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December’s LogDecember 1, 2002 The North Bay side off of the causeway is very rocky in terms of boat motion from about noon until 5 or 7 pm. The fetch is about 4 miles from the front of Panama City. The waves are very steep and close together and this is what causes the boats to rock. Liz and I headed in about 9 am and to fuel. We are headed in to the Flamenco Marina. This is a marina without slips, boat moor to floats. The room around the fuel dock is good and we are fueling before the wind pipes up. We are very successful and take on 99 gallon of diesel. That means that we have been averaging about .7 gallon per hour. We use our diesel for propulsion and charging and that is not a bad average. After fueling we moved the boat back to anchorage where the wind was beginning and I boarded Reliance. I spent about an hour and a half installing navigation software and hooking up Sven’s GPS. Liz and I weighed anchor and motored around the point, between the rocks and tied up at Balboa Yacht Club. Here there are about 100 float next to the Panama Canal. So we can watch the vessels heading into and coming out of the canal. We have seen car carriers, bulk carriers, many warships including a cute submarine. They are on the move 24/7. While we are tied to the float the pilot boats give a bit of a rock, but it is short in duration and not too severe. December 2, 2002 We are tied securely and Tides End is heading through the canal today. Mandorla and Liz and I are their line handlers. We have asked the marina to pick us up and drop us off on Tides End at 5 am. The drop off works great and we are supposed to take on the Canal Advisor at 5:30, but they are always late. We finally board Roger at 6:45 and off we got to the first locks. The morning is clear and cool say about 77 degrees. This trip is similar to Starform’s as will center lock, meaning we have four lines, two from the aft and two from the bow. We are about 175 feet behind a large Panamex vessel that through the first 3 locks give us huge prop wash and test the stretch component of the lines. Reg and Gail are the owner of Tides End and Reg built the vessel himself. Reg is quite calm and is very understated which is good cause locking through is tense, whether it is the Panama or Seattle locks. We lock up the three locks and watch the ships and the slimy wall. There are two locks side by side and in the morning all traffic is going north and it is interesting watching these huge ship are very different heights. (See pictures) We head thru Galliard Cut and across Lake Gatun. We need to make time, as I don’t want to spend another night in the lake as we did on the Starform transit. We catch the very last lock through opportunity and head down with a car carrier, Vega Leader. Their bow almost is overhead and we are tied to the tug, Hardy. The lock down takes longer since we have a Panamex vessel with about 12 inches clearance on both side and therefore moved very slowly. Once we were out the wind picked up to 37 knots and it was dark. We anchored on the Colon Flats and eventually dinghied to the Colon Yacht Club. A very seedy place where cruisers from all around the world are just hanging out and waiting for whatever. The yacht club has slip and cruiser can walk freely from the bar to the showers. Terry and Lyn from Starform meet us on the dock and we say goodbye. Just a half a mile is Colon where danger abounds. We take a taxi the half-mile and catch the bus back to Panama City. Liz and I are keyed up and talk about whether we are going through the canal or heading to Ecuador. December 3, 2002 Liz and I sleep in and are woken up by the Quarantine inspector. The panga has just left him on the boat and we need to get dressed. He looks at our plants, asks if we have any animals on board (I say nothing about our two geckos and other insects) and he inspects our refrigerator and contents. Then $15 inspection fee and he is off. We head off walking to the YMCA for Interneting and banking. Liz does the trip twice as she needs the passport to make a withdrawal. After getting cash Kathleen, Scott, Liz and I have pizza and we shop around this building selling many of the Panamian artisan’s art; baskets, painting, woodcarvings, clothing and other stuff. There are also the tacky stuff including small painted glasses, ashtrays and other tourist shit. We try to call my mother, Sandy and Tom and Laurie. Mom’s message machine cuts me off twice, Sandy isn’t home and we catch Tom at work and tell him will call this evening. Liz and I stop at a hotel and check it out for Walt/Cathie and Sandra’s visit. We finally catch Tom/Laurie and then we head to back to the boat so we can finish watch the first Harry Potter movie on the DVD and then off to bed. December 4, 2002 Today is a catch up day and we begin by burning CD’s of the pictures taken through the canal for Starform and Tides End. CD burner is really an asset on board as we burn pictures and charts all the time. We head off with Moonshadow for some shopping and eventually we are meeting Mandorla and Dave on La Ventosa for the second Harry Potter movie in English. Liz finds a watch and we get another car stereo as the one we bought in July died. Stephan and I do some shopping in several electronic stores and we enter the movie theater. Hear we have a new movie and it cost $2 per person, I have a 8” hot dog and a coke and Liz has a Coke and popcorn an the cost is $4. After the movie we find a great and just opened Italian restaurant. The lady seating us has a sister at Fort Lewis in Tacoma, small world. What a great day. December 5, 2002 I am catching up on the logs and waiting to do the net. I will be testing Stephan’s CD burner, installing our new radio and patching our dinghy. The dinghy rubbed on a hose clamp and nearly popped the left tube. Dang! Today was the provision day for the coming of Tom Perham. So we stocked up on pineapples, peppers, spinach, ginger, potatoes, onions and limes. Why limes you asked. We Tom is very sensitive about having lime with his beer, so after the vegetables we bought 5 kinds of beer and some white rum and 10 boxes of wine. Only the best for your personal mule. Yes Tom is a mule, he is the person bringing GPS and cords, sail slides and maybe an exhaust all for Moonshadow and for us he is bringing a fan and Basically a pack mule. We also have Sandra and Walt and Cathie coming to Panama and you can bet they will be mules too! After provisioning we did the laundry, super market shopping and of course had a MacDonald’s lunch. We hired Tony for 5 hours and we were tired after schlepping our stuff back on the boat. Liz and I spent about 2 hours putting away and preparing our provisions. Scott and Alison on Whatever stopped by and delivered two pounds of Dorado. We finally sat down and I completed installing our new CD/Radio. Our old one of 4 months died. It is great to have tunes again, and with the remote I can turn off/on the stereo from bed. Cruising! December 6, 2002 We accomplished good shopping with the boys. David (La Ventosa), Bill (Mandorla) and myself headed off with Louis and his taxis. We bought electronic stuff, shoes, food and fishing stuff. Ahh, the Panamians do it right at the marine store, Nautipesca. We walk into the store and they serve us beer, there is good selection of fishing and marine stuff and then we get a 15% discount and because it is the Christmas Season we get a bottle of wine as a gift. This is good shopping. Liz and I head out to the airport to pick up Tom at 9pm. It takes about an hour, two tolls and serious chatting with the taxis-parking people. Tom clears about 10:40 and we head to the boat. It is very good to have him on board. December 7, 2002 We left the Balboa anchorage at 11am and of course the wind was on our nose. For the past 10 days the wind has been blowing out of the north and today it is from the south. About 3 hours later we opened the jenny and sailed. Tom caught a tuna, the wrong kind, but I let that go for it was his first fish. He promised to catch better. Unfortunately he lost two more fish and a new Rapala lure. He needs much work. We tucked behind Pancheca Island and headed down to Contradora and anchored next to Siren’s Song. We had a good dinner and we admired Tom’s new sun “tan,” or at least a good base for the next couple of days. Boy is it red. December 8, 2002 Today was pretty laid back. We began beer after noon (noon somewhere) and Siren’s Song came over and we gave them their provisions we picked up for them in Panama City. We headed over to the beach and investigated the Villa Romantica. An Austrian, Charlie and a German, Thomas owns it. We are hoping to get a room(s) for Walt/Cathie and Sandra. The view from the villa is wonderful. Out in the bay there is a nasty rock that rises as the tide drops. We joined Siren’s Song and went snorkeling and the water was a bit cloudy but clear enough to see lots of fish. We also found a rock that was 18 inches from the surface and would of hurt our prop. We took a much broader circle on the way back and missed the rock. We dropped Liz off and Tom and I headed back out fishing. Very shortly we hooked a large Dorado and headed back to filet the 15+ lb fish. We took the filets over to Siren’s Song and had a great dinner. December 9, 2002 We slipped out quietly and Tom and I went fishing. After 1.5 hours Tom has a strike and landed a triggerfish. Tom is very concerned that he has fisherman block. So far is has lost three fish, a Rapala lure, caught a Mexican Tuna, Coronet fish and a triggerfish. All are not very editable. I have instructed him well about the type of fish that are acceptable but he may be untrainable. I will continued to help him and will not give up on him. We explored the island with the help of Stephan and the villa’s van. We bought a couple of things in the grocery store and of course some boxed wine. We asked for some reservation at the villa, but they seem to be less than organized and they said they’d email us today. These reservations are for Walt/Cathie and Sandra. We upped anchored and headed to Ampon Island where Ernin is anchored. We slipped through the reef and dropped anchor. Liz, Tom and I went snorkeling and later Tom and I went fishing. Tom is catching but the edibility thing is missing with him. We had hundreds of fish surfacing all around us. We are back at the boat with Tom asking for sushi. December 10, 2002 We stayed with Siren’s Song and Ernin with Jenny and Warner on board have been in this anchorage for weeks left and headed back to Panama City. Even though Ruck brought them water and some groceries that we picked up in Contradora, Jenny had borrow\\\\ed a book on Captain Cook and needed to return it. A reef that on a very low tide is exposed surrounds the anchorage. There is a small community up one of the channels. Ernin told us that 30 to 40 houses exist around a short wide sidewalk (or a narrow short road) and everyone is very friendly. Tom and I played some more cribbage and went fishing and joined Siren’s Song for dinner. Ruck made a omelet and we had sushi of Cero and Dorado. Great evening! December 11, 2002 The cribbage match continues. Tom is accusing me of just letting him believe that he can win and then squishing his hope just at the end. Not so, he was up two game to zero and I just am lucky and now ahead seven to two. We slept in to eight, which is very late from my normal routine. We upped anchor about 11:30 and motored out past the reef. Our keel had 6 feet of water to spare. We broke out the genny and motored sailed. There wasn’t really enough wind to sail. Tom and I dinghied ashore and chatted with Charlie and got our reservations for Sandra and Walt/Cathie. Charlie didn’t want a credit card, he just said if I failed to bring guests I would get one in the kisser. Charlie is Austrian and, I think the owner of the Villa Romantica. Thomas, the German is involved as well and both have good sense of humors. Their English is ok and my Spanish sucks and my German isn’t, so we eventually communicate the basics. Tom and I use their Internet connection and we get information on a virus that my computer has recently acquired called Wyx. Lets hope the solution works. We head out fishing and no luck. Ruck has been quoting from a calendar that tells him what days are good and bad for fishing. Today was supposed to be bad and it was and the boat riding was wet. We had great pork chops and some good red wine, or yes and some more cribbage. December 12, 2002 We upped anchor and I did the net and had good propagation. We motored to Panama City and then change our destination to Isla Tabago. We caught no fish and watched Siren’s Song have a hard time anchoring. He had to withdrawal their anchor twice, once they had a rock and plastic bottles attached and another time a pair of jeans. We waited until the seas calm and we dinghied ashore and had a great Chinese dinner. The wind never abated and blew over 10-15 knots during the night. December 13, 2002 We got the anchor up and headed to Panama City. We have a full day, tying up at Balboa Yacht Club, showering; taking Tom sightseeing and Christmas shopping and then a whole bunch of cruisers are heading to a super Chinese restaurants. Hears to you all as will save this and Tom will bring our website up to date. The Chinese food was wonderful and it seemed only Chinese eat here. We had 10 people about a very large round table and an equally large “Lazy Susan.” The food was great and we were all full. Tom and I played several more games of Cribbage and off to bed. December 14, 2002 We woke at 5 am and got Tom the panga. We went in and Tony met us and we said our goodbyes and missed Tom as he left. We had loaded him down with our spinnaker, spinnaker snuffer, CD burner and our 35 mm Camera. All of these, except the CD burner haven’t been used very often and space is very valuable. December 15, 2002 We started our day with good intentions and then fell to the wayside as we were corrupted. Liz and I took the dinghy to shore and began our walk to the Flamenco Marina. This is lovely walk for 3 miles that passes where most of the American lived while they worked and lived at the Panama Canal. The barracks and houses are still there and the entire infrastructure, but the house and parking lots are empty. The roads are now walking, biking and roller blading paths. There are many who use this path and there is very little traffic, only on the last portion of the walk is on the road and not on the path. The path is lined with palm trees and many flowering plants, all tropical and very colorful. We also walked by the Smithsonian Tropical Research and Aquarium facilities. The Smithsonian has all of clout here, both physically and politically. We had great intention for washing the water tank, installing the lazy jacks and other great and worthwhile projects. Well, we walked across the dock and there was Randy from Elskan was getting water. The day entered the night and we reduced our beer quota and eat great food. After five months of missing Randy and Lisa it was a great day. Randy and Lisa have decided to change their plans of sailing across the Pacific and will be returning to Stockton, CA and making babies. December 16, 2002 Liz and the girls headed to collect their groceries and laundry. I worked with Scott on Whatever and we found some electrical anomalies and about 6 amps is running through our SSB radio. We also checked and adjusted our valves on the main diesel. We also sent a tension adjusted to a welder. It was supposed to be finished by 4 pm today. December 17, 2002 We started work on several projects and asked Ruck on Siren’s Song and Scott on Whatever for dinner. Later we asked Dave on La Ventosa for dinner so we had the group of lonely men. Dave is a single-hander and Ruck’s and Scott’s wife are at home. Liz fixed a super meal. The tension adjuster is still being worked on. December 18, 2002 Liz and I headed for shopping after being asked by Ruck. We started out with a small list and ended 4 hours with a full taxi. Liz and I did phone calling and interneting. We finished the day with showers and a gin and tonic during happy hour. We met Dinah, with Dave and Dinah on board. They left November 2, 2002 and arrived in Panama City December 16th. Over 3000 miles in 44 days. They stopped for 8 days and average about 90 miles per day. Their boat is a Catalina 42, the same boat as our Webmaster and spouse, Tom and Laurie. Well, Tom come on down. The tension adjuster is finished but no one knows where it is. Hummm? December 19, 2002 Good morning. Yesterday we heard about Mike Price leaving WSU and going on to University of Alabama on the Armed Forces network. It is our new source, except we get a Miami Herald, but they are very FL preoccupied. Price did make it in their newspaper as well. I look it this way, Coach Price stayed after the first Rose Bowl and coaching is a business and he stayed at WSU for 14 years and was the senior coach in the Pac 10 by six years. I hope the defensive coordinator will have as much class as Price. It is unfortunate that the timing of the announcement couldn't be delay, but that is the ways of college football and being up front is better than leaks of information. We just made our decision not to go through the Panama Canal. We have transited the canal twice with our friend's boat and have seen the sites. We have decided that once we would of gone through the canal we'd have 5 months to visit Columbia, Belize, Jamaica, Cuba and back to Texas and that is not enough time. The Christmas winds have started and blow from the east, many of our friends are stuck in Colon waiting for a weather window. Colon is ugly, dangerous and open to the east winds. In addition the best quote we got to truck the boat home from Texas is over $10 k including the breakdowns at both ends. Our plans now stand at heading south to the Darien region of Panama and depending on weather and wind conditions will go about 1,000 miles southwest to the Galapagos islands. We will be heading north either from there or parts of Panama in February or March covering about 3,500 nautical miles (4,028 std miles) as the crow flies in a straight line. We would then plan to arrive in Astoria, OR around July/Aug, 2003. Today after I do the net Liz and I have a bunch of projects including cleaning and repairing the water tank, painting the cabin top, and a lot of maintenance item. Boating is just practicing work on a movable platform. December 20, 2002 Work – paint – Cetol – wiring and more work. Liz made a wonderful dinner and we drank a Columbia Winery, David Lake 1987 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. It was great and sure makes the box wine taste weird. December 21, 2002 Work – paint – Cetol – wiring and more work. I went shopping for a new solenoid and then all of dropped by Elskan to meet their parents, Ben and Bonnie. Randy makes very strong drinks. December 22, 2002 A very work oriented day and nothing accomplished. The solenoid was wrong and I paid Scott for working. Liz went shopping and we are waiting for Sandra to arrive. Sandra arrived at 11pm and we hugged her and quickly swept her back to the boat. We were tired and she was primed to party. She had 3 hours on us. December 23, 2002 We explored part of Panama City, seeing the old fort, French embassy and bought some painting from a local painter. December 24th 2002
December 25th 2002 We woke up and exchanged presents and had a wonderful Christmas breakfast. All the cruisers met up at the Yacht Club and waited for the bus that “Louise” was supposed to bring. At 4:15 we started to walk to the road where we might get some taxis. Well we were able to talk a bus into stopping and we got 34 into a 24-person bus. The bus driver even stopped for beer. We made it to Pedro Miguel Yacht Club and had wonderful and great quantities of food. Louise showed up with a bus and we paid for his cost, yet he knew he’d screwed up and arrive 30 minutes late not knowing that cruiser can be very resourceful. Boy did I eat to much. Liz and I were very happy to finally met Rod Oakes and we chatted with him for most the night. He is a wealth of knowledge and a women’s man. Liz and I collected the money for the bus ride and gave the driver a very nice tip. He was great. December 26th, 2002 We met Walt and Cathie on the boat and Liz fix a great breakfast. We got moving and headed to the bank and tourist spots. After shopping for “native” things we caught a taxi and headed to old town and the Canal Museum. We had been told that the Museum was closed but it was not. Tanya the guide, who we had the last time Liz and I visited, was available and off we went. We had told Tanya that we’d be back and she waited and did a great tour. The first time she had only done two tours and so there was greater information share and she was more at ease. We left the museum and walked out to the old fort and prison. We walked out on the point giving us a great view of the city and the bay with most of it out of the water, as it was a very low tide. We continued and caught another taxi driven by George. December 27th 2002 We got Walt and Cathie on board at 8:10 and by 8:20 we had slipped our mooring lines and move off to the center of the Panama Canal channel. We cleared the outer buoys at 9:15 and are heading to the Las Perlas islands. We wind was blowing about 20 knots and the waves were very close together. Cathie felt poorly and we motor but raised the genny for stability. We arrive about 3:30 pm and anchored. I went ashore with Sandra, Walt and Cathie. The hotel owners, Charlie and Thomas are unorganized. They expected us but there was some question whether we were going to get checked in. Finally the uncheck whom ever was in Sandra’s room and they settled in. I went back to get them for dinner. We headed to Siren’s Song and had a hug sushi party including Ruck, Ross (friend from home), Scott (from Whatever) and Sandra, Walt, Cathie and Liz and I. We blasted through 8 pounds of raw fish, Cero. Walt and Ross were loving it. I took our guests back to the hotel and on my wave through the dark ran over a mooring ball. No damage but I was lucky as the ball is about 2 feet in diameter and hit both the boat and engine. December 28, 2002 I pick up Walt and Cathie and Sandra for breakfast and afterwards we dinghied in and explored the island. We walked to the other side and past the airport and eventually found a tienda and wanted to have lunch. They hadn’t got their shipment of food so she was only offering chicken and rice, but the beer was only 75 cent and we quenched our thirst. About 3 we headed off to snorkel. The visibility was only fair but there were lots of fish. The ride back was interesting as were sinking. Our dinghy says the max poundage is 400 pounds and we were over 800 pounds, not counting the anchor, gas and snorkel gear. We were sinking and I suggested that everyone one exit and swim and I would speed around and empty the water. Cathie swam all the way home but the rest were pick up and dropped back to the boat. December 29, 2002 We left the hotel about 10 am and we are heading to a little sand island. We catch one Cero and loose another fish. It was big and black; I am thinking it could have been a Wahoo. Walt is very happy as the Cero is very tasty and we have sushi twice, one for lunch and then again for dinner. Walt, Sandra and I go snorkeling off of the islands that we anchored behind. We were trying to stay out of the wind and the wave action. The islands were too small for that. We snorkel and just have fun. We enjoyed a big lunch and watched Chevy Chase’s Wonderful Christmas. Very dumb and stupid but we all laughed. We bashed our way back to the Conchadora Island and had dinner. December 30, 2002 Today, we head back to Panama City having a much smoother ride than the trip out to Las Perlas. Upon returning to the Balboa Yacht Club we have a swim, more shopping for gifts for Walt and Cathie to take home and then in search of a hotel and dinner for Walt and Cathie before they head home. We end up at our favorite Italian restaurant and bid goodbye to Cathie and Walt. It is hard to say goodbye. December 31, 2002 Sandra, Allan and I go in search of a rental car for our trip inland. We have no luck at Avis, Hertz or National, as they have no cars. We end up finding a family owned rental car agency and get a good rate for the four days. We run around town trying to find the lavandaria, finally having success after two hours with many stops for questions on where we were. Then pool time, cocktails with the cruisers, pizza, Lord of the Rings on the DVD. We hailed in the New Year with fireworks, and toasts to each other.
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