We have just cleared out of Panama and sailed 40 miles to Las Perlas Islands to give the hull a quick spruce in the morning before we set sail for the Galapagos.
We have actually anchored here 3 times before here at Contadora, one of few populated islands here. After we transited the canal on 23/24th January we sailed straight out here for a bit of relaxation and enjoyed this spot, Mogo Mogo and Viveros.
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| Askari at Mogo Mogo |
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| Perfect anchorage at Caique River - Las Perlas- the new projector came out |
Our Canal Transit went ahead just fine. We were joined by our Panamanian friends, Margaret, Richard and Mike as our line handlers and transited the locks rafted up with a British yacht Fleur who had our mates Jeff and Drew on board - so we had alot of fun along the way. It was pretty emotional as the last locks opened at Miraflores and once again we were sailing in the Pacific.
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| We served apps on the way to Gatun Lake |
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| We got rushed into an early lock before dark - the cat opted to side tie which was terrifying to watch |
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| Having crew means a few mins off.... |
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| Lunch on Askari |
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| Our advisors were both awesome |
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| Richard & Margaret on the bow! |
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| Askari from the webcam - thanks Mum |
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| Sunset with a view of Bridge of the America's - Balboa Yacht Club |
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| National Hotel Panama City |
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| Richard's Roof Terrace Panama City with Liz & Petter after a wonderful meal at Margaret's apartment in the old town |
After our first trip to las Perlas, we received an invite to visit Tobaga island where Liz and Petter have a beach house and a mooring so we left and had a great sail back towards Panama City. Tobaga is a perfectly positioned island just offshore from Panama City, however has a bit of a fishing village of italy look about it. However, it wasn't comfortable in the winds we had so we only spent a night before taking Askari safely to a marina and them hopping back on the ferry to stay at the lovely relaxed beach house for a night, along with an extended group of Liz and Petter's friends - there may have been a few wines....
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| Lunch at Taboga |
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Our view at Taboga
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As we arrived in the marina, Andrew noticed a coolant leak and narrowed it down to the filler cap. We managed to get a new one at an auto shop, however the leak continued. Late one night with a torch and close up photo's we discovered a crack in the filler cap neck - how totally bizarre. Some quick frantic calls to Oyster and a suite of options are ready to be considered. Now Panama is great but workmanship here is generally variable and we have no confidence we could get a repair done, maybe we could do the job but specialist tools would have to be shipped, so the obvious answer was ship a complete heat exchanger. We have done nursing an engine across the pacific before and that was not our intention this time around. Our wonderful Kate, was girl on the job and had the thing to us in 5 days. The marina we were staying at was possibly the most unhelpful place I ever visited, they wouldn't even take a package so we had to arrange to meet DHL in the carpark, but luckily Snr Jerry at DHL was happy to work with us and call as the driver arrived so we could meet. It all worked out and the heat exchanger arrived about 10.30 and Andrew had the complete engine in bits, while I labelled everything and he got it back together by the time we were invited aboard Eve's lovely yacht Auntie for sun downers. What an absolute mammoth task. So today we have given the engine a good test and it all looks 'tickety boo'!
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| Engine Fixer extraordinaire! |
While we waited for the heat exchanger we made another trip out to Las Perlas. This time we went further south and anchored off San Jose island where they are filming the TV show survivor. Our challenge that day was anchoring with a metre swell coming into the anchorage. We turned to approach the anchorage at San Jose we thought we would escape some West swell to meet some of the biggest breaking waves I've seen in a while. It was getting dark so we had to stop, we were approaching high tide and there's a 4.5m tide range here, so we carefully tried to judge where the break might be at low tide. This involved me measuring the water depth in the dinghy all around us. It turned out to be fine as the swell was such a long period and we just went up and down slowly. However, the next day we opted to move to Isla del Ray. Where we tucked into a neat little cove for 3 days, working on the boat and exploring the river. We met some local guys who wanted to trade with us but we had caught many fish sailing these islands we just gave them chocolate and soft drinks and
they gave us limes.
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| Askari is on the authorised of the break - that doesn't happen usually!! |
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| We caught at least fish a day in Las Perlas |
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| Mangrove dinghy tour |
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| Exploring Caique river - luckily no crocs |
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| Las Perlas |
We had an email on our SSB from Kate with an eta on the heat exchanger so headed back to Contadora. We had been hiding from the World ARC fleet of 35 boats that were also in these islands - usually only visited by a few yachts at any time (most people know we are not fans of rally groups). So as we sailed towards the north we started to see so many AIS targets we knew they were off.... As it happened we sailed in on port tack as they sailed out looking all colourful with downwind sails. We haven't sailed with so many boats around us since we were in the UK so it was actually quite cool. They all waved and Andrew blew the horn. Just please let them have moved on from the Galapagos by the time we get there.
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| World Arc fleet |
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| ARC boats |
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| Moving through the fleet |
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| We got a chance for a short hike and found sloths - 5 including a baby, also racoons! |
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| Just a bit of our wine stock.... |
So fully provisioned and a few lovely social times in Panama City, especially when Mariska came through the canal on Mach 3 and we made a progressive dinner between the boats and we got to keep her for a night. Then Jeff and Fergus had been left alone by their wives so a fun pizza night was arrange and finally Steve and Fi, arrived in Panama so came to stay with Ferg for a night. We so excited these guys have sailed so many miles with are coming to the Pacific too.
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| Ferg n Fi - sounds like a cafe.. |
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| So great to be with Fi again |
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| Mariska had a mini break with Mach3 and Askari |
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| Steve and Andrew - They love each other really |
Argh then the day before yesterday Andrew popped up the mast for a final rig check - I thought he was joking when he said there was a problem. A broken strand on the baby stay - are we ever going to get out of here???? As it happened we Whatsapped a place on Sunday and Monday they responded first thing - expensive but it can be done. Yesterday Andrew went back up the mast and fitted the new stay - we are off. Roger, our agent came to check us out this morning - thoughtfully wearing his Askari t-shirt we gave him. He has been the best guy in Panama by a mile.
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| We first met Roger at Panama Canal Yacht Club in 2006 |
Right - that's a whirlwind of the last few weeks. All being well we set out for the Galapagos and will post regular position reports and updates.
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