Curare's Adventures

Clearing Out of Panama

We initiated our clearance from Panama on Thursday, February 24 expecting that we would not be completing the process in a single day.  We were right.  After checking with the port captain we were told that we needed to check in with the authorities before we could clear out.  But isn't that what we did in Pedrigal back in December?  And we obtained a cruising permit for all of Panama to prove it.  Oh no, you still are required to check in with the port captain, who has lots of friends like, Health Inspectors, Quarantine officers and other "friends".  So we all pile into a truck and drove across town to where Curare was at anchor.  The health inspector was particularly interested to know how healthy Jessie was, did she have adequate sleeping accommodations, room on deck to exercise, shore leave, etc - not much concern about our cramped accommodations.

After a half hour of trying to raise Linda on the radio to come in to collect us in the dinghy, discussions of how small the dinghy was, how many trips it would take and they'd have to remove their shoes because of a major leak it was determined that the health inspection and check in could proceed at the dock without the boat, Linda or dog.  A couple of non-alcoholic cold drinks at the snack bar also helped with the persuasion.  So after being admonished for not having had a fumigation for mosquitoes before we cleared in, showing paperwork to the effect it had recently been done and paying $46 to the health official (he actually was a medical doctor) we were now checked in to Panama City.

But wait a minute - we're trying to clear out of the country.  How do we do that?  The Port Captain suggested I go to Immigration to have our passports stamped and then call him in the morning.  Is anything sounding familiar yet?  The call in the morning brought a prompt response of we'll be there shortly and in 20 minutes "Carlos" arrived at the dinghy dock with some paperwork to fill out and his hand out.  For a small "propina" (tip) he could process it all very quickly. Sorry buddy, wrong crowd.  Called the Port Captain back and told him we'd be down in 15 minutes.  Back at the office it was a very simple matter of cancelling our cruising permit ($12) and paying for our International Zarpe ($1.50).  No mention by the Port Captain of Carlos or any other arrangements.  We now had 48 hours to load up and move on, officially this time.

A week at a marina

It has been a long time since Curare has been tied to a dock in a marina. Since we departed Mexico in the spring of 2010 most of the "marinas" we have encountered are merely a collection of mooring balls and you use your dinghy to get to and from shore. So it was a bit of a surprise when we discovered that there was a real marina here in Panama City, one with a dock to tie next to so that Jessie could easily stroll off of the boat. Ordinarily we would not have used the marina's facilities because it was a bit pricey but with Geoff gone from Curare for a week of birthday partying Linda decided getting Jessie to shore for exercise would be easier from a dock. Other incentives were the gallons of free fresh water to clean everything above and below decks, electricity to charge the batteries, and ease of getting provisions on board.  It would have been perfect if there had been hot showers in the shoreside washrooms --- SIGH!

Curare was definitely the poorest yacht in the marina. The majority of other boats were Panamanian sport fishers and all of these had a full time crew of 2 to 4 persons. Every day the crew members would arrive around 7:30 AM and start washing the hull, polishing the stainless and vacuuming the interior. They would do the same tasks day after day, even though the boats never left their slips. Meanwhile Linda was doing exactly the same work on Curare much to the amusement of the permanent boat crews. I guess they are not used to seeing yacht owners do anything, even operating the vessel.

On the fourth day of Curare's marina visit a gleaming 85 foot motor yacht from Catalina Island, California moored in the space directly across from our slip. The boat (Kelsey Lee) is owned by Mr. Wrigley and his crew of three brought the boat here so that he could fly to Panama in his private jet and then go fishing. A glimpse of how the "rich and famous" live-who knew that selling chewing gum could be so lucrative! Since the crew spoke English, and Mr. Wrigley was not yet aboard, I went over to beg for some ice. Despite the disparity in our cruising lifestyles this is an acceptable thing to do when a sailboat meets a power boat and it is lovely to have cold drinks for a change. The next day the cook brought me over 10 kg of potatoes and three brand new boxes of breakfast cereal because he had purchased too much (or so he said). Now in my land based life I would have been offended if someone offered me their unwanted food but as a cruiser I was thrilled. A few less things to buy.

All too soon the marina visit was over and a cleaner Curare is back at anchor rolling in the wakes of container ships as they travel to and from the Panama Canal.

The Three Amigos

Two of Geoff's friends have their birthdays within weeks of his, so long ago they planned to get together for a  major 50 year celebration.  Geoff located reasonable accommodations within a suitable venue in Casco Viejo and the boys arrived in town ready for a good time.

Sight seeing activities included the "must see" Miraflores locks at the Pacific entrance to the Canal and a tour of the Panama Canal Administrative building that has commemorations and plaques of many of the engineers involved in the construction of the canal.  Since John and Andy are both civil engineers, this was additionally significant.  We also took them out on Curare for a tour of the harbour to get an up close look at
the monstrous size of the ships transiting the area.

And of course, there was the night life.  Casco Viejo has been partially restored and is a popular area for Panamanians to dine and dance.  We chose mostly to dine, although John brought along a guitar so there was some howling (can't really call it singing) from the balcony at the full moon rising over the city.

After five days of fun and games all parties were happy for the time spent together, but just as happy to part ways with some fond memories.  You only turn 50 once, and none of us will be forgetting this celebration soon.  Thanks for coming, guys.

Jessie Goes Swimming

I'm so proud of myself!  The other day I figured out what swimming was all about.  Whoever said you can't teach an old dog new tricks certainly hadn't met me!  After all these years wading around at the water edge sometimes going chest deep to chase a fish I finally took the plunge.  It wasn't calculated or planned or anything like that, just spur of the moment action in pursuit of fish.  I had been wading around in some shallow water when I spotted this fish a little ways off.  The water was so clear that I could see the fish for a long ways and as I chased it all of sudden my feet weren't on the ground anymore.  But I wasn't going to give up and kept on "running" after the fish.  After awhile one of the uprights called for me to come back.  That's when I realized I had swum a great distance away from land.  I had to give up the chase and turn around.  It was a weird feeling not to be walking around but still propelling myself with my legs.  I made it back to the dinghy and once back on the big boat promptly flopped out on my big cushion for a well deserved rest.

I went swimming again the next day as well.  Only this time I spotted a nice sized fish from the dinghy and dove in after it.  The water was only a few feet deep but I couldn't touch bottom so swam after the fish anyways.  Later that day while we were cruising around in the dinghy I spotted a nurse shark and pretended to jump after it.  The tall upright grabbed me to keep me from leaping in, which I wasn't about to do anyways - do they think I'm crazy enough to chase after sharks?

I like this swimming stuff and hope we get to do lots more of it.  It's good exercise too because I'm always exhausted afterwards and get to relax in the shade on my cushion.

Las Perlas Islands, Gulf of Panama

The Gulf of Panama is approximately 100 miles wide from the tip of Punta Mala on the west side to the world famous fishing resort at Bahias Pinas on the east side, and it is nearly 100 miles deep with Panama City at the north end of the gulf.  In the central eastern portion of the gulf lies the Las Perlas Archipielago.  The islands offer a chance to explore some beautiful blue waters with numerous sheltered anchorages and lots of sandy beaches.  Most of the islands are uninhabited or have small fishing villages with limited services.  The largest island in the group is Isla del Rey measuring 15 miles north-south by eight miles east west.  To the north of del Rey is a number of much smaller islands with intriguing anchorages.  The most populated island is Isla Contadora which is apparently a vacation home for the rich and famous.  No one asked for our autograph so we didn't ask for theirs.

The Spanish conquistadores named the islands after a raid in 1515 resulted in a large number of pearls being confiscated, including the 31 carat "peregrina" pearl that Queen Mary flashed around.  Pearl diving is an ongoing activity in the Las Perlas islands but at a much diminished level than before.  Most of the residents are subsistence fishermen with the occassional high end resort providing some employment.  Besides all of the historic pirate activity throughout the islands there is also indications of recent local industrial activities such as a small quarry operation on Isla Bona and a paved second world war airstrip at the southern end of Isla del Rey.  Other than that the islands are pretty much deserted.

The attraction of the islands for cruising boats is the opportunity to chill out after a hectic time in Panama City.  Boats that have transited the canal and are heading off to the south Pacific stop through the islands to ease back into the cruising life and test out and check all of their equipment before making the big passage.  Curare has come back out to the islands for the same reasons but also to stop and enjoy some of the beautiful looking anchorages that we sailed past on our quick trip into the city.  We plan to spend two weeks here before heading back, meet some friends and then start the whole provisioning process all over again.

Repair Work

Panama City was a great place for us to get an endless number of things fixed and repaired.  With all the ship traffic through this city there is a repair facility for everything.  And if someone doesn't have what you need, it gets flown in from the US the next day. A lot of the following has been written about in earlier posts but we kind of wanted to list it all down in one place, in case you think that we are on a holiday.

On our task list to be tackled here was the Furuno radar system, the non-operating outboard, brackets for the new bimini, belts for the hard working alternator, service the liferaft, order various parts that have worn out, rebuild the shade awning and fix the engine instrument panel.  This would have been a Herculean task in Mexico where we knew where to get things done, but here in Panama - mostly thanks to the numerous cruisers who have been before us, we have managed to get most of our work completed.  The outboard was dropped off one day and picked up three days later.  Furuno sent technicians out to Curare, checked the chartplotter and radar, determined the power board was defunct and replaced it within two days.  The liferaft took a couple of days to organize but was serviced quickly; various marine chandlers have a great selection of boat parts and what we couldn't buy locally have been shipped in for us; material for the awning has been purchased but getting someone to sew it has proven difficult so Linda will haul out her machine for the job.  It looks like the instrument panel has had one too many deluges of water on it and needs to be replaced or rebuilt.

With all this boat activity going on we didn't have much of an opportunity to explore the city in detail although we visited the major attractions.  We did however manage to get an idea for where the main areas of interest are located since each repair task required travelling to a different part of town.  With over 3 million people living here, transportation is another challenge we face daily.