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Published: December 14th 2007
Ty here, reporting from Panama City, back on solid ground again after 8 days on the good ship Melody. Yeah, we were planning on 4 or 5 but Capitan Marcos invited us to stay on to cruise the San Blas Islands for a few more days and we couldn´t resist. The trip was amazing, starting with an early morning departure from Cartagena and heading due west into the open ocean. Our first blue water crossing, it was 200 miles before we hit land again in Panama. That translates into about 40 hours which meant shifts at night making sure we avoided oil tankers and kept going in a straight line. Our crew consisted of Mark, the captain, and 8 backpackers, all loaded up into a 44 foot steel sailboat.
Two willing pods of porpoises joined us on the trip as well as one unwilling tunafish which was quickly turned into fresh sashimi. We arrived in the San Blas in the Hollandes Cays after dark on Wednesday which involved navigating through dangerous reefs and pounding surf into the protection of an area appropriately called the swimming pool by the cruisers who spend days, weeks and often years or decades there. Thursday dawned sunny and provided us with our first real view of the islands - ranging from tiny, one palm tree buttons to islands up to several kilometers long, all ringed with brilliant white sand and enclosed by a coral reef which kept the clear crystal blue waters of the anchorage calm.
Thursday was spent swimming in the lagoon, exploring the islands and snorkeling on the reef which is so secluded that lobsters, tropical fish, conch, and huge intricate corals abound. We also spotted a reef shark and later, from the boat, saw a reef shark and a nurse shark fighting over the remains of a trigger fish which Mark had speared from the boat while it was scavenging the remains of a Snapper which he had caught earlier. Fresh triggerfish and snapper tacos for dinner may just be my new favorite food.
On Friday we headed to a group of islands called Carti to spend the night, where Mark cooked up a giant pork roast for dinner. The rest of the backpackers caught a boat and then 4 wheel drive to Panama City on Saturday morning. Laurel and Mark and I instead headed back East to Green Island where we took the dinghy for a long drift snorkel along the reef hunting for ship wrecks. This is the area where Columbus sailed on his voyages and where Francis Drake harried Spanish galleons. No wrecks, but we did see a huge sting ray hunting for dinner.
On Sunday we headed to Nagana, a small Kuna village, where Mark went to church and Laurel shopped for molas, before heading to the Cocas Banderas which is another tiny chain of beautiful tropical islands which we had completely to ourselves for snorkeling, swimming and sunning. These islands are so amazingly beautiful that it's easy to understand how cruisers planning on stopping briefly on their way around the world often get stuck for years mozying from island to island or just anchored near their favorite and relaxing. We headed back to the Hollandes Cays on Monday for the weekly cruiser potluck which is everyone's opportunity to socialize a little. Bizarrely, out of about 20 people, we met two couples who live within 10 miles of us in Vancouver. Also there was a group of kitesurfers on a big catamaran who were flying around the lagoon and through the air because the tradewinds had started and it was blowing so hard. We could hear the surf absolutely booming on the reef which was making Laurel and I a bit nervous knowing that we had 60 miles to sail in the morning.
Tuesday and we were up early, and out of the lagoon on our way to Portabello - 60 miles and an expected 12 hours of open ocean with no reef to stop the swells. Giant swells, 15 or 20 feet high, and the boat was rocking 45 degrees each way as it dropped down into troughs so low that the horizon disappeared followed by crests so high that it felt you were perched on a mountain. Every now and then an unlucky combination of waves would hit and a deluge of water would sweep into the cockpit. The best way to avoid feeling seasick was to lie down and shut your eyes and just HANG ON. Which was all fine until suddenly there was a huge noise and the ship heeled over and we all opened our eyes to a squall - raging winds, pouring rain and then almost imediately calm as the wind stopped and the boat slowed. But, close on the horizon another squall and another and another which lasted for several tense uncomfortable (although not really dangerous) hours. Finally towards evening we sailed closer and closer to land and finally pulled into beautiful Portobello harbour, named by Columbus because of it's protection from wind and waves.
And then, dry land, sea legs, a night in Portobello and then the bus to Colon and on to Panama City for some welcome (kinda) civilization. Really, an amazing experience that we can recommend to anyone.
We´re here in Panama City for a few days and are off to Bocas on Saturday where we´ll stay until we have to head to Mexico next Sunday!
We have tons of photos, but the cameras are charging so we´ll include them on a seperate blog entry...
Hasta pronto!
T&L
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Joanne Reid
non-member comment
WOW
Sounds like quite the adventure. I'm kind of envious except for the crazy sailing weather, which sounds terrifying. Glad to hear your safe and well. We'll be missing you over Xmas, definitely envious of that trip!