Arriving in Panama

On the morning of Tuesday May, 3 we came in sight of the land mass of Panama. As we got over the excitement of the morning dolphin show and came closer to Panama around 2pm we got down to studying the charts and planning our entrance to the canal. The ships on the horizon seemed to multiply in number and size. The radar became one mass of returns and we started to feel very small on our 48 foot yacht. Ian had to concentrate to navigate through the ships that were either anchored or moving off in various directions. It was very overwhelming to have so much visual overload after being out on the open sea for several days. We managed to weave our way through the tankers and cargo ships and found the entrance to the canal marked with the largest port and starboard signal lights that I had ever seen along the breakwater. The container docks were massive and there were several of them with huge cranes. We had to radio the control tower for permission to enter the channel as it was that busy. We went to the recommended anchorage only to discover that the area was completely deserted by yachts. We decided to try another anchorage called Club Nautico and radioed the tower for permission to cross the channel again. Due to the unexpected change of plan we called our canal agent and he advised us that it wasn't safe to anchor in that area of Colon anymore. It was suggested that we try Shelter Bay Marina instead. That's were all the other yachts were he said. Once again we had to request permission to cross the channel. By now the tower operator was getting pretty annoyed with us as he had so many large ships to monitor. We apologised and made our way into the marina. Ian managed to do a perfect entry into the narrow marina and we both collapsed with relief that we were finally able to relax. We got all our lines secured by 5pm and went to the marina pool for a refreshing swim and a well deserved cold beer. The first thing that hit us about Panama was the increased heat and humidity which was to be expected as we edged our way towards the equator. We were advised that the next canal slot to the Pacific Ocean could be anywhere from 9 days to 2 weeks. We just had to get organised and wait for our turn and the transit date.

Passage to Panama

On Wednesday, April 27 we slipped the lines to sail the 770 nautical mile passage from Bonaire to Panama. The crossing was pretty exhausting for most of the time with rough seas and strong winds except for one day when I was able to go below and make bread. It was delicious on the first day while fresh but soon turned pretty hard after that. We filled our days and nights avoiding large tankers and scanning the horizon for sea junk. The ships came very close at night and we had to be constantly alert to their movements on the radar. Even during the day we had to track the ships on radar as some came very close. As we sailed north of Columbia the sea junk increased with the prevailing currents. We saw what looked like a large tree trunk floating by within 20 metres of our yacht. Lucky we missed hitting that at 6 knots. There were dead flying fish on the deck every morning but neither of us wanted to go out and flick them back to sea as it was just too rough. The cabin remained strewn with blankets and pillows which we rotated for that moment when we could go below to catch some sleep inbetween watches. We normally checked the rigging on deck in the fading light and had a quick shower either sitting down or hanging on to the railing for balance. The photo shows Ian securing everything and modelling his new board shorts. Yes he finally gave in and bought some new ones. We would throw our evening dinner together just before sunset as everything became harder at night. The complexity of dinner was relative to the roughness of the sea. I normally took first watch as it was typically calmer then and I like watching the stars as they come out low over the horizon. One of the photos shows the light just as the sun went down. When Ian came up around midnight we usually had to reef the sails and change our course if necessary. We both had our life jackets on and stay clipped on at all times as some of the waves were powerful enough to throw us out of the cockpit. As soon as I went below to try and sleep items in the cabin mysteriously seemed to come alive. I usually spent 10 minutes or so finding the source and securing the items before drifting off to sleep. Some of the items I couldn't locate and they eerily banged and chimed during the night. I could feel Faraway rolling and crashing down with each wave but somehow seemed to be able to manage to stay in bed. When I came up on deck to take the morning watch Ian would usually tell me about all the ships he had seen during the night. Interestingly enough we didn't see any fishing boats or other yachts during this journey until we arrived in Panama. As we came within 40 miles of Panama a huge pod of dolphins welcomed us. They were playing in the big swells and diving across the bow waves. We watched them for over an hour and it was lovely to have them accompany us. I also saw a couple of large turtles on the surface in the same area. There were loads of flying fish or fish flying to avoid the dolphins. We arrived in Panama after 6 nights and 7 days of sailing. Most of the journey we managed under sail except for the last day when we motored into Panama.

Farewell to Bonaire

We said our farewells to Andreas and Cordula from Aphrodite as we headed on our journey to Panama. They had been great company to dive and socialise with in Bonaire. We also picked up a lot of good sailing information from them and Andreas spent hours showing Ian all his gadgets. Now Ian would like those gadgets too!

Large Turtle - Klein Bonaire

Yesterday we went diving on Klein Bonaire with our friends off the yacht Aphrodite. We filled our dinghies with tanks and dive equipment and motored over to the island. Our friends picked a dive site called Leonoras Reef and it was excellent. A very old and large turtle dived down from the surface right next to Ian. It swam past us then headed for a coral crevice. It banged into the coral with it's head then wedged itself into the crevice and appeared to go to sleep. It was so old and tired that we decided to leave it in peace. At the end of the dive it was still resting in the same position. We saw some other really cool stuff on the dive including a scorpian fish that was swimming, loads of beautiful soft and hard corals and a wide variety of reef fish. We had a very bumpy dinghy ride back to Faraway and we had to bail water out along the way as it was so rough and choppy. In the afternoon we hit the City Cafe bar with our friends for sundowners and stayed on for fish and chips. We enjoyed talking about the dive adventure but were all pretty tired and headed back to bed around 9pm. Today we are preparing Faraway for our sail to Panama. We leave tomorrow morning and estimate that it will take around 6 days to get there.

Kalabash Reef Bonaire

Today we dove Kalabash reef with a German couple Andreas and Cordula from the yacht Aphrodite. It was raining when we set off but it cleared up and the sun came out as soon as we started diving. I was looking for sea horses but once again it was in vain. Saw plenty of other critters though including a pair of heavy weight lobsters.

Dockside Walk Bonaire

During our extended stay in Bonaire we did some walks along the dock where Faraway was moored in front of the swimming lanes. I later found out that this was an excellent snorkelling site. A few times a week a cruise ship would come in to dock and the whole atmosphere of the town would change. Market stalls would spring up and the cafe and side walks would become instantly crowded with visitors. The top photo shows Ian posing outside the dive shop. We would park our dinghy at the jetty, cross the road and get our tanks filled. It was sooo easy.

Shore Dives Bonaire

On Friday, April 22 we took the hire car loaded with dive gear down south to do some shore diving. The first dive site was called 'Alice in Wonderland' and it was fantastic full of marine life and abundant with corals. Ian and I did a 72 minute dive we just didn't want to get out of the water. The next site was called Jeff's Memorial dedicated to marine medicine researchers. We went looking for seahorses but were unlucky. The hardest part about the diving was carrying your equipment to and from the car. The reefs seemed to be very healthy and were being closely monitored by the Marine Park service.