Hello Pacific Ocean

Well we had a rather uneventful transit of the Panama Canal, just as one would want. We had a bit of fun with it, were rather hot and worked fairly hard, but came through unscathed. We are now anchored in the very rolly/bumpy anchorage of La Playita, which is where we will have to stay until visits from Rae Ann and my parents are over at the end of March. I am looking for an alternative.... anchorage that is.

On the way up the Gatun locks Saturday night we were rafted along side an old maxi yacht with a professional crew (term used here means that they were paid). They really had very little knowledge of what they were doing, but that did not stop them from issuing contradictory orders and shouting alot. The captain of the boat turned to me at one point and using his fingers to point at his eyes said "focus now focus on me". Well ok...

On Sunday we locked down rafted with other cruisers we knew and had a very nice time. Jake really enjoyed the changes in the water levels, while Isabelle wanted only to see one of the fresh water crocodiles. We did not see one, and apparently they are a protected species now as a result of hunting, so no surprise.

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The Saga of the Canal Transit

Well after several delays in looks like we will start on Saturday and finish on Sunday (webcam probably about 12:30 Panama time Sunday). It seems that the "advisor" group, of which each boat needs one during the transit, have been on soft strike. As it is not legal for them to strike they all called in sick this week (there are 65 of the them), though it is not clear if this is true or not. Anyway, there are some hackles up around the marina. As we do not plan to go on to the Galapagos until April anyway it is not really an issue to us and more mildly interesting to fun to stir the proverbial pot.

We tried to go fine the howler monkeys that wake us up every morning, and although we got much closer based on the sound we still did not see them. The area of the marina is the old U.S. Military Base from when the U.S. ran the canal. Now completely abandoned so it is a little weird walking around looking for the resident monkeys.

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Canal Delay

Well we have been pushed back one day, so transit is expected to start on Friday and finish on Saturday (webcam on Saturday). Will update.

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Panama Canal

We have been getting ready for our transit. I did a line handling job for another boat so that I could get a sense of what we were up against. Overall nothing to dramatic, but there is alot of force involved. Very little shipping activity though, a commentary no doubt on the struggling state of the world economy.

We are scheduled to transit on Thursday, though it takes two days so we will not be through until Friday, spending the night in Gatun Lake. When we go through the Mira Flores locks you can see us on the Canal's webcan at http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html. The way the scheduling works is that we will likely enter the Mira Flores locks on the second day of our transit (Friday) at about 12:30 - which is 1:30 pm EDT or 10:30 am PDT.

There has been a slight shuffling of boats the last couple of days with boats being pushed one day later. We will not know if Thursday is a go until Thursday, but will update the blog if anything changes.

We are all very excited.

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San Blas

We have spent the last week in the San Blas, or more properly the Kuna Yala. The area is made up of offshore reefs and islands and inland mountains containing virgin rain forest. The Kuna's live much as they have since before being discovered by the Spanish. The won their "independence" in 1923 and have lived as an semi-autonomous part of Panama since. They are very strict about travel even among the other Kuna villages, so much of their contact with the outside world is from cruising sailboats and backpackers. About the only thing that could be considered modern civilization is the use of cell phones, which itself is only about two years old. They do not have a way to charge them though, so you can often barter fish or vegetables for charging their phone on the your boat.

The Kuna's are very open, allowing one to tour their villages. The kids have had a great time playing with the Kuna children. It has been great for Jake and Isabelle to experience the first truly different culture since we started our cruise. Jake clearly understands the differences and has some interesting questions.

Unfortunately, the weather has been terrible. The squall system we surfed in on a week ago, remains and keeps the winds elevated, with lots of rain and generally overcast skies. So we have not yet had a good chance to appreciate the great snorkeling... hopefully this week.

We have run into many cruisers, including a couple of families, that are all headed to the south pacific. We will go over to Colon and get in line for the canal this coming week. We are very excited about going through the Panama Canal and everything that waits beyond.

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Passage Recap

Overall we had a pretty good passage. This particular passage is somewhat notorious particularly when rounding the Colombian coast. We met head on currents and some messy waves in this area but nothing serious which apparently it can be very nasty.

Rae Ann did a great job of provisioning and pre-preparing food for the trip giving us meals for nearly 4 days without much preparation.

The kids did the best, though Isabelle was sick the one day, she slept it off in the cockpit and rallied. The last day with the boat really flying and rolling and bouncing, Jake wanted to know why we would not play cards with him down below because it was "flat". Jake asked as soon as we got up on Monday when our next trip was.

Having a third adult allowed a marvelous watch schedule. Bruce and I would switch every 4 hours, with Rae taking two 2 hour watches each day, allowing the watch schedule to shift and for Bruce and I to have to 6 hour rest periods each day. The extra pair of hands for the numerous sail changes made a big difference as well.

We sailed much faster than planned, the current being the biggest factor. Arriving anywhere at night is inadvisable, but in the reef infested area of the San Blas, a bit crazy, and many boats on the reefs attest to the folly. We had confirmed our charts to our pilot book and eventually were able to raise another vessel in the islands that confirmed the accuracy of what we thought we knew. We entered the most heavily traveled port (relative here as everyone goes about in dugout canoes), though this is unlighted and bordered by reefs. We went slow, and with several look outs, but we were also fortunate. We had tried slowing the boat down and heaving too, but neither worked to our satisfaction. I hope I never have to make the choice again.

The lone boat that answered our radio call Sunday night, came into our anchorage on Monday.... with three kids on board and Hallberg Rassy 46. Needless to say we are having a great time together.

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Day 7

Arrival, 6 days and 15 hours saw us putting the hook down in the San Blas. Yes a small detour but we had gone far enough ahead of schedule and we really wanted to see this area and meet the Kuna Indians.

The last 36 hours of the trip were a bit different than than anything else. We started with winds at about 8 knots and surfed into the San Blas on 30 knots, squalls and 10 foot seas. We are a little tired and a bit stressed because of needing to thread the reefs in the middle of the night, with no moon due to the squalls. But we are also very happy.

Now back to the cruising life, beaches, beer...... and more beer.

The Crew of Nikita

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