HAWKEYE HAPPENINGS, June, 2004

HAWKEYE HAPPENINGS, June 2004

BAHIA DE CARÁQUEZ, ECUADOR.

Latitude 00 degrees 36 min. South, Longitude 080 degrees 25 min. West.

On March 26, HAWKEYE checked out of Panama bound for Ecuador. The plan was to sail only about 40 miles to the Perlas Islands, clean the bottom of the boat and wait for a good weather window. Finally, on Sunday, April 4 at 10:40 a.m. we departed Isla Cana with another boat, ÖRNEN. By 1700 hrs (5 p.m.) HAWEKEYE was double reefed in 20 knots of wind doing 7 knots. The winds held and in fact increased with 4 to 6 foot sometimes breaking waves that made it uncomfortable for the next two days as we flew along well reefed. April 6 the wind died, and we had to motor for 1 hr which was needed anyway to charge the batteries. At 4 p.m. that same day we heard from our buddy boat, ÖRNEN that they were heading back to Panama due to problems with their rigging. It seems their shrouds suddenly went slack and one of the chain plates pulled out of the boat! They arrived safely a few days later with major repair work needed.

The rhumbline to Ecuador is approximately 223 degrees from the Perlas. There is a restricted island that belongs to Colombia, Isla Malpelo (bad hair?), which must be dodged on the way. HAWKEYE was 20 miles away from the island, and well to the northwest of it, when we heard on the radio: “Vessel 4 miles north of Isla Malpelo, this is a restricted area. Change course immediately!” We checked our charts and GPS to assure ourselves we were not the vessel they were trying to reach. The final transmission we heard was, “If you do not leave this restricted area, we will open fire!” The Colombians don’t mess around with people being where they aren’t supposed to be and we were glad they weren’t talking to us!

At 8 a.m. on April 9, we had no wind and John had calculated we had enough fuel to motor all the way to Bahia Caraquez if we had to. We decided to motor for a while hoping the wind would fill in. Suddenly, the engine stopped. John checked everything out and ended up changing the fuel filter that must have gotten clogged due to the rough seas from the previous days. Crisis over. Within a few hours, the wind came up and we sailed under spinnaker with only 86 miles to go. At 5 p.m. that evening, the wind died again and this time when we turned on the engine, there was a heavy vibration. John thought the cause might have been loose zinc on the prop shaft. The vibration got worse over the next hour and by that time, it was dark. We decided it was not good seamanship for John to go into the water in the middle of the ocean in the middle of the night to check it out. The next day he did go in during calm seas and indeed the two zincs on the shaft had vibrated loose and the cone zinc on the propeller had disappeared. No wonder it was so noisy! HAWKEYE ghosted along under a few knots of wind and at 1 a.m. on April 10, we crossed the equator. John was asleep but Linda watched the GPS hit 00 deg. 00.000 min. This was our second time across the equator and so were already “shellbacks”. We had whipped up some margaritas earlier but thought it might be better to wait until we were safely anchored before partaking of alcoholic beverages. The anchorage in the “waiting room” at Bahia Caraquez was reached at 5 p.m. on April 10. Shortly after, we drank those margaritas and got a good night’s sleep before our pilot arrived the next morning (Easter Sunday) and brought us into Bahia. All in all, we had a great sail of 684 miles to Ecuador where we are now on a mooring enjoying life in Bahia.
Other boats were behind us and came in the next day. We checked in with the Port Captain and then a few days later, we took a 3 hr bus ride to Manta to check in with Immigration. The bus ride to Manta provided us with our first glimpse of the beautiful Ecuadorian scenery as we went along the bay, up into the mountains and down again into a valley to Manta.

The next several weeks were spent getting the boat back into shape after the crossing and finding our way around Bahia. We joined the Bahia Yacht Club so that we could swim in the pool and shower there rather than on the boat. Linda does not do much cooking in Bahia as almuerzo (lunch, which is really the main meal of the day) costs $1. Almuerzo consists of a good sized bowl of some kind of wonderful soup followed by a plate of rice, with fish, chicken, or beef, cucumbers and tomatoes, or plantain (like a banana but not as sweet) and a glass of some kind of fresh fruit juice. It is cheaper to eat ashore rather than buy the groceries and use the propane and water for dishes.

With some other cruisers, we went on an overnight trip up the coast about 15 miles to a surf resort area. It was a village of palapa restaurants and small hostels built from bamboo with palm frond roofs and mosquito netting over the beds. As we sat at tables on the sand and watched the sun set, we marveled at the beauty of Ecuador and her friendly people. The next day we walked the beach at low tide and discovered, among the shells, shards of pottery. Later, after visiting the museum in town, we realized these shards were from Pre-Colombian pottery washed down from the mountains during the heavy rains of the last El Niño, presumably from an ancient Inca village. At low tide, the pieces wash up on the beach. Friends have a home there and they have found intact pieces that should be in museums but there is no more room in the museums!

One morning we got a call on the radio that 3 dolphins were on the beach and would the cruisers want to come help the locals get the dolphins back into deeper water. Of course! We headed over to the beach and over the next hour or so, helped keep one dolphin soothed as he rested on the sand. It was necessary to keep the skin moist so we kept pouring buckets of water over him until he was taken in a boat out into deeper water and released. It was a wonderful and unforgettable experience for us to actually touch and be close to a bottle-nosed dolphin.

In May, we took a three-week trip inland with some other cruisers (7 of us in all). The first day was an 8-hour bus ride through spectacular country to the capital city of Quito and another 2 hours to Otavalo, famous for it’s Saturday market. There are 3 markets going on at the same time. One is for the locals where they buy and sell animals, another is for fruits and vegetables and the third is for handicrafts. The handicraft market was the most popular where great bargains could be had. Wool, leather, and woodcrafts abound to the point that all the goods overwhelmed us. Prices were inexpensive but the problem was this was the beginning (day 2) of a three-week trip. We could not even think of purchasing things as we would have to carry them all over Ecuador and we were at an elevation of 8000 feet and did a lot of puffing just walking around. After a few days of acclimation, we decided to take a hike to a waterfall. Actually, we took a taxi to the end of the road and then walked about a mile to get to the waterfall. From there, we decided to climb to the top of the waterfall and through some caves. Everything was just great and we were heading down the path when it started to rain, and rain, and rain. By the time we walked back to town (no taxis around) and to our hotel, we were all soaked to the skin, including our shoes. As we were all traveling light, it took a few days of wearing wet shoes for them to finally dry out.

A guide was hired to take us in a van to 3 villages in the mountains. We visited weavers who showed us the process from raw wool to the finished product. Another visit was to the hat makers where they finished off the felt hats much beloved by Ecuadorians (the glue they use in the felt is not waterproof so, when it rains, they wear plastic bags over their hats.) We were able to walk through the small mountain villages and visit people in their homes. There were lots of children and some of them start to work at an early age taking care of babies and, at the age of 12, one young man was already an accomplished weaver.

From Otavala, we bused further up into the mountains and then finally rode in the back of a pickup truck to a hostel on the edge of a cliff overlooking Lago Cuicocha, a lake in the cone of a volcano. We shared a lunch of the local delicacy, Cuy or “Guinea Pig” as we know it. Quite chewy and tough with head and legs included on the plate. Only the fur and insides were missing! Well, at least we tried it but hope the grandkids don’t find out.

After a day of acclimation, we decided to hike the rim of the volcano. At first it was pretty easy; but then we started climbing and then down and then up and down, etc, for 9 ½ miles of which approximately 4 miles was in a downpour. You got the picture, wet shoes, again. It was a beautiful hike with spectacular views and lots of different wild flowers. We got lost several times having to scramble down under trees and in weeds. The highest we got was 10,500 feet and we were exhausted but happy when we finally arrived to the hostel and cups of hot coffee. Next, the ride back down in the back of the pickup truck but this time they put a tarp over the top so we had some protection from the rain although it didn’t matter much as we were soaked anyway. We finally managed to get a hotel with hot water-well, not cold water. Anyway it took quite a while to finally warm up in the little town of Cotacochi.

The next day we bussed back to Quito where 2 of our guys were pick pocketed on the train. Lucky for them they had only a few $ taken as everyone was wearing money belts and very little cash in their pockets. Old town Quito was thoroughly explored over the next day and we were ready to head to the smaller town of Baños further south in Ecuador and another bus ride through beautiful country. We all brought books to read on the buses but didn’t even open them for fear of missing a beautiful waterfall, snow capped mountains, green jungles, orchids along side the road, boulders in the roads, washed out roads, etc., etc.

Baños was beautiful. Waterfalls abound. Some of us hiked up what seemed like a 1000 steps but was more like 500 to a trail overlooking the town. Great views at about 1500 feet above the valley where the river winds through the mountains with waterfalls making it ever expanding. There was pan flute music in the square and good inexpensive restaurants. We had nice rooms for $7 per person with a beautiful garden and room where we could meet for coffee or to play games or watch a video about Ecuador. We visited the local zoo and hot springs where we rested our abused bodies after so much hiking but not for long! The next adventure was mountain biking down a winding road along the river viewing waterfalls and dodging motorized traffic through a tunnel in the mountains. In the tunnel, Nancy from SEA TERN couldn’t see and stopped. Linda was behind her and ran into the wall of the tunnel while Joe from MUSIC, behind her, ran into a ditch. Amazingly no one got hurt and we made it out of the tunnel where the next part of the road went UNDER a waterfall. After we sent the bikes with Nancy and Herman on a truck back to Baños, John, Joe and Linda decided to take a hike to get closer to El Pailon de Diablo (The Devil’s Caldron) where there was a great waterfall and suspension bridge over the river. Naturally it was a down, up, down, up, down, up, kind of hike.

As we all had different agendas and interests, our group of 7 split up. Nancy and Herman went back to SEA TERN to get ready to leave her for their trip back to the states. Joe and John decided to go to Cuenca, a Spanish colonial town in the south of the country. John reported that the bus ride over the Andes was hair-raising. As they climbed to an altitude of 13,600 feet, the weather became foggy and rainy and the road deteriorated to a narrow two-lane dirt surface unencumbered by any shoulders or guardrails. This did not stop the driver from wheeling his big vehicle around the hairpin bends at reckless speeds, seemingly oblivious to oncoming traffic or the thousand-foot drop-offs at the side.

Cuenca boasts many beautiful old buildings but is also a large, modern city with noisy rush-hour traffic that detracted from the colonial ambiance. John had an interesting encounter in the square with an elderly “gay caballero” who, no doubt encouraged by John’s announcement that he would be visiting San Francisco this summer, abruptly lost interest when John assured him that he preferred women!

Linda went to the Amazon jungle with Matt and Judy of ELSEWHERE. The road followed the river where there were more waterfalls than could be count. From volcanos 8000 feet high straight down to the river in the valley the sight was awe-inspiring. We rode on buses through the farmland and rainforest and up and down mountains and across rivers. On the news there had been talk of lots of rain in this area with roads washed out, landslides, flooding, etc. It was true! At one point, the bridge was washed out and the bus went through the rushing water of the swollen river. Even though our luggage was wrapped in plastic, everything was all wet by the time we arrived at our hostel that night. The gravel road followed the oil pipeline out past the mountains and into the jungle. The few towns we went through existed because of the oil industry. There was a large box of baby chicks on top of the bus and a guy got on the bus with a machete and 2 live roosters. Passengers got on with propane tanks which were left near the door to roll around, gas cans, buckets of stuff, kids going to school, women and lots of babies (going to the doctors?) At one point there was a deadly Sake snake in the road. We saw lots or orchids growing in the wild and llamas wandering the hills. We arrived in the frontier town of Lago Agua at 7:30 p.m. after a long, but interesting, day.

The room Linda had in the hostel was with a shared bath that meant that she shared the bath and shower with all the men there for the oil company. Judy stood guard while Linda showered that evening. Matt and Judy were lucky enough to have a bath in their room but early in the morning someone knocked very loudly on their door and got them up with a start. (Wrong room!)

After breakfast we boarded another bus (we had already spend 14 hours on buses the day before) that took us to the river. From there, we went down river through the jungle in a long skinny sort of modified dugout canoe with a 40 hp motor on the back. (Matt, Judy, Linda, the guide, the boat driver, our small backpacks with everything we needed for 5 days (usually just Linda’s camera and some small things fit in this little day pack), and the food we would be eating those 5 days. The boat was about 35 feet long but only about 4 feet wide at the widest part. This is the only means of transportation in the Cuyabeno Reserve of the Amazonas Jungle of Ecuador. We were right on the equator and yet the temperature was quite comfortable.

The trip down the river took about 2 ½ hours and we arrived at the camp around 4:30 in the afternoon. Along the way, we saw Red Howler, Equatorian Saki and Monk Saki monkeys. We saw a sloth, ringed neck kingfisher, greater annie, green kingfisher, aniga (a prehistoric looking bird), tropical cormorant, a spectacled owl and once we got in the lagoon, the pink dolphins. The special palm tree, from which the nuts are picked, boiled and the juice reduced to make the poison for the darts of the blowguns was pointed out to us. We also learned what plant is used for the darts and guns, and the cotton like material used to hold the poison. In the area we visited, the blowguns are prohibited as well as the killing of monkeys.

Our compound was very rustic with 4 cabins for sleeping set in a clearing and a eating covered porch. The dormitory rooms had beds and a bathroom but no doors. It did have a roof but the walls only went up ½ way that left them open for any intruders of every kind. We were not pleased with this arrangement but what could we do? Sleeping under mosquito netting was mandatory. After checking one’s bed thoroughly and crawling in, one would carefully tuck the netting tightly under the mattress. No one was inclined to get up in the middle of the night to use the facilities as this would require finding your flashlight (no electricity), coming out from under the protective mosquito netting (dangerous), checking ones shoes for critters (essential) and progressing to the bathroom checking for critters along the way on the floor, hanging from the rafters, etc. The first day Linda made the mistake of drying her hands on her towel that was hanging up in the bathroom before shaking it out and got a nasty sting on the thumb that itched and swelled and after about 10 days a stinger came out and quit itching.

Our first full day in the jungle was spent paddling a dugout canoe large enough for 6 people. It is a very tipsy vessel but we managed to keep it upright and keep our cameras dry although the boat leaked and we had to bail frequently. We saw squirrel monkeys, blue butterflies, orchids, toucans, green and yellow Macaws. Our guide was constantly telling us things about jungle plants and animals. In the swamps, we fished for our dinner. With those big teeth, piranhas are a bit tricky to get off the hook. Our guide has a unique way of killing them. He bites them in the back of the head breaking their backbone. The piranha were good tasting but had some small bones. That evening, we looked over the railing of our eating porch and watched the caimans feed. Caimans are fresh water crocodiles and they have big teeth and their jaws snap shut around whatever they catch to eat. It was hard not to keep thinking of them and the piranha as we swam in the middle of the lagoon. We were told that the caimans and piranhas always stay near shore or in the swamps. One hoped they would never get lost and end up in the middle by accident while we were swimming. The pink dolphins were out there each afternoon but never let us get close to them.

One evening after dinner we did a night hike in the jungle behind our accommodations. It was very eerie to see eyes staring like hot coals. The standard jungle attire is knee high rubber boots and rain ponchos and we were glad to have both as we walked down the narrow path ducking branches and leaves. The first critter we saw was a scorpion of commendable size (about 6 inches). Next, we saw scorpion spiders of about the same size. There were many webs of the sociable spiders which reminded us of scenes from “Romancing the Stone” and a few other movies with huge thick spider webs-it isn’t just in the movies! Other spiders were the golden orb and wolf. We also saw a small night monkey or owl monkey. Touching of plants with the hands was a no-no as some plants have poisonous leaves… Those ponchos were kept tightly wrapped around our bodies with just the tip of the flashlight sticking out; that is, until the darn bulb burned out on Linda’s light. She couldn’t see much of where she was stepping and just stayed close to the person in front. Needless to say, she didn’t get much sleep that night as just a few yards away there were a lot of very large spiders.

Our guide told us much about plants and animals; there are lots of plants used in medicine such as the sap from the leche guayo tree that is used in producing Milk of Magnesia and the sap from another tree is the source of menthol. When burned, the menthol smell keeps mosquitoes away. From one leaf an orange dye is extracted and from another plant comes purple dye. The guide split a certain palm frond and showed us its’ sharp edge used to make the darts for the blow guns. One tree produced quinine, which is used for malaria as well as gin and tonic. A tea is made from the bark as an anti-malaria drug. Squashed fire ants are used for insecticide and a certain palm nut extract reportedly restores hair. There is a certain tree trunk that can be banged on like a drum and we were instructed to do so only if lost in the jungle. We “dined” on live ants and larvae that tasted like lemons-you have to chew fast or they bite your tongue!

During a motorboat ride, we came across an anaconda about 6 feet long. The closest Linda hopes to get to an anaconda, let me tell you. There was lots more monkey and bird viewing as well as plant information before we arrived at the village. We were asked to dig up some yucca, which was then pealed, grated, the juice wrung out and the final product fried into flat bread that was part of our lunch. In all, a very interesting experience. These villagers eat mostly yucca, corn and fish. The government forbids hunting monkeys any more, which used to be a part of their diet. On the 2-hour boat ride back to our camp, we stopped to look at some wasp nests. Our guide said to shout “march” all together. We did and the wasps started making a sound like an army marching. During a night boat ride, we saw a 6-foot Fer-de-Lance, which is one of the most poisonous snakes in the world. He was on the move on a tree branch and got irritated with our shining our lights on him and got into strike position. We decided to back off and look for other things and were not disappointed as soon a small rainbow boa was spotted and then a couple of caimans.

Matt, Judy and I were the only people from the US staying in the camp. We had a man from Japan, 2 women from Germany and 2 women from Norway. They mostly accommodated us and spoke English, which we were grateful for. By the time our five days were over, we had no dry clothes and were covered with bites from unknown critters but had a wonderful time and will always remember this unique part of the world. I feel very privileged to have visited some of the 603,000 hectares of primary rainforest left as a protected area in Ecuador. I never thought several years ago when we had an abalone feed to raise money for this special place that I would have the privilege to visit.

It was another 2 days of riding in boats and on buses, in one instance over the top of a waterfall as the road and bridge has washed out, before we were back to civilization in Quito and then another 8 hour bus ride to Bahia, John and HAWKEYE.

Things were jumping in our small town of Bahia. The cruisers were planning a surprise birthday party for our Colombian cruising friend, Maye. It started as a potluck for about 20 people and soon it was a pig roast with 50 people including locals. That afternoon, we had a boat parade and the guests of honor were Miss Jamaica and Miss Ethiopia. They, along with their entourage were taken out on cruiser’s boats for a spin around the bay (the single handed sailors knocked themselves out to get the girls on their boats). The surprise party was that evening and we all got to meet Miss Jamaica and Miss Ethiopia and share a good time with them-body guards included.

At the present time, we await the arrival of friends, Jane and Dwight for a ten-day visit. We hope to visit some of the islands off the coast of Ecuador for some snorkeling, hiking and exploring.

As you may have guessed, we love Ecuador and plan on leaving HAWKEYE here in this safe place when we travel back to the states from mid July to mid September. We plan to do more traveling in South America upon our return. John and Linda de HAWKEYE

HAWKEYE HAPPENINGS, March, 2004

HAWKEYE HAPPENINGS, MARCH, 2004
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.

HAWKEYE HAPPENINGS, December, 2003

HAWKEYE HAPPENINGS December, 2003

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.

HAWKEYE HAPPENINGS 1, July, 2003

HAWKEYE HAPPENINGS July 1, 2003

Latitude 8 Degrees 30 Minutes North, Longitude 79 Degrees 01 Minutes West

Well, we are still in Panama and enjoying it immensely! Our Lat/Long hasn’t changed much since the April newsletter. Sailing into the Panama City area from Costa Rica was a thrill all of it’s own. Seeing the skyscrapers was a shock to our systems, as we hadn’t seen skyscrapers like this since the U.S. We had been informed via the ham radio net that our new AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) batteries were in from Miami, so we went directly to Balboa Yacht Club and tied up to a mooring. We can’t begin to tell you the thrill of looking up and seeing the Bridge of the Americas and all the ships from all over the world passing through on their way to or from the canal. Both of us had just read “The Path Between Two Seas” by David McCullough, an outstanding history of the building of the Panama Canal and the political shenanigans, technical, medical and other problems involved. Since we were not planning to transit the canal (at least, not this year) we were anxious to sign on as line handlers on other boats going through the canal. John was busy installing the new batteries, so Linda had a chance to crew with Elaine on MORNING STAR, a boat that had left Grand Marina, Alameda, CA. the year before. Elaine is single handing her Valiant 34. Her brother came down to crew with her through the canal but she needed 3 other people. Two of the others had been through before as line handlers, VIVA Bob and Steve of the ketch WITCH OF ENDOR.

The crew was on board at 5 a.m. but our “Advisor” didn’t arrive until well after 7 a.m. Each boat passing through the canal, large and small, is required to have an Advisor. We were to “buddy-boat” with another sailboat, DREAM CATCHER, and all went well with the trip. Dropping back down to sea level through the last 3 locks, we had a cruise ship in the lock next to us and people on board the ship kept looking at us and pointing. We know they were saying, “I can’t believe those people go out in the ocean in those little boats!” I told Elaine, if they only knew that she was single-handing, it would really blow their minds!

We did some city life as in eating out, seeing a movie, grocery shopping, doing laundry and visits to a dermatologist (gringos have a hard time with the tropical sun) and a chiropractor. Oh yes, an important social event happens every afternoon from 5-7 p.m. at the Balboa Yacht Club restaurant. It is Happy Hour and pitchers of beer are $4 each. All the yachties gather to swap stories and look for crew for the canal, etc. The Yacht Club has a nice swimming pool that Linda visited for lap swimming prior to Happy Hour. As some of you may know, the yacht club building itself burned down several years ago (fortunately, swimming pools don’t burn very well.) According to the club members, the club has the money to rebuild and have the plans but not enough mordida has been paid out to the proper authorities to start the construction. However, there were some guys out at the old foundation last week using picks to break up the remaining concrete; could that mean progress?

Later, during our time in Balboa, we both made a transit as line handlers on a 48-foot trimaran called MALU-HIA with Tom, Beth, and their son Richie on board. They had bought their boat is Puerto Vallarta recently and were taking it through the canal to the Caribbean and on up to Florida. Again, we were up at 4 a.m. and on MALU-HIA by 4:30 just as they heard the advisor wouldn’t be there until 7 a.m. We all went back to our respective boats and tried to go back to sleep. At 6 a.m. the advisor was on their boat so we all headed back and by 8:30 were entering the first lock. All went well through the 3 locks up to Lake Gatun and across the lake. We entered the first down lock on the Colon side after seeing monkeys in the trees in the Banana Cut, a shorter but shallow route across the lake not suitable for ships. Since we were going to side-tie to another boat going through the locks, Tom started to slow down. Suddenly he yelled, “I have no reverse!” This meant there was no reverse power to stop the boat and we were fast approaching the other boat and the lock gate. Lines were quickly tossed to the other boat, already side-tied to the wall, and we came to a halt feet from hitting the wall. Luckily, there was no damage to either boat or to any crew short of frazzled nerves. We were now in the front of the lock and the advisors were talking about what should be done. According to the Canal rules, every boat going through the canal must be able to ‘move under its’ own power’. While the debate raged back and forth, with the other advisor insisting that we should be towed back into the lake to anchor and await a mechanic, a big car carrier moved in behind us. This is what our advisor was hoping for and we were now committed to continue through the locks.

They tied us alongside a huge ocean-going tug on one side with the sailboat on the other, so we were sandwiched in. There were several anxious moments through the other two down locks but all was o.k. until we were told that another tug had been ordered from Colon to take us from the last lock to the anchorage. This caused a lot of unnecessary trouble and expense as the other sailboat had offered to tow us there (the bill for this episode came to $1,950, before repairs to the transmission.) This, however, this was “against the rules”. We were still tied to the first tug outside the locks going faster than MALUHIA had ever gone, when the second tug came along side and tried to tie up to the quickly moving combination of tug and trimaran. The tug we were first tied to, with his 8,000 horsepower engines, would not or could not slow down as the huge car carrier was now bearing down on us from behind. The second tug was now trying to adjust his speed and direction to come up right next to us so we could tie to him – then, crunch! As a result, MALUHIA suffered two broken stanchions and it felt like we were being pulled apart like a wishbone. This did not make anyone happy and there was lots of shouting in both Spanish and English. Finally, we were tied to the second tug and free of the first and headed for the Colon anchorage. The anchor was dropped and a bottle of champagne was opened and we all relaxed a little before the crew headed to the bus station and the 2 hours bus ride and taxi back to Balboa and our own boats. We arrived back to HAWKEYE at 9 p.m. after a very long day.

Our Avon inflatable dinghy, after 10 years of service, decided to give up the ghost. John had other ideas, however. He spent weeks working on patching the leaks. He thought he had finally fixed it and we headed out to explore the Las Perlas Islands located in the Bay of Panama (on the south side of Panama; the Panama Canal runs basically north/south not east/west as most people think.) On the way out to the islands, our dinghy started acting up again. It had a huge air bubble erupt where a seam had been fixed. John spent another week at anchor working on it but couldn’t get it to stop leaking. We were now without our “car” which meant we couldn’t go exploring once HAWKEYE was anchored. Fortunately, some other cruisers were kind enough to include us in their exploring, which we really appreciated. During the full moon, when the tides are extreme, 15-18 feet, we went to a little island with Danish friends aboard ORNEN to gather scallops at the minus tide. We gathered buckets full of scallops and enjoyed them for several days. For the next three weeks at the islands, we anchored in several different places and encountered a few violent thunderstorms. Our skills were certainly tested during these electrical storms; they come up quickly, have lots of wind, rain, and lightning, and pass equally quickly. We collected lots of rainwater when at anchor and did not have to run our water maker. Frequently, locals in dugout canoes came by, selling bananas, limes, lobsters, pearls, and drugs. We bought bananas, limes and lobsters, but declined offers of the latter. There are not many chances to wear pearls cruising and drugs are not our form of entertainment.

After 3 weeks, we headed back to Balboa to re-provision and get a little city life. As our Visas were expiring after 3 months in Panama, we decided to take a trip to Cartagena, Colombia via air for a little exploration. The travel agent found us an all-inclusive package of airfare, hotel, and meals as well as some tours for 5 days $388 each. Our friends on MAMOUNA had taken such a trip from Costa Rica and went for 3 days. They really enjoyed the trip and suggested we stay for 5 days. We were so glad they did as the time flew and we would not have been able to see and do as much as we did.

First of all, we are not usually the upscale, all-inclusive resort type of travelers but more the “shoestring backpacker” variety. This sure was different for us! We had a suite at least 3 times bigger than HAWKEYE, in a 23-story hotel on the beach in Cartagena. Food and drink were available all day long as well as entertainment and tours. Dinner was in a different restaurant each night either in the hotel or in old town. We made our reservations each morning for the evening meal. There were buffets for breakfast and lunch with exotic fruits and desserts not to mention whatever else you could possibly want to eat. Entertainment was poolside as well as breakfast and lunch. Linda got her hair braided and a massage (at the same time) on the beach for $18. We really played the tourist role!

As we were the only people not from South America, we stood out and were recognized by staff and visitors as well as people on the streets. Our coloring, or lack thereof, gave us away. Not many blue eyes in Cartagena! Consequently, we had our own private guides who spoke English. Old town Cartagena is quite fascinating. There was originally an 11-mile long wall around the city, of which 7 miles still remain. The buildings are beautiful with balconies that hang over the streets with a profusion of flowers. Most of the streets are not open to traffic as they are too narrow. We were given a tour of the old town and learned some of its history. Stories abound of selling slaves, the taking of gold and emeralds and their defense and protection against the forays of French and English pirates such as Sir Francis Drake. Finally, the Spanish fortifications and defenses became so strong in the 1800s that the attacks against the city finally ceased.

Sadly, the guerilla fighting and the drug business continue to plague Colombia. We were fortunate to be able to talk to other people staying at the hotel that live in Colombia and to find out what life is like there. All vehicles including taxis and buses leaving and entering the city limits of Cartagena must have a permit. People are not free to come and go as they choose. Travel outside the city is dangerous. A couple we had dinner with one night lived in Bogata, the capital. They come over to the coast frequently to get away for a long weekend and always fly. They said the roads are not safe to travel. The people of Cartagena are very proud of their city and all say it is very safe but we certainly got the impression that Cartagena was not the real Colombia and they are not proud of the drug warfare aspects of their country. After thirty years of civil war, funded by the illicit production and distribution of drugs, perhaps it is time for a new approach.

On our last day there, we hired a guide and vehicle with driver for the day to take us out of the city to see a little of the country. After going to several places to make a copy of a permit (it was a Sunday) and getting the necessary papers, we headed out to a caiman farm. Caimans are crocodiles and they are grown for their skins and meat. After the tour of the caiman farm we went to a Botanical Garden and walked through it, overwhelmed by the rich profusion of flowers, plants and trees. We now know what the leaves of the coca plant look like! It is an innocent-looking, nondescript bush that has caused nothing but problems for the world. Our trip and being treated like royalty was over much too soon and it was back to HAWKEYE.

After reprovisioning and purchasing our round-trip tickets to the states via the Internet, we are now back out to the Perlas Islands exploring again. Our dinghy was repaired in Balboa but we don’t trust it and are using a borrowed one from THE WITCH OF ENDOR. We caught a nice Sierra on the way out here and have been snorkeling every day collecting scallops, etc. Linda is having fun trying new recipes such as Moroccan Scallops and John enjoys eating them.

Our schedule is to be back in Balboa July 18th. We promised to crew with friends on FAIRWYN, homeport Vancouver, B.C., when they transit the canal on July 19. As Stephen said, “It is a unique experience that we want to share with good friends.” How could we turn them down? By the way, there is a video camera on a tower at the Pedro Miguel locks and friends can watch the boats going through on the Internet. The web page is: www.pancanal.com.eng.photo.camera.java.html, so tune in for real-time pics. We will try and let you know the best time estimate for our transit; it probably will be around 0800 Panama time (1300 Zulu or GMT.)

Back when John was working on the dinghy in Balboa, Linda took a bus ride to downtown one Sunday. There is an area called Cinco de Mayo where there is a street that is blocked off from traffic and is all shops. On the way in the “cab driver”, a lady driving a SUV who was picking up people and giving them a ride for $.50 to town, said to watch where you go in this area. It can be dangerous for you tourists with the light hair, skin and eyes. Great, just what Linda wanted to hear. She had a good time walking through the shops and was stared at a lot but this is nothing unusual in this part of the world. From there she got a cab (cabs are cheap) to Viejo Panama Ruinas to look at an old fort and convent built in the 1600's and to look in some shops run by the Indians of the San Blas Islands. After viewing the ruins, she was approached by two police officers asking where she was going. She said to see the shops and then she was taking the bus back into town and to the yacht club. The police told her that they would escort her to the bus stop when she was ready to leave. So, when it was time to head to the bus stop, sure enough, there they were. With one on each side (on their bicycles) they went with her to the bus stop, waited until the bus came, and told the bus driver where to let her off. When asked if all this was necessary, they replied they were there to protect visitors and, by the way, a tourist had been robbed of her backpack the day before on the road to the bus stop. Upon arriving back to HAWKEYE, Linda read an e-mail from fellow cruiser, Betty, on FALCOR. Betty told of her experience walking through the Cinco de Mayo area with husband Mike and some other cruisers. Someone tried to take her purse and they had a big struggle but didn’t get her purse. This was the exact same area and at the exact same time, a Sunday morning, that Linda was wandering through the area. Believe us, we don’t look for these situations, but they do happen. Probably, they are more frequent in the large US cities.

Just a few items of “cruising life” interest:
1. An inventory of all the battery needs on HAWKEYE finds us using 12 different kinds of batteries-from watches to flashlights, etc.
2. The light bulb inventory includes 14 different types of bulbs.
3. Grocery shopping averages once every 3 weeks and we spend about $100, including beer and wine. In the states, you probably can’t even get a week's groceries for that amount.

Keep in mind that we cannot run down to the nearest shopping center to get something we forgot and so must carry extras of whatever we can and John has to fix whatever breaks which, in a warm, saltwater environment, is quite frequently! Linda has to calculate what to buy as far as foods go, where to store and monitor the ripening of all fresh foods. We have a small refrigerator and no freezer so Linda has become the “queen of marinades” to keep our meats from spoiling.

HAWKEYE will spend August and September tied to a mooring at the Balboa Yacht Club while we are back in the states visiting family and friends. After visiting his family (son Mike and Mary with new addition, Caitlin, and daughter Jane and her family, John plans a trip to England for a family wedding and a reunion with childhood friends. Linda will visit family and friends from Texas, Colorado, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California. We will reconvene in Panama September 30 to continue our adventures. Linda and John de HAWKEYE

P.S. Another interesting tidbit.

We were on our way out to the Perlas Islands from Balboa (35 miles) last week and were sailing along quite slowly as there wasn’t much wind. We were approached by a large military launch and were asked by one of the guys where we were coming from and going to. John was then handed a radio and we were politely told that we were interfering with their filming! We said we would start the engine and move out of their way as quickly as possible and were thanked profusely. Apparently they are filming something called “Survivor Panama” on the beach at one of the islands. Don’t know if this is another of the “Survivor” programs we saw when in the states a few years ago; if so, it’s a bit of a joke since there is a small village, with stores, about one mile from the beach! One of the other cruisers thought they should do a real life filming of surviving on a sailboat. Maybe a contest of who can fix the most complicated system, located in the smallest space, with the minimum amount of tools, in the heat and humidity, etc, etc.

HAWKEYE HAPPENINGS April, 2003

HAWKEYE HAPPENINGS, April 10, 2003

7 degrees 45 minutes north, 81 degrees 35 minutes west

At the end of our last newsletter, we had just arrived at Isla Parida, an island off the west coast of Panama. We had an opportunity to go out on another boat, VESPER, to a seamount where we got to do a dive in clear, warm water. The top of the seamount was in about 35 feet of water and there was a lot of current so we rigged up a line from where you jumped in the water to the anchor and then we were able to go down the anchor line to dive the seamount. What a profusion of fish life! There were lots of big fish and beautiful topography. Brian and Mitch of CRUISING TIME were on a hooka (a gasoline engine-driven air compressor with long hoses for up to two divers) and carried a big spear gun. There were able to get quite a few fish for a feast/jam session the next evening. The rest of us just looked around and enjoyed.

That evening was a potluck pizza party aboard the catamaran CHEWBACCA in honor of the local family where we get our water and whose kids picked up our garbage. A very nice and friendly family with a 6 yr old girl and two boys ages 12 and 17. They are eager to learn English and we to practice our Spanish. They were kind enough to speak clearly and slowly and so we were able to carry on great conversations. Even the kids spoke clearly and slowly! They are home schooled as they cannot afford to get them school uniforms, shoes, books, etc and send them off to the mainland for education. Some of the cruisers are now working with the kids and have gotten some curriculum books for them in Spanish. This family is basically self-sustaining. They grow rice, beans, mangos, bananas, plantains, pineapple and other fruits as well as tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, and other vegetables. They trade fruit and veggies with the local fishermen for fish and gasoline. They also have chickens and pigs. We would take out wet garbage over to “pig beach” to feed them. When they are not supplied with table scraps, they eat coconuts. It was pretty funny to paddle up to the beach and have the pigs come running towards us.

One day we went ashore and hiked with the family to some tide pools. On our way back, we sat down on a hill to look at the view and one of the pigs came up behind Linda and gave her a soft “kiss” on the shoulder. Definitely a new and hopefully never again experience!

After a week or so at Parida it was time to move on to see the Islas Secas. Our friends, Peter and Jennifer on the Westsail 32 DREAM WEAVER, had left the day before and the report was - clear water! We had a nice sail (about 18 miles) to the anchorage and got anchored just in time for a beautiful sunset. Guy from ELAN, a 46-foot catamaran who we had known from Mexico (like John, he is also a Ham net controller), came over to visit almost before we had the hook down. His wife, Deborah, had gone into David with some other people for provisions and he was lonesome. He delivered mail he had brought back from the states for John in January and we gave him coffee from Costa Rica and yeast which they had requested we get for them when we were in Puntarenas, CR.

We went snorkeling with Guy the next day and really enjoyed the clear water even though there were jellyfish to bother us. Linda saw a turtle and we saw lots of different fish. Hunting was good, and we had a fish-feast aboard Elan that evening.

As DREAM WEAVER had already moved to the southern anchorage, we packed up and moved to where they were. It is a beautiful anchorage with an island on each side and very protected from wind and waves. We explored that area for a few days and had some spectacular snorkels and visited some small islands and beautiful beaches where we gathered coconuts and talked about how people sitting in offices gazing out their windows dream of these places.

Jennifer, over a couple of days, had perfected her food gathering skills. While the rest of us, armed with abalone irons (tool used for getting scallops off the rocks down here) and spear guns, hunted for food, she would simply watch an alarmed triggerfish wedge himself in the rocks. She would then dive down and surprise it by grabbing it by the tail and then pushing down their “triggers” (dorsal and ventral fins) with which they lock themselves in place and pop back up to the surface with the fish wriggling in her hand. Linda loved watching her and would laugh when she came to the surface with her catch. Poor Peter then had to kill and filet these very alive fish! We had several meals provided by Jennifer’s talents; kind of unusual to have fish without any spear gun holes!

The most unusual thing we saw was two waterspouts. We were sailing from a more remote island to an island closer to the coast and suddenly saw the waterspouts. One touched down to the water and caused a whirlwind of spray on the water. It was amazing to see. We didn’t know if it was going to come directly towards us so we quickly reefed down our sails until it was safely past us.

Our diet consisted mostly of fish, rice, and coconuts after we ran out of fresh fruit and veggies but we were having entirely too much fun to go very far to re-provision. Peter and Jennifer kept telling us their time was running out and they needed to think about getting DREAM WEAVER to a safe, secure place to leave her for six months, as they needed to get back to Wisconsin and work. Jennifer is an attorney and Peter a construction contractor. Before we knew it, it was time to head to Boca Chica to catch a 1½-hour van ride to David, where there was Internet access and grocery stores. We “boat sat” for them while they went in and then they boat sat for us while we went in. By this time we all wanted a hamburger or some chicken but NO FISH!

It was great fun going to David. The first ½ hour of the trip is over very bumpy dirt, gravel, rut filled road, which is impassable when it rains. After that, we were on blacktop roads and we got really excited when we got to our $18 a night, air conditioned, cable TV room that had HOT water. Hot showers are strictly a US kind of thing so it was very unusual. We had a several lists of things needed or wanted. Some things were successfully obtained while others like sewing machine belt and J battery (for Linda’s dive computer) are still on the wish list.

We had heard clothing was cheap in David. While John was overdosing on the high-speed Internet connection (fifty cents/hour), Linda went shopping and managed to get John 2 pair of surfer shorts, 1 swimsuit, and 3 shirts for a total of $11.94. They also threw in a tube of toothpaste, a new toothbrush and 2 bars of soap! John was pleased with his new duds, which were greatly needed as everything he owns either has spots, grease, paint, or holes in.

Supermarkets were overwhelming. We had to go two days in a row. The first day was to look and get things that didn’t need refrigeration and the second day was to get fresh stuff (and beer, at $0.35 per can) that needed refrigerating. We packed everything in boxes after getting rid of all the extra packaging and then filled our cooler with the cold stuff. We were able to buy a frozen turkey that doubled as “ice” for the van and panga trip back to the boat. All went surprisingly well with not even a broken egg.

Sadly, we said goodbye to our friends on DREAMWEAVER as they headed back to Puntarenas, CR to leave their boat. After a few days of high winds, HAWKEYE headed back out to the islands for new adventures. We went back to some of the anchorages we visited with Peter and Jennifer and are now heading slowly towards Balboa and Panama City where our mail and new AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) sealed batteries for the boat should arrive in a couple of weeks from Florida.

We have gotten quite used to washing clothes in little streams on remote islands, gathering rain water to fill our water tanks and solar shower and keeping the shampoo handy if it looks like rain so we can have unlimited water showers. A few days ago, we were in an anchorage and down below having lunch. All of a sudden, we were hailed loudly in Spanish. Emerging, we beheld a battleship gray "cigarette" boat, replete with machine gun, three armed dudes in uniform - and three (!) 200 hp Yamaha motors on the transom. Since we didn't think we could outrun them, John politely answered all of their questions, evidently to their satisfaction. They then asked if we could give them some ice; we had none, so they left. Clearly, it was a drug-busting boat on the prowl.

Panama, at least the islands and coast of western Panama, are absolutely beautiful and, by and large, unspoilt. It is like what we imagine Mexico was like thirty years ago. Unfortunately, foreigners, US variety in particular, now own many of the hitherto uninhabited islands. It seems the Panamanian government has first right of refusal on all private sales of marine property, but has been unable to exercise this right due to lack of funds. So, the desecration begins. Fancy, overpriced resorts springing up on pristine islands and beaches where the affluent are helicoptered in to a “secure” location where they need not be exposed to actual Panamanians (other than the servants, that is.)

Our plans, cast in sand, are to enjoy Panama until the rainy season is in full force at which time we will head to Ecuador. The rainy season starts in May, in Panama, and that is when winter, with good weather, starts in Ecuador.
Linda & John de Hawkeye