Isla Flamenco. 26th March

A trip to the mall today - it was like being back in the Trafford Centre! Kate finally got her hair cut for $8, followed by lunch at MacDonalds and then another big supermarket shop.
Back on the boat we did some rearranging to find room for all our pacific food which includes 68 bags of pasta!! Most things are now safely away and most of the shopping is done but Newt is sitting abit bow down!
Over to Red Herring for a quick beer and to look at the charts they had from Vagabond Heart to see if there were any we wanted.

Isla Flamenco, 25th March

A busy day for Jonny - chandlery in the morning to take advantage of the 30% discount and then a taxi around town with Russ to find engine filters. Kate had a lazy day on the boat and then an afternoon nap as she was still feeling poorly.
Later in the afternoon we went ashore to do internet jobs and then had an early night on the boat.

Isla Flamenco, 24th March

This morning we headed to the photocopy shop and hardware shop. In Colon the taxis were really easy - to go to most places it was $2. Here it is harder to know what you should be paying and yesterday we got abit ripped off so we were determined to be firmer today now we had abit more of an idea what we should be paying. We start walking down the road hoping a bus will come but finally gave up and stopped a taxi - he wants $6 so i say no and start to walk away, he says how much do you want to pay, i say $2, he puts the taxi in gear and drives off, i guess $2 was too low!! Not long after a bus appears which we get on for $0.25 each!
Morning jobs done we head back to the boat for lunch and to get ready for our afternoon jobs - chandlery, water filter and Costco type supermarket. Christine Anne are coming with us so we decided to get the bus. The bus is an adventure but we end up at the right place.
We drop our shopping off at the boat and head ashore for drinks and a meeting about sailing to Australia. After drinks 10 of us head to a nearby restaurant for pizza.

Isla Flamenco, 23rd March

As we were both feeling abit poorly we decided to have an easy day today before we started running around doing our jobs.
At 11am we decided to go for a walk to check out what was around near the anchorage - we found a couple of chandlerys, the internet cafe and a supermarket selling ice cream :)
We then decided to take a taxi to the chart agents as we wanted to buy a large scale chart of the pacific to mark our route on - they didnt have one and it woulod take 20 -30 days to get one!
After some lunch we headed over to a boat who had an 8hp engine for sale at a goodmprice but after a test drive we decided it wasnt right as it wouldnt make the dinghy plane with the two of us in.
Our next stop was Sunchaser to ask if we could have a look at their charts of the pacific to decide what we wanted to photocopy.
From Sunchaser i went back to the boat and Jonny went for a beer on Silk Sheets. When he got back we had tea and an early night.

21st & 22nd March - Final Canal Transit

Sat 21st

After a morning finishing tidying up the boat we went ashore with Bill, Edward, Bruce, Chris, Russ, Brenda and Ray to get the bus back to Colon to line handle for the others. After a stop for lunch we arrived at the yacht club about 3pm. Jonny headed off to Balu and i went to Redwood Coast.

Redwood Coast - Redwood Coast is a 44ft trimaran with Don and Anne. Don linehandled for us on Newt. After some tea we waited for our pilot who arrived over an hour after we had been told to expect him. As we were heading down the channel to the first set of locks we could see a military ship ahead of us with no nav lights on as we got closer we were approached by a launch who told us to turn round and not get any closer until the USA military ship was in the lock. Finally we got rafted to Zephyr and Honeymoon was rafted to a tug. The up locks went well and we had dropped anchor (we couldnt tie to the buoy with the others because we were too wide) by 11pm.

Balu - A 40ft Steel Van De Stadt designed Irish boat. We have been with them since the San Blas, and I was line handling with Bill and Edward off Vagabond Heart. We had an earlier start from Colon than Kate and we rafted with Lucy Blue (Catamaran) and Red Herring so it was good to know everyone in the raft. We had a great transit pretty much what I'd come to expect after doing it twice already! We were on the bouy in the lake by 8:30pm in time for a few beers in the best Irish tradition!

Sun 22nd

Redwood Coast - Our pilot boarded at the same time as the others and we set off across the lake. The pilots daughter was involved in a dug out canoe race across the lake in a couple of weeks and was on the lake practising today so he was keen for us to try and catch them up. When we finally caught them they were doing 6 knots across the lake - 4 girls in a dug out canoe. All 6 boats were in the locks together going down - we were rafted to Zephyr, Balu and Lucey Blue were rafted and Honeymoon and Red Herring were rafted to a passenger ferry. All went well in the down locks and we were all anchored by 3pm.

Balu - Our pilot boarded on time and we had a good motor sail across the lake. It was good to be back in the Pacific (the water is cooler but the seas calmer) and see Newtsville sat happily on her anchor despite 25knot winds.

Two very tired people arrived back at Newtsville - Jonny suffering with the snuffles and Kate with a sore throat - caused by thr air con on the bus. We had an early tea and watched a dvd before an early night.

Isla Flamenco, 20th March

At 7.10am a pilot boat made its way towards the 6 boats (us, Vagabond Heart, Christine Anne, Sunchaser, a French X40 and a Panama catamaran) moored to the buoy in the Gatun Lake. An advisor got on every boat except ours??!! According to Sunchasers advisor ours was delayed but would arrive soon so they all headed off across the lake and we were left on the buoy!
At 8am Jonny rang the scheduler to try and find out what time our advisor would arrive. Apparently he was on his way ... at 8.10am he arrived and we were on our way.
He then told us that we had to be at the first lock by 11.20am - 28 miles in 3 hours - a 9 knot average speed!! He told us to go as fast as we cold without damaging the engine so we pushed the engine so we were doing 6.5 knots and pulled the genoa out to push us up to 7 knots. It was not looking like we were going to make it when we heard that our lock had been delayed by half an hour so we had to be there by 11.50am.
As we made our way through the lake we found out the reason the advisor was delayed ... he had overslept and then despite already being late he had to stop for cigarettes which he proceeded to smoke on Newt without asking whether it was ok.
As we approached the other yachts just before the locks we were expecting them to be rafted the same as the night before so we would be on Vagabonds port side to allow for our prop kick in reverse but they were rafted differently and we would have been on Sunchasers starboard side.
The advisor knew the captain of the tourist boat going through the locks with us so arranged for us to go alongside them instead. This meant we had an easy ride down - just tied up to the tourist boat and they did the work. We also provided an extra attraction for the tourists!
As we approached the Miraflores lock with the webcam we asked the advisor to ask for the webcam to point at us so we hope you could see us - we did wave!
Through the other side we dropped our line handlers - Andy, his mum, Don (from Redwood Coast) and Lizzie (an english GAP year student doing some sailing on an South African boat), tyres and lines at the Balboa Yacht CLub and then headed round to the anchorage at Isla Flamenco.
After putting the boat back together, having showers we are off to Vagabond Heart for celebration drinks :)

Gatun Lake, 19th March

Ashore first thing in the morning for Jonny to get our lines and for Kate to do a last minute supermarket shop before the transit.

Back on the boat, Jonny tidied things away and put out our tyres and Kate prepared the meals for the next couple of days. With the life raft stowed in the pilot berth we were ready.

Jonny had rung the scheduler yesterday and was told we should expect our pilot at 4.30pm - he rang this morning to check and was told 3.30pm. We were abit worried that Andy and his mum wouldnt arrive in time from Balboa so we sorted out back up line handlers.

At 2pm we got a vhf call from Andy to say they were at the yacht club. Lizzie (english GAP year student) was still very keen to come so we said as long as she was happy to sleep in the cockpit she could come as an extra person.

By 3.30 we were all on Newt ready but no advisor! Finally at 5pm the advisor arrived. His name was Edwin and he was very friendly although not as informative as the guy we had on Calysta and abit demanding ... drinks, biscuits, sandwiches!

The locks went well - We were rafted with Vagabond Heart and Sunchaser - Andy did bow with his mum, Don did the stern with Kate, Jonny steered and Lizzie was videoing and by 8.30 we were moored to the buoy in the lake. After a tea of chicken and rice we sat drinking beer and discussing the next day - the next advisor is due between 6 and 7am.

The Flats, Colon, 18th March

After doing some internet jobs in the morning we headed to the supermarkets for another big shop. $500 later we were back on Newt with lots of stuff to find homes for!

In the afternoon Kate had a much needed siesta and Jonny helped Christine Anne with their new computer.

As a thank you for Jonnys help with had tea on Christine Anne - roast beef - Jonny was in heaven!

The Flats, Colon, 17th March

A busy morning servicing the engine ready for the canal.

In the afternoon Kate did internet jobs whilst Jonny went to buy us a new gas bottle ($29 for a 12kg aluminium bottle full of gas!).

As it was St Patricks day the irish boat Balu had arranged a pot luck evening ashore which was good fun and a good chance for everyone to ask us questions about our canal experience.

Line Handling for Calysta 15th - 16th March

Sun 15th
After a few jobs in the morning we were invited over to Christine Anne for freshly baked banana muffins - an offer we couldnt refuse!
In the afternoon ~Jonny helped Sunchaser set up their new computer and i packed our bags ready for tonight.
We had an early tea ready to meet Calysta when he arrive at 5pm. The adviser boarded the boat at 6pm and after an explanation of what to expect we headed off to the first set of locks. There were 2 other yachts - a catamaran and a 45ft Jeanneau so we rafted up with the catamaran in the middle. In the locks with us was a 'small' ship. The adviser Roy was great - very friendly and helpful and the first 3 locks went well with Andy on the wheel, Jonny on the bow line and me on the stern line. By 10pm we were tied up to the mooring buoy in the lake.

Mon 16th
An early start (5am) as we had been told to expect the next adviser by 6 - 6.30am. He turned up at 7.15!! Another great adviser - Manuel. We motored through the lake and down the pass towards the down locks passing lots of ships coming the other way.
By 12pm we were rafted back up. These locks were abit more challenging because the adviser in control of the raft (middle boat adviser) wasnt as good as the adviser the night before and we came into the locks too quickly and had to stop the boats on the stern lines. Despite this we managed to get through all the locks safely and Calysta is now in the Pacific!
Jonny and I were dropped off at Balboa Yacht Club to get the bus back to Colon. We were lucky and got a taxi straight away to the bus station, then a bus was just about to leave and then we got a taxi easily in Colon so we were back at the boat by 5.30pm.
An early night tonight before a busy couple of days getting Newt ready for the canal on Thurs.

The Flats, Colon, 14th March

A trip to the supermarket this morning to start provisioning for the atlantic.

This afternoon we borrowed Vagabond Hearts dinghy to go over to Shelter Bay Marina. We had a drink with Andy (Calysta) who we are line handling for tomorrow, Lucey Blue - my godfathers wife is godparent to the children on Lucey Blue, we met Sea Rover and then had drinks with Silk Sheets.

In the evening we had a meeting with Red Herring, Sunchaser, Vagabond Heart, Balu and Vyndl to discuss the line handling arrangements.

The Flats, Colon 13th March

We spent the morning with our fingers crossed hoping the measurer would come in time for us to go to the bank and he did. By 11am we had been measured. Our measurer was a lovely guy called Eric. Jonny rang Tito and arranged for him to meet them ashore at 1pm to go to the bank.

At 12.45pm Jonny and the guys headed ashore but by 2pm Tito still hadnt turned up despite several phone calls so as the bank shut at 3.30pm they decided to get taxis.

By 3.30pm they were back at the yacht club and Brenda and I headed ashore to meet them to go to the Free Zone - a duty free area with the town. The town and free zone were quite scary and trying to get a taxi back from the free zone was hard work as it was 5pm and then the taxi driver (along with all the rest of the drivers) was crazy!

Jonny and Ray went over to Red Herring to sort out who was going with who through the canal then we could ring the measurers - Newtsville, Sunchaser and Vagabond Heart are going through on Thurs 19th, Balu and Red Herring are going through on Sat 21st.

We had a lovely tea on Sunchaser with some fresh meat which we havent had since leaving Bonaire!

The Flats, Colon 12th March

An early start for a 20 mile motor sail from Portobelo to Colon. We wanted to get to Colon as early as possible to start the canal paperwork and we thought the measurer office closed at 11am for lunch which is the first stop so we wanted to get there before 11am.

The amount of shipping around Colon is amazing. You expect the shipping to increase but to get here and see all the big ships and all the containers is amazing.

We anchored on the Flats around the same time as Sunchaser, Vagabond Heart and Red Herring so Bill (Vagabond Heart) picked up all the guys and they went ashore to start the paperwork. They hire the services of a local guy called Tito for $50. He had been recommended by a number of people and was much cheaper than the other agents we had contacted (who wanted between $200 and $500). The guys went to register at the measurers office - you have to get measured, once measured you can pay your fee at the bank and finally you can ring at get a date for your transit. The measurer is coming either Fri, Sat or Sun between 9am and 1.30pm!

There is a big group of us in Colon now so there should be no problem with line handlers - Red Herring, Vagabond Heart, Sunchaser, Christine Anne, Honeymoon, Calysta, T Rex, Lucey Blue. Silk Sheets are due in any day.

In the afternoon we did some washing and internet and then went over to T Rex for a drink and to catch up as we had last seen them in Grenada.

Portobelo 11th March

After much debate we decided to head to Portobelo with the others today and wait for Sunchaser, Christine Anne and Honeymoon who were leaving the San Blas today so we could all head to Colon together.

The sail from Isla Linton to Portobelo was 8 miles so we were there just before lunch. We went ashore for an explore and to try and call the measurers at the canal to make an appointment to get measured - unfortunately you cant make appointments by phone anymore so we will have to wait until we arrive tomorrow. The town of Portobelo is quite run down but there are lots of forts to explore.

Back at the boat we had lunch and Jonny made some bread (using a packet mix). The resulting bread rolls were very yummy.

At 5pm we headed ashore to explore the fort on the north shore which was amazing - you could explore the upper and lower batteries. After exploring we had sundown drinks on the beach with everyone before heading back to the boat for an early night before an early start to Colon and all the canal fun and games start.

Isla Linton 10th March

An early start this morning - 6.30am. We were on our way towards the canal with an overnight stop at either Isla Linton or Portobelo. We had a couple of miles heading into the wind and swell leaving the San Blas which was hard work but once we cleared the reef it was downwind all the way. On the clearing the reef we had between 20 - 25 knots of wind behind us so just had the staysail out then as the wind started to ease we pulled the genoa out as well. We had a good sail and arrived at Isla Linton at 2pm.

Balu and Red Herring had arrived before us so Graham (Red Herring) came to pick us up in his dinghy to take us to Balu for a cup of tea. From Balu we could see the monkeys on the beach so Tristan (Balu guest), Jim (Balu), Graham and us went to visit the monkey. They were really friendly and enjoyed the crackers we had to give them.

From the beach we headed over to Vagabond Heart who had also arrived and had a cup of tea with them. By the time we left it was 6pm and time for tea and a dvd.

San Blas 9th March

A morning spent doing boat jobs and trying to keep Jonny busy - he is getting fed up because there is no where to go ashore here!

In the afternoon we went to Mamitupu - an island with a local village. We were invited into one of the houses and the boys went to the shop and bought all the stock - 7 cans of beer, 2 cans of pop and 20 pieces of bread for $12!! I got some of the local beads put on my arm and then the molas came out. Things quickly got abit overwhelming with lots of molas! The kids were lovely and all wanted their photos taken so they could have a look on the camera. We got taken for a walk round the village.

In the evening we invited Sunchaser, Christine Anne and Honeymoon round for drinks and had a lovely evening. We printed of the pictures we had taken at the village and the others are going to take them over tomorrow.

San Blas 8th March

Another day hiding in amongst the mangroves at Nalia from the gale force winds. We spent the morning doing some cleaning followed by a visit to Balu. A relaxing afternoon on the boat with a book for Kate and lots of boat visits and socialising for Jonny. Hoping to move back to one of the island groups tomorrow for swimming and snorkelling beofre heading towards Colon.

San Blas 7th March

The mangrove river was very calm last night and we didn't believe that there was 45knts outside!
Christine Anne and a couple of other boats came into the river to join us, so there are now 11 boats in the river all weathering the storm in peace!!
Kate did some teaching yesterday - Alice from Vagabond Heart had a school test to do which needed invigilation so Kate stepped in and helped out for the morning (we did get yummy Vietnamese Pork Rolls for lunch in return which was good!).
I did some jobs around the boat (fixing the mainsheet track, repairing a bent part on the anchor windlass etc) and tried to make the most of the still waters to get some jobs off the list.
In the afternoon we took our dinghy along with Vagabond Heart's up the mangrove passage for around 2 miles into the rainforest where we walked through the forest exploring. The forest was amazing and the river very interesting (who'd have thought this time last year we'd be paddling up a mangrove river in a Panamanian rainforest!?)
We're waiting for the weather to improve then its around 70 miles to Colon to get our canal transit arranged.

San Blas 6th March

After a very windy night anchored at Porvenir it didnt sound like the weather was going to get any better soon. We listened to the radio net at 8.30 and the weather report was for more wind tomorrow and then starting to drop. Alot of the other anchorages sounded busy and we didnt think they would be anymore protected than where we were so we decided to stay put.
Calsyta and Christine Anne came over for morning tea. Red Herring, Balu and Vagabond Heart arrived in the anchorage.
By lunchtime the wind still still picking up and there were lots of squalls and the sea was getting choppier. Red Herring suggested an inlet on the mainland that might be more protected so they set off with Balu. They arrived a report a flat calm anchorage so more of us followed. It is sheltered inlet surrounded by mangroves. We put up all our mossie screens and then took the dinghy to explore. We found a channel that goes into the mangroves that we are going to explore further tomorrow.

Porvenir 5th March

We decided it was time to check into the San Blas as we had now been here a couple of days and we had heard that the officials were starting to get annoyed with people not checking in for weeks, months...

We had a good 16 mile sail from the Holandes Cays to Porvenir - 7 knots with just the genoa up.

We arrived in Porvenir about 11am and went to check in with Sunchaser. They got both parts of check in done before lunch but we had to go back after lunch to get our cruising permit.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing boat jobs. We had decided to stay here over night as the weather was abit poor to be navigating through reefs and head somewhere else tomorrow.

In the evening Andy (Calysta) came over for drinks and then we had an early night

Banedup, San Blas 4th Feb

Better weather today so spent the morning doing some washing and other boat jobs - with a swim in between to cool off!!

After lunch we headed over to Christine Anne so i could borrow Chris's sewing machine to make a mossie net for over our bed. We have nets in the hatches and windows but tyuhe little monsters still manage to get in so at least if we make a screen for the bed we can sleep without getting biten. Panama is meant to be quite bad for mossies so we wanted to get the net sorted before we arrived in Colon.

Sundown drinks on the beach at 5pm finished the day. There is a great group of us here now and it is good to catch up at the end of the day. The plan tomorrow is to head to Porvenir to check in and then to a different paradise anchorage for a couple of days.

Banedup 3rd March

We started the day with lots of visits to boats - Honeymoon (Aggie and Don, Australian), Balu (Marion and Jim, Irish), Calysta and Vagabond Heart.
After lunch we went over to Tiadup. There are usually 3 families live on this island but currently there is only one. They live in very basic conditions but are lovely people.
Jonny spent the afternoon sailing Don's oppie with the Vagabond Heart kids and having a great time.
Just before sunset we went ashore to burn our rubbish with Christine Anne and then had an early night.

Jonnys Birthday in the San Blas

We are still anchored off Banedup in the Holandes Cays, San Blas - it is a picture perfect paradise anchorage.
Jonny started his birthday with a pancake breakfast followed by a visit to Christine Anne for coffee and morning tea (a birthday cake that Chris had made for Jonny at sea yesterday but that had gone wrong when they had been hit by a wave so she was making another for tonight). Whilst we were there a local Kuna man came by to show us his molas so Karen from Red Herring and Brendan from Sunchaser also came over to look. I was very restrained and only bought one!!
After Christine Anne we made a picnic and took it to the beach. Just after we arrived on the beach Edward from Vagabond Heart came over with some of his birthday cake from last week (some yummy caramel slices) so they made a nice addition to our picnic.
After lunch we took the dinghy for an explore round the island and then went ashore to fix the new dinghy wheels as the brackets werent in the right place. After fixing the wheel brackets Jonny wanted to try and glue the keel back in but the dinghy was still abit damp and we ended up with lots of glue on our hands and the keel wouldnt stick!! We tried washing the glue off and rubbing it with sand but it wouldnt budge!! Karen from Red Herring came to the rescue and drove me (because my hands were less gluey) back to Newt to get some acetone and then back to the beach. Back at the beach with the acetone most of the glue came off much to the amusement of our spectators! We had to leave the dinghy on the beach for the glue to dry and get a lift back to Newt with Red herring to make our contribution for the Pot Luck dinner (bring whatever you were going to have for tea to the beach to share with everyone) on the beach.
We had a great night on the beach. We had cooked our Mahi Mahi catch from the trip here and it went down well. Chris had made a cake for Jonny and added candles and sparklers. Jim (from Balu, Irish boat) had brought his guitar ashore and kept us all entertained.

Bonaire to Panama Day 5

Land ahoy! We had a good run during the day with the wind continuing to blow 15 knots or so. With now full sail after a good night passage we had to do our first sail handling in 3 days by gybing the genoa across (we were now on a broad reach). As we closed in on the San Blas we saw the tiny islands about 8 miles off. We were a bit nervous about the entrance which is strewn with reefs and requires careful eyeball navigation due to the inaccuracy of most of the charts for this area. As we were worrying about this and had pilot books all over the cockpit the fishing reel started going - so I (Jonny) went to the back and started to haul in our catch. It was a Mahe Mahe (aka Dolphin Fish) about 2 feet long - I managed to get it on deck (a first for us) and then had to kill it. We had been told putting alcohol in their gills is very quick and effective, so armed with some cheap gin Kate attempted to do this whilst I held it - unfortunately we have no spray gun for the alcohol and in trying to pour it from the bottle Kate got more on me than in the fish - whilst this helped me it didn't do much for the fish! So (the squeamish should look away now) we got the winch handle out and killed it quickly with that instead!
We made landfall at 2pm local time (GMT - 5hrs) and navigated around the reefs with Kate at the helm and I stood on the boom looking for reefs - which was easier than I expected but likely due to the high sun. We anchored next to Sunchaser, Red Herring, Vagabond Heart, Calysta and Balu (all known to us) and it was great to see familiar faces. Kate went for a swim whilst I dealt with our fish (filleting and skinning it was quite easy but a bit messy) before we swam over to Sunchaser for a beer to celebrate our arrival. A few hours later Christine Anne arrived and we all met up on the beach for some beers in the evening.
The San Blas islands are like paradise ... tiny islands covered in palm trees with crystal blue water and reefs protecting them from the ocean - pictures will follow soon, its amazing!

Bonaire to Panama Day 4

Another good day - we seem to be getting some good speeds out of Newt - not sure if its her fresh bottom paint or the confidence we have with the new pole? We have had steady winds which dropped from yesterdays 35 knots (thankfully!) and eased throughout the day. We pulled the reefs out of the genoa just before dark and then pulled the reef out of the main at around midnight. The seas were quite big yesterday after the winds and we were surfing down them pretty quickly - however they too have dropped off overnight to more of a swell today than real waves as such.
We were still within 15 miles of Christine Anne last night and hope to be so this morning. With any luck we should make landfall in the San Blas at Holandes Cays on Banedup Island around 4pm today with enough light to spot the coral on the way in!
Distance run in 24 hrs - 154 n/m