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Panama

 December 23rd saw us transiting the Panama Canal.  We were quite apprehensive as normally there would be an opportunity to go through the process as line-handler on another sail boat and familiarize ourselves with the process. Unfortunately there weren't any sailboats transiting so we went ahead without prior knowledge of what to expect. Not many cruising boats transit the canal around Christmas as they are hunkered down for the festive season somewhere with friends and family. The busiest time to transit the canal is the period February  to April when cruisers from the US east coast and Europe are on their way to the South Pacific via Galapagos Islands.

The transit was organized with the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) and had our boat measured. Line handlers were needed and tires to go around the boat as fenders and this was organized by an Agent which looked after the whole process for us. Our transit was at dusk on December 23rd which meant we would have a two day transit.. PCA allocates Advisors for each vessel and he arrived on the boat at the anchorage around 5 p.m. We entered the first Lock at Gatun just as it was getting dark and rafted up to a local tourist vessel. When we completed the rafting, the massive gates (which are 100 years old) closed and the water surged in with approximately 80 million gallons of water (so our Advisor told us) with the water swirling around us. Matarua rose up quite swiftly and we were off on another adventure. As soon  as the water levels had been reached, the gates opened up, we motored into the second lock and then the third one with the same process

The first three Locks on the Atlantic (Caribbean) side lock up to Gatun Lake where we had to raft up to a bouy for the night. After having a meal with us, our first Advisor left via a tug boat at about 9:30 p.m. and it was off to bed for us as we had an early start in the morning.

The next morning we had another Advisor to guide us through the Lake. We set off  bright and early (6:30 a.m.) when the Advisor arrived by Tug and as soon as he was aboard we were off. we motored through Gatun Lake to the remaining three Locks at Pedro Miguel and two at Miraflora.

There were many Panamex container vessels passing us through the Lake and down the Gallaird Cut. Panamex boats are about 2 ft in width and 5 ft in length shorter than the canal locks and are specifically made to maximize for frequent transits. As you can imagine these enormous ships make Matarua look like a small bathtub boat.

The Panama Canal Authority is upgrading the Canal Locks to take bigger Container Ships through the Canal and should be finished around the year 2014. Of course Container Ships are now being built to maximize their fleet for this upgrade. Some of the ships pass through every two weeks from west to east coast US.

On Christmas Eve at 3 p.m. Matarua and Crew arrived in the Pacific after motoring under the Bridge of Americas (the highway that joins North and South America) and so after 3 years we had arrived in the Pacific again.

Spent Christmas at the Balboa Yacht Club and enjoyed the festivities organized by the cruisers. Had a pot luck roast Turkey meal and met a lot of interesting people. Moved down to the La Playita anchorage a few days after Christmas and proceeded to enjoy the delights of Panama City. Stayed in the area for about a week before sailing off to the Panamanian western islands. We cruised through the islands and met up with fellow Bluewater Cruisers from Vancouver who had just come up from Eucador,

Left Panama at the end of January for Golfito Costa Rica.

Costa Rica

Arrived at the Land Sea anchorage in Golfito and met some Cruisers we had known in Mexico before we started out circumnavigation. It's a small world!!!

There were quite a lot of cruisers just hanging out at Land Sea. Some where going down to Panama and Ecuador and some like us were making their way up the coast to Mexico. It seemed like a crossroad and we all had a fun time getting to know some each other.

We stayed in Golfito longer than we intended because our Fridge needed repairing and some of the parts had to be brought from San Jose the Capital. So, off we went to San Jose on the bus at 5 am in the morning, the bus takes about 7 hours to get there. This gave us an opportunity to see the countryside and the people. Most of the passengers were locals and we had and interesting day. It was a long day as we arrived back in Golfito at 10:30 p.m.  Still, we did need the fridge to be working for our cold beers didn't we!!!!

A week later Joyce went on the bus again into San Jose to pick Mark (our Son) up and spent a few days enjoying the sights, shopping and markets of downtown San Jose.

After Mark had slept through his jet lag we set off up the coast and stopped at some rather beautiful anchorages. Costa Rica has a lot of Marine National Parks which is ideal for us cruisers to anchor. We ended up in the Playa de Coco area where we spent about two weeks hanging out. We snorkelled, swam, hiked and generally had fun. The small town of de Coco is quite a bustling tourist haven with all the usual tourist, diving shops, the jungle zip line, and island hopping trips.

Mark and Joyce went on a zip line trip (canopy trail) for a morning of excitement. The zipped along through the jungle at high speed and enjoyed themselves immensely even though both have a fear of heights.

Sadly it was time for us to say goodby to Mark and continue our Central American coast hopping. Our next stopping place was El Salvador. We would have loved to have gone into Nicaragua but the Papagyo winds were blowing quite nastily so we headed up to Barrillo Marina in El Salvador. 

El Salvador

After a fast Papagyo wind sail up the coast we arrived at Barrillo Marina.  Were met by the launch from the Marina and guided up the river to our mooring.

Spent 10 days there and managed to spend some time in the local town where they hardly see any Gringos. The market was absolutely fascinating with day old chicks for sale in a basket of many colours, fresh meat hanging from the stall ceiling, and a full cosmetic stall. Also of interest were the usual craft, bags, hats etc. The markets had all the usual fresh meat, fish, vegetables which were all of exceptional quality.

Met some old friends that we had travelled down into Mexico 5 years ago. They were now almost residents of El Salvador as they charter there triamaran at the Barrillo Marina. It was fun catching up with these friends again.

Would have loved to been able to stay longer but needed to get to Mexico before the end of April and time was marching on.

Mexico

Arrived in Mexico on April 1^st  at Huatulco in Southern Mexico beside the Gulf of Tehuantepec. It was good to be back in Mexico again with cheap tacos, beer and margaritas.

Made our way up the coast (head winds all the way) going into anchorages at, Zewat, and  Manzanillo and arrived in Puerto Vallarta to complete our world circumnavigation after 5 years, 2 months and five days. We stayed at  Nueva Vallarta Marina and had a party to celebrate with friends. We also flew all  the courtesy flags of the 32 countries we had visited, quite a photo op.

Travelled up to Guaymas in the Sea of Cortez (Sea) where we left the boat for the Summer and had a 4 months stay back in Canada. Spent most of the time on the property working (no rest for the wicked) but had ample time to reconnect with the grandkids – (Sylvan and Eli) Robin and Laurie.

We Are Done!!!!

We are going to spend this Winter in the Sea of Cortez (Sea), with a trip down to Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo to welcome Robin, Mark and the grandkids on board for a three week family reunion.

We plan to be back in the Sea in April, and will leave Matarua in the hands of  a Broker, while we start to get our land affairs back in order in Canada. If someone hasn't struck gold and bought Matarua by December (2010) we will spend another Winter in Mexico and sail back to Canada via Alaska in May, 2011 and list the boat from home.

It will be a sad day for us when Matarua is gone but  we do have many fond memories and have had lots of fun and adventures. She has looked after us extremely well. We couldn't have asked for a better passage maker on the budget we had.