Our night in Escudo proved to be fairly uncomfortable. There was just too much swell action going on and the boat rolled constantly. It was ok when trying to sleep, but for everything else like cooking and squaring the boat away, it was just too much movement.
Our next stop was the Rio Chagres, about 130 miles away. So to time our arrival for the next morning, we didn’t have to leave until that afternoon. The weather got better as the day progressed, and I was encouraged by a West Wind that was blowing pretty steadily all morning. This would be the perfect wind to get us to Chagres on a nice easy broad reach.
After a nice lunch and some swimming antics, we pulled up the hook and headed out. The west wind stayed until we were about three miles out of Escudo, then DIED. Just my luck. The wind did shift to the north for awhile, so that was ok, but then it also died. For the next few hours, Andiamo found itself pounded by one deluge of rain after another. In some cases we got lucky and were able to sneak through in between oncoming squalls. Luckily the squalls were just pounding rain and nothing more. No killer shearing winds or lightning to speak of. But it did keep things on Andiamo damp and humid the whole time. And that started getting old. It also exploited a couple of nagging leaks I had on the deck over the salon, resulting in really annoying drips. I knew where they were but needed some good dry time in order to seal them up.
Since this was going to be an overnight sail, I was sincerely hoping that the weather would get better as we headed east just as the weather forecasts predicted. Not too late into the night, we got the first sign that things were getting better when the sky opened up to a massive display of stars. I was the only one on deck at the time, and wanted to share my favorite part of sailing with the rest of the gang. So I roused them out of their sleep. They were not disappointed.
Things held up this way for the rest of the night. Justin and Steve both agreed to take night watches so I can get some much needed sleep. Because of the nasty weather, I had to sleep below. But Andiamo kept course all night, and things went well.
The next morning, we started our approach to Rio Chagres. Rio Chagres is a major river that goes almost straight across Panama from the mountains on the pacific side to the coastal delta its mouth creates just outside of Colon on the Caribbean side. The river is dammed up to keep Lake Gatun, a huge man-made lake that is a major component of the Panama Canal, filled to its needed levels. The rest of the river after the dam however, is a pristine natural paradise! Because the Rio Chagres is on a natural preserve, there is absolutely no development on the river or its banks. There is no boat traffic other than the occasional dugout canoe from a local indigenous fisherman. The water is clean and pure, and goes clear through an amazing jungle. I was really excited to finally see it.
The approach in is a bit tricky, because there are rocky bluffs on the east side of the entrance, and treacherous coral heads on the west side. You gotta be dead on the right path to get in to avoid smacking up the reefs. I had everybody on deck watching out for the reefs. As we approached, I noticed a boat leaving the river. This was a big help because I was able to watch the path he followed to get out. Turned out I also knew the boat. It was Billy and “AnnVeraLynn”, a buddy of mine I’ve known since Rio Dulce. We were both hauled out in Puerto Cortes at the same time, so we hung out there. Nice guy.
We circled each other while we got caught up on the radio. He told me what to aim for on the entrance. He also told me he was heading to San Andres for Christmas with a Colombiana he met back in Portobelo. Sounds like he’ll be having a nice holiday. After signing off we headed in, carefully following the track I just saw Billy use to get out of the river, along with info from my cruising guides. Ten minutes later, we were heading up the Rio Chagres.
The river was everything I imagined and more. It was so quiet and peaceful despite the fact that it was a mere six miles down the coast from Colon, which was anything but quiet and peaceful. There were green parrots and toucans flying around everywhere, and howler monkeys were shrieking in the distance. Egrets and herons were everywhere. Crocodiles plied these waters and we did manage to spot a few of them later in the night. We dropped the hook about three miles up the river, not far from a couple of other boats. The weather got really nice once we were in, and it was nice to be in the sun again. Especially here.
Later in the afternoon, after a quick rain, we heard the howler monkeys going off not far from where the boat was. Having spent so much time in Rio Dulce, the sound was unmistakable to me. But the others had never heard their sound, until now. We broke out the binoculars, and managed to spot them within minutes, and spent the next few hours watching them and some spider monkeys hurtling around the treetops. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon.
The night was particularly peaceful. We enjoyed a nice grilled fish dinner, stargazing, and finding crocodiles by looking for their red eyes reflecting in our flashlight beams. You could see the faint glow of Colon’s city lights just over the trees, but it still felt like a million miles away from any kind of civilization. I’ll definitely need to come back up here and for a longer time!
The next morning we made our way back out of the river and started on the short sail to Portobelo. Being only about 20 or so miles away, we figured we’d make it there by early afternoon.