Cartegena to Shelter Bay Marina, Panama--January 30- April 3rd

Leaving Cartagena was a very difficult time, we know of cruisers who find a place and never seem to want to leave that city, well that is how we felt about Cartagena.  It is a beautiful city; our pictures don’t capture the kindness of the people or their warmth and friendliness.  So it is with sadness again that I look back at the beautiful skyline and take a last picture.  If you have been keeping up with our web site, you know that we have had similar feeling when leaving Puerto Vallarta, Oaxca and Bahia del Sol.  Who said this cruising life was easy. 

After being at a marina for such a long time, we never want to make a long passage right away, so we sailed for about three hours to get to Bahia Chalon which is South of Cartagena.  It is a large bay with many small islands that are just big enough for a gorgeous Colombian home; no they were not small shacks, but vacation homes of the wealthy.  We anchored close to a shrimp boat called Manatee that is owned by a former LA policeman.  He and his wife have a home on the hill and he uses the shrimp boat as a happy hour bar for cruisers.  I think he misses sailing so he is trying to bring sailors to him.  We went aboard Manatee twice and enjoyed the live music, beverages and companionship of those also at anchor until we had a good weather window where the seas had calmed and the wind would be about 15 knots.  When that day arrived we left early in the morning preparing for an overnight crossing to Isla Pinos in the Eastern San Blas area.  It was a rather uneventful, the kind we like, motor sail until about 3AM when we finally had a good angle and enough wind to turn off the motor.  We are not really harden sailors, for when we are traveling less than 4knots we become impatient and turn on the engine to help us move along.

We arrived in Isla Pinos in the late morning, rested a bit and then went to check in with the town.  Our guide was David, who walked us around the village, introduced us to the chief, and collected our fee of $10.  We also purchased a Kuna flag which the chief sold.  David had us do several things for him also, charge their cell phones, take some id pictures of two girls for their state identification cards, and also print some family pictures from CDS that were given to him by other cruisers.  We went back to the boat to try to get all these pictures printed and the cell phones charged.  It was a fun village and we enjoyed the anchorage for several days. It was at this anchorage while we were changing the water maker filters that Hank saw that a large bolt attached to the autopilot had sheared off, we knew that from this point on, we would be hand steering until this part could be sent to us or until we could find a way to have it fabricated.  At least we would not have to be doing any overnight passages between now and Panama.   Hank contacted Ray Marine concerning the part, but alas they didn’t have any tiller pins in stock.   He also contacted our friends who would be arriving to have them bring some bolts and washers so that it might be possible to make a suitable substitute until it could be properly fixed. 

The next stop along our journey was the island of Achitupu, this was a great anchorage between two islands making a well protected area from the island to the shore.  The first thing we noticed was that there were many people rowing between the islands and the mainland.  We were visited several times by young boys who would row out to the boat.  They were cute and very strong to be able to paddle a large ulu or a smaller one even when the wind was strong.  We decided that it was probably part of their training to be able to paddle in a protected area when they were young for they would make their living from the sea and they needed to be strong enough to handle any type of sea state. We went ashore to visit the village; no one came around to collect an anchorage fee, so we decided to investigate.  This was a quieter, or lower keyed village, the people were shy as though they didn’t get many visitors.  We walked around, smiling and saying hello, until we came to a group of women who were talking to each other.  Immediately they pulled out their mola collection, even removing their blouses for my inspection of their handiwork.  I didn’t plan to buy any more molas after our last visit to the San Blas Islands but I couldn’t turn these women down, so I didn’t purchase a traditional reverse appliquéd mola I got an appliquéd picture.  We noticed that several trading boats arrived at their dock while we were anchored, one day when we were in town we observed women carrying bags of coconuts to the dock.  In return they returned with the bags filled with plantains.  Since this is a matrilineal society, women did the bargaining for the amount of plantains they would be trading for. 

Snug Harbor was aptly named; when we arrived we found a great place to anchor in a calm environment.  Some folks call this anchorage, “Bug Harbor” but we anchored away from the mangroves so the breeze kept the bugs away from us.  Moving west we headed to Isla Tigre, this is the island from where we had departed last July to cross to Cartagena.  We knew the anchorage so we were in the process of letting out the anchor when the chain jambed in the hawse pipe.  To solve the problem we needed to deploy the second anchor and retrieve the primary one.  Thank goodness Hank was prepared for this, for he was able to fix the hawse pipe and get us back on our main anchor.  This process seems very simple as I write this but actually it took several hours and was really a cerveza time when it was completed.  We did not go ashore to Isla Tigre this time; we spent the night and then sailed for Nargana the following morning. 

Our friends Gary and Liz would be flying in the following day, so we wanted to get to the island to do a little shopping and be ready to greet them at 6:30 in the morning.  The anchorage is in black mud but it is a holding mud, so we prepared for guests.  Hank went to town to buy supplies and to order Kuna rolls from the bakery.  We ate dinner that night at Nalas with some cruiser friends.  It was a great chicken dinner with coleslaw.  The men even got to have ice cream for dessert well the women could have ordered it but they like stealing bites.  We enjoyed the dinner so much that we came back the next night for dinner again.  Gary and Liz arrived the next morning and we got them settled on the boat, then we went back to the village for breakfast and another run for more buns at the bakery.  We ordered breakfast of eggs, bread and coffee, but later we were told that there were no eggs on the island.  What that really meant was that the stores were not open yet, so there were no eggs at the restaurant.  After breakfast we decided to head for the island of Canbombia.  We arrived in time to learn that there was a happy hour planned for that afternoon on the beach, go figure!  We made dip with crackers and arrived on the beach at 4.  It was great to show Liz and Gary the friendliness of the cruisers by being able to attend this party.  We all snorkeled at this anchorage although it was not super clear.  It did give Betsy a chance to use here new underwater camera that she had received for Christmas.  You might remember that her last camera did not swim well when inside a water tight case that evidently was not closed properly.  Anyway she did try out the camera with some good results.  We were told by another cruiser, Tara Vana that they had seen a lionfish in the Canbombia waters.  This fish may look pretty but it is very invasive, eating everything in sight with no natural enemies.  We were also told that you should kill this fish and report its sightings. 

We moved on to the island of Salardup for we had asked the cruisers on Blue Skies what would be a few of their favorite least crowded anchorages and this was their favorite.  Salardup was located in a small group of four islands with a large reef surrounding the group.  There is a large shallow shelf to the east of the main island where the holding is good and the protection from the wind is great.  We walked this island and found that the island is being cared for by a Kuna man and woman.  They are taking great pride in the cleanliness of the island and so the man was raking and burning brush when we visited.  The island is one of the stops for tourist from the mainland, a large ulu comes out with people who stand in the beautiful turquoise water for several  hours and then get picked up to leave.  Our beach party sun downers were after these folks had departed for we could go to shore, raft up the dinghies and set out a small table for appetizers.  We had a party the first afternoon that we arrived, for friends on the sailing vessel Lost Elvis would be arriving and we had not seen them since the past May.  We have always had great fun with them and this was no exception, we fixed a lobster dinner together, did sun downers in the water, and spent an evening playing music and singing. This was a good anchorage for Kunas to come by selling lobster.  We wanted to get several so that Liz and Gary could eat their fill of these delicious crustacceans.  We also knew that the Kuna has established a season where they are not allowed to sell lobsters, crab or conch.  The prohibited selling season would begin March 1^st. 

Every Monday afternoon in the area called the Swimming Pool on Barbeque Island they have a cruiser get together where you can exchange books, DVD, share finger food and get to know other cruisers who may be going the same direction you will be going.  It is a good time to share stories, knowledge and friendship.  We wanted to show Liz and Gary another good party, so of course we headed to the Eastern Holandes Cays and the anchorage called The Swimming Pool.  We arrived at the “pool” in the early afternoon so we had time to make some pizza for the happy hour.  We had some wonderful pepperoni sausage from Cartagena and I must say it did make a great pizza.  There were about 25 people at the party and we enjoyed showing our friends how much fun the cruising live can be.  Another great thing about this anchorage is that there are a lot of neat snorkeling reefs surrounding the area. The picture of these fish was taken with Betsy's new underwater camera, not bad eh?  You may remember last year her previous camera was in a waterproof case that let in a bit of water that made the camera very unhappy, read toast.  We headed out to the one just west of BBQ Island and we were not disappointed.  We saw many of the usual reef fish but we also saw a large Southern Stingray which we were not quite sure how it would react. Checkout the length of stinger on that ray.   Where is my reef book when I needed it!  I kept thinking of Steve Ervin as I swam after it trying to get close enough for a good picture. Krikey look at me as I put a finger in its cloacae, NOT.  We also let the nurse shark sleep, a sleeping shark makes for happy snorkelers.  Also as we passed a rocky ledge area that had many coral formations we saw a nurse shark asleep on the bottom under one of these ledges.  Now I know that they are supposed to be harmless, but somehow we felt it was better to quietly take a few pictures and then leave it alone. 

We had been told almost since we arrived at Isla Pinos the one of the biggest holidays in Kuna Yala is the commemoration of the anniversary of the Kuna Revolution of 1925, where the Kuna revolted against the Panamanians to achieve more autonomous rule for their region.  This commemoration would be reenacted at several of the islands along the Comarca de Kuna Yala.  We decided to head to the island of Carti since Lost Elvis was there and they said that there was a complete schedule of programs.  We arrived in time to go to the dinghy dock owned by Johnny, stop at his hostel for a beer, and then have him take us to the program.  We found that the performances were free but there was a $10 a day charge for taking pictures.  Since Liz and Betsy both had cameras, they paid the fee for two days and then took pictures all over the island.  If we had arrived earlier we would have been able to listen to the explanation of the different performances in English, but since we did not, we listened to the action in Spanish hoping that our translations were somewhat accurate. The original uprising was very violent, but by being very cunning and drugging the soldiers, the Kuna Indians were able to overpower the Panamanian police.  For this rebellion the Kuna were granted permission to implement their own system of government and economy while still maintaining their language, representation in the Panamanian legislature and full voting rights.  The first performance we saw was building up to the actual rebellion, it showed the cruelty of the soldiers to the people and the disrespect for them.  The following day we saw the “blood and guts” performance, the Kuna, dressed in red snuck up upon the drugged soldiers and attacked.  They used small plastic bags of red liquid to represent the blood and it was all over. This was a show that the whole village turned out to see, and after the uprising performance the program turned into a parade that led to the Congresso, meeting house.  The parade finally ended up in another meeting house called the “chicha” hut where they separated the men and women and then they began to pass gourd cups of chicha.  Chicha is an intoxicating drink brewed from sugarcane and other special ingredients that is used for spiritual events.  We went into the Chicha hut but decided to pass on drinking the Chicha.  We did enjoy walking down the narrow streets of the village exploring a lifestyle so different than our own. There must be nooooooooooo secrets between neighbors.  

After seeing the last performance we hauled up the anchor and headed for Isla Porvenir, which has a port captain, immigration and Kuna Village office.  We had not checked into Panama and we knew from other cruisers that the Port Captain didn’t like it when your last country zarpe was too out of date.  So we arrived late in the afternoon and went to the hotel to have an early dinner.  We had planned to do our check in first thing in the morning and Lost Elvis was going to be heading back to Shelter Bay.  Our dinner was good, chicken, octopus or fish with rice and lentils. Very reasonable!  At night the wind blew about 25 knots, we were down playing a card game with the air conditioner on when we got a call over the VHF radio, it was 11:30, rather late for a call.  Lost Elvis said that they thought boats at anchor were dragging so immediately we went into action, checking our anchor waypoint, depth, and anchor.  We thought we were all right, but we were not sure about Lost Elvis.  Hank decided to do anchor watch while the rest of us got some sleep, really we were up most of the night and about 2 or 3 AM we put the dinghy down so that Hank could go help Lost Elvis re-anchor in the dark.  This is never a fun thing to do at night and Lost Elvis was not able to flake their anchor chain from the deck.  It was so much easier for someone to be below deck to flake as another person brought the anchor up, of course someone has to be at the wheel to steer the boat.  Hank was a big help, they re-anchored and tried to get some rest for they wanted to leave about 7 in the morning. 

Hank and Betsy took the dinghy to shore to do the check in shuffle, paid the Kuna for permission to visit the islands, did some quick shopping and headed back to the boat.  We didn’t want another night at this rolly anchorage, so we headed back to Salardup.  Before we left, Betsy took a photo of Equinox to compare it to the picture of a Kuna sailboat.

Very soon after we got the anchor down we had a call from Lost Elvis, they were tired of fighting 35k winds and they had decided to turn back for another day so they would see us at Salardup.  It was a quiet afternoon and night for we were all pretty tired from the night before.  Liz and Gary took the dinghy to shore and walked around the island looking for shells.  Unfortunately Gary came back to the boat with a cut foot where he had slipped on some coral.  We bandaged him up and handed him a beer and being the trooper he is, he was fine.  Gary and Liz were flying out of Panama City and we had decided that if they went back to Carti, they could get a shuttle back to the mainland and then a jeep ride through the jungle to their hotel in Panama City.  It would be about 2 ½ hours in the jeep for only $25.  It was a deal so we knew that we needed to be back in Carti for a 7 AM pick up on Wednesday.  We left Salardup and were able to put up the spinnaker and have a beautiful sail almost all the way to Carti.  It was sad to see Gary and Liz go for we had played ever so many games, drank a few bottles of rum and enjoyed seeing the San Blas Islands through someone else’s eyes.

Next we moved to the Eastern Lemmons for there was a meeting of all cruisers who would be going north and it was organized by Joan from Panchita.  She asked several seasoned cruisers to give their experiences so it lasted several hours but it was very informative.  She put all the information together for us which was so great.  It started Hank and Betsy to do some research as to the next leg of their trip.  We knew the places we wanted to visit and what to expect when we got there.  The wind and rain blew almost all week, we were supposed to have a potluck with the northern meeting, but it had to be postponed for three days.  When we did have it, we decided to do a lunch potluck before the late afternoon wind and rain came. It wasn’t all bad for we still got to play some volleyball, bocce ball and hang out with friends. When a weather window started to appear, we decided to head back to Porvenir, check out of the San Blas Islands by getting a zarpe for Colon, Shelter Bay and Christobal.  The sea state was still not calm so we decided not to head to another island but to spend the night and then sail for Isla Linton in the morning. 

This leg of the adventure was the best sailing we have had in a long while, for we sailed for almost 6 hours as in no motor.  Since we did not have a working autopilot we traded positions hourly, that way no one person got too tired and it guaranteed that we were still having fun.  When we got to the anchorage of Isla Linton, we noticed some unusual fish traps.  We never did find out exactly what they were for, but the group that was near the trap had on wetsuits. The anchorage wraps around the island and we found a nice secure spot.  We had heard that there was a terrific French restaurant but when we learned that they would not come to the boat to pick us up, we were too tired to put down the dinghy.  So we passed on dinner out and knew that we would be at Shelter Bay Marina by lunchtime the next day.

Shelter Bay Marina has expanded with more docks and many more boats that our last visit.  We were put on the temporary docks until a dock with power was free. We checked into the marina, had a ST. Patrick’s mug of beer and ate one of the marina’s great hamburgers.  The first thing Betsy did the next day was laundry, for it was great to again have the use of a washing machine.  It might have taken several hours to do the 4 loads of wash, but sitting by the pool didn’t make it too hard.  The first thing Hank did was call Defender to order a part for the autopilot.  We needed to replace the linear drive for the autopilot and they would be able to ship it to Shelter Bay via FedEx in a week.  Of course the shippage was not cheap but it had to be done.   The part arrived on Tuesday, it was ordered on the previous Thursday, so we were happy campers. The gals got together on Sunday afternoon to have a wine, cheese and pedicure party.  Panchita and Sunbow organized the gathering and we had fun sitting around drinking a glass of wine and painting our own toes.  It was interesting to listen to the various gals, for there were ten of us, tell their cruising story.  Two of the gals had been out 12 years and they were close to completing their circumnavigation.  One of the gals, Sue was a bird watcher and she volunteered to take us on a bird watching walk the following Tuesday afternoon.  At 4:30 on that day a group of us gathered with binoculars, water, cameras, and bug spray.  We looked over Sue’s bird book and then we headed out on the roads around the marina.  Sue spends a lot of time with this hobby so she was able to take us to certain areas to see certain types of birds.  Our binoculars were aimed at the trees as we walked the deserted roads of the old army base.  Two of the special birds we saw were trogons and kiskadee.  We turned up the road that goes toward Fort San Lorenzo and looking up in the trees we saw two sloths.  We had been told in Costa Rica that they were very slow moving animals that might not come down from a tree for a week, well both of these two sloths were moving.  The smaller one started to stretch out and we could see that it was reaching for the pods on the tree.  We moved on to another area and watched howler monkeys in the trees; it was fun to watch them use the tree branches to jump across the road.  They were very vocal as we walked, and I must say that they sound like they are a lot larger than they actually are.  When you hear the howl, your mind pictures something the size of a gorilla or something out of Jurassic Park, not a small spidery monkey. It was getting later for we had been out for two hours, as headed back we saw several coatimundi.

On March 25, Lost Elvis was to head back through the canal.  We had been with them on May 9^th when they came from the Pacific to the Caribbean and now they would be going back to the Pacific and ultimately Puerto Vallarta. Their working schedule didn’t lean well to being in Panama for the flights were expensive so we realized that it was best for them to go back to Mexico but we didn’t like the idea.  We had gotten to know them so well and it was hard to say good bye.  Usually cruisers don’t say good bye they say, “See you up the road” but we knew that we would not be going back to Puerto Vallarta with Equinox so it truly was good bye.  We had dinner and lunch the following day at the marina restaurant.  We promised to visit in Vancouver or even fly to stay on their boat in PV.  Finally the tires were attached to their boat, the four long dock lines were ready for the canal transit and they backed out of the slip right across from us.

With Randy and Thea gone, other boats started heading out of the marina too, we were trying to get all out boat projects finished so that we could head north.  We had a long list and this is a new boat.  Hank replaced the linear drive on the autopilot, reinstalled the quatrant after the new bushing was put in to repair the enlarged hole that the old tiller pin created and installed the new tiller pin he designed and had fabricated.  He also fixed up where the hose leaked and started to rust some mounts and generally cleaned up around the engine.  All this sounds easy but they don't usually put stuff on boats where it is easy to get to so you have to squeeze into some cramped quarters and reach into some interesting yoga positions to get work done.    Hank has vowed to do more non-engine related yoga in the future.

Soon everything will be done, provisioning stored and we will head over to the Chargres River and then start to sail north to Providencia and San Andreas.