Panama City, Republic of Panama.
The Perlas Islands were once again our destination on December 7 after spending a few weeks in Panama City provisioning and getting some projects completed. We dropped anchor in the bay at Isla Ampon after a fast sail out to the islands, catching a nice 8 lb Sierra on the way.
While relaxing late one afternoon in the cockpit, we saw a boat sailing into the anchorage. We were familiar with the boat and it’s single-handing owner, having shared several anchorages with him in the past. The entrance to this anchorage is a little tricky if it is your first time in, as there are reefs on both sides. This fellow, however, had been in this particular anchorage several times over the last year and knew the way in. When he didn’t turn at the appropriate time, and continued to head towards the reef, another cruiser got on the radio and called him telling him to turn immediately. No response as the boat continued to sail towards the reef. Our dinghy was ready to go so we jumped in and headed out to see what the problem was. By this time, he was on the reef with sails flapping. Thoughts running through our minds were that he had fallen overboard, had a heart attack or something of that nature. We discussed what we should do upon arrival. As we neared, we saw the guy sitting in his cockpit with the sails still flapping, the motor running, and the stereo blasting. John jumped on board as Linda secured the dinghy. As John approached, the guy got up out of his cockpit to shake John’s hand! Mmmmm, what is the problem here? Problem? There is no problem! Well, you are on the reef and your sails are flapping and your motor is running……
By this time, others had arrived. Linda had secured the sails and shut off the stereo. Mr. Euphoric, as he is now referred to, was having a “moment”. We surmised he was high on alcohol and/or drugs. The cruisers managed to help him anchor and we all returned to our own boats. A quick decision was made that we do not want to be in an anchorage with him ever again. A fellow that used to be a good friend of his tried to talk to him regarding his problem and, of course, he denied having any problem. A very sad case as his friend said he was an intelligent and interesting guy in the past. Now, everyone avoids him.
Anyway, one evening we decided to watch a DVD on our computer. We set it up in the cockpit where there is usually a nice breeze after dinner and enjoy this treat once in a while. After the movie that evening, Linda was putting the computer away and John was adjusting the anchor light. Linda started hearing strange noises from the cockpit and asked what was going on. John’s voice definitely had a different pitch than normal. By the time Linda got to the cockpit, John said, “Oh, everything is fine, NOW!” Linda, “NOW??? What do you mean? NOW??” “Well, we had a visitor!” “ What kind of visitor??” It turned out that the visitor was a 5 foot long snake that was keeping warm on our solar panel, which is located about 3 feet over our bed, and presumably watching the movie with us. If there had been anywhere to go to get off the boat, Linda would have done it. Unfortunately, it is a remote area, surrounded by uninhabited semi-jungle. For the next few weeks, there was lots of checking of the solar panels during the night and screens were placed over the aft hatch.
Christmas Eve was celebrated on HAWKEYE. Linda made 3 pizzas and we managed to feed 8 people in our cockpit. Christmas Day was celebrated on another boat, ORNEN (Danish). It was a potluck of turkey and ham with all the trimmings. It is sometimes amazing what can be done in such small galleys.
As our visas were expiring on December 27, we returned to Panama City, applied for new visas, provisioned for 5 boats and headed back to the islands in time for New Year’s Eve. We celebrated the arrival of the New Year a little early at 8 p.m.-well it was midnight somewhere! We cruisers tend to adjust our day around the daylight hours so we are early to bed and early to rise, thus running down the batteries with lights on during the night.
Our visas were completed a week later so we opted to fly from Contadora to Panama City, obtain our new visas and fly back the same day. Another boat kept their eye on HAWKEYE while we were gone. The flight is only 30 minutes. We were picked up at the airport by our friend Enrique, taken to emigration, received our new visas, had lunch, did a little grocery shopping and returned that afternoon. It was fun to see from the air the islands that we visited. The price was $44 round trip and we really enjoyed it.
Several more weeks were spent exploring the area before we headed back to Balboa to once again provision and anxiously await the arrival of friends Georgie and Jenny. Before they even got to the boat, they met several of our cruising friends at the Balboa Yacht Club where there is a spectacular view of the boats passing under the Bridge of the Americas on their way to or from the canal.
We packed as much as we possibly could in their week here. Day 2 of their visit we did a tour of the Panama Canal Museum and Panama Viejo Ruinas (old Panama ruins). From there, we went to the Mira Flores Locks to observe a cruise ship transiting. The next morning bright and early we headed out to the Perlas Islands. On the way, we caught a nice Sierra, which we had for dinner that night and a few other meals. We swam to shore as soon as the anchor was down and hiked on the island of Chapera. Georgie and Jenny never miss a “Survivor” show and were eager to see the islands where “Survivor Panama” was filmed. We hiked some of the islands where they filmed and did some snorkeling on the reefs. This enjoyable sport produced scallops for a ceviche which we served that evening when we got together with several other boats for happy hour. Each day was filled with swimming, snorkeling, beach combing, kayaking, and hiking. The clear, starry nights brought out lots of questions about what was what and John enjoyed getting out his astronomy books and explaining things to us all. The ladies had a few hours of panic when their plane from Panama City back to the States had to return to Panama City because of a hydraulic failure. They ended up spending another day in Panama City and finally arrived home a few days late but safe.
It was very quiet on HAWKEYE after the girls left. We sure did miss them and would comment on anything new and different that the girls would have liked to have seen this or done that.
At this point, we were starting to think about getting ready to sail to Ecuador. We brought a couple of other cruisers out on the boat with us to practice deploying our sea anchor. Something we always had talked about but had never done. The sea anchor is used in very heavy seas and winds to steady the boat and make it more comfortable for the crew. It is essentially a 15 foot diameter parachute that opens underwater and points the boat into the waves; this makes is much less dangerous for the crew and boat. Unfortunately, there was no wind by the time we got to where we felt the water was deep enough to deploy without any danger of getting it caught on rocks, etc. We had to use the engine to back down enough to fill the chute! All went well even if we didn’t have the rough seas. At least we figured out how all the lines should be run and videoed it all so we can refresh our memories.
February 20, we hauled HAWKEYE on the marine railway at Balboa Yacht Club. It was a definite fire drill with much yelling and screaming in Spanish, and lots of body language as the guys tried to center the keel on the cradle. They actually hauled the boat out of the water and back three times. Finally, on the third try, they had the fin keel correctly positioned. Linda was a basket case by the time it was over. Lines were run incorrectly and we had visions of HAWKEYE falling off the thing. But, after we were correctly positioned and they all left, John quietly ran all the lines correctly, one at a time. Four gallons of bottom paint were applied over the next few days and we were back in the water and at anchor again. We can laugh about it now, but at the time it was very stressful. Sleeping on a boat on a rail is quite a feat as the boat is at about a ten-degree angle with the bow up and the stern over the crashing waves at high tide. This is not a sound cruisers like to hear! Once back in the water, we were able to visit downtown Panama City one night of Carnival which was a very colorful and exciting event.
Last weekend was another new experience for us. We had wanted to see our life raft inflated, as it was due for an inspection. We decided to do it ourselves as we had heard horror stories of disreputable companies that were supposedly repacking life rafts and either didn’t inspect it at all or took out the life raft and put in an old sail. No one would be the wiser until they tried to inflate a raft that wasn’t there! We took the raft to the Pedro Miguel Yacht Club, which is located alongside the Panama Canal. There, we were able to inflate the raft, check everything over and leave it inflated for the customary 24-hour test period. We again videoed the unpacking so that we would do the packing correctly. The major surprise was the foot pump used to top off the life raft did not work. After having (false?) confidence in this form of insurance in the past, we were glad we did the inspection ourselves – saving ourselves $400 in the process. Now we know our life raft, what it has in it, how it works, etc. We sat in this cozy little craft and commented that we hope we never have to use it.
While we were in town, we visited a dermatologist for our annual check up. Linda got an OK but John needed minor surgery to remove a suspicious spot on his cheek. The biopsy came back positive for basal cell carcinoma, definitely not good news. After three visits for surgery, the third biopsy came back negative and we could relax once again. Life on the water in the tropics is very hard on light-complexioned people and a skin check up every year is essential.
The days of March have flown by and we were kept busy doing numerous projects. We are now anchored near Isla Contadora waiting for the wind to fill in so we can sail to Ecuador. There are about 10-15 boats in various anchorages waiting for the wind also. We are hoping for fair winds and following seas for this just under 600-mile trip. Linda and John de HAWKEYE.
