John asked. No, "Plano" (flat) was the reply. I circled the panga while John dug out his toolbox to find what they needed. He searched for the cheap screwdrivers that we planned to use as trade items in the South Pacific, forgetting that we'd already stowed those in the "trade bag" deep in a locker under our berth. He came back on deck with a good one, handed it off to me, and directed me to the bow. "Which side?" I asked. "The END of the bow!" So I squeezed in front of the jib furler to get to the very front of the bow pulpit and John aimed for the stern of the panga. When he got close enough I leaned out as far as I could and a man in the panga grabbed the tool. But instead of drifting apart in the breeze like John thought we would, there was a brief moment when we continued making way towards the panga. I shouted "Push!", then remembered "Empuje" on every shop door, and two guys managed to give us a shove as John got Nakia back under control.

We indicated to them that we would wait while they made the repair, and John kept Nakia close by. The panga was a local taxi service loaded down with 10-15 men, women, and children, with one person using a bucket to bail water that had sloshed in over the low stern. It didn't take long for the driver to get the motor started, and it was then that I noticed a woman crying from fear or maybe with relief. They waved for us to come get the screw driver but John thought, "Now there's a guy who really needs a screw driver," and told them to keep it as a gift. There were smiles, thumbs up, and waves at this, and then they roared off towards the village of Pedro Gonzalez. With not another boat in sight for miles around we were happy to have been passing by that way!

We motored the rest of the afternoon to Isla Bayoneta, arrived half an hour before sunset, jumped in for a refreshing swim, ate dinner, went to bed, and were promptly attacked by hungry no-see-ums. This morning we moved farther out into the channel (away from the mangrove lined shore) to try to escape them. The weather has been completely overcast, with rain, lightning, and thunder over the mainland in the distance. I think the wet season has started right on time.

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?08,29.465,N,79,02.911,W,Isla%20Bayoneta,

Departing Panama City!

Finally! We plan to leave Saturday morning after a final top up of the water tanks. We've spent the past week working our tails off getting ready to go.

Last Friday while John did a sail repair for another boat I went to the U.S. Embassy to get Ziggy's Import Permit for Hawaii notarized. That round trip took me four buses, one collectivo taxi, and three hours because the embassy has moved and is no longer at the conveniently located building we've passed several times that says "U.S. Embassy" right on it. I left a note in the suggestion box at the fancy new embassy building way out in the boonies asking that they post a sign similar to one of those "We've moved! Our new location is..." signs that businesses put up for their customer's convenience. The good part was that I had to go via one of the nice malls here so I did some shopping and found a couple of $7 swimsuits, $3 "crocs," and a $13 pair of Joan & David sandals. You can't beat the clothing prices in Panama City.

On Saturday I did boat chores while John made four new Sunbrella hatch covers for another boat. We still can't quite figure out why we volunteered him for the job since he hates to sew (especially when there's no benefit to our boat!), but they had admired ours and the person they originally signed up for the work wasn't doing a good job. So now he has a case of beer (his "payment") stowed away for future refreshment.

Monday I took some borrowed charts to a copy center, stopped by the local (English speaking) clinic to make dentist appointments, got my hair cut, took the charts back to the boat, went to the vet's to pick up Ziggy's FAVN blood test results, had a quick bite on the boat, went to the swap meet that John had organized (to try and get rid of some of our junk), and finished the day at the book swap/dinner at the Balboa Yacht Club. That day I took six buses and two taxis and did a lot of walking in between.

Tuesday morning we got the much anticipated call from FedEx saying that our life raft was waiting for us at the airport cargo terminal, and did we want it delivered. Thinking that delivery would be very expensive we decided to pick it up ourselves. We then spent all day (literally five hours) getting our life raft from the FedEx office at the airport. The taxi alone cost us $60, plus the road tolls, plus lunch for the driver (and us - during one of the long waits), plus the FedEx and Customs fees. We were sitting around waiting for most of that time (the drive out there is about 45 minutes each way), so it was pretty tense knowing that we had a cab driver sitting outside wondering how much he was going to get out of it. But the raft is in a beautiful new Pelican case (hard plastic and watertight) which even comes with rollers like a carry on suitcase, so it's much easier to handle than our old one.

You'd think we'd be all ready to go once we had the long awaited life raft on board, but we've been scrambling to finish last minute things. Wednesday we took a taxi to drop off our laundry, then took a bus out to the mall "for one more thing," then a bus to the dentist for cleanings, x-rays, and exams ($68 per person and $63 for one filling, in case you're wondering), ate a gyro at Niko's for lunch, bussed back into Centro for last minute perishables (bread, eggs, tortillas, meat, etc.) from the grocery store, and taxied back to the anchorage with all our stuff.

Yesterday morning we went to the nearby marina for fuel and water, re-anchored, and then I shared a taxi to the big wholesale produce market with two other women. But before we got there the clouds opened up and it started pouring rain. We exited the cab and ducked under a roof overhang but there was no sign of it stopping. The thunder and lightning were right across the street at one point. We made a break for it and waded in ankle deep water to get past the entrance to the market area where we found an indoor area we could start shopping in. None of us had been there before but I'd heard about it from other cruisers. We hired ourselves a guy with a big hand truck and loaded it up with three 25 lb bags of oranges ($3.50 each), a 40 lb sack of potatoes ($20), a 25 lb sack of onions ($13), a 25 lb sack of mangoes ($3), and most of our individual purchases of pineapples (3 small for $1), watermelon (small ones for .50 to $1 each), tomatoes (.50/lb), green peppers (.50/lb), carrots (.50/lb), garlic (.50 for 10), and cabbage ($1.80 for two). Except for the oranges, we split the big bags of stuff three ways (or two ways in the case of the onions). When we were finished shopping our "porter" wheeled the cart out to the street where he unloaded everything to the sidewalk and we paid him $5 (poor guy, he earned every penny of that with three gringo ladies going off in all different directions!). It was tough finding an available cab but finally a guy agreed to take us and our stuff back to Amador for $6. He opened his trunk so we could start loading and there was a big tool box taking up a lot of the available space! We managed to get all the big sacks in the trunk (literally, we had to load it ourselves - the drivers don't usually help you), but everything else had to fit in the cab with us. The rain had stopped by then so we split the bags and stowed everything back on the boats, then John and I caught a bus to town for "one last thing" at the grocery store, took another bus to pick up the laundry, and a taxi back to the boat (seven loads of wash and dry including two sets of sheets, a blanket, mattress cover, pillow covers, towels, etc. for $25; total including cabs was $35).

Today we've been stowing things and cleaning in preparation for tomorrow's departure. There's quite a bit of convection forecast over Central America for the next couple of days, so we're going to take it in little hops waiting for the weather to clear a bit before we actually get to the Western islands of Panama up by the Costa Rican border.

Linda and John

Back in Panama City

Last Sunday we had a nice upwind sail (mostly) from Isla Contadora to La Playita where we again have front row seats to see ships entering and exiting the Canal. Yesterday was cruise ship day as we saw the Celebrity Infinity going to the Caribbean and the Serenade of the Seas entering our Pacific waters. The tourists may not be happy with the weather since it's been cloudy and humid with a big rain shower yesterday and even some lightning in the distance last night. Which is a bit odd to us because it was nice and clear in the Perlas while we were there.

We've been knocking off our chore list: Monday was a trip to PriceSmart, Tuesday was Mega Depot, and yesterday was Machetazo, the Wal-Mart of Panama. We take a bus to each store, fill up our shopping cart to overflowing, and take a taxi back to the anchorage. There we carry all the boxes and bags down to the dinghy dock, load it all into the dinghy (amazingly it fits!), slowly cruise out to Nakia trying to keep everything dry, heft it all on deck, open up the boat, and carry it all below where the real fun begins. We unpack the items and break them out of their packaging. This includes taking things like cake mix out of the box, cutting out the directions, and putting it all in a ziploc bag for storage. The idea is twofold: to get rid of as much garbage as possible, while eliminating all possible hiding places for critters we don't want ending up in our food (or eating our food). So we label all our canned goods and remove the paper labels from them. We also number them (e.g., 1-10) to keep track of how many are left. This doesn't always work if we're not careful to eat #10 before #9, but it gives us some idea. The goal of all this provisioning is to have enough to get us to Hawaii without having to buy anything else other than fresh produce and bread along the way. Unfortunately the immediate result is a rapidly disappearing boot stripe at our water line which will get even worse when we take on fuel and water. But we got to the dingy dock after yesterday's shopping to find a friend's (much bigger) sail boat tied up to the dock to take on CASES of wine, rum, Coke, vodka, and gallons of bottled water. Now we know who to visit when our measly supply runs out!

Linda and John

Las Perlas this and that

We've done some moving around since our last blog(pictures from the Las Perlas islands can be found here). Before we left Espiritu Santo John took a look at why the engine hasn't wanted to start on its battery, and now a new engine battery is on the Panama City list. He also completed the rain catcher/awning by adding hoses that will run water into jugs. John also made pockets out of the same fabric to attach to the sides of the dodger which will collect and pour water into jugs. After all this he's thinking about buying a watermaker in Hawaii, but we'll see how these work first. Now all we need is some rain (a major drawback to rain catchers).

He's much happier with a small cockpit cover which turned out well. We already had one the width of the dodger that unrolls and ties to the backstay, covering us overhead. He had just enough Sunbrella left from an old sail cover that he used to make a cover half that width and with a panel tied down to the stern rail. It's reversible so we can put this one up on either tack when we're sailing (the larger one has to be rolled up for anything but dead downwind sailing). This will be especially nice for reading in the cockpit during our long passages.

For a change of scenery (and cell phone coverage) we moved to Isla Chapera on the 9th and had a nice visit from a few dolphins riding our bow wave along the way (the babies are always such cute little squirts). That afternoon a Panamanian Navy boat came into the channel to resupply what must be an outpost of theirs on the nearby point. We watched as two men on shore paddled out to their moored launch in a small yellow rubber boat. They then appeared to have a heck of a time getting the launch started, with plumes of blue-black smoke periodically pouring into the sky above them. There was much yelling back and forth to some men remaining on shore while the mother ship (a small former U.S. Coast Guard cutter) stood on station in the channel. One of the boat men finally went over the side into the water, the problem was soon solved, and the lancha roared off to get down to the business of transferring people and diesel drums.

The next morning we're sitting in the cockpit enjoying our sunrise coffee when we observed six men walk down to the sandy beach. This time one of them paddled the little raft out and brought the lancha in to the beach where the other men had rolled two 50 gallon blue plastic drums down to the water. It took three men knee high in the water to hoist each drum up to the mid-ship thwart of the beached lancha, and they weren't in any particular hurry to get the job done. One man began siphoning the fuel from a drum up on the thwart into the lancha's tank and the driver fired up the engine to back off the beach. Unfortunately the combination of a falling tide and the added weight amidships had the boat stuck hard aground. We watched through binoculars as the men on the beach pushed on the bow and the driver gunned the engine, but all they managed to do was stir up a lot of sand. This went on for quite awhile before they finally shifted the fuel and got the lancha off the beach.

The morning's entertainment over, we left in our dinghy to try to find the orange tree on Mogo Mogo that Shared Dreams had told us about. Although we walked in and out of the woods above the beach, scaring iguanas of various sizes from their sunning spots, we couldn't find anything resembling a citrus tree. By the time we returned to the dinghy (which we'd left anchored out in knee deep water) it was high and dry and we had to put the wheels down and walk it out through shallow water to float it again.

Shortly after returning to Nakia we heard the lancha coming out to pay us a visit. I was in my bathing suit so I modestly let John go out to see what they wanted. The gist of it was: "Prohibido" and "narco traffico" and we were being asked to leave because it wasn't a safe place for boats to stay overnight. Really. Even though the anchorage is featured in a prominent cruising guide, all kinds of boats visit the beaches during the day, and there's a Navy post in full sight of us. But they suggested we move to Isla Contadora, four miles away, for the night. So we ate lunch and, after three Norwegian sailboats who had rafted up overnight left, we pulled the anchor, rolled out the jib, and started sailing.

As we sailed up to the mooring field off Contadora I counted 25 boats (mostly Panamanian powerboats) taking advantage of the Good Friday of Semana Santa (Holy Week) to enjoy a long holiday weekend. We tacked through the fleet and headed east to the nude beach anchorage where we anchored under sail since we had it all to ourselves! The next day John tackled the difficult job of removing and cleaning out the exhaust elbow. The parts were terribly frozen together, he actually broke a wrench, and then had to borrow a huge crescent wrench from S/V Imagine which had joined us in the anchorage that morning. While he continued to scrape knuckles and almost break a pinky finger I took Thomas and Pam into "town" for a few provisions, and they invited us for drinks that evening when we returned their wrench. They're completing a 14 year circumnavigation and had lots to share with us about the South Pacific.

We waved goodbye to Imagine as they headed north on Easter Sunday, and we left that afternoon to find a flatter anchorage after two very rolly nights. We motored to Isla Casaya to test the engine cooling with a clean exhaust elbow (much better). We broke two rules for going through reefs - we had afternoon sun in our eyes and a falling tide - but John picked his way slowly through the dangers and I stood on the bow in case anything obvious was visible. Casaya wasn't all that interesting ashore, but the mangroves surrounding it were a haven for the scores of cormorants and dozens of pelicans and white egrets which fished there. We took a long dinghy ride to the "pink beach" outside of Bayoneta on Monday, and decided to return to Contadora for internet (we're still working the life raft issue) on Tuesday.

After retracing our steps through the reefs we put up the main and jib and had a great sail in 8-10 knots of NW breeze. Along the way we were startled by a swallow which swooped past Nakia and caught a big bug in the air. It must not have like its catch because it dropped the bug, which flew away to buzz another day. The breeze was so perfect, and the mooring field so deserted, that we dropped the main and sailed in on the jib. John judged the distance perfectly, rolling up the jib just in time for me to catch the mooring pendant with the boat hook. "Woo hoo!" is what I wrote in our log book as it was our first time picking up a mooring under sail.

Linda and John

Contadora to Espiritu Santo

We continue to play the waiting game, hoping our life raft will be serviced and returned to us "any day now." We delivered it to the local shipper on March 16. Having heard no news of its whereabouts by the 27th John played the squeaky wheel and phoned up for a status report. Turns out Aries Global Logistics sent it out without a bill of lading as if the Winslow office was supposed to intuitively know when it arrived in Miami. So the raft could have sat there for days waiting for someone to pick it up, if John hadn't started doing people's jobs for them. When will we ever learn not to assume that people will do what we pay them to do? We expect to hear something from Winslow this week, or John will be emailing them for news.

In the meantime we are enjoying our third visit to the Perlas islands. After an extensive hike through the woods at Otoque and another happy hour on Nakia we said goodbye to our friends on Sarana and motored 37 nm to Isla Contadora on March 25. Friends, Buzz and Maureen, had us over for a delicious chicken curry on Encore that evening to catch up with each other after parting ways last year in Ecuador. The next evening we hosted Encore and new friends, Guido and Patrizia of Damischa Ridda, for drinks on Nakia. Both boats left us for the delights of Panama City the following weekend.

Days have been spent on the usual boat chores and a few special projects. John fixed an AC electrical outlet that had literally burned out. Then he spent some time with string and a tape measure on the foredeck measuring out the pieces needed for an awning/rain catcher, and drew it all out on a diagram. From a previous visit to Contadora we knew of an abandoned building just above the "nude beach" anchorage which had plenty of tiled floor space on which to spread out a large project. Armed with wet rags, fabric, scissors, tape measure, and more string we cleaned a patch of tile with our rags and an old broom we found in the building, and laid out the fabric to be measured and cut. It was sweaty work but it couldn't have been in a more beautiful setting. While we were working I saw two white-tailed deer bound up the gravel road and green parrots squawked in flight outside.

The building appears to be an abandoned club or restaurant open to the elements through uninstalled door and window ways. Located on a short rise it overlooks the white sand beach and turquoise water of the shallow cove we anchored in when we first visited the island in December. Though there was one restaurant open on the beach and booming loud music for the holiday "crowd," even then it had a somewhat deserted feel to it. Now everything is unfinished or being torn down except for one condo property at the far end of the beach. The large abandoned ferry boat has been joined by a smaller high speed ferry beached high up on the sand. It's quite sad to see such a lovely spot going unappreciated but the entire island is ringed by elegant homes with no signs of life in them, waiting for the occasional weekend visit from their wealthy owners.

The next few days John sewed while I cleaned, and we started reading again in the hot afternoons. Shared Dreams gave us several seasons of the "X Files" TV show and we've been glued to that in the evenings. It's been very interesting to watch the show's style evolve from the dry, straight forward sci-fi delivery of the first few years to a gradual tongue-in-cheek, let's not take ourselves so seriously attitude later on. And we arrived at the first Mulder/Scully kiss last night - finally! These are exciting times indeed.

Last week we were invaded by antipodean boats (at least that's what one man called them). A group of Aussies and New Zealanders stopped at Contadora enroute from the Canal to the Galapagos and Marquesas. Most of them are in the home stretch of their circumnavigations and have known each other since such exotic locales as Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco. They invited us to join them for "sundowners" on the beach and we experienced the novel sensation of being the only Yanks in a group of cruisers. John and I were speaking Down Under for days, although we had one or two minor miscommunications (John thought a woman was talking about "shacks" around Contadora when what she had actually said was "sharks"). It was great fun sharing information with them, and they were a lovely group of people to meet.

We tried sailing to Espiritu Santo on Friday but the wind wouldn't cooperate so we made an unscheduled stop at Isla La Mina instead. The ongoing construction of new vacation homes on nearby Isla Viveros makes this an uninteresting stop and we completed the trip here on Saturday. We immediately set out to the nearby stream to do some laundry, and after John's net Sunday morning we went back to do another load. This time we also filled our jerry jugs so we can use the water for showers and more laundry on the boat.

In the last week and a half we've watched water temps jump from 70-72 degrees F to 78-82. We've also seen rays jumping, lots of fish and bird activity, and tons of something like moon jellies in the water (which remains an uninviting murky green in most places). John has been cleaning the bottom a bit at a time, and keeping the water line free of grass and gooseneck barnacles requires constant attention. The warmer water means we're back to running fans at night to keep cool since the cabin temperature doesn't drop below the high 70's now. We're keeping our fingers crossed that we can get up to the Western islands of Panama before the rainy season officially begins.

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?08,25.736,N,78,51.302,W,Espiritu%20Santo,

Isla Otoque

We finally broke free of Panama City and are beginning a 2-3 week stay in the Las Perlas islands again. We have to hang around to finalize some business and then we'll be free to head up to the Western Islands of Panama which are closer to Panama's second largest city, David. In the meantime we'll hang out here and enjoy the sensation of not spending any money for awhile.

One of the things we're waiting on is our life raft. We sent our Givens raft to Colon for servicing because we last had that done in 2004 before we left San Francisco. The recommended outfit in Colon quoted us $150 for pickup and delivery, $75 for the certificate that says it's a real life raft, and $250 for the inspection, plus whatever it would cost to replace all the out of date items which are packed in the raft like flares, water, first-aid kit, etc. We expected it to be about $800-$1,000 total since that's what it cost us in the States. But when John called to check on how things were going he learned that our raft had to be condemned because of a damaged inflation valve. The guy sent us pictures and the damage was very small but irreparable. We might have been able to get a solution from the manufacturer but the Givens company is notorious for their non-existent customer service and we got no response from them. So John went shopping for a new life raft which is one of those items you spend a lot of money on hoping you never have to use it.

It turned out that there was a Winslow offshore raft for sale in Panama City. It's a 2003 model, never used, and we were able to get it for $400. But it had never been serviced so now John had the dilemma of figuring out how to get that done. Do we really want to send it back to the guy in Colon who isn't certified for this make of raft? John contacted Winslow customer service in Florida by email and got an immediate and thorough response. It wouldn't be cheap to ship it to the States and back, but if the raft checks out we know it will be repacked by professionals, plus they do a vacuum pack that makes it good for three years before another servicing is required. We packed up the Winslow and turned it over to a freight forwarding company to send to Florida. We hope this inspection goes better then the last.

Our last major chore was taking Ziggy to the vet for his rabies blood sample to be drawn and shipped to Kansas City for testing because there is no approved lab in Central America. We got another air-conditioned taxi to take us all the way across town to the only vet we know of who can process this. After getting all three of his booster shots and a micro-chip during his last visit Ziggy was not happy about the return visit. We had an 11:30 appointment but ended up waiting for another patient to finish. Then it seemed to take forever to get all the required forms filled out. When they finally started getting ready to draw the blood, I pointed out that they would need to muzzle our bad boy before they got started. The two male technicians returned with some lame dog muzzle that fell right off Ziggy's nose. They shrugged their shoulders and held him down to get started. I couldn't look and our view was obscured anyway, but when the vet walked in and saw what was going on she got out a tranquilizer shot to put him out for the duration of the procedure. A partially drugged cat is pitiful to watch but there's no way they could have held him still long enough to draw that amount of blood. After it was all over the vet put some ointment on his unblinking, fully dilated eyes and we paid the bill ($140 for the DHL refrigerated express shipping cost; $150 for the Kansas City lab processing related charges, including DHL return; and $50 to the local vet). We hope the test results paperwork can be returned in three weeks but if not, we will have the vet mail it to our address in the States where it can then be sent off to Hawaii for the required processing (for their five day or less quarantine program) in advance of our anticipated arrival there this winter. Oh, and that long wait at the vet? I realized the next day that we had arrived a day early for our appointment and the vet hadn't said a word to us about the mix-up!

We are sorry to report that Dale on Parrot Bay died while at anchor in Honduras. Dale was a generous host to us during our stay up river with Sailor's Run in San Lorenzo on the Pacific side. We reunited with him in Panama and last saw him in the Perlas islands before he sailed from there for his passage back to Honduras. He was looking forward to retiring in San Lorenzo and marrying his local sweetheart. It's reported that he drowned while returning to his boat in an inebriated state.

We mostly motored the 20 miles here from Panama City on Saturday in company with Sarana. Yesterday we tried to take a beach walk but there is only a very small sandy beach and we couldn't get past the rocks to the west on a rising tide. Sherrell took a spill on the slippery rocks but fortunately came out of it with only bumps and scrapes. Eric found a path through the tropical woods over the ridge but it was steep and slippery, and after John found a medium sized scorpion in the dry leaves on the "trail" we beat a hasty retreat back to the beach. The days are still nice and warm but the water is a chilly 71 degrees which keeps the night air temperatures down in the low 70's. Our first night here we were amazed by how dark and starry the night time sky can be which shows you how citified we'd become. It's nice to be back out cruising and we'll try to get back to regular posts again.

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?08,35.744,N,79,36.192,W,Isla%20Otoque,

Update from Panama City

It's hard to know where to begin after such a long dry spell away from the blog. I'll try to cover a few of the highlights so that I don't have to write a book.

First on the list is to thank everyone who wrote John consoling him about missing Ziggy, and to let you all know that the big Z. is back - bigger and badder than ever! John and I talked about it while I was still up in the States and we decided that if the woman wasn't completely happy with Ziggy, John would offer to take him back. No surprise to us, it turned out that Ziggy had bitten just about everyone in her family, including her adult son who had to see a doctor for his (probably infected) wounds. We assume that the son most likely engaged Ziggy in some serious hand play which, as we tell everyone who visits Nakia, is a big no-no. John arranged to retrieve Ziggy the morning of my return, so I came back to an intact household.

During my absence John got a recommendation for a local vet who can arrange for the blood test required for entry to rabies-free places like French Polynesia and Hawaii. The day after my return we hired a taxi to take Ziggy to this vet for all three of his annual booster shots and installation of an ISO approved micro-chip valid for foreign countries. We learned that we would have to wait 30 days after his rabies shot to take the blood sample in order to ensure that the necessary markers would be present in his blood. This means that we will stay in or close to Panama City until that chore is done in mid-March. We obviously weighed all the pros and cons before considering Ziggy away in the first place, and we are totally thrilled to have him back in spite of the cons. He's a one of a kind cat (aren't they all) and our lives are much richer with him on board.

I, of course, had a wonderful visit stateside. The weather in both Seattle and Pendleton was lovely and dry 95 percent of the time, with a dusting of snow to wake up to one morning in Seattle. We are between renters so I was able to spend almost a week on Bainbridge Island camping out in our little condo right by the ferry terminal. Everything was beautiful and I enjoyed lots of shopping and eating foods I hadn't tasted in years (a reuben sandwich at the Three Girl's Bakery in Pike Place Market, Indian lunch buffet, sourdough bread, Mission style burritos, fabulous baked goods, P.F. Chang's, Il Fornaio, salmon, pizza, Greek salads, a terrific burger at Hamley's in Pendleton, and much more). It was the best vacation I've had in ages, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Of course the visit wouldn't be complete without returning with as much stuff as I could carry on the plane. I carefully packed, weighed, and repacked until I was able to get all the boat parts John had ordered, and other items I had bought, into my two checked bags and one carry-on. I ended up with 49 and 46.4 lbs in my two checked bags, and close to the allowable 40 lbs in my carry on. The latter included half a dozen new novels and almost a full year's worth of back issues of Vanity Fair magazine which I look forward to devouring on our upcoming ocean passages!

In other big news John and I transited the Panama Canal on 2/21 as line handlers for Frank and Gisela on S/V Shared Dreams. John had already made the trip on another boat while I was gone, but he agreed to go again with me. This was a once in a lifetime experience and I'm so happy we were able to do it with friends. To make it even more fun we were "nested" or center tied in each chamber with the catamaran Gloriamaris, captained by Tom and Lilianna, and crewed, among others, by friends Rob and Linda from Cat'n About and John from M/V Maestra. We completed the transit in one day (it often takes small boats two days to complete a transit), and only had one hiccup at the end when a weld failed on the engine exhaust elbow, spraying saltwater all over the engine compartment. Frank, John and Gisela worked quickly to get the problem under control and we never had to take the engine out of gear. We were only a few buoys from the "Flats" anchorage in Colon when it happened and had no trouble getting in and anchored. Our Canal advisor, Ricardo Alberto Gonzalez Fung, was an outstanding guy. He spoke very good English, was extremely helpful during the transit, and encouraged us along at every step of the way. We couldn't have asked for a more professional and courteous advisor.

In other news: John sold our 15 HP Evinrude and bought a new 9.8 Tohatsu. The Evinrude was still a trouper but John had concerns about taking an old outboard to remote places like the South Pacific. We visited the huge Metropolitan Park here in Panama City and didn't see monkeys or sloths - until we got back to the parking lot here at La Playita where I finally got to see the resident sloth. The water temperature in the area (including the Las Perlas islands) has dropped from a high of 82.6 F to a very cold 70.2 F. Needless to say we're showering on board now and John runs the generator just long enough to take the edge off the chill. We can even feel the difference in the breeze over the water as we ride in the dinghy. That Humboldt current is really something.

Linda and John

Panama City, Panama

This has not been a good week on NAKIA.

It all started last Thursday, the 29th. Linda flew to Seattle leaving the two boys, John and Ziggy, to their own devices. Then on Saturday the owner of the dock here in Panama City threatened to close the dinghy dock. You're not allowed to land on the shore. It's basically a rock jetty anyway and would make a terrible dinghy landing, so you either have to keep your boat at the Balboa Yacht Club (moderately expensive), Flamenco Marina (very expensive), or anchor at La Playita and use the dinghy dock. The owner said he was going to close the dock because very few people pay for the dock (it's $5 daily or $100 a month). I listened to him and told him I'd get on the radio and tell the fleet that they need to either pay or the owner would close the dock. A heated discussion resulted on the VHF and I think only a few people ended up paying. Cruisers, in general, are cheap. The non-payers seem to think they need better services or a lower price. My personal feeling is that they would not pay no matter how inexpensive it was.

On the Friday before the dinghy dock issue came up I did something that Linda and I had discussed before she left. Since the South Pacific is a difficult (and expensive) place to take a pet, and since Ziggy really doesn't like sailing, we thought it would be best to find him a nice house to live in. I put an add in Panama Craig's List looking for a new home for Ziggy. There's not much traffic on Craig's List in Panama so I really didn't expect much to come of it.

Last Saturday night (the same day as the dinghy dock thing) I got an email from a local woman looking to adopt Ziggy. I called her Sunday and arranged to meet. She's a very nice Panamanian woman who lives in her family home (of 40 years) with her parents. Her mother takes care of the house and her father is a Professor at one of Panama City's many Universities. She is a software engineer and has had cats before. Anyway, she came out to La Playita and met Ziggy, then we all loaded up in her car and drove to her house. Everything looked good so I left Ziggy in her care.

So in three days I'd managed to become totally alone on NAKIA with the threat of not being able to get ashore hanging over my head.

Things didn't get much better during the week and on Friday they got worse.

First some background: The dinghy dock in La Playita is really a commercial dock. The commercial dock is for ferries that go to Taboga Island (about 7 miles from Panama City) and for ship service boats (40-45 foot steel and aluminum boats that deliver crew and supplies to ships at anchor in Panama Bay). You really have to watch where you tie up your dinghy because there's risk of getting in the way of the ferries. The dock isn't level, and in an attempt to lower the high side there is a large concrete mooring block sitting on one corner. The concrete block has a ring on top and some cruisers had been using the ring to tie up their dinghies. Well Friday was very busy at the dinghy dock end of things. There were maybe 30 dinghies tied and some were definitely in the way of the ferry. A ferry backing away from the dock caught one or more of the painters of the dinghies tied to the concrete block in its prop and dragged the concrete block off the dock. Unfortunately, the block landed on a couple dinghies, damaging them badly. I've been told a scene occurred involving cruisers and dock employees that probably wasn't pleasant.

On Saturday the office manager for the ferry/work/dinghy dock got on the radio and announced that they would no longer allow dinghies to tie to the dock. If you had pre-paid you can use it until your pre-pay time runs out, but after that no more time will be sold and dinghies will not be allowed to land at the dock. You can't even drop people off without tying up.

Personally, I'm on the dock owner's side. With few exceptions the group of cruisers here in La Playita are probably the cheapest, whiniest assortment I've ever had the displeasure of being anchored with. Worse even than in Bahia de Caraquez. A lot of it may have to do with being in Panama City and/or La Playita (this is not a nice anchorage; between the ship wakes and wind chop boats anchored farther out roll terribly) but there is absolutely no excuse for not paying for a service when you are using that service. Particularly when the owner threatens to remove the service if you don't pay for it!

So there it is. I'm living alone on NAKIA in an anchorage that I can't stand and after the 13th of February (Friday the 13th, by the way; that's when my pre-pay runs out) I won't be able to land my dinghy unless I drive it 1.5 miles around the point through heavy wind chop to get to Flamenco Marina (they also have a dinghy dock but it's primarily used during the wet season when the wind/swell comes from the south).

Oh, and I really, really, really miss my cat.

John (just John)

Bahia San Telmo, Isla del Rey

18 January 2009

In my haste to get the Isla San Jose blog posted I neglected to mention the most memorable event of John's birthday. We had arranged via email to rendezvous with friends via HF radio, setting two times and frequencies to try. Both the morning and evening schedules worked perfectly and we were able to chat with Roy and Marlene of Damiana (formerly of Jellybean) and their guest, Tammy (formerly of Secret o' Life). Three years ago in Mexico John and Terry Bingham learned that they shared their birthday, and Marlene was quick to rally the cruisers anchored in Santiago Bay to a restaurant meal in honor of the coincidence. This year Tammy and her friend Holly joined Damiana in Belize where they scattered a portion of Terry's ashes at Rendezvous Cay (NE of Placencia) after which we joined them via radio for a birthday toast in memory of Terry. It's a connection we are proud to honor.

We departed ISJ earlier than planned Saturday morning after a report from Dale on Parrot Bay (on his way to San Lorenzo, Honduras) that conditions were excellent for sailing. A good north breeze with only a foot of wind chop made for a boisterous sail east across the channel to Isla del Rey. John had the fishing lines out and released a few skipjack before finally getting something worth keeping. I'm calling it a red snapper since it was very red and John thinks it was a type of snapper. As usual we were momentarily joined by dolphins taking advantage of our bow wave, and then conditions calmed as we neared the island. We rounded the southern tip of IdR to turn north but didn't make much headway against the ebb tide so we motored for half an hour to clear the worst of the current. Then it was smooth sailing up big Bahia San Telmo where we anchored under sail off the beach at Rio Cacique.

We can see the village of Esmeralda off in the distance (which means more people out and about in pangas), and the first thing I noticed was a man and two dogs working the brush line at the top of the beach. I figured he was just looking for treasures amongst the plastic trash, or was gathering something or other. Five hours later two boys with a dog paddled up in their small wood canoes. Since I was in my bathing suit I let John go up to answer their repeated shouts of "Hola!" while I listened in to the conversation from down below. Amongst other chit-chat was their question as to whether Ziggy was for us to eat; did we want to buy a small iguana for $5; and that they used the dog to hunt iguanas which they then take home to eat. By then the man from the beach was passing by in his large panga and the boys quickly shoved off from Nakia yelling at him for a ride back to town. He slowed to pick them up - canoes, dog, and all - and raised a large iguana for John to see. I find it disconcerting that the idea of killing iguanas for food bothers me since I'm certainly no vegetarian, but this is one type of cultural exchange that I would rather do without.

I finally finished reading "The Path Between the Seas" by David McCullough, an excellent history of the Panama Canal, and a must read for anyone going through it or spending time in Panama. Among more important things, it also helps explain why we haven't seen any mosquitos here. In fact the only problem we've had was with no-see-ums at Isla Cana. Unless we're on shore after dark we really haven't been bitten anywhere else. I forgot to mention that we found a few ticks after our hike on ISJ. We were careful to strip down on the beach and shake out our clothes to prevent taking any ticks back to Ziggy, but we had to pick one off of John while we were still riding around in the dinghy.

Ziggy is doing well and getting fat from eating too much fish. We recently switched from clay litter to clumping which is a much finer type of "sand." It's great in that it has eliminated all odor but he tracks it everywhere and we are constantly sweeping up after him. He's a crack-up at night when he eats dinner, takes care of business, and then bolts from his box like a race horse out of the gate, ready to do some sprints with his feather toy. In lieu of his grass, he's been munching on pineapple tops when we have them aboard. So we finally gathered up every pet store and SolMate grass seed starter kit and tossed them over a bag of potting soil in the old plastic dish pan. John covered it all with a net to keep Z. out until it fills in, but some has sprouted and is already pushing up against the net. I saw an ad for a nursery in the city so I predict we'll eventually dump this and buy something hardier that will stand up to his abuse better than spindlely wheat grass.

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?08,18.092,N,78,54.152,W,Rio%20Cacique,

Isla San Jose, Las Perlas

14-17 January 2009

Isla San Jose is a very large privately owned island with a big bay and white sand beaches on its eastern side. We had some swell in the anchorage but not enough to break out the rocker stopper. We anchored in one lobe off a small beach while Patrick and Rebecca of Brick House were anchored to the SW off the big beach. Over drinks that evening they told us about a trailhead at the palm tree grove which leads to a gravel road. There is a very old sign saying, "Privado, No Entrada" but it was upside down so we took that to mean the owners might not be too serious about trespassers.

BH had warned us about the ticks and scorpions they experienced so we covered up with shoes and socks and lots of DEET. Even so, it was creepy walking through the tall grass and I wished I'd worn long pants and my heavier hiking boots for protection. John carried a small stick for knocking out any errant spider webs. Once we got to the "road" (more like a gravel driveway)and turned right, it wasn't so bad. The lanes were tree lined and shaded by the tropical deciduous forest which covers this area. There are many lush, "Cousin It" trees interspersed with an equal number of trees missing their leaves during what is now the dry season. The "Cousin It" trees are what I think are trees buried under a heavy layer of parasitic vine, but I haven't gotten close enough to any to verify this yet.

We hadn't walked far when we reached a fenced field of banana, papaya, avocado, and orange trees. The barbed-wire fence was also wrapped with cloth, we assume to prevent the resident pigs from entering. There was a small hut with no one about, but a fire was smoldering where brush had been burned. We had turned off the gravel road onto a smaller dirt lane covered in dry leaves when a burst of rustling noise in front of us made us freeze. We were shocked to see a 5' snake racing across the road right in front of us. It was black with lighter color on its belly (maybe yellow) and as thick as a child's arm. What a way to get the adrenalin pumping! I was sorry we saw that right off the bat because we jumped at every noise for the rest of the walk. John soon found a longer stick with which to sweep the dead leaves out in front of us as we walked.

It only took about 15 minutes from the beach through the grass to the road and in another 30 minutes we were at the one room shack visible from Punta Popa de Barco as you enter the bay. Along the way we also passed a grass airfield (which was active during our stay; there were one or two landings each day) where we made another right turn; we saw two more snakes, but these were thinner and longer than garden snakes, and one was dead; and we noticed leaf cutter ant trails which led to an entire city of a dirt mound. The shack has a split personality because it looks like a typical shack from a distance. But up close you can see that for such a simple structure, a lot of care went into building it. The porch and interior floor are tile covered, as are the floor and walls of the unfinished bathroom. The exterior walls are of tightly placed small bamboo pieces and the wood frame is in good condition. The typical tin roof is steel framed and looked water tight. It looks as if it's been there quite awhile, but not as if it's been occupied yet. The walk was very pretty and not hot at all since we were in shade most of the time.

The day after the birthday walk (John celebrated his 45th on January 15) we washed the car and trimmed the hedges. In cruising life this means we took the motor off the dinghy, rowed it to shore, turned it upside down, and scrubbed all the green growth off the bottom. We are still trying to get rid of the barnacle butts left over from Bahia de Caraquez where, even though we raised the dink out of the water each night, the marine growth was horrendous. John heroically scraped off all the barnacles before we left Ecuador, but they leave a footprint that he dubbed barnacle butt. He thinks they make it easy for a new barnacle to start life on the dinghy, so it's important to get those off too. As for the hedges, that involved taking a scrub brush and green scrubby pad to Nakia's waterline. The boot stripe (the dark blue painted stripe which separates the bottom paint from the white hull) is a magnet for growing strings of green mossy grass and scum. Although it looks very shippy when it's clean, we'll probably do away with the boot stripe next time and just bring the bottom paint all the way up the waterline.

Later that day we took a ride down to the bay south of Ensenada Playa Grande to see the resort buildings. There's a large two-story long house with an impressive tin roof overhanging the wrap-around porches, a few modest individual cabins, and a boat house full of jet-skis. A few sport fishing boats are moored in front of the resort, and the guidebook says they host fishing tournaments. The anchorage is more exposed there so after taking a quick look, we were happy to return to our calmer bay for one more night.

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?08,15.461,N,79,05.421,W,Isla%20San%20Jose,

Isla Pedro Gonzales

We had a nice lazy sail (jib only) from Bayoneta to PG over some more shallow depths in murky water to get out of the Casaya-Viveros island area. Then we were back in deep water (70-90') again and could relax for awhile. PG is another island with a couple of white sand beaches backed by several palm trees. The beaches in this area disappear at high tide when the water reaches all the way up to the rock or tree line. We've been timing our visits to arrive at the end of a falling tide, and it's amazing to see how quickly the beach is covered again by the rising tide. The white sand is especially beautiful and quite a contrast to the fine grey sand we've found in deeper water, which is very sticky and holds shoes and anchors extremely well.

In addition to the murky water, we've been stung a few times each by something like a string-of-pearls jellyfish. I'm not sure that's what it actually is, but it's a yellowish string of something and stings for awhile. Fortunately the sting is gone by dinner time so it's more annoying than painful. Last night we had a great show of mobulas, the rays that look like baby mantas. There were a couple of dozen swimming around the anchorage with their wing-tips occasionally breaking the surface, and a sometimes jumping in the air making a nice plopping splash.

Someone is making a fantastic effort to keep the beaches here free of garbage. The mangroves and other brush have obviously been cleared back from around the palms at the beach. The guidebook says that there are some plantations nearby, but we're not sure why they would keep up the beaches unless it's to promote visits from tour boats. Whatever the reason, it's a lovely change from the most of the other beaches.

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?08,24.348,N,79,05.068,W,Isla%20Pedro%20Gonzales,

Isla Bayoneta

10-13 January 2009

We enjoyed our second stay at Contadora and spent most of the time catching up on internet with the Wifi connection we were able to pick up from the anchorage. Then we spent three nights at Isla Bayoneta where there are several white sand beaches in the area to explore at low tide. We liked the first one we visited on the west side of Isla Gibraleon best. It was a long white sand beach and John found a turtle nest that looked as if it had been dug fairly recently. It was too rough to make it around the corner of Bayoneta to the western beach where there is supposed to be especially good shelling. Even though I'm trying to cut down on my collecting we'll have to save that for another visit.

We made our entrance to Bayoneta on a low rising tide because there are many rocks and reefs. We didn't have any close calls but the water is such a murky green color that it's almost impossible to see anything even in depths of less than 15'. This also means that we haven't been doing any snorkeling, though we did get to see a few spotted eagle rays in very shallow water during our beach explorations.

Our last evening there Ziggy was making "I see a bird" noises while intently looking at the solar panel up on the sissy bar. I assured him there was nothing to see and picked him up to prove it by tilting the panel down towards us. Of course a small tern/gull fluttered up into the air and Ziggy was anxious to get it. John had to finally shine a spotlight at it to get the bird to fly away (the idea being that you ruin their night vision and they can't re-land on the boat; this is what we do to keep frigate birds from roosting at the top of the mast when we're doing night passages). Another life saved, and we could go to bed in peace.

Woke up the next morning to find the bird just waking up to dawn on the solar panel. It's a good thing Z. hasn't learned how to climb up there yet!

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?08,29.472,N,79,02.892,W,Isla%20Bayoneta,

Lost Days, Lost Dollars

It took forever to get out of Panama City but here we finally are at Isla Contadora in the Las Perlas islands. It will take us a few days to catch our breath and get back to that cruisin' feeling again after the mind crushing stress of city life. We are so not used to that anymore.

It feels like all we did was wait for buses, take buses, and spend money in between buses. John found boat parts and we did a couple of big shops at the warehouse stores. We got into a rhythm of getting off the boat before 8:30 (when it's easiest to catch a bus out of La Playita) to shop or run errands in one section of the city at a time. We shared taxis back from the big shops but most of the time we tried to bus both ways. By Noon the city buses (old U.S. school buses painted like low riders) are packed and you don't want to have to squeeze through the aisle with your hands full of shopping bags. So we did a little grocery shopping with each of our forays for other things in the city.

Panama City has at least three mega malls and we visited the Albrook mall last week. Very upscale, it was a maze of brand name stores like Nike, Hillfiger, Columbia, etc. But the Columbia store didn't even have a sale rack and $50 shirts have never been in our price range even when we were working. Who shops at these stores here?! We then discovered the El Dorado mall where I bought tank tops for $2 apiece. Most of the cheap clothing sold here is Made in China but it's possible to find some U.S. "seconds" in the local department stores. We even saw O'Neill board shorts for $2, but I know very few adult women who belong in board shorts and besides, Sherrell says they're too hot to wear out of the water!

We managed to track down an alternate laundry place thanks to Sarana's copy of the Lonely Planet. Here's the process: Load laundry bags into dinghy and ride to dinghy dock. Schlep bags up ramp, through parking lot, and out to main Amador road. Wait for and flag down bus (which is sometimes nothing more than an old passenger van). Disembark after 20 minute (.25-.50) ride to Cinco de Mayo Plaza. Walk up Avenida Central to the big Super 99, turn right on Calle 27, and walk about three blocks to Avenida 3 Sur. Lavanderia America is across the street (about a 15 minute walk from the bus stop). They have plenty of washers but only two dryers so doing it yourself can take awhile. Drop off service costs about $3 per load (wash, dry and fold) but this involves a return trip the next day for pickup. So ideally we would drop off the laundry, shop, go home by bus, and return the next day to get the laundry. Oh, and don't forget - daytime temps are in the mid to low 80's and we are wearing "normal" clothing to try to blend in better. John wears jeans and polo shirts and I wear capris with any kind of sleeveless top. We try to avoid wearing nylon shorts in town because none of the locals do. We go through a lot of clothes when we make trips into town!

Now for the fun stuff. We enjoyed a delicious cruiser potluck Christmas dinner at the Balboa Yacht Club. Sarana and Nakia both brought homemade dressing, Blew Moon made a broccoli salad, turkey and ham were provided, and I ate my fill of pumpkin pie. The following Saturday Houston and Gail went with us to visit the Miraflores Locks at the Canal. We arrived too late to see any big ship transits but we found the museum very interesting. NY's Eve we went out for dinner with Sarana and Blew Moon on the Amador causeway after which we did a bit of bar hopping until the fireworks at midnight. We stopped to watch an impressive display of flashes across the entire city front, with the best show coming from the Milleflores.

John sold our old solar panels (two 55 watt panels in parallel) and bought a new one (130w) to replace them, which meant making mounting brackets and moving the snap apart hinges which the brackets attach to on the dodger. He also finally found an oil pressure sender right there in a fishing store on the causeway. He installed that and it tested fine on our way here to Contadora. We spent one morning inventorying our two deep storage bins under the Pullman berth to try to get rid of a few things. And last Saturday I joined four other cruisers in a trip to Happy Copy to copy charts of the South Pacific. That was quite an undertaking since we were each contributing charts to be copied but not everyone wanted copies of all the charts. Thanks to Leslie on Carina and Michelle on Warrior for keeping track of that project! My next job is to take careful inventory of all our charts to see what else we might need just in case...

We're happy to be out of the city until the end of the month when we hope to receive two new steel propane tanks on order from the U.S. We'll kick back and explore more of the Las Perlas Islands until then.

Linda and John

Panama City

21 December 2008

We've been anchored at La Playita in front of the Amador causeway for a week now. This is the largest city we've ever visited in Nakia, and we've had some growing pains in getting to know it. First let me say that being anchored right next to the ship channel is a thrilling experience. We have a ringside seat at one of the biggest crossroads of world commerce with ships passing us going to and from the Canal 24/7. They are a fascinating sight which for some reason I find very moving.

I mean that seriously but it's also an unfortunate pun. Between the ships, the pilot boats, the admeasurer's boats, the tour boats, the Canal Authority boats, and all the other misc. boats going by the Playita anchorage, we are in an almost constant state of motion. Periodically we are rocked by an especially large wake which knocks over cups, slides things around, and makes us lose our balance if we're not holding on to something. So far the only minor casualty is a broken chair arm when a bad wake caught John just as he was sitting down in one of our plastic cockpit chairs. People dislike the anchorage for this reason but there are currently 30 boats here as opposed to eight just across the causeway at La Flamenco. The problem with the Flamenco anchorage is a nasty swell or wind chop which is bad when the wind is out of the north, as it will be for most of the dry season. But that's a good anchorage during the rainy summer.

In both cases this is a difficult place to get anything done. The Amador Causeway is a tourist/weekender oriented strip loaded with steak and seafood restaurants and not much else. There's no Wifi to the anchorage, no laundry, no grocery store, and no showers, despite a $5/day charge to use the dinghy dock (which is accessible to the public and therefore not technically secure). The closest Wifi is at Bennigan's restaurant which is a dinghy ride to the La Playita dock and then a 15 minute walk around the causeway to the Flamenco Marina office where we end up looking straight back out at Nakia in Playita. The more direct route would be to land the dinghy on the causeway itself but that is forbidden and the fine is $500.

We wouldn't be bothered by any of this if there was a dependable bus service to get us off the causeway into town. But the fact that the local cruiser's guide lists 14 taxi drivers must be indicative of something. We had three bad bus days in a row when we first arrived. We waited three different times for at least an hour before giving up and catching a cab. One day we traveled extensively around the city and paid $27 for a total of three cab rides. But our last two bus days turned out better as we figured out that it's wiser to go out before 9 AM and come back in the late afternoon. All the restaurant workers use the collectivos (.25/ride) so they seem to run more frequently at peak staff turnover times. Because of the size of the city many cruisers have given up on taking buses, preferring to hire taxi's at $8-10/hour to take them around on their errands. This is so counter to our do-it-ourselves philosophy that we are determined to figure out the bus system. I simply cannot bear the thought of taking a taxi back and forth just to do my laundry!

We've checked out three of the recommended grocery store chains and basically this is like living in the States. We've seen items that have been missing from our lives for four years, but at Stateside prices (we imagine) we'll go on doing without them. Where we've seriously gone off the cruiser budget wagon this week is eating out. We celebrated our arrival with a delicious Italian meal at Alberto's with Sarana; ate lunches out during shopping days; splurged big time on beers and burgers at a Bennigan's Wifi fix; had a disappointing post-laundry ordeal meal at Mi Ranchito's (which is always mystifyingly packed considering the ho-hum food there); indulged in high end Indian food at Masala (no lunch buffet here!); and I'm working my way through all the flavors of ice cream at Gelarti (not really gelato, but good ice cream).

I'm enjoying all that life in the big city has to offer but John is pining for the slower pace (and calmer anchorages) of the Las Perlas islands. Our new oil sender should arrive before Christmas, and we'll attend a potluck dinner on the 25th with 30 other cruisers at the Balboa Yacht Club. We should be back out in the islands for a quiet NY's eve.

Linda and John

Isla Mogo Mogo to Panama City

17 December 2008

The evening before leaving the "Survivor" islands we were bathing off the boat and watching two of the tent campers preparing to swim the channel from Mogo Mogo back to their camp on Chapera. The current was running swiftly and it would be dark soon. Even though they wore fins and masks we were a little concerned about their safety. Also I happened to be in the water without a swim suit and hoped they would pass Nakia quickly so I could get out and rinse off.

Instead the two guys headed straight for us to stop and ask if they could hitch a ride to Panama City with us. We had spoken to Anton on the beach earlier in the day and mentioned that we were heading there on Sunday. Oddly enough John later asked me how I would feel about offering them a lift. We discussed all the cons of having very little fresh food left; what if they're late; they and all their gear would be covered in sand and salt; four extra people is a lot for Nakia to handle (our cockpit is made for two), etc. But I agreed with John that it would be a wild and crazy thing to do, so when they showed up to ask us we were already prepared to say yes.

As soon as it was light enough Sunday morning John launched the dinghy and made two trips to get the four people and all their gear. Sure enough they brought half the beach with them. We stow our inflatable right side up on the foredeck so it was easy enough to fit their big backpacks and dive gear in the dink when we brought it up on deck. After we got underway John put them to work washing the sand off the side decks with sea water so we wouldn't track sand into the cockpit and down into the cabin. I heated water for coffee, tea and hot chocolate, and we sailed out of the islands with a light breeze.

The three guys were in their second year of medical school in Montreal and Emily (Lionel's girl friend) was about to begin a Master's program. They were on a camping/spear fishing school break and were headed to the Caribbean side of Panama next. They were covered in bites from no-see-ums which they said had flown right through the no-see-um netting of their tents. We offered them showers down below and Lionel went first. Emily followed him but by that time we were motoring through sloppy tidal chop and it was a bouncy ride, especially for someone shut in a tiny bathroom at the bow of the boat. Poor Emily finally made it back up on deck where she promptly threw up over the side. She was a trooper though and after some time in the sun and fresh air she felt much better.

We had just enough bread left to make sandwiches with lunch meat, cheese and one big tomato sliced six ways, and a packet of cookies each for dessert. After subsisting on nothing but fish and rice for the previous couple of days our new crew was most appreciative of our simple fare. After our early lunch Lionel and Anton played chess while Emily and Mahmoud snoozed on deck until the wind really picked up at 1 PM. For the next two hours we blasted along at six and seven knots, catching three big crevalle before John declared fishing season closed. The crew were all excited about the fish but we don't keep crevalle and we were heeling and sailing so fast that we didn't want anyone getting hurt trying to land a fish.

We sailed through all the huge anchored ships up to the La Playita anchorage surprising our friends with our mystery crew. After two trips to the dinghy dock and many thanks we got everyone unloaded. We then picked up Sarana to go ashore where our crew treated us to beers and sodas. The day was a success and we were happy to have saved the four hitch hikers from the expense of paying a panga to take them to Contadora and then a flight from there to Panama City. They brightened our day and broke the monotony of getting from one place to the next.

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?08,54.508,N,79,31.512,W,Panama%20City,

Las Perlas islands

We are currently located in the famed Las Perlas islands of Panama. We spent Monday and Tuesday nights in the flat calm but trash laden inlet between Islas Cana and del Rey. We were stunned by the amount and variety of plastics covering the high tide line on the beaches and floating by the boat at each tidal change. It was so bad that we had to keep an eye out for waves of stuff coming by when we bathed off the boat. And snorkeling or swimming were out of the question because it was too creepy.

This continued as we passed Espiritu Santo, where there's a calm anchorage in a larger pass between islands, and on into the hook at Punta Matadero on Isla del Rey where we spent Wednesday night. We saw all shapes and sizes of plastic buckets, jugs, containers, baskets, toys, shoes, and furniture. It was a shocking sight which we did our best to ignore as we took beach walks with Sarana in the afternoons. The islands are incredibly beautiful and each one is unique. Some rocky islets remind us of the Pacific Northwest and other islands are studded with white sand (coral) beaches, looking like everyone's version of a tropical paradise. There are all kinds of interesting rock formations in beautiful colors, and the look of each place changes with the tides as beaches and rocks appear and disappear.

On Thursday we continued north to Isla Contadora where wealthy Panamanians own vacation homes; there are expensive resorts; and most importantly they sell beer, and a modest and dearly priced selection of groceries. Best of all the supply barge had arrived that very day with fresh fruits and veggies, so we bought tomatoes and a delicious pineapple to last us until Panama City. The beer drinking was cut short when the sky turned black and white caps began forming in the anchorage. Of course we'd left all the hatches wide open so we raced back to the boats (four total because we'd met up with old friends from Honduras and Mexico) to raise anchor and move around the corner to a more protected side of the island.

Yesterday morning we dinghied out to Isla Bartolome for some snorkeling on the low tide. It was a bit of a rough ride in the wind and current chop, but it was well worth the effort. The snorkeling was really just above average but it seemed stupendous to me after such a long dry spell. And the island itself is a small gem with white beaches and exposed rock ledges at low tide. We made a quick circumnavigation of it on shore, and it's worth a return trip with a picnic lunch next time. We've seen little to no garbage on the beaches up in this area which is a huge relief.

This morning we sailed an hour to anchor between Islas Chapera and Mogo Mogo where a season of "Survivor" was filmed. After snorkeling off of Mogo Mogo we walked a bit on Chapera where there were two obviously cleared areas. Although we searched the woods/jungle we found no other "Survivor" relics, but there were three young guys tent camping and spear fishing on the island, living their own survivor reality vacation.

This is paradise. There are more boats than we've seen in a month but it's fun watching them come and go. There are so many islands and anchorages to choose from that it's easy to imagine spending a year here (except for the dreaded rainy season). We still have to get to Panama City tomorrow for engine parts and food but we hope to be back out in the islands by Christmas.

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?08,35.030,N,79,01.225,W,Isla%20Mogo%20Mogo,

Punta Garachine to Isla Cana, Las Perlas

8 December 2008

Today was a relatively short day of only 34 nm in eight hours. We tried to give the engine a vacation by sailing as much as possible but the winds were mostly light so we just kept the RPMs low while motoring. John played around with the oil pressure sensor and he's convinced that it's bad, but we still need to address the issue of fuel leaking into the oil.

Oh, and we don't feel so guilty now about dragging Sarana away from their Darien trip. After we left this morning they called and told us their desperately dying batteries were giving the alternator fits and they couldn't run anything like navigation lights. They needed to wait until after sunrise to follow us. Their new batteries are waiting for them in Panama City so they're just as anxious as we are to get their problem solved. John keeps joking that between us we might have one good cruising boat.

The nice thing about traveling slowly on calm seas is the number of cool things you're able to see, like: 3-4 big carp-like fish hanging out under a floating log; a flying fish that kept flying until it was out of sight; big sea birds roosting on big logs and little birds on little logs; the flash of blue and gold as a dorado swam underwater past the boat; a brilliant emerald green dragonfly taking a breather on the lifelines; a sea tern hitching a ride on our solar panel for an hour (yes, nature girl got to clean the poop up afterwards); dolphins riding our bow wake; a whale's back before it disappears from sight; and finally, absolutely amazingly, a dorado flashing blue and silver in mid-air while in hot pursuit of a flying fish out in front of it. That is definitely one of the most memorable sights we've seen in over four years of cruising.

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?08,23.052,N,78,50.034,W,Isla%20Cana,

Bahia Pina to Punta Garachine, Golfo de San Miguel

7 December 2008

After agreeing with Sarana that if we woke to rain we'd postpone the day's passage, we departed under a mostly starry sky. It was amazing to pick out constellations again (John spotted Polaris for the first time in probably seven months) and to see starlight reflected in calm seas. I enjoyed three idyllic hours watching the sky for satellites, planes, shooting stars, and flashbulbs of lightning behind clouds on the southern and eastern horizons.

Pause for the errrkk of a phonograph needle scratching across a record album or the screeching sound of a car hitting the brakes...

At 6 AM someone flipped a switch and we literally went from la-di-dah bliss to 18 knots of north wind and its friend, 3' wind chop. Did I mention we were motoring north? An hour later whoever was controlling the switch turned it off and we were bouncing around in no wind trying to sail. Forty minutes later the wind was back. This went on for another couple of hours with all the accompanying jib in, jib out, reef the main, take the reef out, engine on, engine off, etc.

The reason we were trying to sail is because of a problem with the engine oil pressure. That first time we tried to motor into the north wind and waves John revved it up to 2000 RPM, our normal cruising speed when we don't have the benefit of current behind us. The engine overheated and we lost oil pressure (according to the gauge). Until John could troubleshoot the problem we needed to sail as much as possible to our destination. To get the most out of the variable wind strength John hand steered most of the way. By early afternoon we were entering the gulf and were feeling the adverse affects of all those Darien Province rivers ebbing against us. Plus the wind had died to almost nothing again.

But this gave us perfect conditions for John to do an oil change. We've had a problem with the engine "making oil" (fuel leaking into the oil) and an oil change would at least eliminate that issue for a little while. John quickly dispatched the sweaty job and we consulted Sarana about diverting to a closer anchorage than we had planned on. They agreed it was useless fighting the ebb and that's how we ended up in this relatively exposed location.

We were fortunate to have calm conditions for one night here but we knew we couldn't count on it to stay that way for long. The original plan was to buddy boat a couple of the Darien rivers with Sarana but with our engine problem appearing to worsen we feel the prudent choice is to press on to Panama City to effect repairs.

Linda and John

http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?08,06.034,N,78,24.342,W,Punta%20Garachine,