After a brisk sail out of Rio Chagres and around Colon, we made it to Portobelo. The trip entailed dodging several container ships and tankers that were making their way in and out of colon’s harbor and the entrance to the Panama Canal. The weather was good the whole day, so it made leaving the Rio Chagres that morning easy. The winds stayed good for most of the trip. it was nice to have an easy close reach sail.
One thing that was a bit freakish was all the logs that were floating in the water. Either there was a bad landslide or some river was dumping tons of deadwood into the sea. For awhile there, I had to bob and weave in and out of all the chunks of wood to avoid hitting them or running them over with the prop. After an hour or so, things cleared up considerably.
We made it into Portobelo in the early afternoon. This was good, because our plan was to do a round of provisioning, pick up some gasoline for the generator, and head out of Portobelo later that night. Doing this would enable us to get to El Porvenir in San Blas early in the day the next day so we can complete our checkout of Panama there. So that was the plan.
We headed into town after dropping anchor and quickly found a couple of good local mini-supers to stock up on fruits, vegetables and other basics. There was a library close to where we anchored that offered internet access. So I checked the weather there, and all still looked good for the rest of the trip.
On the way back to where the dinghy was, I ran into this one guy I knew from La Ceiba. Apparently he had run off on a dock bill there, and headed to Panama. We’re not buddies by any means, but what was notable was that he had just gotten out of the hospital after having a major infection in his leg. His infection, however was far worse, and he needed to have much of his skin tissue and some of his knee bone removed! The doctors then grafted skin from his other leg over the spot.
I found this freakishly ironic, because the infection was the kind I thought I had when I went to the hospital in Bocas! I apparently was pretty lucky, because I was able to get out after just 6 days with IV antibiotic treatment. He on the other hand, was in three different hospitals over 6 weeks and had to endure several surgeries. Sobering stuff!
After dinner, we all crashed for a few hours. We prepared the boat to leave, so I would just have to wake up, start the motor, pull up the anchor and go. Portobelo is a very deep water port, so it was easy to get out at night. The winds were blowing 20 knots from the Northeast, making it easy for Andiamo to sail out and around the point with just two tacks. The wind pushed on for the first few hours until sunrise. It was to make a nice peaceful sail the rest of the night. The only thing I needed to do was keep my distance from the coast. On this part of Panama, there were several reefs, rocks and cays just off the coast, so keeping distance was the best way to avoid them. One set of exposed reefs in particular, called “Dos Hermanos” stuck out a bit. Getting around them on the tack Andiamo was on made it effortless.
By sunrise the massive rains started pounding the coast, and us. For several hours it was sheeting rain, giving me no visibility whatsoever. The winds died, so the motor had to go back on, and we motored the last couple of hours to El Porvenir. I had to slow the boat down a bit on our approach to Porvenir to see if the rains would die down. I didn’t want to go into there blind.
The rain finally let up, and we crawled in, and dropped the hook. In another half hour, the dinghy was in the water and I was headed in to see the port captain to get checked out. It was the friday before Christmas week, so I was sure that they would be shutting things down for the holiday period. So I wanted to get it done asap. Lucky for me the port captain was there, and I got the paperwork done. An hour later we motored over to Chichime, a nice set of cays not far from Porvenir to anchor for the night. There were many boats there. The anchorage had good holding. We found our spot and dropped the hook without letting out too much chain.
Almost immediately, the Kunas came out on canoes with tons of molas and jewelry they had to sell. We made our obligatory purchases, but they wanted us to keep buying more. Finally, they gave up and left. Some Kuna fishermen came by later and offered us some fish and lobster. I saw one particularly large lobster that I liked, so I got him for $4. The nice part about being in San Blas, other than the surroundings, is that you can eat great and cheaply by just buying from the Kunas.
The Kuna tribe is the indigenous tribe in this part of Panama. They have a whole territory that is governed by them and they are completely autonomous from the rest of Panama, though still part of the republic. It’s a matriarchal society, and they have many interesting customs and norms that many gringos would find hard to comprehend. Inter-marrying outside of the Kuna fold is strictly forbidden. Nor can anyone own land or sell or buy land. Many of the Kunas split their time between the islands and the mainland. They live simply, and thrive in all kinds of conditions. They really are fascinating people.
In Chichime, I saw Sonny and Kay of “Valentina” anchored there. I went over to say hi to them the next morning. That night, we had all received a mayday call from a boat that was on its way to San Blas from Colon. Apparently, they were sailing too close to the coast and they slammed right into that reef called “Dos Hermanos”. The Panamanian and US Coast Guard both responded quickly, but the boat sank. The crew however, made it off unhurt. When Sonny told me about what happened, I was stupefied. I was sorry to hear about what happened, but at the same time, it was totally avoidable. All the captain of that boat needed to do was bear off the coast. One of the passengers was from a boat that I knew from Rio Dulce, and I was glad to hear she made it ok.
The next day, we spent swimming, and exploring the island. The Kunas are very inviting and hospitable people. They showed us their homes and how they live. Interesting stuff. They even had a volleyball net up and let us play some beach volleyball. We wanted to work our way over to the Holandes Cays, where there was an anchorage called the “Swimming Pool”. Those cays are located right next to a major channel leading out of the reefs back into the open sea. From there I can point Andiamo to Cartagena for the 180 mile trip to there.
We pulled up the hook, and set sail almost immediately. Though the winds were light, I decided this would be a good sail to get the gennaker up. It was a bit of a job getting it up, but once we did, we were cruising. We ate lunch under sail, taking in the amazing scenery of scattered islands and cays. 11 miles later, we were at the Holandes, and once inside the reef, I dropped the hook.
It was a great night, The skies were clear, and there were clouds rolling off the mainland’s mountains, spurring on stratospheric lightning. This is the kind of lightning you don’t need to worry about. The only problem we had that night was the sandflies. By the time we had all gone to sleep, they were biting fiercely. It made for an uncomfortable night for most of us. The girls had their legs so badly bitten up, they were perforated with bites. The next morning, we made it a priority to get out of the anchorage and underway asap to get away from the bugs.
There was absolutely no wind on the way out of San Blas. The weather was sunny and clear though, and seas were smooth. We motored along at a steady 7 knots with a current pushing us along most of the way.
About 3 hours into the sail, the motor died. I knew immediately why, and started kicking myself. Back in Bocas, I had put in an additive to kill off algae growth in the diesel tanks. This stuff is known to cause a thick slime in the fuel after killing the algae. This slime then tends to clog fuel filters. When the fuel filter clogs up, the engine stops. This was the first time in 4 years I’ve ever had to deal with no engine power while underway. Luckily, I had everything I needed, and with Justin’s help, I was able to get the fuel filter changed out. The only problem was that the casing that holds the filter wouldn’t open. No matter what we did. This frustrated the hell out of me. But finally, we got it. After changing the filter, I had to bleed the air out of the fuel lines, and luckily, I had been through that before, and got the engine started in a matter of minutes. We were underway again.
The only other problem was a coolant leak, but I discovered it and took care of that too. One of the things I’ve learned after being on Andiamo for four years is that your boat talks to you. When something is up, there is always a sign or a sound to let you know that there is an issue that needs to be dealt with. I’ve learned to listen to Andiamo when she talks to me.
The rest of the trip involved dodging major storms and trying to get some wind to sail with. Both Justin and Steve stood watches and did a good job. The winds started kicking up finally in the morning, to the tune of 25 knots. The only problem was that the wind was blowing directly from Cartagena. This made pointing to Cartagena tough. We also hit a hell of a counter-current that was pushing on us. I finally came up with a good motorsailing point of sail that kept us going at a steady clip. As we got closer to the Colombian coast, the mainsail started taking on a heavier load. Finally, something gave way and the sail blew out at the clew. I had to roll the main back in, and motor the rest of the way with some help from the jib.
The delays caused by the motor problems caused Andiamo’s schedule to get messed up. We were now arriving into Cartagena after dark. After checking the charts, I decided that it was ok to enter Cartagena’s main channel at night. This is a major shipping hub, and the channel would be well-lit. The only thing we’d have to do is avoid ships entering or leaving the channel. After dodging two large ships, we were in the Bahia de Cartagena, and working our way into the harbor. Cartagena lights up like a christmas tree at night. The skyline is quite spectacular when approaching it from the water. It was a very pleasant night approach. We found the anchorage, and dropped the hook. We had made it to Cartagena!
