Our little gamble paid of well. From St.Lucia to Panama we could go
further up north and follow the currents making a big circle to Panama.
The weather however looked good enough for us, and we decided to head
straight for Panama. On this route you will encounter counter and cross
currents, but with wind and motoring when we have to we were hoping to
make Panama in a week. The longer route would take two weeks, time we just
don't have. It was a mixed bag of light winds, strong winds, currents with
us and currents against us. And then there also all the ships that comes
through Panama, so we had to keep and eye out all the time as ships were
passing left and right of us. Port and starboard in nautical terms,
colours being red and green.
We kept on pushing, making the most of whatever wind we got and whatever
sail set-up we muster. No trouble to drop sails, raise sails, anytime. At
first we hoped we would arrive on Wednesday, an impossibility really,
except if we had exceptional winds. Thursday looked possible, riday was a
definite. As we got within 200nm of Panama I had to look at what time we
would arrive in Panama, and normally I would try and time going into a
port or marina at first light. We didn't slow down at all, as it is much
easier to slow down once you are much closer. One never knows what weather
may jump on you and throw your plans way out. Because we have radar, I
decided to keep on going as fast as possible and enter Panama at whatever
time we get there and take it from there. At exactly 23h43 on Thursday
night we entered into the port. Not just like that though. I had the 9-12
night watch and had to navigate through literally hundreds of ships
anchored just outside the harbour entrance. 8nm from the port entrance I
radioed Christobal Control and informed them of my ETA at the port
entrance. The requested that I call them again when I am 1nm from the
entrance, which I did, and they gave me permission to enter the port.
There is a little spot where one can anchor safely for the night just
about 2nm inside the entrance and out of the way of the big ships. At
00h30 we were safely anchored, and had a good night's rest, safe and
sound. Our anchor alarms etc were set, so we were all good. We left
St.Lucia on Thursday and entered Panama the next Thursday, mission
accomplished.
We got up at about 7am the next morning, had some coffee and motored the
last 2nm to Shelter Bay Marina, who were expecting us. I radioed them when
we arrived and they allocated us a berth, and a few minutes later we were
safely tied up inside the marina. All the yachts passing through Panama
east to west, or Atlantic to Pacific, waits here at the marina until they
are granted a passage. The admeasurer, a person hat comes and measures the
boat's dimensions arrived at 9am and our agent arrived shorty afterwards.
Before that I visited the marina office and got all the paperwork behind
me. THEY HAVE NO WIFI !!! There was a fire a few days ago, and the
substation was damaged. They are trying there utmost to set up a
temporarily network and hopefully this afternoon we may just get some
signal through. I was hoping to check the weather and a few other
important things as well re our last leg to San Francisco. And of course
we were all looking forward to skyping a bit with our loved ones at home.
Anyways, what can we do. I was fortunate to meet some fellow South African
yachties, and could get a lot of important info on the leg to San
Francisco, and San Francisco itself. It just so happens that one of the
guys runs a 70ft catamaran for a private owner and goes to San Francisco
on a regular basis. So the Universe conspires in our favour. I was reading
through a book called the Baja Bash last night. This is the coastal route
to San Francisco, and as expected :), not the best time at all for us to
do the leg, but that is common when you deliver boats. We simply have to
make the most of what we get. My plan not to take the coastal route seems
a sound one. We will be going out wide a bit, following the equatorial
current running west and curving up nort a bit. That way we avoid the
California current which runs from north to south, and also hoping to stay
out of the north westerly winds which blow consistently down the coast,
often amplified by hot and cold conditions. The cold north pacific
combined with the hot Mexican desert can create quite a bit of action, and
then there are also huge valleys which funnels through and will dismast
any unwary sailor. But staying further offshore we should be fine.
Our agent in Panama informed us that we could look at transitting the
Panama channel next week Friday earliest, and probably next weekend most
likely. This is the peak season for them, and they have a bottleneck
effect this time of the year. To expedite our passage, we will have to pay
an additional $US 2774 to get through on Sunday. Our office in Cape Town
is on this and we will transit tomorrow. Which gives us an extra day or
two to get to San Francisco. We will now have to average 5.9 kts to make
it in time for the boatshow, and looks very possible. We have maintained
an average of 6.9 since Cape Town, we are taking as much fuel as we can
for the last leg, and from there on, we can only do and hope for the best.
We are fuelling up in an hour or so, our agent should also be arriving
soon with extra lines and fenders that we will need for our transit
tomorrow. And such is life sometimes, full of surprises, and our plans
often have to stay flexible. A good friend of mine that was the project
manager for Eden Island has a good saying regarding this. We were doing
some photo shoots, tv interviews etc when we delivered his boat. It was a
high pressure project to get everything in place for the grande opening,
and the Eden Island/Seychelles Air regatta was also taking place at the
same time. He had two abbreviations, POA - plan of action, and an hour
later he would phone me with a COP, change of plans. So yes, we get dealt
the cards we get dealt with, and we have to take it from there. Keeps us
on our toes. And this ties in icely with one of my favourite saying, that
the only constant factor is change.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend and week ahead, and we will catch you
again on the other side, on the Pacific Ocean. The biggest ocean by far,
covering about 70% of Planet Earth's surface. From space our planet is
also called the blue planet, due to the vast oceans. Until then, take good
care.
Paul
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