Month: August 2017

After our last trip through the Panama Canal on Kya, our other crew mates Rob and Becky from the sailboat Manatee asked us if we would help crew on their boat to go through the canal as well. They didn’t have any crew yet and were hesitant to hire some local people that they didn’t know. We were happy to help.

When we arrived in the Las Brisas anchorage in Panama City we immediately spotted another boat we knew – Wahkuna! We hadn’t seen Robert and Dephine (and their dog Guero) since Nicaragua back in April. We thought for sure that they were already through the canal and on their way back to Ireland. Well, like most boats, plans change. They were still planning to go through the canal and then decided to ship their boat to Ireland from the USVI next spring.

We knew Rob and Becky needed two more crew, so we introduced them to Robert and Delphine on Wahkuna. Everyone hit it off immediately and Wahkuna agreed to help crew on Manatee through the canal.

We all spent the night on Manatee the night before we were to go through the canal. We were supposed to meet the pilot boat to get our advisor at 5:30 a.m., so we were all up at 4:30 to pull up anchor and arrive at the designated spot. Leaving the Las Brisas anchorage in the dark was our first interesting task. There are so many sailboats, fishing boats, dredges, tug boats, mooring balls, and other hazards in the anchorage and many are not lit. At one point I was at the helm with two people on the bow as lookouts yelling at me to maneuver to port or starboard to avoid an unlit boat.

After arriving at the meeting spot, we contacted Flamenco station and dropped anchor. Although we were supposed to start at 5:30, we were told it would be 7:30, then 9:45. I think it was actually almost 11:00 by the time the advisor finally arrived. As the time got pushed back further, we realized pretty quickly that we were not going to go through the canal in one day. This was going to be a two day affair.

We didn’t see any other yachts waiting to transit, so we kept speculating on how we were actually going to go through – center chamber? rafted? side tied? Then word came down that we were going to tie up to a tug boat who would be tied along side the wall of the lock. We weren’t going to have to man any of the lines while inside the lock. We would just have to tie and untie to the tug through each lock.

Rob had the hardest job of all at the helm. We had a large ship that would go in first through the “up” locks, then we would let the tug boat tie to the wall and finally we would come along side the tug and tie up. The most difficult part was going from lock to lock as there was substantial prop wash from both the ship and the tug. The locks are narrow and you have to go slow. If you’ve ever helmed a sailboat with no bow thruster, you know that you do not have much steerage without speed, and the prop wash, current and wind will blow you all over the place. Rob did a fantastic job though, and I just kept telling myself how happy I was NOT to be the one at the helm.

We got though the three up locks and into Lake Gatun. By this time it was already mid-afternoon and the skies were starting to look ominous. We had 29 miles to go to get across the lake to where we would moor for the night. On a good day, that is a five hour motor for a sailboat. Then the rain came. And the lightening. Having been up since 4:30, several of us went down below to get some rest. We didn’t get much rest though when we heard the thunder literally shake the boat. There was almost no visibility through the rain and there were several bolts of lightening that hit the water just a couple hundred yards away. It was pretty frightening.

Finally we arrived where the moorings were at the other end of the lake. It was pitch black and raining. Finding those moorings with a spotlight was pretty difficult. At one point Mike & I were on the bow with the light searching for them. I still couldn’t see them until a bolt of lightening lit up the sky and we both screamed, “we see them!” We tied up to the mooring and all crashed for the night.

Our advisor told us that we would get our new advisor at 6:00 a.m. the next morning to go through the three DOWN locks. It didn’t make much sense to any of us, including the advisor, as these locks usually go northbound in the afternoon. Well, someone somewhere obviously made a mistake. It was 1:30 in the afternoon before our advisor arrived the next day.

There was no tug this time, but we ended up rafting up to a 50 ft sportfishing boat, and had essentially the same procedure as the day before. Luckily, the DOWN locks were uneventful and we finally made it out again into the Atlantic!

Manatee tied up to the fuel dock at Shelter Bay Marina. We all said our goodbyes as we piled into the car to take us back across to the Pacific. We had another fascinating experience crossing the canal. But, we are going to miss Rob and Becky. We’ve had some great times with them here in Panama. I just hope our paths cross again someday. Sigh.

~katie

A friend recently left a comment that Panama was a “boat killer.” I don’t think I would go quite that far, but it definitely has been an “electronics killer” for us. I’m not specifically blaming Panama, but it has been a rough month for our electronics!

When we first arrived in Panama and were preparing to leave the boat to fly back to the States, we pulled out our power cord to plug into shore power. We hadn’t been in a marina to get shore power in quite some time. But, in the event that there was no sun or wind to keep our batteries charged while we were gone, we thought the safest thing was to plug in while we were away. Well, that plan shortly went out the window when we discovered the day before we were to leave that we weren’t getting any AC power in.

After some trouble shooting, we determined that it wasn’t the power cord but it seemed that the battery charger itself had decided to die on us. I’ll back up here and explain a bit about how we get power…

We have a bank of batteries that power all of our electronic equipment, from lights and fans to our chart plotter and autopilot. There are quite a few ways that we keep our batteries charged up. First, we have solar panels and a wind generator. In sunny Mexico, we relied almost exclusively on the solar panels. But, if there is no sun or wind, we still have to be able to charge the batteries. If we are running our diesel engine motoring from one place to the next, the alternator will charge the batteries. But, if we don’t want to run the engine, we have a portable gas powered Honda generator. (We mainly use the Honda just to run our water maker.) And, finally, if we are in a marina, we can plug into shore power directly.

I’ll save you a boring diatribe about AC power versus DC power and how we have to use an inverter to convert from one to the other. But, our battery charger also acts as an inverter to allow us to plug in regular electronics, such as a computer to the wall sockets (AC power). When the battery charger went kaput, it prevented the AC in from the shore power and the Honda generator, but we could still charge from solar, wind and the alternator. Luckily, we had friends watching the boat while we were away who could run the diesel engine if necessary to keep the batteries charged if there were a few cloudy days in a row (very possible during rainy season here.)

After returning to Panama, we went on a hunt for a new battery charger/inverter. We found a guy in Panama City who could order us a new one. Of course, this was a $1,200 expense that wasn’t originally in our budget, but that’s what happens on a boat! A week later we had the battery charger and Mike spent the better part of a day dripping sweat in the heat and squeezed into a tiny compartment to get the new charger installed. Whew!

The next electronic mishap was all my fault. It was a gloomy afternoon when we saw the dark clouds coming our way in the anchorage. After the rain started, the lightening soon followed. As I’ve mentioned before, lightening on a boat is not our friend. There were some strikes pretty close, so we put our portable electronics, such as our computers, tablets, etc. in the oven, which we hope would act as a Faraday cage in the event of a lightening strike. After the storm passed over, we started to get ready for a quiet evening. I went to make us some dinner and pulled the computers, etc. out of the oven since I was going to roast some vegetables to have with our chicken.

After a few minutes, we started to get some weird smoke in the galley. I knew it wasn’t the chicken and went to check the vegetables in the oven. I looked in the back of the oven and discovered I had missed pulling out our Iridium Go satellite phone that was in the back of the oven. Ugh! I grabbed a hot pad and yanked it out as melted black plastic was dripping off of it. There were many obscenities being yelled by me. Of all of the electronics we had put in the oven to stay “safe” this was by far the most expensive one.

Mike very nicely told me to calm down and not freak out. He waited some time for the Iridium Go to cool down and decided to see if it still worked. Unbelievably, it still works! I have no idea how, as the front of it is completely melted and mangled. But, I guess they make these things pretty tough. So, it may look funny, but at least it works!

After the last two electronic issues, I was really not happy to find out we had a third problem. We pulled up anchor to move the boat while we helped our friends on Manatee go through the canal and discovered that our B&G system with our depth sounder and wind indicator wasn’t working. It was getting power to the system but no data. We really can’t go anywhere without the depth sounder.

So, Mike got to work trying to troubleshoot this issue. I’ll spare you the details of how the network works and why you have to have terminals on each end, blah blah blah. It gave me a headache to have it explained to me. Anyway, after disconnecting and reconnecting every connection and a climb up the mast, Mike was able to get the depth sounder working. BUT, the wind indicator at the top of the mast, which has a 60 foot cable running down inside the mast to the network was not functioning. Ugh. It’s nice to have a wind indicator that gives us wind speed and direction, but technically we can live without it. At least we have the depth again! We’re looking into getting the new anemometer, which will have to be installed on the top of the mast and a new cable run inside (no idea how Mike plans to do that), but it will be another $500 unexpectedly added to the budget.

We’re not sure why the wind indicator decided to fail on us. Another boat suggested that it is possible one of those close lightening strikes in the anchorage put off enough of a charge to kill it. I guess anything is possible. Maybe Panama really is a boat killer… We’re hoping our boat karma changes soon as we prepare to head out to the Las Perlas islands!

~katie

Our friends Mike & Katie on Kya were leaving Vista Mar before us and headed into the city to get ready to transit the Panama Canal from Pacific to Atlantic. Before their departure, they asked us and Rob and Becky on Manatee if we would be interested in being line handlers for them through the canal. We jumped at the chance.

The day before Kya was scheduled to go through the canal, Rob, Becky, Mike & I got a ride over to La Playita Marina to spend the night on Kya. Kya is a 68 foot Nordhavn motor yacht. She is beautiful, and a completely different experience from our modest 41 ft sailboat! It was a fun change of pace to hang out on a boat with all of the amenities of home, such as air conditioning, couches, a dining room table, a full size refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave and washer/dryer! We came bearing bags of food and drinks and immediately made ourselves at home in the galley.

Upon arrival we were introduced to Mike & Katie’s friend Andrew who had arrived from Australia to also help go through the canal. We all went out to lunch and started discussing what was going to happen the next day as we prepared to go through the canal. We had all planned on making it an early night knowing we had to get up in the morning, but we collectively blew that plan after a few cocktails and glasses of wine. Good friends make good company and not always the best decisions…

So, when the alarm went off at 4 am the next day, we all rushed for coffee. Despite the impromptu party the day before, the excitement of the canal crossing got us up and running around like busy bees. Kya was off the dock by 5 am with lines being placed in the right spots and the tire-fenders being strung on the sides of the boat. We motored in place outside the canal entrance as the sun began to rise over the high rise skyline of Panama City. We met the pilot boat to pick up the canal pilot who was required to be on board for the transit.

We finally got the go ahead to start making our way under the Bridge of Americas toward the first lock. We had been told that we were going to go “center chamber” which means that we would not be rafted to other boats and would have four lines (two bow, two stern) holding us in place in the lock. Suddenly word came down that we would be rafted to a catamaran and sportfisher that were already rafted together, and we quickly started pulling out more fenders and dock lines scrambling around the boat. No one was happy about being rafted up. Apparently the pilot argued with the canal authorities and got them to agree to let us not raft up and just to tie up to the port side. (Apparently, the canal did not have enough line handlers to let us center chamber on the first two locks.)

So, plans changed again and we prepared to tie up to the port side. Mike (captain) didn’t want to tie directly to the concrete wall (understandably), and did his best to use his bow and stern thrusters to keep us off the wall as the water in the locks came rushing in. What a job he did, because Kya came through those first two locks without a scratch. By the time we got to the third lock, apparently there were now enough canal workers to let us center chamber our way through the rest of the canal.

Basically, what happens in each lock is that a canal worker throws a thin line down to each of the four line handlers on the boat. Each line handler ties the thin line onto a much thicker dockline on the boat. The canal worker then pulls the thin line up in order to hook the thick dockline around a cleat at the top of the lock. As the water starts to fill in the lock (or come out of the lock, on the way down), each line handler on the boat either has to let out or take in the dockline to keep the boat steady in the lock. You need gloves, a decent grip, and to know how to lock a line around a cleat. Luckily, all of us line handlers on Kya had plenty of experience handling lines on boats that we made it look easy! Not all boats are so lucky, as we watched the catamaran/sportfisher raft-up lose a line coming into one of the locks, get turned sideways and end up along the concrete wall. We hope they didn’t have any damage!

After making it through the first three UP locks, we arrived at Lake Gatun. It was time for us line handlers, who had been out in the sun for a few hours, to have some lunch and rest up in the air conditioning. I think the five of us all passed out for at least an hour of the two hour transit through the lake.

Once we were all rested, it was time to get back to work. Mike (captain) had been making some great time through the lake to get us to the final three DOWN locks. This is where some sailboats run into trouble. If you can’t get through the lake fast enough to the second set of locks, you will be required to spend the night in the lake and wait until the next morning. Kya had some speed through that lake, and we made it in time to do the whole transit in one day.

After making it through the last three locks, the final doors opened and we sped off into the Atlantic. What an experience to cross between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the same day! Kya made her way to her slip in Shelter Bay Marina just as the sun was setting, and Mike (Adagio) got to work in the galley making his special sausage bolognese sauce. After a long day of hard work, we all enjoyed a big pasta dinner and crashed for the night.

Everyone slept in the next morning and Katie made us a wonderful lunch as we prepared to say goodbye to Mike, Katie and Andrew. We hired a car to drive the four of us the three hour trip back to Vista Mar. By the time we made it back to Adagio, we were pooped! But, we chatted about how much fun the experience had been with Manatee. They were still working on getting a date themselves to go through the canal. We must have been decent line handlers, because Rob and Becky asked us if we would help take Manatee through the canal as well. How could we say no? They still don’t have a date yet, but we’re hoping it will work out for us to go through on Manatee.

~katie

 

We left Golfito for the 300 mile trip to San Carlos, Panama. With no wind and an adverse current, we spent three days slogging our way to Panama. The trip was relatively uneventful other than having to dodge some squalls (always at night, always on my watch!) and a few fishing boats.

As we got closer to Panama City and the Canal, the clearly marked shipping channel on the charts began to look like a super highway out on the ocean. We stayed clear of the shipping lanes, choosing to stay on the shore side of the channel. As we were making 5-6 kts, decent given the conditions, the container ships and tankers were making 2-3 times that speed. The last thing we ever want to do is play chicken with the big boys! But, it was certainly fun to see them light up the horizon at night and create multiple AIS targets all over our chart plotter.

We rounded Punta Mala and headed north toward San Carlos on our last evening at sea. There had been some debris in the water earlier in the day, which was mostly logs and other plant debris clearly runoff from the rains. But, just as we sat down to have some dinner in the cockpit that night, we heard a big thud on the bow. We started looking around and grabbed the spotlight. What we saw floating in the water was some kind of big white, metal box. It wouldn’t be until we got into the marina in daylight that we saw the huge scrape in our paint on the starboard bow. Ugh. There are hazards in the ocean you can see and some you can’t. It’s the ones you can’t see that are most worrisome. We’re just glad it was only cosmetic damage and not something more serious.

We arrived the next morning at Vista Mar Marina in San Carlos, greeted by our friends on Kya and Manatee, who we hadn’t seen since El Salvador. A couple of months earlier, we had decided to travel back to the States to attend a family wedding and started searching for a safe, and reasonably priced place to leave the boat while we were out of town. I had emailed Katie on Kya, who I knew was already in Panama, to ask if she had any suggestions in Panama. She let me know that they were at a new marina in San Carlos called Vista Mar with Manatee and sent me the pricing info. The price was right, so we made a plan to head to Vista Mar.

We were happy to see our friends on arrival and started preparing the boat to leave for 10 days. Rob on Manatee was nice enough to volunteer to look after Adagio while we were gone. This was such a huge benefit to us, as the big tides in the area create a large surge into the marina. The dock lines have to be checked and adjusted daily to try and keep any chafing to a minimum. Also, given the humidity in the rainy season, we really needed someone to open the boat for a couple of hours each day to air it out and try and prevent any mold from growing.

We got everything situated and packed in two days and made our way two hours to Tocumen airport in Panama City. After a fabulous 10 days in New York, Connecticut and Vermont with family, we were ready to get back to Adagio.

Upon our return, we were introduced to a new group of friends that Becky on Manatee had made while we were gone. We met a great group of expats from the US, Canada, Mexico and Argentina who were living in the area and happy to show us around and throw a few parties. Vista Mar is a really nice marina with a golf course and beach club, but there is not much of a town that you can walk to if you want to get to a store or restaurant. As much as we loved the fun times and great company, I could not thank our friends enough for running errands for us like taking us to grocery stores and letting us do laundry at their house. Seriously, thanks again Aurora, Marcelo, Janet, Judie and David!

Golfing in Panama…

While in Vista Mar, we took a few trips into Panama City, played golf at the local golf course and rented a van to drive up to El Valle de Anton. El Valle is up in the mountains about 45 minutes from Vista Mar and a completely different climate. The city is actually in the caldera of an extinct volcano! After piling in the van, we stopped at a hiking trail that took us through the rain forest to a beautiful waterfall and natural swimming pool. Very cool!

After our hike, we stopped for lunch at a beautiful hotel and started looking for some other sight seeing activities. Janet had the driver stop at another little restaurant off the road while the rest of us waited in the van. She came back a few minutes later and told us all to follow her as she handed us each little bags of dried corn kernels.

We walked through the restaurant and across the street to a wooden fence. On the other side of the fence were ducks, geese, chickens and turkeys. As soon as they saw us with the bags of corn, the entire flock of birds came rushing towards us. It was hilarious. We all acted like kids throwing the corn at the birds who quacked, squawked, chirped and clucked at us. So funny.

We’d had a great time at Vista Mar, but it was time for us to move on. So, we said our goodbyes and assurances that we would keep in touch and left Vista Mar for the big city of Panama!

~katie