Atlantic, Caribbean to Panama March to December, 2008

Our passage across the Atlantic from St. Helena was uneventful until we encountered a broken fore stay three days out of St. Helena  ( jury rigged with a norseman terminal and a 16 to one cascade) caused us to revise our passage plan and commit to the long  haul straight to Trinidad instead of the few weeks we were looking forward to in Brazil. We knew for certain we could get new rigging swaged up in Trinidad and any parts we needed, so off we went on a long trip across the Atlantic.

The passage took us 32 days without other mishaps. After leaving the S.E. trades  it was slow miserable  going for 10 days or so as we made our way through the  ITCZ. Rain squalls and dark heavy overcast day after day. Things improved as we left  the Horn of Brazil astern and the N.E. trades slowly filled in. Sun at last. With a lift from the current and 15 to 20 knots on the beam Matarua was romping along with a few 160 mile days.

Trinidad

Trinidad, Chagaramous, was a shock to our senses as the place was full of boats. More boats than we had seen in years. It seemed like the whole of the Caribbean yachting community was there putting their boats on the hard for the upcoming Hurricane season, so that they can return home to UK/ Europe/US/Canada for the summer months. There is certainly a huge industry set up for the protection, storing and working on boats.  Trinidad people seem to  have a wonderful and pleasing outlook which makes it a pleasure to deal with them.

We replaced all the lower  stays , dumped the airEx  wind generator (Called 'Rude Boy' as it was so noisy) and replaced it with a new Kiss , made in Trinidad, This one is quiet and, aptly , named Sweet Girl. Also replaced the autopilot control unit .

Trinidad did not appeal as a cruising ground, it's a place to leave or work on boats so we departed for more pleasant cruising grounds to the west.

Venezuela, ABC Islands, and Cartagena, Columbia

Spent a wonderful two weeks in Venezuela mainly in the Los Roques islands.  Peter went bone fishing and Joyce snorkeled, swam and hung out.  It was great fun. The days were lazy and tranquil.

Sailed onto Bonaire one of the Netherlands Antilles islands called the ABC islands.  Met some friends there and had a pleasant few days in the anchorage before sailing onto Curacao.  These two islands are very European, and unfortunately we didn't have long to sample the wonderful Dutch cheeses and meats.  Enjoyed our rest but unfortunately with time constraints we had to  be on our way again to Cartagena where we wanted to spend some time steeped in history.

Cartagena was a fascinating place and spent about a month there immersing ourselves into the historical parts of the city.  The old city and the battlements, forts etc. kept us very busy being tourists.  Enjoyed the Columbian coffee and especially our mornings sampling dozens of types of local coffee and wonderful deserts in the coffee bars.

We didn't even get to the outer islands off the Columbian coast because of our fascination with the old historical city.  But unfortunately even though a month seems a long time it came to an end far to soon and we were on our way again.

Panama

The San Blass Islands off the Panama coast was our first destination en route to Panamarina where we planned to leave Matarua for a visit back to Canada.

 The Kuna Indians who live in the area are quite small pigmy like people with a wonderful smile on their faces full of humour.  They wore their colourful traditional costumes when they came visiting. Our anchor had been down for a few minutes at the anchorage when the first dugout canoe arrived with four women and their molas for sale. Even though they looked very pleasant and engaging people, there was no chit chat it was down to business straight away.  When Peter helped some of the women plug a hole in their boat there was no thanks just,  "how many molas you buy".

Mola panels consist of three to five layers of different coloured material with the cut edges which are then finely hemmed with the bottom layer becoming the background colour and supports all the other layers. The usual size of a mola is about 18 inches by 14 inches and they make stunning wall hangings. The Kuna people use the mola panels in blouses, dresses and skirts and they look very cheery and colourful.

There are more than 350 coral islands in the San Blas archipelago rising barely above sea level and the ones we saw were surrounded by turquoise blue lagoons. We are hoping to spend more time on our return in November. The islands are about 100 miles east of the Panama Canal and our Marina where we left the boat is only about 40 miles west of the islands.

Our final leg of this seasons journey ended in a  torrential thunder storm creeping into the Marina in appalling visibility. The rainy season truly arrived.  After a few days of stripping the boat ready for our departure we travelled overland by bus to Panama City. An overnight stay and a day sightseeing in Panama City we arrived in Vancouver on July 15th. We were looking forward to a few months of Summer in beautiful B.C., the first in five years.

It was a very busy Summer with very little time for us to see our friends.  Family commitments and a renovation on our property took up most of our time. We bought a van, managed a few weeks camping and fishing in the Chilcotin and Caribou areas, a  short rock climbing trip to Squamish and Thanksgiving in Penticton. Thanks to Robin and Howie for putting us up.

It was still the rainy season with 32 deg. and 80% humidity when we arrived back in Panama. Lots of heavy rain. Matarua was a little grubby and grimy and the interior a fur ball of mildew when we returned. A week cleaning and scrubbing, going through all the systems and we are back in cruising mode again.
 

Spent a month in the San Blas islands again relaxing, swimming, and snorkelling.  We managed to do  some projects on the boat for our anticipated Canal Transit.

Made our way west towards Colon and the Cal. Arrived at the Flats anchorage in Colon and started the ball rolling for our Panama Canal transit. Everything seemed to slot into place for our boat to be measured fees, and linehandler organized. We had a firm date of December 23rd for our Transit which put us in the Panama City anchorage on Christmas Eve.

Writing this at the Panama Canal Yacht Club where we had unlimited WiFi.  and now are able to upload the website - at last!!! It only took a year!!

After transiting the Canal will spend a few days in Panama City, being a tourist and mooching around all the historical stuff to do with Canal and the Spanish Conquistadors.

Our next stage of our journey will be cruising up the Central American coast starting with Costa Rica.

The adventure continues