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We finally made it to Panama City. Since leaving Costa Rica we have stopped in many beautiful, and sometimes deserted, anchorages on the Panama mainland and on the offshore islands. None of these places had any roads to them and no telephones. During this time, we reached the most southerly location of our trip, 7 degrees, 11.6 minutes north of the equator, and gradually worked our way east and north to Panama City. We made it to Punta Mala (Bad Point), where you head due north to Panama City and the canal. With a strong counter current and north winds against us, we could not go directly and headed for the Perlas Islands. We crossed the shipping lanes in daylight without incident and then had a miserable all night passage to the most southerly of the islands. We had lots of water crashing over the bow and sometimes over the whole boat into the cockpit. The winds were up to 30 knots and I got drenched while putting a third reef in the mainsail. Once there, we found the islands beautiful, with white sandy beaches, palm trees and deserted coves, just like the pictures in the travel magazines. Patricia went swimming off the boat the first day we were there and later, while watching the sunset, she saw a number of huge sharks swimming around us. We estimated the largest at about 20 feet. There was a small local fishing boat in the bay and, when they saw the sharks, they pulled up their nets, beached the boat and they all got off. So, no more swimming there for Patricia after that. Altogether, we spent more than a week in the islands, ending up at Contadora, the only resort island in the chain. It had a small village, a big hotel, some restaurants an a rather expensive grocery store. It also had many huge homes, including the one the Shah of Iran lived in in exile. It was a nice day trip from Contadora to Panama, although there was no wind and we had to motor. We are anchored in a bay beside the long causeway that leads from the Pacific Anchorage for big ships into the Panama Canal. It is quite remote and getting anywhere from here is quite an adventure. We have to take the dinghy though some quite rough water, drop the dingy anchor, get to the rocks that form the support for the causeway, scramble up the rocks, tie the long line from the dinghy high up on the rocks because the tide here it up to 20 feet, scramble up to the road and then walk two miles to where we can get a taxi. Yesterday, when we came back, the tide was high and the anchor road was too short to get the dinghy close enough to get into it. With some help we almost made it and Patricia got very we scrambling into it. She then pulled it back to the anchor, pulled the anchor up and came back to pick up the groceries and laundry, also me. We have been "admeasured", paid our $1300 transit fee and tomorrow we will try to schedule our transit date. We will only go through two of the six locks and then moor for a while at the Pedro Miguel Yacht Club in Lake Miraflores, next to the Pedro Miguel Lock. When we leave in a month or more, we will go through that lock, cross Gatun Lake, go down through the three locks at Gatun and out into the Atlantic (actually the Caribbean Sea). Well, it is time to get ashore, check in with Immigration, Customs and the Port Captain, try to do email and get groceries. It will take all the rest of the day. We are looking forward to picking up our messages, as we haven't been able to do that since leaving Costa Rica. I'll sign off with a bit of trivia. A palindrome is a word, phrase or sentence that spells the same forwards and backwards. Here is an appropriate one, and the longest I know. It describes the engineer, John Stevens, who made the construction possible. A MAN, A PLAN, A CANAL, PANAMA More news later, Patricia & Colin, |
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