17/3/2011
Brisas de Amador, causeway Isla Perico Panama City,
Having caught up with Warren at Brisas de Amador on causeway Isla Perico yesterday, it was decided to spend a couple of weeks on board his yacht Moondance, a 42 foot sloop anchored in the bay.
It is a great spot where the Bridge of the Americas can be seen, allowing passage of vehicles across the canal, on the other side of the causeway ships can be seen on their way to the Pacific having passed through the Miraflores Locks and on under the bridge.
The vibrant skyline of the city is always visible.
Many other cruisers are in the bay so it is a social affair here.
Warren and I get on well so it will be an enjoyable couple of weeks. I am so appreciative of him to have me aboard for this time.
An old boarding school friend from Nelson College, in NZ put me in touch with him, thanks so much Pete.
Everything, 9 bags and a pushbike were put in the cab and we headed for the causeway. Arriving there and catching up with Warren we put things in the tender and headed for Moondance at anchor in the bay.
She is a comfortable boat with plenty of room. It is nice to be back on a yacht.
The afternoon was easy and about 1800 we joined 2 other couples and headed to a bar in Clayton to celebrate St Pats day. It was a great night with just the most authentic Irish musicians and a guy on an electric violin, quite amazing he was. The bag pipes, always able to stir emotions, opened the evening.
It was a casual affair, with everyone given the words to some classic traditional irish songs. So sing along we did, Myself finding the courage to get up and sing along with another person. It was a fun night.
Warren and I managed to get the last taxi home about 0200, then into the tender, luckily we had both been in this situation before, thus getting home dry.
Good sleep was a given.
Brisas de Amador, causeway Isla Perico Panama City,
Having caught up with Warren at Brisas de Amador on causeway Isla Perico yesterday, it was decided to spend a couple of weeks on board his yacht Moondance, a 42 foot sloop anchored in the bay.
It is a great spot where the Bridge of the Americas can be seen, allowing passage of vehicles across the canal, on the other side of the causeway ships can be seen on their way to the Pacific having passed through the Miraflores Locks and on under the bridge.
The vibrant skyline of the city is always visible.
Many other cruisers are in the bay so it is a social affair here.
Warren and I get on well so it will be an enjoyable couple of weeks. I am so appreciative of him to have me aboard for this time.
An old boarding school friend from Nelson College, in NZ put me in touch with him, thanks so much Pete.
Everything, 9 bags and a pushbike were put in the cab and we headed for the causeway. Arriving there and catching up with Warren we put things in the tender and headed for Moondance at anchor in the bay.
She is a comfortable boat with plenty of room. It is nice to be back on a yacht.
The afternoon was easy and about 1800 we joined 2 other couples and headed to a bar in Clayton to celebrate St Pats day. It was a great night with just the most authentic Irish musicians and a guy on an electric violin, quite amazing he was. The bag pipes, always able to stir emotions, opened the evening.
It was a casual affair, with everyone given the words to some classic traditional irish songs. So sing along we did, Myself finding the courage to get up and sing along with another person. It was a fun night.
Warren and I managed to get the last taxi home about 0200, then into the tender, luckily we had both been in this situation before, thus getting home dry.
Good sleep was a given.
The Bridge of the Americas, ships are seen passing on the other side of the causeway.
cane fires are leaving ash on the deck and contibuting to the haze
Happenings at the enterance to the complex, all this area was occupied by the US when the owned the canal, everything is quite new, a place where city dwellers like to come in the weekends
|
The view from the shoppette where we use the wifi
|
18,19,20/ 3 2012-03-21
Isla Perico on Moondance
Things are very relaxing in the company of Warren who knows his way around the causeway and environs, including much of the city.
Peter from La Esperanza flew in from Granada for a week, so we caught up and had a day enjoying the city. I camped in Petes $15 a night room on my air bed for the night.
The next day Warren came in and joined us, having breakfast we then headed for the old part of Panama city. Now finding that Cinco de Mayo is a kind of focal point for transportation to and from the causeway. A cab from the causeway to Cinco de Mayo is one dollar if other people are in the cab.
Cinco de Mayo is a pedestrian precinct, walking up here leads one into the old part of town.
We had a great day wandering around the old part of town which is under going a huge redevelopment with many buildings either being restored or demolished, though the facades were always intact, this area will certainly become a focal point in this city.
We visited the Teatro Nacional, a beautiful old theatre with three stories of stalls or boxes, it is very much in use, often free recitals of the National orchestra can be seen.
Stopping at a few bars for refreshments it was an enjoyable day winding up at the Balboa yacht club, which offered great views of the Bridge of the Americas with large cargo ships passing just beyond vessels on swing moorings at the front of the bar. We then joined other cruisers for tea and then onto Flemenco Marina.
This marina was home to some rather large white boats, one particular power boat for fishing, of no more than 25-28 foot had 3x 350hp outboards on the transom, a lazy 1000 plus horsepower.
Pete spent the night onboard with us.
Isla Perico on Moondance
Things are very relaxing in the company of Warren who knows his way around the causeway and environs, including much of the city.
Peter from La Esperanza flew in from Granada for a week, so we caught up and had a day enjoying the city. I camped in Petes $15 a night room on my air bed for the night.
The next day Warren came in and joined us, having breakfast we then headed for the old part of Panama city. Now finding that Cinco de Mayo is a kind of focal point for transportation to and from the causeway. A cab from the causeway to Cinco de Mayo is one dollar if other people are in the cab.
Cinco de Mayo is a pedestrian precinct, walking up here leads one into the old part of town.
We had a great day wandering around the old part of town which is under going a huge redevelopment with many buildings either being restored or demolished, though the facades were always intact, this area will certainly become a focal point in this city.
We visited the Teatro Nacional, a beautiful old theatre with three stories of stalls or boxes, it is very much in use, often free recitals of the National orchestra can be seen.
Stopping at a few bars for refreshments it was an enjoyable day winding up at the Balboa yacht club, which offered great views of the Bridge of the Americas with large cargo ships passing just beyond vessels on swing moorings at the front of the bar. We then joined other cruisers for tea and then onto Flemenco Marina.
This marina was home to some rather large white boats, one particular power boat for fishing, of no more than 25-28 foot had 3x 350hp outboards on the transom, a lazy 1000 plus horsepower.
Pete spent the night onboard with us.
Sunday dusk on the Causeway, Porches, Maseratis etc were like flies on a dead sheep, it was a vibrant place to be
Pete and Warren old Panama
Buena vista, Balboa Yacht Club, the ship is on its way to the Carribean, Miraflores locks are up from the bridge of the Americas
The old and the renovated, with respect to the heritage of the area, to get here take any bus to Cinco de Mayo
|
Warren and I finding ourselves at Cinco de Mayo again
Teatro Nacional
En el baño, Flemenco Marina
On our way round to Balboa Yacht Club helping to slip a local yacht. The slipway wasn't organized so it ended up being a pleasant motor around the circumference of a very big sausage.
|
20,21,22,23/3/2012
Isla Perico, Panama City
Well it has been a week onboard Moondance, life is everso relaxing and laid back to say the least, with a great cruising community from two anchorages. Our one and La Playita. it is easy to see how many yachts people come here for a month and stay a couple of years.
Life now consists of getting up making a coffee onboard, listening to the morning net for cruisers on channel 74 VHF. It’s great, offering advice and information to sailors about the canal, public transport, crew wanted or available and any other topic related to the needs of the cruising community. This community is represented by sailors from all over the world.
Many at the moment are getting ready to make the passage to NZ and Australia via the Galapagos. It now costs close to a thousand dollars to visit this unique location. Most people heading through the canal to the Caribbean are heading north, often back to the US.
Myself hoping to find someone heading to Cartegena in Colombia.
Back onto our day, once we potter about, we come across, to the shoppette and do a bit of tapping, talking and generally taking it easy.
Getting to and from Moondance is always a bit of a dodgy affair as the walkway to the pontoon is broken so we have pull this small moulded dinghy across the gap from the pontoon where we tie up the tenders. With 15ft tides here no two crossings are the same. A few people have already fallen in. Casualness can lead to a drenching and often being with electronic gear, though in waterproof bags it could become more than a drenching. It is especially challenging when a wind and sea are present.
Thursday nights are pizza and $1 beer nights, Thursday saw us getting back onboard late in the evening. Warren and I now have a fairly competitive ongoing game of crib happening. It has been 30 years since having played this great card game.
Meeting people with interesting lives is normal here, with many sailors having just hung out in the Carribbean for a couple of years exploring anchorages.
My only complaint is with so many english speakers here, my Spanish has not progressed greatly in the last couple of weeks.
Meeting a vibrant, bubbly and capable 19 year old German girl at the pizza night and her telling me she has been travelling on her own for almost a year with minimal hassles. She was a great spirit. She was telling me about her ninja motorcycle at home and the speeds she travels at in the left lane on the Autobahn, maybe this for her is not such a big deal. Much of her accommodation had been with the couch surfing community, recommending this a great way to find a bed and meet people.
Due to the bike being in a marine environment for sometime, the point at where the spokes enter the rim was oiled so as to try and eliminate unseen corrosion inside the rim.
The temperature at night here though, warm, for me it is always nice to have some form of bed clothes on, even if to stop the odd mozzy from feeding, it has been found a silk sleeping bag liner from Thailand has been perfect. It is light, packs super small and still keeps one cool whilst repelling a full body onslaught by mosquitos.
Warren and I really enjoy each others company, me saying to him it’s just like being on a yacht back in Australia with old friends, thats how easy things are here.
I have told him and other Americans that prior to my experiences on the Mississippii River and other parts of his country last year, I had three, in hindsight, uninformed opinions about the United States or more to the point it’s people.
Those being:
· Few people had passports
· People loosely described as rednecks were everywhere in the southern midwest
· American politicians tend to meddle in other peoples affairs, tragically wasting enormous amounts of money.( not so ill informed)
On the first point, that country, from what I saw, from the seat of a pushbike offers the most varied and interesting scenery and environments . As soon as you leave the urban confines, the rural environment enchants, whether it be corn paddocks, woods ,lakes, rivers all inhabited with wildlife,some being white tailed deer, praire dogs or squirrels. I can truly understand why many Americans can spend a life time travelling in their own country, Alaska included.
The people met on the way were as different and interesting as the landscape they occupied.
As to rednecks, judging by some recent political policy by the US, many people fitting this description would appear to reside on the east and west seaboards. I am of the opinion, their supposed presence is by no means restricted to the southern central states.
The term, when used always bought a few laughs as to the definition of this stereotypical description often related to the movie "Deliverance"
Some towns visited on the river were in tragic urban decline, not just in a business sense, but more in the chronic lack of maintenance to existing infrastructure.
Imagine turning up in a town with even a tenth of the weekly spending during the height of Middle East activities and saying “here use this to envigorate your community”, we are talking about 100 million here. Tens towns a week getting a hundred million, the mind boggles.
Saying this, though, however being aware a huge economy revolves around these far away persuits.
Oh for a perfect world.
In getting off some personal opinions of the big picture, for me Americans have been found to be some of the kindest, friendliest and hospitable people I have ever meet, this has been further reinforced with my experiences here in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Warren came up with a classic story about travelling the other day, describing an American, one that many ill informed people see as the stereo type representing people from the states.
An American guy irately abusing an attendant somewhere overseas in a Spanish speaking country, whilst in a line. Not knowing Spanish he put an o on the end of every word. To the extent, Whato iso goingo ono aroundo hereo?
The attendant in a voice everyone could hear said, “Look, I going to speak in a language we both understand and loudly said, “Fucko youo”!! To much hushed laughter from others in the vicinity.
Isla Perico, Panama City
Well it has been a week onboard Moondance, life is everso relaxing and laid back to say the least, with a great cruising community from two anchorages. Our one and La Playita. it is easy to see how many yachts people come here for a month and stay a couple of years.
Life now consists of getting up making a coffee onboard, listening to the morning net for cruisers on channel 74 VHF. It’s great, offering advice and information to sailors about the canal, public transport, crew wanted or available and any other topic related to the needs of the cruising community. This community is represented by sailors from all over the world.
Many at the moment are getting ready to make the passage to NZ and Australia via the Galapagos. It now costs close to a thousand dollars to visit this unique location. Most people heading through the canal to the Caribbean are heading north, often back to the US.
Myself hoping to find someone heading to Cartegena in Colombia.
Back onto our day, once we potter about, we come across, to the shoppette and do a bit of tapping, talking and generally taking it easy.
Getting to and from Moondance is always a bit of a dodgy affair as the walkway to the pontoon is broken so we have pull this small moulded dinghy across the gap from the pontoon where we tie up the tenders. With 15ft tides here no two crossings are the same. A few people have already fallen in. Casualness can lead to a drenching and often being with electronic gear, though in waterproof bags it could become more than a drenching. It is especially challenging when a wind and sea are present.
Thursday nights are pizza and $1 beer nights, Thursday saw us getting back onboard late in the evening. Warren and I now have a fairly competitive ongoing game of crib happening. It has been 30 years since having played this great card game.
Meeting people with interesting lives is normal here, with many sailors having just hung out in the Carribbean for a couple of years exploring anchorages.
My only complaint is with so many english speakers here, my Spanish has not progressed greatly in the last couple of weeks.
Meeting a vibrant, bubbly and capable 19 year old German girl at the pizza night and her telling me she has been travelling on her own for almost a year with minimal hassles. She was a great spirit. She was telling me about her ninja motorcycle at home and the speeds she travels at in the left lane on the Autobahn, maybe this for her is not such a big deal. Much of her accommodation had been with the couch surfing community, recommending this a great way to find a bed and meet people.
Due to the bike being in a marine environment for sometime, the point at where the spokes enter the rim was oiled so as to try and eliminate unseen corrosion inside the rim.
The temperature at night here though, warm, for me it is always nice to have some form of bed clothes on, even if to stop the odd mozzy from feeding, it has been found a silk sleeping bag liner from Thailand has been perfect. It is light, packs super small and still keeps one cool whilst repelling a full body onslaught by mosquitos.
Warren and I really enjoy each others company, me saying to him it’s just like being on a yacht back in Australia with old friends, thats how easy things are here.
I have told him and other Americans that prior to my experiences on the Mississippii River and other parts of his country last year, I had three, in hindsight, uninformed opinions about the United States or more to the point it’s people.
Those being:
· Few people had passports
· People loosely described as rednecks were everywhere in the southern midwest
· American politicians tend to meddle in other peoples affairs, tragically wasting enormous amounts of money.( not so ill informed)
On the first point, that country, from what I saw, from the seat of a pushbike offers the most varied and interesting scenery and environments . As soon as you leave the urban confines, the rural environment enchants, whether it be corn paddocks, woods ,lakes, rivers all inhabited with wildlife,some being white tailed deer, praire dogs or squirrels. I can truly understand why many Americans can spend a life time travelling in their own country, Alaska included.
The people met on the way were as different and interesting as the landscape they occupied.
As to rednecks, judging by some recent political policy by the US, many people fitting this description would appear to reside on the east and west seaboards. I am of the opinion, their supposed presence is by no means restricted to the southern central states.
The term, when used always bought a few laughs as to the definition of this stereotypical description often related to the movie "Deliverance"
Some towns visited on the river were in tragic urban decline, not just in a business sense, but more in the chronic lack of maintenance to existing infrastructure.
Imagine turning up in a town with even a tenth of the weekly spending during the height of Middle East activities and saying “here use this to envigorate your community”, we are talking about 100 million here. Tens towns a week getting a hundred million, the mind boggles.
Saying this, though, however being aware a huge economy revolves around these far away persuits.
Oh for a perfect world.
In getting off some personal opinions of the big picture, for me Americans have been found to be some of the kindest, friendliest and hospitable people I have ever meet, this has been further reinforced with my experiences here in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Warren came up with a classic story about travelling the other day, describing an American, one that many ill informed people see as the stereo type representing people from the states.
An American guy irately abusing an attendant somewhere overseas in a Spanish speaking country, whilst in a line. Not knowing Spanish he put an o on the end of every word. To the extent, Whato iso goingo ono aroundo hereo?
The attendant in a voice everyone could hear said, “Look, I going to speak in a language we both understand and loudly said, “Fucko youo”!! To much hushed laughter from others in the vicinity.
No two crossings are the same, often with water in the dinghy making things even more challenging
|
Once to the shore, ever so slippery steps and rocks at low tide, requires due diligence especially with laptops onboard even if airtight bags.
|
24,25/3/2012
Passage on the Panama Canal
We had previously arranged with a guy Dave to help with lines on his yacht Beeshue, a 33 Hans Christian double ender, during his passage through the canal to the Shelter Bay Marina inside the port side of the sea wall prior to entering Carribean sea and on into the Atlantic Ocean.
His agent had arranged our transit to commence at 1545 with the boarding of a Canal Authority official to be onboard for the passage.
We were transiting in company of another family from Novia Scotia in their 45 foot wooden vessel. A vessel radiating the romanticism of sailing.
It was to be a night transit, which for yachts has only been offered for a couple of months.
It was an overcast kind of day with little wind and that from the north.
All yachts transiting the canal must have 4 line handlers, without us Dave would have had to pay his agent for line handlers. Dave, his partner, Anne and her daughter Amie made up the crew.
It was great, they fed us well and provided refreshments, breakfast and the fares back to the causeway. More importantly they were good company.
We entered the Miraflores Locks with a container ship, and formed a raft with Peters yacht, which was then secured to a 60ft tug boat also in transit. The tug was secured to the lock wall.
These locks lifted us 54 ft, there were 3 in total. Everything was well lit. It was quite amazing being in close contact with these large container vessels, later on in the evening would see many abeam in some cases no more than a 100 ft away.
From here we headed through the Gaillard cut, so named after the engineer in charge of this portion. Then onto Gamboa and on into Lago Gatún after the last locks.
The next set of locks, the Gatun locks also 3 in total, these locks saw us being lowered to the level of the Atlantic.
This time we were on our on and not rafted, the other yacht was tying alongside the tug.
Being solo meant we had to be secured to the walls of the lock on the port and starboard sides both fore and aft.
The canal staff threw a monkey fists too secure our lines, also supplied by the agent.We were secured and in position in the middle of the lock with a huge container ship to our stern and the tug with Peters yacht and his family foward.
Peter and his wife had three attractive blond headed daughters, at times looking around the sides of the locks and on the merchant ship within, all eyes of the canal workers and mariners were trained on the girls. Warren and I quickly figured they weren’t looking at us. It was amusing and obviously made this particular night shift more enjoyable for the owners of those eyes. Amie onboard our boat also added to the the attraction.
The lines were walked from lock to lock by canal staff on the shore. All we had to do was let out line as the water receeded. A simple process though happening very quick, tangles in our lines didn’t bear thinking about.
Crossing Lago Gatún we headed for Shelter Bay Marina and tied up for the night, or what was left of it, the time being 0430, it had been a night not to be forgotten, without incident. Astro our Canal adviser onboard was a great guy who helped make the experience more relaxing.
All this considering Dave had no reverse gear on the boat, the parts are no longer available. Well done Dave, it was never a problem.
A couple of hours sleep saw us shower and have a great breakfast prepared by Dave.
Warren and I caught a taxi to Colón and a bus back to Panama City.
Leaving a sign on the notice board at the marina in hope of a passage to somewhere in Colombia, ideally Cartagena around the 12th of April.
Warren mentioned a great yacht club where much fun was had in the past, the Panama yacht club at Colón had had their site taken over by a new container terminal 3 years ago. Many sailors used this a stop off either way through the canal. It was evidently a very social place.
Back onboard Moondance at 1600 we relaxed needing some rest, a nearby yacht dragged anchor colliding with another downwind vessel, minimal damage was sustained, there was nothing we could do. Other nearby sailors had already come to the help of the owners of the two vessels.
A night was spent in town with peter from Granada prior to his flight back on monday and on toLondon later in the week.
Peter had helped make time in Granada so much more enjoyable.
Passage on the Panama Canal
We had previously arranged with a guy Dave to help with lines on his yacht Beeshue, a 33 Hans Christian double ender, during his passage through the canal to the Shelter Bay Marina inside the port side of the sea wall prior to entering Carribean sea and on into the Atlantic Ocean.
His agent had arranged our transit to commence at 1545 with the boarding of a Canal Authority official to be onboard for the passage.
We were transiting in company of another family from Novia Scotia in their 45 foot wooden vessel. A vessel radiating the romanticism of sailing.
It was to be a night transit, which for yachts has only been offered for a couple of months.
It was an overcast kind of day with little wind and that from the north.
All yachts transiting the canal must have 4 line handlers, without us Dave would have had to pay his agent for line handlers. Dave, his partner, Anne and her daughter Amie made up the crew.
It was great, they fed us well and provided refreshments, breakfast and the fares back to the causeway. More importantly they were good company.
We entered the Miraflores Locks with a container ship, and formed a raft with Peters yacht, which was then secured to a 60ft tug boat also in transit. The tug was secured to the lock wall.
These locks lifted us 54 ft, there were 3 in total. Everything was well lit. It was quite amazing being in close contact with these large container vessels, later on in the evening would see many abeam in some cases no more than a 100 ft away.
From here we headed through the Gaillard cut, so named after the engineer in charge of this portion. Then onto Gamboa and on into Lago Gatún after the last locks.
The next set of locks, the Gatun locks also 3 in total, these locks saw us being lowered to the level of the Atlantic.
This time we were on our on and not rafted, the other yacht was tying alongside the tug.
Being solo meant we had to be secured to the walls of the lock on the port and starboard sides both fore and aft.
The canal staff threw a monkey fists too secure our lines, also supplied by the agent.We were secured and in position in the middle of the lock with a huge container ship to our stern and the tug with Peters yacht and his family foward.
Peter and his wife had three attractive blond headed daughters, at times looking around the sides of the locks and on the merchant ship within, all eyes of the canal workers and mariners were trained on the girls. Warren and I quickly figured they weren’t looking at us. It was amusing and obviously made this particular night shift more enjoyable for the owners of those eyes. Amie onboard our boat also added to the the attraction.
The lines were walked from lock to lock by canal staff on the shore. All we had to do was let out line as the water receeded. A simple process though happening very quick, tangles in our lines didn’t bear thinking about.
Crossing Lago Gatún we headed for Shelter Bay Marina and tied up for the night, or what was left of it, the time being 0430, it had been a night not to be forgotten, without incident. Astro our Canal adviser onboard was a great guy who helped make the experience more relaxing.
All this considering Dave had no reverse gear on the boat, the parts are no longer available. Well done Dave, it was never a problem.
A couple of hours sleep saw us shower and have a great breakfast prepared by Dave.
Warren and I caught a taxi to Colón and a bus back to Panama City.
Leaving a sign on the notice board at the marina in hope of a passage to somewhere in Colombia, ideally Cartagena around the 12th of April.
Warren mentioned a great yacht club where much fun was had in the past, the Panama yacht club at Colón had had their site taken over by a new container terminal 3 years ago. Many sailors used this a stop off either way through the canal. It was evidently a very social place.
Back onboard Moondance at 1600 we relaxed needing some rest, a nearby yacht dragged anchor colliding with another downwind vessel, minimal damage was sustained, there was nothing we could do. Other nearby sailors had already come to the help of the owners of the two vessels.
A night was spent in town with peter from Granada prior to his flight back on monday and on toLondon later in the week.
Peter had helped make time in Granada so much more enjoyable.
Beeshue, a classic blue water sailboat, on her way to the Carribean, note plastic wrapped tryres used as fenders, supplied by the agent, A transit costs close to a thousand when all sorted.
A new museum under construction on the causeway way, with a roof like this, it will undoubtedly become an iconic building in PC
The bridge of the Americas with Balboa yacht club moorings to the left. Some moorings were resumed here by the canal authority due to the new locks under construction and the impending passage of the super ships that will use them
On the way to Miraflores, Peters yacht ahead and the tug forward to starboard
We remain rafted together through the 3 Miraflores Locks, Dave did bloody well without the ability to manouvre astern
The gates
It was quite an experience at night.
Shelter bay Marina, good showers and all facilities, a cab here to Colon is $20 then a bus to PC is $3.50
|
Canal Authority adviser Astro getting ready to board, he nearly fell in the drink on returning to the vessel at 0200 in Lago Gatún
That skyline again, the spiralled building to the left is quite a sight, causeway in the foreground
A busy bit of water, Amie and Anne, the white ship astern joined us in Miraflores.
Our raft, Miraflores
Miraflores visitor centre, there is a live cam here visit panamacanal.com I think to see live transits.
Through Miraflores
Nearing the bottom of the Gatún locks that lowered us to the Atlantic
A ferry trip across the canal on our way back to PC. Looking towards the PC end.
The canal and lakes were incredibly well marked with navigation bouyage, we kept well to the starboard side of the canal at all times, for port to port meetings, always under the direction of Astro
|
