After two months in the States and (for John) Europe, we were ready to return to HAWKEYE. During the Rainy Season, we had left her on a mooring at Balboa Yacht Club at the south end of the Panama Canal, very close to the Bridge of the Americas. Linda arrived about 2 p.m. and opened up the boat. We had had a friend look after the boat while we were gone and knew she was safe, but the smell of mildew was overwhelming! (Linda spent the next week cleaning mildew from every surface on the boat and doing laundry.) Lucky John didn’t arrive until 11 p.m. that night. By then, Linda had unpacked her 200 lbs of gear and put it away before John got there with his 200 lbs of gear. All items (new or repaired) had to be inventoried and stored.
The next day, and for the next 17 days, John worked on replacing the pump and hoses on the head, installing a new alternator regulator, and obtaining our new cruising permit. He also rewired the batteries and the main electrical panel (with help from a cruising electrical specialist). He cleaned all the barnacles off the propeller and tried to remove some of the grass skirt along our water line. During this time we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new Aquapro dinghy from New Zealand. We finally got word that it would not arrive until November 30 as it had been shipped to Panama via Hamburg, Germany. Our new dinghy was making a circumnavigation without us!
On October 18, John’s birthday, we headed for the Perlas Islands with the hope that the old dinghy that John has patched and patched would hold together until the new one would arrive. We motor-sailed the 40 miles to the Isla Ampon anchorage. It took us 10 ½ hours. Her grass skirt dragging and lots of barnacles slowed poor HAWKEYE down. John proceeded to remove this excess over the next few days. He had to do most of it alone as Linda had a double ear infection and could not get her ears wet. After 3 months in the canal estuary, the hull was covered with a thick layer of slime and many barnacles. A putty knife was needed to clean it off and, when we got out, we were both covered in tiny shrimp and baby crabs! They were living in the slime and simply transferred to our bods when we destroyed their habitat. Pretty funny, actually. We have since heard that because of the conditions of the water in the canal and ocean mixing, Balboa is one of the worst places in the world for bottom fouling. Indeed, most of the bottom paint we had so carefully applied last January, was all sloughed off at the waterline!
After a few days, we upped our anchor and headed to Espiritu Santo, another anchorage that we really like. HAWKEYE kicked up her heels and sailed well with her bottom clean and her new 135 jib. We tested the new sail and are very pleased with its fit and performance. Linda was able to sell her old inflatable kayak to another cruiser that was so happy to be able to paddle around and enjoy the scenery. John was glad to have only one kayak on the boat again!
We explored the area, fished and collected scallops. One day we decided to explore an adjacent bay and found a river to investigate. The scenery was very beautiful and no one around. We saw lots of birds and lots of different foliage. John was telling some people on the net the next morning and one of the guys said, “Did you see any snakes?” That is an area of LOTS of snakes-lots of poisonous snakes! Crocks, too. Wonderful. We were very lucky that we did not have any encounters of the unpleasant kind. Had Linda known that this was a snake-infested area, she certainly would not have gone on the trip. While at Espiritu Santo, we were experiencing large tide changes up to 18 feet between the high and the low. We had to be very careful where we anchored as we did not want to run aground. During these high tides, lots of trees and debris is set free and so there is the danger of ramming something large while sailing or being rammed by something in the fast moving currents caused by the tidal changes even in the anchorages.
Heading back to the mainland, we decided to spend a night in Conchadora. This island has a small landing strip and as we dropped the hook, there was the continuous sound of planes landing and taking off. There was another boat in the anchorage and they came by to say, “hello”. They had gone to shore to buy eggs at a little tienda and said all the planes were bringing the people to film another “Survivor Panama”. Apparently, it was such a hit that they are doing another series. Since then, we have heard that a lot of anchorages have been closed due to filming. John’s comment to this is, “They are closing the anchorages to the people living the adventure so they can fake adventure for the couch potatoes!” He is very indignant over this turn of events.
We have been anchored in the Flaminco anchorage off the Panama City front since Nov 1. It has a beautiful view of the city and the Bridge of the Americas that is lit up at night with white and green lights.
Panama celebrated their 100th year of independence from Colombia on Nov 3. We decided to be brave and venture into town that evening to see some of the festivities. Dave Woodard, of LA VIE DANSANTE joined us. It was quite an experience seeing all the families walking the malecon listening to the music at different places along the way and sampling the B-B-Q food and drinks. Everything was very reasonably priced. Beers were 50 cents US! At no time did we feel uncomfortable other than the press of bodies. There were no gangs running around and everyone was very orderly but having a good time. Kids had glow in the dark necklaces, bracelets, hair ties, and toys. There were lots of kids asleep on their parents shoulders and it was common to see a stroller being carried high above heads by the father as the mother carried the child. It was too crowded to push a stroller around. There were fireworks every night for 4 evenings with some really spectacular displays.
One afternoon we were on the boat and a big squall came through. There was a boat a short distance from us that started to drag anchor. The owners were not aboard. John and 5 other guys jumped in dinghys and headed over to the boat that was closing in on the rocks of the causeway. It was gusting to 30 knots and there were 4-5 foot swells. The guys managed to get on the boat, find the key, put on the steering wheel, up the anchor and move it out to safe water and re-anchor. It was quite nerve wracking for about 1 hour until they had everything under control. Needless to say, the people were very thankful when they found out what had happened. The next day, a batch of cookies and a thank you note was received by each of the rescue workers. This is a fear we all have and shows how close the cruising community is that they do not think twice about leaving their own boats to help save another.
One evening we had gone to dinner with some other cruisers and were returning to HAWKEYE in the dark when we were approached by a lancha (about a 23 foot open boat) with no lights on it. They were equipped with two 100 hp engines and there were 5 of them with guns. They asked us to stop. Linda asked if they were the NAVY and they said no the police. We went over to their boat and they asked us what we were doing in the area. We told them we were going to our boat. They said it was a prohibited area and that we had to leave. We finally convinced them that we lived on our boat and it was necessary for us to go home. They followed us to HAWKEYE, watched us get aboard and then they left. The next morning, all the boats in the anchorage were boarded and told to leave. Everyone told them they had something broken on their boat and that it would be dangerous for to leave with a “broken boat”. They said to leave as soon as we could. There were about 16 boats in the anchorage at the time and we had a meeting on one of the trimarans to discuss what to do. We all decided we would stay until boarded again and would try to find out what was going on. Nothing ever came of it.
Thanksgiving was celebrated with about 30 other cruisers and some of the locals that work in the area. We cooked two turkeys and a ham and everyone brought side dishes and deserts. It was a wonderful day with the mixing of two cultures. Linda enjoyed cooking in the kitchen with a local chef and we got to meet several other cruisers at the same time.
We hope you had a safe and joyous holiday season and wish you the best in the coming year. Linda and John de HAWKEYE
FROM JK
Nov 3rd was Panama's 100th anniversary of becoming an independent Republic and boy! did they celebrate! 100 years ago, the Province of Panama declared its independence from Colombia. The government said "oh no you don't" and sent ships and marines to quell the revolt, but were prevented by good old Uncle Sam in the form of Teddy Roosevelt and the US Navy. So the Republic of Panama was born, and the US got to build, and own, the canal that the French started but were unable to complete (20,000 people died in the process mainly from malaria and yellow fever) - and which was eventually transferred to Panama by President Jimmy Carter.
Four days of marching bands, processions, music, food and fireworks - and no work. Cars and buildings everywhere were festooned with the Panamanian flag; a rectangle divided into four quarters - white upper left and lower right, with a blue and red star, respectively, and red upper right and blue lower left, very colorful. We watched the fireworks from the boat with a great view of the City waterfront and an impressive array of high-rise buildings. The fireworks the first night were fired off simultaneously from three different locations, quite splendid. The last night, we braved the crowds and headed for the music concerts on Balboa Avenue, along the waterfront. The first stand was good solid, high-decibel reggae-rock, with cold beer $0.50 per can. We then tried to get to the main attraction, a hot local group, but so did a million other people and we gave up and retreated to a good pizza place - and watched the show on TV.
Much excitement in the anchorage the other day. A big black squall formed over Panama City and headed our way. It was preceded by a blast of wind (30 knots) followed by torrential rain, thunder and lightning. The rain blotted out everything and we put out all of our buckets to fill the tanks. Then someone noticed that an unoccupied boat was dragging its anchor and heading for the rocky breakwater! We quickly rounded up 6 people in 3 dinghies and boarded the wayward boat, which was now dangerously close to the rocks. John went to start the engine while others started raising the anchor. Horrors! No key!! We wasted 10 valuable minutes searching the cabin before we found the key and got the diesel started. Wait a minute, there's no steering wheel! The owners had taken it off and stowed it out of the way. Finally, with the steering wheel back in it's proper place, we got the boat moving away from the rocks and reset the anchor, about where they were before. The squall passed and we all returned to our boats soaked to the skin but happy that we were able to save the boat. At least, it was warm rain. Later, we noticed the owners were back on board and called them on the radio. Did you notice anything unusual? we asked, meaning the steering wheel. “Well, no”, they said, “we were so worried about the boat and so thankful that it was here just were we had left it”! “Wait a minute, how did the steering wheel get here? Who did that? Why is the key in the ignition switch? Oh, my God, what happened here?” So, the whole story came out, much to the amusement of the fleet and the owners' chagrin and great relief. Later, Margy brought freshly baked cookies by way of thanks to all of the boats involved in the rescue. They have since ordered a bigger anchor.
Other excitement recently included an incident that has to be every cruiser’s worst nightmare. The young couple aboard the Catalina 27 Morningwood were sound asleep at their mooring at Balboa yacht Club. Unknown to them, the mooring lines had slipped from their cleats, and the little boat started drifting with the current – out into mid channel of the Panama Canal! The freighter, outbound at eight knots, probably never saw them. Even after they hit Morningwood, the crew may not have noticed that the small sailboat bobbing in their wake no longer had a mast or rigging. Incredibly, no one was hurt, and the hull, although damaged, remained afloat. The owners were quick to admit that they were at fault; however, with no insurance, the boat was a total loss and they plan to sell whatever they can salvage. After that, they will return to the USA and try to start their cruising dream over again.
You may have seen a TV "Reality" series called Survivor Panama. It was filmed right here in the Pearl Islands, about 40 miles from Panama City, out in the Gulf of Panama. They are beautiful islands and one of our favorite cruising grounds. Well, so popular is this phony show (there is a actually a large village, complete with hotel, about a mile and a half from the "wilderness" beach) that they have returned to film more episodes. What is worse, the Panamanian Navy has closed some of the best anchorages to the visiting boats - we can't have sailboats mucking up the view of a desolate seascape, can we? So, we have the ludicrous, almost laughable, situation of a phony "survival" show being produced so that the couch-potatos of the U.S. of A. can vicariously enjoy a "wilderness experience" on a real "desert island" without getting off their butts or exposing themselves to the elements while actual people (ie, not actors, phonies or other hangers-on), who have sailed thousands of miles, through fair winds and foul, to enjoy a true wilderness experience, are ordered to keep off. It’s a strange world.
