San Blas and Panama

After our last blog update we got ready to leave Cartagena. We had to wait for our clearance papers which finally arrived at 7pm and then got the boat ready before an early night ready to set off bright and early. We had set the alarm for 5.30am but when we put the instruments on ready to go, the chart plotter wouldn't work. No problem, we could cope without it so we spent an hour scrubbing barnacles off the anchor chain as we raised it. Got to the point of lifting the anchor and the windlass died. We were going nowhere, so we re-laid the anchor and set about getting it repaired. It took a week with the help of a very good mechanic on a boat called Sunshine. Still it was only a temporary fix and we had to order a new one to be delivered to Panama.

After spending the week as illegal aliens in Colombia, we set off for the San Blas. 2 days gentle sailing but with a horrible swell. Mike caught a Tuna on one line and the other line had just a head when we reeled it in! Something big had beaten us to it.

We went to a place called the West Hollandaise and were anchored between 2 palm tree lined deserted Islands. It was so quiet and a few times, we had dolphins come into the bay to feed. It's really wonderful to be able just to sit and watch them for an hour. Usually at sea we just get fleeting glimpses for a few minutes. There were also millions of small fry which would jump and land in the dinghy. This was usually when they were chased by fish which leapt about 6ft in the air and landed in the middle of them. The snorkelling was also great and I saw a sting ray.

After a few days rest our toilet decided to block so we spent 2 days in this idyllic location unblocking the heads. Ugh! Also our anchor washdown pump had stopped working in Cartagena and we also spent a day trying to fix that!

Chris and Dave, friends off CD, joined us and the 4 of us had a beach bbq with fish Dave had caught off the back of his boat using the fry as bait. We nearly lost the dinghy as we hadn't tied it on and turned round to see it drifting away! Dave dived in and rescued it.

We moved to Lemon Cays after a week and spent a few days there but the snorkelling wasn't as good. Few fish but good coral. Then we had a great sail to Linton which is half way to Colon .We were surfing down waves doing over 11 knots over the ground. After a days rest we sailed into Colon. On the way we caught a 9 and a 12lb Tuna at the same time! Great but a lot of work to turn into meals including a very messy cockpit to be cleaned! Still, they do taste unbelievably good when they are so fresh.

In Colon we are in the only marina. At first It was very busy with the blue water rally yachts but is quieter now they have all gone through to the Pacific. Our windlass arrived a few days after us. We were worried that we would have to cut the deck to make it fit as it's a bigger windlass but no, in fact we had to re-build it as the inside fittings are completely different. Fortunately the below deck parts fitted with millimetres to spare. We did our first GRP work, very messy but we have a very solid deck! It took us 8 days to fit and during that time we spent a great deal of time crouched in a tiny space that was about 40 degrees. As Mike said it was like a prison punishment! The windlass sounds great but we are yet to test it. It's a much bigger motor so hopefully it should rip our anchor out of the ground easily.

While we were waiting for the windlass to arrive, we did a transit of the Panama canal with an American couple on another Island Packet yacht that we had met in Trinidad. It was great fun. We left in the afternoon and went through the first 3 locks. It's hard work as you really have to hold the boat tight against the force of water entering the locks. Once through we moored on a buoy in Gatun lake for the night. The following morning we left at 6am for the 4 ½ hour trip across the lake. Then we had 3 locks down which were much easier work. The scenery is amazing and the advisers who escort you are so knowledgeable. We enjoyed it so much that we did it again last weekend for other friends on Jackster. This was an all British boat as Jackie is from Kenilworth and Dave from Yorkshire and Chris and Dave from CD were the other 2 line handlers.

We are getting very spoilt being in a marina. There are washing machines, a swimming pool and a bar with happy hour and good burger and chips! But we can't wait to leave.

Our current plan is to head to a river close by for few days to wait for the weather to go to Providencia. We are missing out our planned trip to Costa Rica and Guatemala as we are running out of time due to all the delays we have had. We need to get to Florida in May so time is running out. Providencia, the Bay Islands and Belize are supposed to be great diving so we are looking forward to moving on and leaving the hard work behind.

Our next blog may be a while as we will be out of internet contact for a bit but we will update you all when we can.