Galapagos

Thursday 10th May 2007

Pete….

This morning, we had 38 US gallons of fuel delivered in 2*18 gallon drums. About 2 hours later and a bit of spillage, we had it siphoned and transferred into the starboard tank. I now need to know how to check how much space there is left in the tanks - That is 38 US gallons in real money? We want full tanks because it is the same price for a litre in the Marquesas as it is for a gallon here.

In the afternoon, we took a walk around the headland with Graham, Judi and Herbert of “Nomad Life” to find the statue of Charles Darwin and had a couple of beers in town before retiring early.

Fliss….

It really is a pleasure being here as the water is so clear and you can watch the sea lions diving underneath Nadezhda. At night you can see torpedoes of phosphoresce and hear the breathing of the sea lions as they play all around us.

This morning Pete launched the dinghy only for one to try to get in with him, lovely! They have no fear of humans and we can get really close to them. In my next life I want to come back as a sea lion here as all they do all day is play, eat & sunbathe, they are also very sociable critters and it’s a joy to see them laying and playing together.

Sea-Lion in a dinghy

Friday 11th May 2007

Pete….

Today we went with Rob and Lilli from "Mariah" for a tour of the island in a taxi. For starters, we visited a tortoise sanctuary where we wandered along manicured paths amongst the arid volcanic rocks and scrubland. We saw lots of large tortoises that live over 100 years, little yello finches, mockingbirds and a host of endemic plantlife. The wildlife here has no fear of humans and birds will dance along the path next to you and the tortoises do not mind if you are only a few feet away.

Next, we had a superb fruit salad at a mini, gardened cafe where all the produce was picked out of the garden and then on to the local dormant volcano that has a lake in its crater. Fish have been introduced into the lake and Frigate birds were circling and picking them off the surface.

We were then treated to lunch at the taxi-driver's sister's house. First course was fish and plantain soup - YUMMY, followed by.....Fish and Plantain. But this was fried plantain, a different fish, and rice. Again, this was really nice but we could hardly move afterwards when we went to the shore and hunted out the local iguanas on the rocks. These were about 3 feet long and varied in hue between rock colour, rock colour and rock colour with a hint of red. They were very impressive all the same with a "mane" running down the length of their backs.

In the evening we all went over to see Graham and Judy on "Nomad Life" for a barbeque. All of us were still stuffed from the lunchtime extravaganza but made a good effort at polishing off the barbeque ribs and pork chops.

Saturday 12th May 2007

Today is boat job day. The headsail had some fraying edges that needed heat-sealing, the old dinghy had a new exterior patch applied, the electric water pump needed fixing (again) and we did a bit of general interior and exterior cleaning and polishing. Otherwise we had a relaxing day and didn’t even get off the boat.

Sunday 13th May 2007

This morning, we realised that there were no water taxis running. We later learned that it was “Mothers Day” and everywhere was closed. Fliss rang her mother to wish her well and found out from the perplexed noises on the other end that it was not Mothers Day in England.

It was blowing a good 20 knots in the anchorage and so, rather than go ashore, we congregated on Nomad Life for the afternoon along with the crew of Mariah.

Fliss….

I misheard “Mothers Day” for “More beer day” silly me! thankfully Graham on Nomad Life put me right, a really nice afternoon telling old sea shanties and exaggerating experiences out at sea. Herbert had to suffer the German Coastguard joke (he’s from Switzerland but it’s close enough)…. The joke is a trainee coastguard receives a mayday call from English boat… “Mayday, we are sinking, we are sinking” the German coastguard say’s “Hello” and looks nervously around for his supervisor, the English boat again frantically say’s “We are sinking, we are sinking”… the German coastguard after a long pause say’s “What are you thinking about”….

Monday 14th May 2007

We went into town for a few provisions and organised a delivery of water and fuel to Nadezhda. Back at the boat, we had 6 * 20 litre water containers delivered and the tank swallowed them up, so when Diego called to pick up the empties, we ordered another 6 containers that were to be delivered by 15:00.

Nomad Life Leaving for the Marquesas

Graham, Judi and Herbert returned to Nomad Life with their final provisions raised their mainsail and anchor and set off with a fond farewell and fanfare towards the Marquesas. We wished them safe passage and good winds soon had them out of sight over the horizon.

Having gone back into town, we returned and had the next delivery of water and fuel. The water tanks are now full and the final gallon of fuel had to be given back because the fuel tanks are also full. We are pretty much ready to follow in the wake of Nomad Life – and maybe catch them up?

Fliss…

We have decided to leave on Thursday after looking at the Pacific chart and seeing how many islands we would like to visit before running to Auckland, our friends Richard & Sam (Kiwi’s who are entertaining Pete in NZ) emailed us to say “Get here ASAP as it really is simply beautiful” enough said, time to get our heads around the long-haul to Fatu Hiva, 3000 nautical miles….. Richard & Sam did it in 18 days but at times didn’t enjoy the passage, on one occasion they had the spinnaker flying at 04:00am and were hit by a black squall which sent the boat spiralling out of control with no other option but to cut the halyard, Pete and I are not brave enough so we’ll keep doing what we have been doing and shorten sail at night.

Tuesday 15th May 2007

We visited the National Park Information Centre this morning. It seems that a lot of money has been spent on the buildings and displays although, from the visitors book, very few people actually visit it. We were alone except for a French couple. The Galapagos islands were originally a base for English pirates who would attack Spanish ships in the area. Following this, the islands were used as a prison and various attempts were made to colonise them and use the convicts as labour. During this period the local wildlife was hunted to near extinction and many non-indigenous species were introduced that did for the flora what hunting did to the fauna. It is only in the last 50 years that value of the unique environment has been properly recognised and National Parks set up to protect it. We are surprised that the local wildlife has not learned to fear us.

Fliss…..

The Galapagos Islands translated means “The Enchanted Islands”.

San Christobal didn’t escape murder, mystery and intrigue….. in the 1950’s a wealthy titled baroness arrived unexpectedly with her three lovers in tow…. Her plan was to build a millionaires hotel…. Two of hers lovers died in suspicious circumstances and the baroness disappeared and to this day no-one knows what happened to her….

In the 1960’s (I think) Equador offered to lease The Galapagos Islands to the United Kingdom to pay back some debts accrued, The United Kingdom declined but a few years later realised the value of the Islands. Equador had great pleasure in declining any offers. America has also tried to lease the Islands but at the last moment political pressure by the people of Equador vetoed the deal… than god for that! Can you imagine the sea loins frolicking amongst the Mc Donald and Kentucky Fried Chicken wrappers!.

Pete….

In the afternoon, we went off around the coastline in the dinghy. Just around the corner from the anchorage we found a colony of Blue-Footed Boobies roosting on the rocks. They have bright blue webbed feet, long beaks and gawky eyes.

In the next bay, we turned off the engine and rowed quietly towards where the sea-lions were basking. A youngster popped his head above the water to tentatively see what we were up to and became bolder when two others joined him. They spent 20 minutes bobbing their heads up to watch us and then would chase each other around and under the dinghy. One of them kept coming to the surface and slapping the water with its tail in an attempt to splash us. It was absolutely magical since we were entirely alone with the show to ourselves.

Fliss….

For me this has been the highlight of our time in the Galapagos, it was so sweet!!!! The water was so clear that we could see them diving down under the dinghy… they were so close to the side that we could have touched them but you can’t as the babies will be abandoned as the mother can smell you on them.

It’s so funny to them swimming upside down with their noses in the air, they stay like this for ages and they seem to prefer this.

The wildlife here has a wonderful life, they play and bask in the sun. Galapagos is without a doubt their islands and humans are just visitors.

Pete….

Back at Nadezhda I returned to the more mundane job of replacing a split bellow on the main bilge pump. This was the usual nightmare of needing to get two pairs of hands into an unreachable spot inside the rear locker. Another job off the list.

Wednesday 16th May 2007

Fliss went off into town to get final provisions and I spent the time in the internet café updating our Blogsite.

Fliss….

There wasn’t that much choice at the Municipal market (veg & meat) and I only managed to pick up two cabbages and really had to dig deep for green tomatoes, whilst digging I noticed a huge cockroach, yuk, so when I get the vegetables back to Naz I will wash them in a mild bleach solution to kill the eggs, if any. A tip from the galley, if you wrap your tomatoes in silver foil they stay green for much longer!! Also keep banana’s away from other fruit and veg as they give off a gas that makes other fruit/veg ripen faster.. Pete and I have learned quite a bit from other cruisers about keeping provisions longer. The drying banana’s was a roaring failure though!

Re our cockroach problem so far so good and we haven’t seen one in months so fingers crossed we have beaten them, but we will keep playing safe when bringing produce onboard.

Pete….

In the evening, Rob and Lilli came over for a glass of wine to wish us bon-voyage for the following day.

To the Galapagos

Monday 30th April 2007

Up early to read the manual so that we can deflate the dinghy and fold it so that it might possibly fit back into its original bag for stowage on deck. About half an hour later and we had it cracked although there are still a few bits bulging out of the sides.

We left with fond farewells and encouragement to Timella and caught a good breeze that turned into a stiff breeze and needed a couple of reefs. We were not complaining since there has been no wind in the area for the last few weeks. We bombed along reaching up to 8.5 knots at times until eventually the wind died and we resorted to engine at 10pm.

A good day of sailing – keep it coming!

Tuesday 1st May 2007

We were back sailing again at 2am but gave up at 6:30 when we were becalmed. This area is in the doldrums and we know that we will have to do quite a bit of motoring. Unfortunately, we don’t have the fuel to motor all the way and will have to play the fickle winds and the currents to our advantage. Today, I found out that the ocean current forecast I picked up about a week ago is no longer valid. The new forecast puts us now in a tricky area with the current heading us in the wrong direction, this is compounded by little or no wind – also in the wrong direction. I did not think that the currents could change so dramatically in such a short time.

We had a couple of hours of fair wind but otherwise we plugged away with the engine

Wednesday 2nd May 2007

We swapped watches at 01:30 and Fliss went to bed saying that it had been a very gentle evening. One hour later and we were surrounded by lightening. I kept watch of the darker areas of rain on the radar and tried to avoid the bigger lumps until, eventually the whole radar screen was black with rain-echo. As usual, the movable electronic equipment went into the oven for protection and I considered the contents of our emergency grab-bag. Yes, the possibility of being struck is low but would you want to hold up a 50 foot metal rod in a thunderstorm on the ocean?

The morning was dreary and still without wind. Later, we did manage to do a bit of light motor-sailing and thee breeze gave us an extra knot on the speed the engine – but this was at the cost of not really making the heading we wanted.

We cannot keep the engine on but after much dithering, fretting and indecision, we have a plan for a route that may give us a bit of good current and, possibly, some wind. The wind is likely to be against us but there is no other option.

Thursday 3rd May 2007

Background to our route………………………

Before we originally left to go to the Perlas and then onward to the Galapagos, I downloaded an Ocean current Grib file for the route to the Galapagos. This showed that, although there was a Northerly current by the Columbian coast, the current flowed South once beyond 80 degrees West. Once below 3 degrees South, this current turns West all the way to the Galapagos.

Also, the wind is a Southerly below the Galapagos but fans out like a whales spout as it passes between the Islands and the mainland. Taking both these factors, we have gone South to Isla Malpela where we were going to slowly edge West and on to our destination.

Reality!!!

We had various points of sail towards Isla Malpella but the wind was light and local conditions prevailed. It wasn't long, though, before I noticed anomalies between the GPS speed and COG and the log speed and compass bearing that did not tally with my expectations. After some time, I decided to get a new Ocean current forecast and this showed a completely different picture to the one I had earlier less than 3 weeks ago. Now, there is a complex scenario with an anti-cyclonic stream stretching well out from the gulf of Panama that is giving a flow to the East by Isla Malpella and this stretches as far South as 2 degrees North whereupon it meets a Northerly stream.

The Westerly stream that we wanted was 160 miles against the wind and current!

The night looked as though it may catch us amidst thunderstorms again but they were too far ahead and the morning eventually lightened the grey dismal skies. The breeze picked up a little and we got full sail out to make the most of it. Again, it was coming from exactly the direction we wanted to go in and we decided on a Southerly tack to start off with. This pushed us South and East as the current was taking us backwards and we were headed towards Malpelo Island that we had passed in the night.

Before long, the wind headed us and we tacked - again making not too bad a heading. Half an hour to an hour later and we were headed again so we tacked again. Whichever tack we tried, the wind would headed against us by up to 40 degrees after a short time. We were going nowhere and getting to the point of despair - even thinking that we could (a) go to Ecuador or, (b) go to Costa Rica, since these were the only directions that were open to us. Eventually beneath the high-altitude cloud cover and the other dispersed clouds, I noticed that there was a sausage shaped cloud running from horizon to horizon and that we were tacking backwards and forwards beneath it. As we passed under it, the wind shifted and headed us - it was creating local conditions that were heading us on either tack.

We decided to plump for the Northerly (Port) tack and have one more run under the cloud. However, the sausage cloud had started to divulge huge quantities of rain and change shape and, as we approached, we kept a good heading for nearly an hour. The cloud disintegrated and we were headed again - a wind shift of over 50 degrees so we tacked again and managed to maintain that tack for a good 6 hours - phew!

Eventually, Isla Malpela started to recede - good riddance!

Friday 4th May 2007

Pete….

A mediocre day with most of it motor-sailing and trying to get West to catch the current. Halfway through the afternoon, we took a wind shift and made a bit of South overnight.

Motoring in flat calm with an endless horizon of nothing, we came across a half-bole of a coconut tree floating with a solitary seabird standing on it. We happened to pass within 20-25 yards and the seagull just watched us idle by. Very amusing and bizarre. I imagined that the seagull should have been holding a sign saying "Galapagos this way".

Also, we noticed a thick pole of bamboo floating. The sea was gently rolling it and, in time with the roll, three crabs were scuttling up the sides to cling on. Fliss said that they were illegal immigrants in their un-seaworthy craft - I wonder where they were headed for their better life?

Alan birds keep us company at night, they fly around Naz for ages, hovering above the pulpit for a while and then near the cockpit, they seem fascinated. Luckily, the moon has been full and, even when cloudy, sheds some light during the night. Tonight it is rising later - about 09:45 - let's hope for clear skies.

Saturday 5th May 2007

Pete….

Last night we followed another wind shift by tacking and eventually managed to point due West and by 05:00, we were noticing some South in the current that compensated for our leeway. This has got stronger and is the prelude to the Westerly flow and we are feeling that we might actually make it to the Galapagos. There will be an avenue of head currents in an area centred on 0 degrees 39 minutes North 86 degrees 30 minutes West but then we catch a Southerly stream for the final run to the Galapagos - this is ok since it helps with the wind direction.

So the lesson is that Ocean currents can change dramatically over the period of just a couple of weeks. This was predicted to be an el-nino year but they changed their minds a couple of months ago as the Humbolt current strengthened. I think we have suffered some side effects!

We have spent 2 hour watches for the last 36 hours and played Naz for all she's worth. Once we got going, the Aries took over and was brilliant at pinching and paying off to keep 6 knots in fairly light winds.

The wind then eased and the waves took over. I played at getting Naz moving again but it takes a lot of hand steering to recover from the larger "stopper" waves. We decided to resort to engine tickover and are back to 6 knots so are not too displeased at that and the forecast is for some more wind tomorrow.

Sunday 6th May 2007

Pete…

The engine went off again at 02:00 and we soon had one reef in the main, then we rolled some headsail away and put the second reef in the main. The winds kept building and eventually we were pounding into head-seas with 9 rolls of reefing in the headsail – leaving a handkerchief flying. I was worried about building seas but they were not too bad and the course being set was in the direction we wanted.

This must be the strongest wind we have ever sailed close-hauled and we were both tired from running Nadezhda as hard as we could over the previous 48 hours. From zero to hero and no let-up. After 6 hours of this, the wind veered by 90 degrees and then died completely over about a 10 minute period. With the leftover chop, and the change in wind direction we were making no ground at all and finally decided to hove-to, have lunch and a shower and hope that the seas would die down a bit before getting going again.

Eventually, we put the engine back on and plodded at 2 knots into the oncoming waves.

Monday 7th May 2007

Pete….

In the early hours we found a bit of breeze and calmer seas. The sails came out and we creamed along gently close-hauled directly at our destination. To add to this, we had picked-up the favourable currents and all was well with the world.

Tuesday 8th May 2007

Whoa! Another day like yesterday with gentle breezes and headway in the right direction across smooth seas – keep it coming!

Although I was tired and it was past my off-watch time, we both stayed awake to cross the Equator at 21:17. Fliss insisted on putting make-up and mascara on me – the usual beard and a curly moustache.

The last couple of days have been cold as we are well and truly in the Humbolt current that comes from Antarctica up the West coast of South America. Last night and tonight, we have been wearing thermal underwear, long trousers, fleece jackets and Henri-Lloyd water/wind-proofs. I also had my fleece deerstalker hat on for the graveyard shift. So, no fancy dress for the Equator party (unless you call the above fancy dress!).

As the seconds counted down to 00:00.0 we poured the champagne and put the radio 4 theme tune on the stereo. “Rule Britannia” was blasting out as we crossed the line and we poured the first glass of bubbly into the briny as a toast to Neptune.

My mum often made chicken paste sandwiches for my school lunch. It was so bad you could not even give it away. So, when we departed last June, mum gave us a jar of the evil stuff just in case other supplies ran low. Crossing the Equator, it is customary to eat something nasty so we had chicken paste on crackers. I ate both of mine but Fliss, unfortunately, spilt champagne on her second one!

Fliss…

It really was an accident!! I wouldn’t waste cheap champagne. I enjoyed my chicken paste cracker but I couldn’t bring myself to the one that was soggy.

The watches had been messed up due to crossing the Equator but I forced myself to keep awake till 2am so Pete managed to get 4 hours worth of sleep.

Did we mention that we hadn’t seen another boat since we left Panama? we really were alone.

Thanks to everyone for their emails! it really does keep us company on long passages.

Pete….

Welcome to the Southern Hemisphere!

Wednesday 9th May 2007

As dawn broke, we had our first sight of the Galapagos through the grey gloom. Soon, the sun was shining and we had ourselves a fast blast in the lee of San Christobel.

We arrived at 12:00 to a reception by the port captain in his large powerful dinghy. He was welcoming as we stormed in with full sail at over 7 knots on a broad reach. After we anchored he came over again and made it quite clear that the first stop was the port captains offices.

As we took the water taxi to shore, Fliss saw a Sea lion playing in the water and was very excited since it was the first one she had ever seen in its natural environment. The taxi driver was nonplussed - when we reached the dock, there were about 6 lying on the steps and the pontoon and a host of them playing together in the water. If you leave your dinghy in the water here, they will colonise it. We were warned that they secure their ownership of your dinghy by “scenting” it and so we will make sure that ours is always pulled out of the water when not using it!

There were 3 boats here that we have socialised with before and we had a very nice welcoming committee.

The first thing the port captain does is offer you a peaked cap with the logo of the Ecuadorian Navy at $10 each. We thought that there was not really an option to say no and so bought one. It appears that everyone here has bought one. Rob and Lily on "Mariah" had arrived about an hour before us but had not yet been to the port captains’ office. We lent them our cap and they walked in wearing it and did not have to buy one!

We then went for a beer with everyone to catch up on things. It appears that 2 weeks is about the norm for the crossing we made and we therefore think that we actually had a fairly good run. Whilst we were relaxing, a local dive operator came over and asked us to come to the shop so that he could make a promotional video. We sat around looking like divers as he did a presentation of the equipment, the island and the quality of the diving. Afterwards, three of us did a mock interview about why we chose to dive in the Galapagos (even though we were not diving). Last night I went to bed at 19:00 and slept for a good 13 hours and feel much better for it.

Fliss…

A really great reception and it appears that everyone had the same idea to go to the nearest island. The coastline isn’t dramatic but the wildlife really is special.

Once you make landfall you cannot visit any other islands and those who chose to defy to authorities run the risk of $200 each in fines.

We had arranged to meet up with Timella in Santa Cruz and the original thought was that we would rest here, do the formalities and then move onto Santa Cruz. We have a network of people trying to contact Timella via the SSB to tell them to come here, fingers crossed that they get the message.

People have said that the Galapagos is expensive but we haven’t found that to be the case, so burgers & chips onshore ($4 each) and back to Chez Nadezhda to re-charge our batteries.

We couldn’t help but laugh when Pete gave his personal view as to why he wanted to dive in the Galapagos, he was a few sheets to the wind and explained in GREAT detail about the Humbolt current…. Well they asked!!!! Graham & I were in tears of laughter and on our knees giving the “I’m not worthy” salute.

Looking back on the passage we did really well as most people had no wind at all…. All in all we had 4 days of hell and 4 days of good/excellent conditions.

It’s amazing how you quickly slip back into life on passage, towards the end we decided to relax back and accept that we would get there eventually, there’s no point in getting stressed and pushing to hard as all it does is make the journey hard work, we must be getting old!

Return to Panama

Friday 20th April 2007

Pete…

We left the Perlas Islands early and, with no wind, we motored the whole way back to Balboa (Panama). I spent most of the time replacing one of the UV damaged straps on our sprayhood, otherwise the trip was uneventful and we arrived in the anchorage at about 3:30pm.

We met up again with Cameron (Aussie), Sharon (Scot) and Lewis (Son) on their 40 year old GRP boat called Timella for a few drinks later.

Saturday 21st April 2007

The crew of Timella gave us a lift to shore this morning and came with us on our dinghy hunt. The chandlery adjacent to the anchorage was the first stop and they said that they could get a dinghy the next day. Next stop was a Suzuki dealer that also sold Suzuki outboard engines. They were closed but the tradesman’s entrance was still unlocked – Cameron blustered his way in and we were invited inside. Cameron immediately started some hard bargaining and brought the price down by a couple of hundred dollars until they were eventually haggling about 20 dollars. My view was that the “Caribe” dinghies were too heavy and Fliss would have difficulty when we came to carry it (with engine) up the beach. Anyway, the only available one was hanging in the roof and the person who could lower it had knocked-off for the day.

Evening was spent with the Timella crowd onboard Naz. Cameron wants to cruise the first part of the Pacific with company and we agreed to sail with them. Unfortunately, they have a host of jobs to complete on Timella but we agreed and gave a personal deadline of one week. So, the pressure is off the dinghy hunt for the moment.

Sunday 22nd April 2007

The lift ashore came courtesy of Timella again and Cameron suggested that we had breakfast a superb greasy spoon that he had found, conveniently located near a chandlery. He described the picture of bacon, eggs, tomatoes, fried bread, sausages and all the trimmings and guaranteed that it would all be swimming in luscious quantities of fat. When we arrived, the self-serve counter was filled with curries and pastries and cakes – we were all devastated – what sort of fare is that for 9:30am???? The curry was actually quite good but a bit odd for the first meal of the day.

The chandlery could only offer a fresh-water fishing dinghy and rest of the afternoon was spent on a fruitless search for other dinghy outlets and second-hand shops.

Monday 23rd April 2007

Help! The dinghy supplier by the anchorage sells Zodiac dinghies that are much more expensive than the ones at Suzuki but are lighter, faster and stow more easily. A phone call to trusty father confirms that they are a good make and you can’t really go wrong with them. So, mind made up I go to order one.

The chap in the shop rang head office and said that I could pay $200 extra to have it delivered from Colon (50 miles away) to which I replied that I could hire a taxi and collect for $45. He spent another 20 minutes on the phone and said that it would actually only be ready by Thursday and could be delivered free of charge. I asked whether he could not get it sooner and, after another half an hour on the phone, he said that it would now not be delivered until Saturday because it was stuck in customs??!?!?

Cameron does odd boat jobs around the anchorage and is also a qualified rigger. His current job is to get a poor SSB installation on another yacht working. The other yacht had 2 SSB's and he took the older one out yesterday - it is now sitting on my chart table ready for installation. In return, I am going out to source a water foot-pump for him and install it as well as help with a problem with his boom and rudder.

Fliss

I had a lovely day shopping with my dear friend Sharon. We caught the local bus into town and at 25 cents (12.5 pence) it’s well worth doing. It was great browsing around the shops with someone who wants to do it! Pete is very tolerant and when I ask him if he likes it he just says “yes, just buy the damn thing”. Clothes’s shopping is fantastic as everything is so cheap, I saved so much money!! I bought three summer/casual dresses, bikini, 5 t-shirts, new purse, super glue and the bill came to £20.

Images of Panama

Tuesday 24th April 2007

Pete..

I purchased the new water-pump and went over to Timella to fit it. Of course, the new pump is a different shape and size to the old one and the foot-operated lever refused to line-up with the original hole in the bulkhead. The only thing for it was to build a shelf to support the pump and cut another hole. The whole of the afternoon was spent making a shelf of contorted design and dimensions of sufficient strength to support Cameron’s bulk just in case he pumps too hard (he is over 6 feet tall and built to match).

Fliss:

As the deadline for departure to the Galapagos Islands is scheduled for Sat/Sunday Sharon and I headed off to re-provision Timella, I was really grateful that Pete and I had stuck to our plan of not dipping into our tinned supplies, as I really didn’t need to get much, apart from rum. According to the Cruisers Network a bottle of rum in the South Pacific Islands will set you back $50 a bottle, cigarettes are also very expensive at $10 a packet (UK prices) so I stocked up, here its $4 dollars for 200. Rolling tobacco is very difficult to find in Panama but after asking around we found one place that sold it, so Pete’s stocked up.

Downtown Panama is amazing, very cosmopolitan with high and impressive skyscrapers, the whole area looks very affluent. This is where the rich Panamanians shop! But Sharon and I preferred the old town as not only did it suit our purses but it is steeped with old Spanish style houses with impressive iron lattice work balconies and pretty window baskets. You can wander safely through little back streets and come across a church or a lovely little square, it really is a great place to explore.

Wednesday 25th April 2007

At 08:00, the yachties all tune in to channel 69 on the VHF for a chat about who has arrived, who is leaving, any assistance (ie: where can I find a dentist? Has anyone got an angle-grinder I can borrow etc), and spare kit (trash) for sale. First on the agenda this morning was Cameron. He had woken up to find that his dinghy had been stolen at some point the previous night along with the outboard engine. This is devastating as the dinghy is the workhorse of any anchorage, getting ashore, ferrying provisions etc. The hardest part is that he is strapped for cash and cannot really afford to buy even a half-decent second-hand one.

The irony of it is that it must have been the worst dinghy in the anchorage since the transom was strapped in with a bit of rope meaning that you were always knee-deep in water. The propeller on the engine was not fully attached to the drive-shaft and the starter cord recoil was missing so that the casing had to be removed before starting with a piece of spare rope wound around the top of the flywheel and pulled hard.

More shelf-fitting today but the job can’t be completed because I need Cameron’s thumbs-up for cutting the new hole. He is up the mast of a boat nearby, diagnosing some serious faults. He was a rigger in a past life and charges his services out at up to $50 per hour. Hang-on, why am I doing work on his boat? Oh yes…….the free SSB unit.

Talking of dentists……my false front tooth has come loose again, so I made an appointment to get it fixed.

In the evening, I spent an hour getting his boom-end away from the boom. It had been glued on with chemical metal but was not too tricky to extricate. Then, food and drinkies on Timella.

More Images of Panama

Thusday 26th April 2007

I went to the dentist, had an x-ray plus an examination and the conclusion was that the root was breaking up – same conclusion that the dentist in Antigua had given. The root could cause me problems across the Pacific and needed to come out, so the dentist took imprints of my teeth and told me to come back at 3:00pm to have it removed and have a temporary bridge fitted (it should last about a year).

Back to the dentist and an hour and a half later I had a new bridge. Ok, it didn’t fit very well and had all sorts of bits poking out inside my mouth but the dentist told me to return the next day and tell her how it felt once the anaesthetic had worn off.

Fliss and I are now compiling our guide to “Dentists of the World”, this one is not rating well.

Soup for dinner tonight.

Friday 27th April 2007

This morning I finally get around to fitting the water pump on Timella and then making a teak facia to tidy up the old hole and screws.

In the afternoon, Fliss and I went back to the dentist and, after a good deal of grinding and shaping, it feels much better. However, the inside shape of my teeth has changed so much that it has left me with a lisp. I am hoping that I will get uthed to it thoon tho that I can thpeak properly again. The dentist thtill getth the thumbth-down.

The dinghy is here! We return to the chandlery carry it to the dock, pump it up, and we are mobile again! With an inflatable keel, it moves twice as fast as the old dinghy using half the fuel and has the added bonus of not soaking us with saltwater spray. We give it the thumbs-up and I attach a heavy wire strop and padlock to it.

We have offered Timella the use of our old dinghy for the passage across the Pacific. Cameron did not look too enthusiastic since it is over 20 years old and has a hole that is increasingly hissing air. We have spoken to a local who has given us the location of professional repairers, so we will go there tomorrow.

Fliss:

I was due to go with Sharon to get their Zarpe this morning but she wasn’t feeling very well. Bad timing as at 12pm today Timella gets lifted out, last thing you want when your not well.

I was grateful for time on the boat as Nadezhda had become slightly neglected as Pete and I were concentrating our efforts on getting Timella ready for the off. It was good to get Nadezhda ship-shape again.

Last minute panic on Timella as the boat battery was low and they couldn’t start the engine, eventually the engine started, anchor up and off they went to get Timella lifted out onto the hard.


Saturday 28th April 2007

The professional dinghy repairers did not exist and a fruitless search was made to find an alternative.

Fliss…

Such a shame we couldn’t get the dinghy repaired but we took a taxi to see how Sharon, Cameron & Lewis were getting on.

I have never met such a lucky man! the night before Cameron had met another Ozzie Yachtie who happened to be a boat builder, he offered to take a look at the rudder for Cameron. The Ozzie chap turned up and said that they had a bearing missing on the rudder, he took some measurements then jumped in a taxi, found what they were looking for and hey presto it fitted like a dream.

Next job was to anti-foul Timella’s bottom, word is that you add chilli powder to your anti-foul and nothing will stick to it. Sadly no chilli powder could be found on the boat so Cameron added Thai Green Curry sauce to the amusement off the local boat workers.

Realising we were in danger of not getting away (the beers were being distributed) we made a swift exit to pick up our gas bottles and the last of our provisions.

Pete and I had heard that there was a Swedish Butcher who sold vacuumed packed meat that lasted for three months if you keep it refrigerated.

Thank god we asked for directions on the cruisers net as we would never have found the place.

We bought 6 packs of two rib eye steaks (so big that you could cut one in half and it would feed both of us, three packets of sausages, 6 packs of two pork chops, 3 large packets of ham. As we were about to pay the guy serving us said that the smoked beef was wonderful, so off he went and came back with some for us to try… he was right it was delicious! So we bought six packs, the bill was £30, so cheap! The Pacific passages are going to be a gastronomic delight on the good ship Nadezhda.

Our “Playmates” aren’t playing tonight so Pete & I settled down for a quite night, the 1st one in many weeks.


Sunday 29th April 2007

We removed the patch from the old dinghy this morning, cleaned it up and applied it to the inside of the hole. The plan is to then put another patch on the outside and hope this works. Apart from the hole, the dinghy is reasonable and will make a good spare.

I did my usual pre-departure mast-check and was relieved to find that there are no obvious issues. Timella has a problem with her roller-furling headsail and so I agreed to go up her mast and have a look. Yes, Cameron is a rigger and should go up himself but the winches to haul him up are not man-enough to do the job. Being half the size of Cameron, his bosun’s chair was too big for me and I rattled around in it. Also, I had to help with hoisting myself up the mast (remember the puny winches?). I hoisted myself manually up in the same fashion as climbing the greasy-pole at village fetes and pulled myself up out of the bosun’s seat, a bit of frantic scrabbling later and I was back in but took the skin off my ankle and knee.

The upshot is that Timella needs a means of guiding the halyard away from the roller-furler and that they will not now be able to leave with us tomorrow. They also have a problem with loss of fresh water – a serious issue – and we do not know when they will be prepared to leave. Anyway, we will stay in the Galapagos for a while, if it is not too expensive, and we hope they will catch us up there.

Fliss….

Just for the record Pete is now banned from going up anyone’s mast without the correct and fitting safety gear. They may be small cuts but in this climate injuries take longer to heal due to the humidity. We will have to keep an eye on the cuts and the nasty graze on his ankle.

The Perlas Islands

Monday 16th April 2007

We decided to risk the dinghy and leave early for The Perlas Islands, worst case scenario we could always go back to Panama as its only around 40 miles.

Alarm went off at 4am to catch the tide, we had no idea as to the strength of the tide as we have no tidal information apart from high & low.

To the great relief of both of us the anchor came up quite clean as on other occasions we have spent quite a bit of time scrubbing all the grey smelly clay off.

Great sail (although 50% was under motor) and we had the cruising chute out for the last hour doing somewhere between 2 and 6 knots. The seas here are teeming with life. The first we saw of this was a huge whale that slowly surfaced, blew and then displayed its entire back, dorsal fin and sank again. It appeared again several times near Naz and we think it was a Brydes Whale due to its length, colour and very hooked dorsal. We then had to negotiate the fleet of fishing boats trawling backwards and forwards and were given a display of flying Rays. Well, they were trying to fly as they launched themselves out of the water and flapped their wings vigorously. Another fish we saw was skimming above the water using the lower part of its tail fin as propulsion. Wonderful!.

Everywhere, there are jumping fish and shoals of fish "balling-up" at the surface obviously trying to escape a larger critter as the frigates picked them off the surface.

The Perlas seem almost deserted. Jimmy Cornell's cruising guide says that you should only anchor in remote places in the company of other boats (previous incidences of pirates) but, after passing one island with no sign of life and running the length of another, we decided to put into a large deserted bay. There is nothing and no-one here except deserted sandy beaches, cliffs and pinnacles of rock jutting out of the water reminiscent of Ha-Long bay (Vietnam) or Krabi (Thailand). Absolutely beautiful.

The charts on C-Map do not have a lot of detail. We eventually decided to stop at a beach that had less swell running onto it and felt our way in. The depth stayed constant at 10m until it shelved quickly to 8, 7, 6 and we decided to move out again. Having dropped the hook, the depth was still on the up and down (between 8 and 6 metres) and we could hear the chain grumbling on rock. With another 3.5 m of tidal drop still to go, we upped the anchor and moved out a bit further. This morning there is a jagged lump of black rock sitting pretty much where we were originally positioned.

Pete pumped-up the dinghy and it is still pumped-up after 20 minutes. The edges of the patch are not as smooth as I would have liked but the whole thing is on an area of the nose that curves in every direction leading to a few wrinkles. Hopefully it will stick until we get a replacement.

A lovely night just Pete, I and Nadezhda, even though I must admit to being slightly nervous after hearing about Jimmy Cornell

Tuesday 17th April 2007

This morning we took the dinghy ashore to explore from land it is even more beautiful, soft golden sand and stunning azure blue seas it really is paradise!

Hundreds of Pelicans and Frigate birds sitting together on the beach and as soon as we got close they took to the air. Luckily for us they had already done their morning ablutions!

I found some oyster shells and I’m planning on making necklaces from the mother of pearl, not sure it’ll work but it’ll pass a few hours at sea.

In the afternoon we decided to visit Isla Del Rey only a short hop of 15 miles.

A good sail, mostly close-hauled (my favourite as I like to play with the wind) we spotted another yacht and decided to drop anchor. It was pleasant enough but nowhere as spectacular as the last island.

The wind direction would have been perfect for sailing to the Galapagos but we really wanted to see more of the Perlas Islands plus you really have to mentally prepare yourself for long passages and we weren’t prepared.

Wednesday 18th April 2007

We decided to go back to The 1st Island (Isla De San Jose) but to move slightly around the headland to another anchorage.

Another stunning anchorage!

We must have been very lucky when we 1st sailed to the Perlas Islands as we haven’t seen as much marine life apart from a shark or two that actually turned out to be Ray’s with one of their fins out off the water.. they really did look like shark fins!.

Pete…..

We settled for a beautiful anchorage on Isla San Jose where there is a wooden, Thai/Indonesia style hotel overlooking the rocky bay. We motored towards the beach and watched as the depth went up and down. I reckoned that the shallower parts were rock and the deeper parts probably sand and we eventually anchored in 8.5m depth. "Ok" I said, the tidal range two days ago was 4m and we are currently in 8.5 so no problem.

Wrong! Yes, it is equinoctial tide time and the moon is now just new. The tidal range was just over 5m and we had arrived bang on the high tide

So we sat and watched the depth go down. Where I was thinking that we would not see less than 4 plus metres depth, it kept going down until it reached 3.1 at the bottom of the tide. Of course, this is no problem as long as the conditions remain calm. I decided to keep a watch when Fliss went to bed and started hearing waves crashing from places where there weren't any before. I blew out the hurricane lamp, turned off the anchor light and peered into the inky black. As my eyes became accustomed, I saw two dark lines on the horizon. The first wave simply rolled gently under us, the second, larger wave got within 15 metres and started breaking. It hit us broadside-on with a crash.

I shouted to Fliss to get on deck and luckily, as the anchor came up, we had 4m depth - this meant that the shallow patches we had come over should be deep enough to get out. They were - by 0.5m......I gunned Nadezhda over these as we were luckily without waves for the period of real shallows.

So, now I have learned another lesson and won't be so lax when checking tides, depths etc. We will also ensure we are not hemmed-in by shallows and have an escape route!

Now in much deeper water and staying there!

Fliss….

I remember saying to Pete have you checked the tide and he was convinced that there wouldn’t be a problem, so at 11am and the boat sitting at 3.1ish metres of depth I retired.

I wasn’t asleep just reading my book when I heard a loud bang as the wave hit, the impact was so great that it launched a heavy bag from a safe place all over the galley floor, bearing in mind that we have been in high seas and seriously leaning over, this bag has never moved before, it really was a bang.

I grabbed the anchor remote and told Pete to put the deck lights on and got the anchor up as quickly as I could, as luck would have it and it was luck, no further breaking waves came in whilst bringing it up. The anchor came up in super fast time (I was worried that if we had fouled our anchor on a rock we really would be in trouble) I stood by the navigation table reading off the depth as Pete gunned it… at times it read 2.5mtrs (we draw 2) and I read the readings out to Pete, praying that Neptune would be good to us and not send any more waves in at this time. Pete was in the cockpit also looking at the depths and I think that he really didn’t need me reminding him.

Let me describe Pete, he was ashen, his nerves were in overdrive and you could probably hear his knees knocking together in Balboa.

Apologies to Nadezhda and Pete had a large glass of wine to calm down.

Thursday 19th April 2007

Pete………….

We took the dinghy to the beach and had a stroll around the idyllic setting before returning to Naz.

As we picked-up the dinghy to carry it back to the water, it was noticeably deflated again so we hurried it back and got it on board. Unfortunately, the patch was leaking in a couple of places and we are running out of glue. Even if we can seal the leak, it is not wise to proceed to the Pacific with the possibility of another leak so an emergency call was made to my Dad to see if he could find a dinghy supplier in Panama.

He came up trumps with a few telephone numbers and, having rung round, we think we might have two sources (although almost no choice)..

Tomorrow, we have an unscheduled visit back to Panama for the dinghy hunting exercise.

Leaving Panama

Friday 13th April 2007

Today is going to be a busy day as we have decided to leave Panama tomorrow morning at 1am to catch the tide for the Perlas Islands (only 35 miles).

Rumour had it that we would have a hard time getting our Zarpe (clearance from Panama) as we hadn’t cleared out off Colon and we hadn’t checked in at Balboa so we decided that the best course of action was to get up early so that if we did meet a “Jobsworth” there would be enough time to go back to Colon (1 and half hours bus drive) and get back in time to clear in at Balboa.

Pete and I dressed in our smartest gear and headed off to go through the formalities.

We took a taxi to Port Control Balboa to get our Zarpe and the lady in the office who spoke no English called another guy in he said that we needed to get entry clearance in order to get our Zarpe, so back in the taxi to where we had started.

The taxi driver trying to be helpful took us to the Immigration Department and again she didn’t speak English, she said call this mobile number and speak to Mr Houtinami, why we were calling him we had no idea but Pete called him anyway.

Mr “Carlos” Houtinami turned out to be Port Captain at Flamenco Bay and was wonderful! We hadn’t cleared in when we arrived on the 8th (we should have done but we didn’t know we had too) we didn’t have our exit paper from St Maarten (we think that immigration in Colon had them or Agent Ellington had forgotten to give it back) normally “Officials” do everything by the book but he just said “Don’t worry amigo, for me no problem but other port captains big problem for you” he backdated the entry form and we were 1 step closer to getting our “Zarpe”.

Back in the taxi to Port Control in Balboa and the Zarpe was issued, I nearly dropped “Carlos” in it as I bet Pete that we had left the exit paperwork from St Maartan with the 1st lady we spoke to at Port Control Balboa. I asked her if she had it and as she didn’t speak English she called another man in he said “No we don’t hold it its kept when you 1st cleared into Flamenco Bay” I never said another word but lost the $10 bet.

For me it is “Dental treatment in exotic places” as I have had problems with my back tooth (the one that I had operated on in Antigua) it is immensely sensitive to hot and cold. So I went to the dentist and Pete went with the taxi driver to the fruit & veg market & to the supermarket to stock up before leaving Panama.

An hour later, $400 lighter and a root canal we all jumped back into the taxi to do the last of the formalities, Immigration.

Stamp in the passport we were done and we took Naz to Balboa to re-fuel and re-water.

The officials in Panama were wonderful and really helpful, we do believe that if we had turned up in shorts and t-shirts the reception could have been different.

We had been invited to a party on Timella (Ozzy Cameron & Scottish Sharon’s boat) but as it had been a bit of an exhaustive day we only stayed a couple of hours. The decision to leave in the morning was postponed as Nadezhda wasn’t ready for the off.
Plus they say never sail on a Friday and being the 13th we decided not to tempt fate.

Saturday 14th April 2007

In the morning we got a taxi to Balboa yacht club to do our washing (saving our water supplies).

When we got back we dinghied past Pagos to say goodbye (they were leaving for Galapagos) and they said there was another party on Timella and were we going, being 1pm we thought we just motor past and say goodbye but we wouldn’t stop for a beer.

Best laid plans of mice & men! 8 hours later copious amounts of beer we left Timella.

A really excellent afternoon/evening, Cameron & Sharon are brilliant hosts. Sharon made a chicken curry & rice for 12+ people and somehow manage to feed anyone that turned up she really is a top girl! cooking for that many people where temperature is around 30 degrees inside the boat is no fun. Me, I would have made cheese sandwiches and even that would be hard work.

We’re hoping that they get moving soon and we’ll meet up with them in Las Perlas or Galapagos.

As you can probably guess we postponed AGAIN.

Sunday 15th April

The morning after and the skipper is suffering! I’m fine as I didn’t drink that much.

Pagos left early this afternoon, their plan is to bob all the way to the Galapagos as there is no wind and what there is on the nose. They have been sailing for about 9 years with their kids and are in no hurry so do not use the engine unless light airs and large seas combine together to cause the sails to flog too much.

Our plan is to keep a low profile today and leave tomorrow morning at 4am.

This might be in jeopardy as a large wave has just sent the dinghy underneath the Aries wind-vane and the Aries has just ripped a large hole. The problem we have is that we can’t meet the repair instructions, humidity no more than 60% here the humidity is always 80% plus and the temperature must be between 18 & 25C it never drops below 30C… Pete is going to try it and see how it goes or we have to buy a new one.

I’ve just called Sharon up on the VHF to say thank you for yesterday and she asked if we had heard the commotion in the anchorage after we left, apparently a very bizarre French man (Pete & I didn’t like him) had became quite abusive so she had to kick him off the boat, he got off their boat but just bobbed alongside and refused to go, Betsy (American lady) heard the noise and got up. Gun I hand she said “if you don’t move I’ll shoot you”, he moved!

Pete…….

A set of waves pushed the dinghy under the Aries and caused Naz to pitch up and down at the same time. As the Aries came down on the dinghy, it pushed an “L” shaped tear about six inches by three in the nose. The instructions on the repair kit say that two-part glue should be used for permanent repairs and we only have one-part. We shall see how long the repair lasts!

Panama - The Real Deal

1st April to 6th April 2007

Pete……….

We decided that it was easiest to catch a taxi back to Colon after being awakened at 06:00. The drive back through the jungle was really pretty and we arrived back at 09:00 to find that our transit had slipped to Sunday the 8th.

The next couple of days we spent re-provisioning and generally just lolling around waiting for transit. Whilst in the yacht club, I overheard that a couple of Finnish guys had got hold of a set of South Pacific charts and were off to photocopy them. I quickly introduced myself and they agreed to make two copies of all charts and to give us a set. Some of the charts were already photocopies and the end result of re-photocopying left a bit to be desired but others were good re-productions. I am a little worried by the ones that state “Orientation Chart Only – Not to be used for navigation” but, since most charts of the South Pacific Islands are inaccurate anyway, I think that they will have to do! The idea with all landfalls is to arrive in daylight and eyeball into the anchorage.

On the Thursday, we heard that schedules for transit were moving. The line-handlers that we had recruited (Dick and Sam) had been moved to transit the same day as us and so we had another recruitment drive on. I rang the scheduler and he re-instated our original date of Saturday the 7th.

Luckily, we had met a couple who had arrived recently and who we last met in Gran Canaria – small world. Graham & Judy were sailing with another crew member, Herbert from Switzerland. Graham and Herbert were doing a trial transit with another boat (Thursday & Friday) and Graham and Judy agreed to come with us on the Saturday/Sunday. They are a great couple and will be fun to have aboard.

Saturday 7th April 2007

Fliss…………….

The day has arrived and we are due to pick up our pilot at 16:00hrs on “The Flats”. “The flats” is really the entrance to the canal and also the anchorage.

This morning Pete picked up our lines from Roger at the yacht club and we had agreed with Bolivar that we would meet him at 2pm and Graham & Judy should be on the boat at 3:30pm, just making sure that everyone was onboard ready for kick-off.

Pete left me on Nadezhda at 1:30pm to pick up Bolivar and I was on VHF listening duty just in case the scheduling department called us up.

At 2:45pm (Pete was still nowhere to be seen) I watched Graham heading off to the yacht club and a call came for us over the VHF advising us that our time had been brought forward to 3:30pm.

Pete………….

At the yacht club, rumour had it that a boat had been bumped to the next Monday and so I rang the scheduler to confirm our transit. He informed me that our departure had been brought forward to 15:50.

Fliss…………..

A mild form of panic ensued as I had no skipper, no crew and we had 45 minutes to get the boat ready and on “The Flats” ready to receive our pilot. The penalty for not being ready is that you get fined and you drop back to the bottom off the waiting list.

I tried calling on the Yacht Club on channel 12, 14 and 16 no reply! I found the phone number for the club and the line was constantly engaged, damn!

It was now 3pm and no sign of the errant crew members! Behind us was a really nice elderly South African couple and I spotted the hubby in the cockpit. “Hello, Hello (in my best British accent) I wonder if you know the VHF channel for the Yacht Club as I need to get in touch with Pete as we have had our time brought forward”….he was a star and said “Don’t worry I’ll go & find him” and off he roared in his super fast dinghy.

Luckily Pete was on his way back with Bolivar when the man caught up with him but we were still missing our crew members. Pete deposited Bolivar and went back to the Yacht club to round them up.

At 3:20pm, thank god! We had every one on board! One reason for the mild panic is that the holding is on smelly black glup so whilst taking the anchor up someone had to scrub and wash the chain down, this all takes time!!.

It was raining! (the beginning of the rainy season) we motored past a Russian boat that was to transit with us and wondered why they hadn’t got any lines or fenders ready, we called over to the skipper and asked if they were still transiting through the canal, they said that they were due to pick up their pilot at 18:00hrs. Next thing we knew their pilot was promptly delivered but they were not ready! They also didn’t have their line handlers onboard, a complete nightmare. The Russians had already been let down the day before and were desperately trying to recruit people last night.

Our pilot was delivered at 3:45pm. Pete did an excellent job at keeping Nadezhda still whilst he got onboard.

It was still raining!

Bolivar was superb at getting the boat ready, he was like a whirling dervish! Fenders adjusted, lines flaked out and he gave Pete a great sense of being in control, plus he’s a really nice man.

Whilst making our way to the Canal entrance our pilot said “The Ruskies won’t make it, they are too late” we all really felt for them as they really had been messed about.

This is where is gets interesting! We were going to raft up against a motor boat and they were going to go against the wall. Umm….. the motor boat was much smaller than us and definitely lighter.

Graham



Bolivar said “Pedro (Pete) the cleats on the motor boat are too small for your lines, do you have any cotton” actually he never said cotton but the thickness would have been about right! So lines swapped over we rafted together.

The motor boat drove us into the lock and Pete said to the skipper “Just to let you know we are 16+ tonnes and we don’t stop that well” the skipper off the other boat replied “16 tonnes, oh shit!”.

The main concerns where that 1; we were going to crush them and 2; we would pull the cleats off the deck.

Judi

Thankfully none of the above happened and we had a very easy transit through the 1st set of locks. The motor boat had a slightly different experience as all hands were on deck trying to keep the boat and its nice shiny new metal guardrails from being mashed up on the wall. I asked the pilot if we would be with them the next day and he said that they were going straight through. Had they just decided this????

It was still raining, actually torrential rain!

Bolivar said “Madam this is a good sign, if you get through early it means you will have a safe transit through the canal”. And we did get through early! We were on the mooring buoy at 7pm.

Celebration beers cracked and we all found a little spot to shelter from the rain.

At 08:30pm the word went out the Ruskies had made it! Pete got the foghorn out and we all gave them a cheer!!!!.

But, this wasn’t the end off their traumas, they messed up tying up to the buoy, Pete, Graham & Bolivar went out to help (in the torrential rain)… their anxiety was heightened as the pilot kept shouting at them “you don’t listen, I told you how to do it and now its all my fault” he really was a nasty piece of work and obviously didn’t want to do the overtime. The pilot boat arrived to take him off and he left without saying goodbye. They must have had a really stressful time with him.

Pete…………….

I think that the Ruskies cannot have a reverse gear. He missed the buoy by a good few yards but managed to throw us his lines. We pulled him in but he kept going forward and nearly mashed our Aries steering gear, fended-off and eventually tied-up, we slopped our way out of the rain for steaming plates of spicy chilli-con-carne.

The Russians came aboard later for a couple of drinks with their one-year-old daughter. Very friendly people they were and we sat and chatted in the hot, steamy enclosed cabin with the hatches closed to keep out the rain.

A few tins of beer later and Bolivar serenaded us with local Panamanian songs and a surprisingly good voice. The Russians left us to it and we eventually retired at 02:00 ready for our alarm call at 05:30.

Sunday 8th April 2007

The pilot boat arrived soon after we had demolished the first round of coffees. Three boats in all were waiting to run the second leg of the transit – across Gatun Lake and down through the locks on the Pacific side. Bolivar noticed that the pilot boat had only two advisors aboard and said that, sometimes, boats were left to wait until the following day to go through. So, we jumped up and down and waved them over. To no avail, the advisors were deposited on the other two boats and off they went! They then came over and, to our relief told us that they would return with another advisor in half an hour. This puts the pressure on as we would have to catch up with the lead boats in order to pass through the locks with them.

45 minutes later, the pilot boat re-appeared and dumped our pilot aboard.

Fliss……

He certainly made an appearance! He fell onto the cockpit seats and lolled around, I thought he was really hungover but Pete said “oh no he’s just pissed as a newt”. He declared that he had been in the bar till 4am and had come straight to the boat he wasn’t at all embarrassed just proud of the fact. Coffee anyone?

Bolivar said that his brother was a very rich and powerful man in Panama so no one could say anything. I think the pilot boat realised he was drunk and held him back for a while in a vain attempt to sober him up.

He was actually quite nice but the drunk ramblings drove everyone out off the cockpit and on deck, poor Pete being the skipper had to stay behind and just ummed and ahhed in all the right places.

When he asked me which way was left & right I put the kettle back on AGAIN!

Pete……

Having transited previously, I knew which way to head but the entrance to the small boat channel was unclear and it took a few attempts to get our Pilot to guide us to the right-hand side of a yellow buoy. Once in the channel, it was well marked and I was confident I knew where we were going. As we came into the main shipping channel, our Pilot told us to go through the short-cut known as the Monkey Channel. On our trial transit, the advisor told us that it was shallow and the it should only be attempted by shallow draught boats. I queried this and the Advisor said “who cares, it’s not my boat”. Actually, we had no less than 10 metres depth and we continued to take short-cuts and cut-corners until we caught up with the Ruskies and had the other (French) boat in our sights. The Advisor’s main job was as a tug boat captain and he obviously knew Gatun lake very well.

We entered into Guillard Cut (where the hills were cut away into a narrow channel) and soon arrived at the Pacific locks at the same time as the leading French boat. It was decided that we would tie ourselves to the French boat and go through the locks rafted together. This we did and practiced a little manoeuvring whilst we waited. It was agreed that, since Nadezhda had the more powerful engine and also a bowthruster, we would be the driving boat and the French would simply help with any emergency manoeuvrability issues.

Fliss….

The good news was that our Advisor was now back in the land of the living but sporting a monumental hangover, in all fairness he knew his stuff and we had a uneventful transit through the last three locks into the Pacific.

As we entered the last locks we hoisted our English flag (George Cross) so that if anyone was looking at home via the webcam on the dockside they could see us.

As the last lock gate opened the heavens opened, welcome to the Pacific! Celebration beers cracked, Henry Lloyds on we made our way to Balboa to drop off crew and the pilot.

As we went under “The Bridge of Americas” we all threw coins under the bridge as it’s meant to be good luck!.

I think that a good time was had by all and it was great having Bolivar onboard as he really added to the enjoyment of the transit, a real gentleman and a good sport.

As we entered the anchorage we spotted Cameron (a mad Ozzie) and his wife Sharon (Scottish). Sharon being a proud Scot had a Scottish flag flying. Pete said quick get the English flag we promptly pegged it to the guard rails… A loud Scottish voice boomed “Git that roobissh doown”. Followed by an Ozzie accent “Hope you’ve got some cold beers on board”.

We decided to have a quite night as we were both shattered by the last 2 weeks of partying.

Rob & Lilly are here and it was so sweet as when she saw us she cheered and said “You made it! Congratulations and welcome to the Pacific”.

There is so much hype about going through the Canal and too many old wives tales, anyone out there who is planning on going through, fear not!