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Published: November 18th 2009
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Before traveling to Escudo de Veraguas, Sandcastle was flushed out of the Chagres River as the flood gates of the Gatun Lake Dam were opened to spill off excess water dumped into it by torrential downpours of rain for three days running! Once out of the river we had to make up our mind whether to push on to Bocas del Toro, an overnight trip, or go back to Shelter Bay Marina, a two and a half hour trip. Bocas won as we didn’t want to spend the money for the slip. However, the seas were sloppy, bumpy, the deck wet and it is raining. No matter, on we go to Bocas or Escudo de Veraguas as it turned out.
The night passage was uneventful, wet but uneventful. The next morning with the island of Escudo de Veraguas in view we are motoring along when the dreaded loss of engine power occurs! The engine would vacillate between 500 to 2500 rpm then steady up. This happened for about a half hour when finally in sloppy seas with no wind it quit altogether. No mind we’ve been there done that before so we calmly went about clearing the area where the
fuel filter is buried, got out a new filter, left the wheel to fend for itself, thank goodness we are far from any shallow water or boat traffic. After about 30 minutes the new filter is happily in place and the engine is running again. YES! On to the island.
The captain now informs me that due to the direction of the wind and wave we will probably not be anchored in the calmest waters, much the contrary, we would be at the mercy of all of the above. We approach the island and sure enough there isn’t much protection from the waves rolling in but we are tired and want to sleep a little so we get in real close to the island and drop anchor. Actually, it isn’t too bad but the roll and approaching storm will change all of that we are sure.
Bacon, eggs and toast fill our tummies and spirits never to be broken are on the mend as we head for the bed. Not too fast though, there is a native boat approaching so what is this all about we think? There are two nice guys aboard who keep pointing to another
spot along the beach. We finally determine that they are trying to get us to a calmer spot out of the wind and wave, GREAT! We quickly pull anchor, Roger explains our depth and off we go following people we don’t know into what we don’t know. As it turns out these guys lead us through a totally narrow opening between the island and a little knob of an island to the other side. We pass by huge massive coral heads just under the water on either side, trees close on the port side and 7 feet of water registering on our depth log, now 6 feet OOPS 5.4. No hits but it is close as we draw 5.2 feet! Now we are on the other side of the island back to 7 feet still following the fishermen. Back into 5.4 then 4.5. The grass is making the reading worse than it is and the guys want us to continue following. NOT!!! We let them know we are staying in this area. It is tranquilio enough for us and it is flat so we drop the anchor in 7.2 feet of water. We give the fishermen a couple of drinks
and off we go below for a well deserved nap.
Later that evening as we relax on the deck taking in the beautiful view of the islands and the calm waters, we are jarred as the boat touches bottom. CLUNK!! There is a 1 ½ foot tide here. No problem, the captain pulls in a little chain and all is well again. The night is peaceful as the wind and wave pounds the island on the opposite side.
We wake to a beautiful, sunny day and decide to stay a day and enjoy a little snorkeling. What we discover is that we are beautifully set in a small hole with shallow sand and coral all around us. No immediate danger but how will we escape. The path out once seen from below is much more treacherous than we thought. A miss could chunk up the freshly painted bottom or pop a rudder in half. The saving grace is that we had the GPS on when we came in so we can follow the track back out! Only problem is in the beginning the GPS takes a few minutes to locate itself and get going.
After a restless
sleep we get up at 6:30 a.m. and prepare to leave. Although not sunny the gods are with us and we have a flat clear visual of the water. The captain pulls the anchor as I man the helm. As quickly as the anchor is up I negotiate the boat towards the first coral head staying to port of it until he can be done with the anchor and guide me out. The track on the GPS is still there but not engaged yet so on we go with just visual. Once into the cut and coming out the other side where the really really big coral heads are the water becomes disturbed. The nice, calm, clear water is no more and the head loom close. Captain Roger leads us out coming real close to the trees on the starboard and narrowly missing the coral. But we did miss it and as I am able to see finally we are right on the GPS course in!
Finally free and without any damage to the boat we head off to Bocas del Toro an 8 hour trip with a 2 knot current and 21 knots of wind against us. The
seas aren’t bad but there is still some lumps to put up with. We manage to run between squalls which head for the beautiful little island of Escudo de Veraguas. We will return here some day hopefully in better weather conditions. I don’t think we will attempt entering into the inner reef though. Come follow us to the next adventure in Bocas del Toro. I am sure it will have its own surprises for us. Until then love, laugh, and dance!!!
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