may 2 2004 : balboa, panamá
Election day in Panama. The Panamanians do not take their right to vote for granted. Just about every car on the road has signs, flags, and bumper stickers on it. The taxi drivers have been eager to tell us about the elections, as has just about everybody else we meet. We have seen bus load after bus load of different presidential candidate supporters being unloaded in the streets of Panama City. The government even goes so far as to make it illegal for any establishment to serve liquor after noon on the day before the election so that everybody will be sober and get a good nights sleep before election day. Needless to say, that screwed up my plans for lunch.
Yesterday was also their Memorial Day. We didn’t know about this until yesterday when we walked over to the marine store and found it closed. So now I have pulled out just about every thru-hull on the boat and have no new ones to replace them with. The thru-hulls were barely sealed at all, so hopefully after replacing them we won’t have water in the bilges any more. It sure would be nice to have a dry boat for once. I’m not sure what we’re going to do all day today since everything is closed for elections. I guess we get a day off for the first time in Panama.
Last night we had a pizza delivered. This is always a fun exercise. Since my vocabulary is limited to, “Grande supremo y ensalada.” They usually seem to understand me pretty well but then they always have one question that I can’t understand. Last night I told them we were at Flamenco Marina. They understood that but then they wanted a telephone number. I tried to explain we were on a yate but that we would wait for them at the officina. They weren’t understanding this, so they would pass the phone from one person to another, none of which spoke any English, and they would always get the whole order and the place but then want a number. After about 15 minutes a guy who spoke English got on the phone. Apparently he was a customer who overheard the confusion on the phone. Anyway, he took the order for us and a half hour later our pizza was delivered.
Ordering food is always a fun test of our pidgin Spanish. We usually do pretty well with ordering at restaurants, but over the phone is a whole different ball game. I think about 6 months in a Spanish speaking country and we’d be able to speak it pretty well. One thing about Panama is that every single restaurant delivers, including fast food. And all deliveries are made by little motorcycles. I just find it amusing because I can’t imagine who orders a McDonald’s happy meal to be delivered.
Another thing Ali and I have been wondering about is the prices of things here. Internet cafés only charge like 50 cents an hour. How can they possibly make any money at that rate? There are at least three of them on every street downtown, which partially explains the price I guess. Then there are the taxi drivers who will drive you 10 miles through 30 minutes worth of traffic for only 2 or 3 dollars. Also, everybody says to establish a price with the taxi driver before you get in the cab. But I have found that it is cheaper if you don’t ask, and then when you get there you just hand them whatever you think is fair.
When we first got here I would always ask, and for one trip I would be charged $3, but then on the way back it would only be $2. So I just started giving them $2 and they never asked for more. In Colón you could get a taxi to take you anywhere for only a buck, but if you asked it would be $2. But despite these low prices, you walk into a fast food restaurant, which is always packed with locals, and the prices are the same as in the U.S. How do they afford it? And the people are always dressed very nice in the latest fashions and looking very upper-middle class, yet all the homes that we have seen are little more than shacks by our standards. I’m sure there are neighborhoods with nice homes, but we haven’t seen them yet.
may 5 2004 : balboa
What an unbelievably crappy couple of days. On Monday night Ali and I went to see a movie and have dinner at El Correo, which has the best burgers I have had in a long time. We got back to the boat around seven and found it covered with grease. It seems the morons at Flamenco Marina decided to do some work on the big boat lift while it was sitting five feet away from our boat. It was dark out and we couldn’t really see the extent of the problem until morning.
Well in the morning it looked bad. There was grease splattered from one end of the boat to the other, on the cushions, the window covers, and all over our freshly polished gelcoat. I went straight to the office and was handed over to a guy named Miller. They seemed genuinely concerned about it and immediately sent two workers over to start with the clean up. After about an hour I turned my back and they were gone. Two hours later I had to go back in the office and get them to get going again. By the end of the day they had about half of the boat cleaned off, but none of the fabric stuff. The next morning they came and went right to work. They did a passable job of getting the grease off the gelcoat, at least close enough that Ali and I figured we would do the rest.
Then we tried to get them going on the fabric. They would put some stuff out of miscellaneous bottles all over the place and rub it in until it was good and wet and then say, “Good?” And we would say no. Followed by them asking what the problem was. And we would explain that once it dried you would be able to see the grease again. And sure enough five minutes later it would appear. Eventually today, they came upon the combination of cleaning agents that seemed to do an adequate job. There are still a few specks around the boat that I am sure we will always notice, but nobody else probably will.
However the real kicker of this whole story is that these clowns expected us to pay for the extra days that we stayed there. I went into the office to talk to the dock master, about things and he told me we had to go back in the water by three o’clock or he would have to charge us for another day. This was at two, right after we had finally told the workers to get off the boat, they had done enough. We hadn’t had a chance to clean the boat or anything. He actually bargained with me and said that if we went in the water today he wouldn’t charge us for the last two days. Well gee, thanks. I mean, we would have been back in the water Tuesday morning if it hadn’t been for your incompetent marina staff. But whatever, it wasn’t worth arguing with these people so tonight we are safely anchored in a little bay around the corner, right in front of the beautiful skyline of Panama City. If it wasn’t for the swell rolling in it would be perfect.
On the upside this week, we did get all the thru-hulls replaced and they don’t seem to be leaking. We had a welder out to the boat to fix up a couple cracks in the dinghy davits and to fabricate a new barbeque holder, which he did a very good job on. We went to a couple movies and ate out a lot. And the big thing was that we got our extended visa from the French Embassy. Now we will be able to stay in French Polynesia for 90 days without having to go to Tahiti to get the extension after only 30 days.
may 7 2004 : balboa
Finally one of those days where everything just falls into place. This morning we left to go get the propane tanks filled up and to try and find this connection that we needed for the new grill. When we got to the marina office, where we stopped to pay our $5 for the use of the dinghy dock, the girl told us that UPS had called the day before, Thursday, wanting to deliver our package. This is the same package that had been mailed from Minnesota on Wednesday afternoon. That’s fast. So the girl called UPS for us and they said they would deliver it between noon and one. It was only 10 so we left to do the propane. We got a nice taxi driver who for $7 drove us from store to store for the next hour or so. We found all the stuff we needed.
Then back to the marina to wait for our package to be delivered. At 12:30 we saw a small white van pull into the parking lot. It didn’t say UPS on it, but for some reason we figured it was them. We watched these two guys in the van acting really suspicious. One was looking all around while the other was doing something through the side door. They saw us looking at them and then they started acting even weirder. When we saw the guy taping up a box we knew something was up. But remember, we still weren’t even sure these were UPS guys.
So one guy goes into the office and a minute later the secretary comes outside and points us out. We walk up and the guy brings us over to the van to get the package. We open it up right there to make sure everything was in there. It was. I asked him why it had been opened and he said, “Uh…we need to check to make sure that everything is alright, and nothing is broken.” Ya right. I’m sure the only reason everything was in there was because they realized that they were being watched. So we were pretty excited to get the package today since we didn’t expect to get it until Monday. So we moved everything up a couple days.
Later in the afternoon we went to check out of the country and get our Zarpe. We had to visit three separate offices. The first one was the funniest. It had two electric typewriters, a rotary dial telephone, an adding machine, and a Rolodex. Flashback to the sixties office. What was that t.v. show? Rhoda? We handed out four more crew lists, bringing the grand total for Panama to 22. What in the hell could they be doing with all those crew lists? Amazing. Then picked up the last few items on the grocery shopping list and headed back to the boat.
We got to the boat and found the door open. A quick walk through and we found nothing missing, and no little Panamanian hiding in any of the closets. I don’t know if we were just lucky, or if we somehow forgot to close the door. But we are sure the door was closed and locked. So who knows?
By the way, for those that are interested, the Panama Canal Transit Authority never even deducted our two deposits from our credit card. Even though we had to go to the bank and watched the lady call the credit card company for authorization to do so. So it worked out nice since we never had to worry about getting the deposits refunded. Glad we didn’t pay them in cash.
may 9 2004 : archipelago de las perlas, panamá
We are finally out of Panama City. Today we motored in total calm 40 miles over to the Pearl Islands. We headed directly for Isla Pedro Gonzalez under the assumption that it was a deserted island except for one small resort. When we got here, and came around the corner of a big rock we found a town. I specifically picked this island because I thought we wouldn’t see anybody else and instead we are right in front of a town.
The other thing I was so excited about getting over here for was to go swimming again. Well we got here and found tons of giant jellyfish floating all over the place. So swimming was out. Then 20 minutes after we anchored, another boat came around and anchored right next to us. I pulled out the book that said this was a deserted island except for the resort and found that I actually screwed up. It is the next big island south of us about 10 miles called Isla San Jose. So tomorrow we are going there instead. Hopefully we will find what we came to the Pearls for.
may 11 2004 : las perlas
Yesterday morning we left our anchorage and headed over to Isla San Jose, hoping it would be more secluded. It was. The anchorage was beautiful but the holding was a problem. After several attempts to anchor using the CQR we switched anchors to the Bruce and got it to bite. The water was only 20 feet but when I jumped in to have a look it was dark and murky. The beaches were black sand, so I suppose that was why.
We weren’t feeling that great about the anchoring but because it was so calm out, like it had been for the last three weeks, we didn’t worry too much about it. Then of course about two hours before dark, the wind kicked up to about 15 knots and came straight from the west, the only direction we were exposed to, so we had large swells and waves rolling right in and threatening to push us onto a rocky shore. We slept on the couch with the navigation software anchor alarm on. Things hadn’t changed come morning, so we upped anchor again to head around the island to the other side. Cool thing about this little trip was that we saw a manta ray jump clear out of the water. We saw a few more after that, but none jumped up.
After a two hour motor we anchored off a beautiful beach along a very deserted looking island. First thing we did was jump in the dinghy to go ashore and explore. Now the only problem with this was that the beach here has breaking waves all along it. They were probably three feet or so. So on the way in we tried to time it to follow a breaking wave in. Well, I cut the motor a hair to early and we found ourselves being caught by the next big breaking wave. Ali had the digital camera in her hand, neither of us thought much about that until this wave caught the dinghy sideways and we were almost flipped over. The camera was gone. It “sleeps with the fishes” as they say.
Funny thing about that was that we had been talking about getting a new one when we were in Panama City. Then we decided to just wait and buy one online before our next visitors come and have them bring it with. Probably a good thing we did or we might have lost a very expensive brand new camera. The other thing about that camera was that it was four years old. We were on Best Buy’s website looking at cameras and saw that ours was still for sale and was officially the cheapest camera on the site at $99. I think we paid a little over $300 for ours. Anyway, our video camera also takes stills, so it looks like that will have to be our camera for now. I won’t even mention how poorly the return trip through the surf went, other than to quote Ali yelling, “We’re gonna die!” Not yet baby.
may 12 2004 : las perlas
Yesterday when we were walking around on the island we saw a stream running back through the woods, almost like a little meadow. We were thinking it might lead to one of the seven waterfalls that are reported to be on this island. So this morning we grabbed our water bottles and headed out for a little hike.
As we got near the stream we saw some weird tracks leading down the sand bank into the water. Ali at first thought they were big snakes because of the long narrow line. I didn’t give it much thought. So we are walking along the stream which is beautiful and has soft tall green grass lining the sides, when we come upon a skull of what looked like a pelican because the beak was still attached. Again I didn’t give it much thought. A little farther along I heard something splashing around in the water and at first thought it was a bunch of small lizards. There was a group of about 30 of them, all about 9 inches long scurrying off of the mud and into the water. I told Ali to hurry up and come look at these weird water iguanas, or lizards, or whatever. She comes up and I point them out and she says, “Those aren’t iguanas!”
In that instant I realized what she was saying. They were baby crocodiles (or alligators, I can’t tell the difference). That’s when it dawned on us what those strange tracks leading into the water were. Those were from momma. After one quick picture of the babies we took off. Suddenly out of the bushes came a huge croc with it’s jaws snapping! No, just kidding. We never did see a big one. But the babies put an abrupt end to the days adventure. We didn’t think it was a very good idea to continue walking in knee high grass alongside a murky creek. What the heck are those things doing on a small island in the Pacific anyway?
So now we are back on the boat preparing to leave for the Galápagos tomorrow morning. Ali is making Rice Krispie bars, to go along with the peanut butter cookies and the brownies that she made yesterday. I should mention that we finally started using our oven. Back in Florida we tried to make a pizza one day and couldn’t get the oven over about 275 degrees. So we assumed something was wrong and it didn’t work. Well, since we don’t know how to cook anything, we never bothered fixing it. Then one day here in Panama we decided to try it again. Like magic, it works fine. It won’t get over 400, but who cares. So now we have been scanning the store shelves for anything that you can “just add water” to. Betty Crocker is the best. Muffins, cookies, and brownies. Water and maybe an egg and that’s it. My little domesticated wife. I think I’ll call her Betty.
may 14 2004 : en route to the galápagos islands
We left yesterday morning for the Galápagos. So far it has been an incredibly boring slow trip. We did have a lot of dolphins around us yesterday. They didn’t really spend much time playing in the bow wave like they usually do, but they were a lot more active than we normally see. There were probably 100 of them at one point and they were doing a lot of big jumps. The little ones especially could get some huge air.
We managed to motorsail a total of 120 miles on the day. The total trip is about 940. The actual distance as the crow flies is only about 800 miles, but conventional wisdom says to get south while you can before heading west to the islands. This is because of the prevailing winds which are from the SE to SW.
Today we continued to motorsail. We had light winds around 5 knots, so they weren’t much help. We saw our first sea turtle today. Unfortunately we zipped right by him, so we didn’t get to spend much time checking him out. He seemed to have his eye on us though as we passed about 20 yards away. Neither one of us has had any problems with seasickness, but today we were both feeling a little crappy. Hopefully we’re feeling better tomorrow. It makes for a long day when you aren’t feeling good.
may 18 2004 : buenaventura, colombia, central america
Yes, you read that right. We are in Colombia. And it’s a long story. Here goes. On our second night out we were still making some decent progress motorsailing south. I figured if we could get one more day of heading south then we should be able to head west towards the Galápagos. The forecast for the next day was for 12 knot winds pretty much on the nose, but I figured we could stand one day of it.
Saturday morning at 4 a.m. the wind shifted around to right on our nose and suddenly it was blowing at 25 knots from the SW, right where we needed to go. We shifted our course and were basically sailing SE. But we couldn’t get the sails balanced correctly to save our lives. Eventually we gave up and ran an engine to help keep us on course. I managed two hours of sleep that night, since 4 a.m. was the end of my shift.
Throughout the day the winds continued to blow and the seas kept getting bigger. Eventually they were about 12 feet. The other problem was that as we were heading east we were starting to get stuck in the north flowing Humboldt current which was running at least 1.5 knots. At one point during the day we were putting a reef in the main, when suddenly the traveler broke. The traveler is the thing that is at the end of the boom and slides back and forth to whichever side of the boat you want it on. Anyway, a bolt broke off and now only the line was holding onto the mast. If that line broke or came loose we would be in a world of hurt. Unbelievably, I had in my hand at that moment a u-bolt the exact size that we needed to replace the broken one. I had it because I was using it for a small reef extender (it’s hard to explain that one). We were able to quickly get that on without any problems.
By that night we were getting way off course, probably about 100 miles east of where we wanted to be. Then Ali turned on the running lights and we found the starboard side light was burnt out. We had a spare handy, so I put it in. However, I just set the old one on the seat next to me as I did so, and it rolled right off and broke on the cockpit floor. We managed to get that cleaned up without anybody getting shards of glass in their feet. Next it was time for the engine to act up. The port engine started revving up and down, up and down. I got out my marine diesel book and was able to quickly figure out that it was probably air in the fuel line. Amazingly I was able to bleed the line in just a few minutes and had us up and running again. Next it was the freezers turn to stop working. That problem was quickly solved by reattaching a loose wire.
The big problem now was that the wind was kicking up to 30 knots and the seas had continued to build. This combined with the current was causing us trouble. Picture this. We wanted to be heading at 230 degrees, which is right where the wind was. Instead we pointed the boat at 195 degrees. However, even though the boat was pointed at 195 we were actually moving at 100 degrees. That’s how much the current and waves were pushing the boat. We couldn’t make any forward progress whatsoever. And obviously if we tacked the other direction we would be heading straight north, which we really didn’t want. Also, in order to even be able to make this direction, we had to be running an engine as well. So we were burning a lot of diesel. That night it was Ali’s turn to only get two hours of sleep. I fell asleep on the couch with my jacket still on and my feet flat on the floor.
The next day we were only a little over 100 miles from the coast of Colombia. We started out the day by tacking back and forth which basically moved us back and forth along the same line not making any progress at all. We did this all day while I continued to download weather and try to figure out an alternate plan. The weather was still showing maximum winds of 12 knots from the same direction for the next three days, even though for the last 48 hours we hadn’t seen anything under 25. Finally at 3 p.m. I had a new plan. Unless we wanted to continue beating back and forth and wait for an improvement in the weather, we were going to have to head for shore. And since we were quickly running out of diesel, with over 600 miles to go to the Galápagos, we opted for running with the wind to Colombia.
My charts showed a marina at a place called Buenaventura, 140 miles to the E-SE of us. Immediately upon turning the boat in that direction we felt 100 times better. We sailed through the night making about 7 knots. The next morning Ali mentioned that there had been a little water on the floor in the port engine room. Then she said that we didn’t have any water pressure. That sent up some red flags. I opened up the engine compartment and quickly found the source of the problem. Our hot water return line had melted/burst. This pipe is thick, almost PVC type. I don’t know how the heck it could burst. Luckily again, all that had to be done was to shut off the hot water line at the hot water heater. Since we had turned off the valve to one of the water tanks, we didn’t lose it all like we have every other time something has gone wrong. So we were able to turn the water back on and start up the watermaker.
The wind began to calm down the closer we got to the coast. Then when the wind was down to about 7 knots I mentioned that maybe now would be a good time to reroll the screecher, since the last time we rolled it up it got all messed up and we had been afraid for the last two days that the wind was going to catch it and unroll it. So we got the lines ready and pulled it out. Now I am not exaggerating one bit. Three seconds after it was out we felt the air temperature drop 20 degrees. We knew within seconds that we were about to be hit by a squall. In those few seconds, the wind spun 90 degrees and was 20 knots. And sheets of rain were falling.
The boat was out of control since we had all three sails hoisted out full. We were trying frantically to get the screecher rolled back in, but that sail will not roll up smoothly if the wind is over 10 knots no matter what we do. But as we were trying to get it rolled up, the line in the furling drum became tangled up. I couldn’t pull it in at all. So now the sail is flapping crazily in the wind. We were afraid it was just going to tear right in half. So we did the only thing we could think of, we released the halyard and let the whole thing drop onto the boat and into the water. We scrambled to pile it all up on the front of the boat and get the halyard secured, because if that thing got loose it could cause some serious damage. Within a couple minutes we had the sail piled up and lying in the cockpit. Pretty soon we were back on course, and an hour later the wind calmed down again.
We continued sailing in pretty nice weather the rest of the afternoon. We saw a few more turtles and even ran one over. He was bobbing at the surface when we saw him at the last second, which is when he saw us also. It was one of those slow motion moments in which you don’t have time to do anything about what is happening. I think we could actually see the look of surprise on his face as the boat was about to hit him. Just for the record, I don’t think a boat moving at 5 knots causes much damage to a turtle this size, and I did see him swimming out the back after we went by.
Around six o’clock we got to the mouth of the river. The marina was 14 miles upstream. We slowly motored up the well lit river and eventually got to where we were going at ten o’clock. There was no marina in sight as far as I could tell. There were a number of container ships and a large loading dock area. Our charts showed where the approved anchoring area was though, so we dropped the hook and went to bed.
This morning a boat showed up and said he would take me to the port captain. This was at eight o’clock. I went in to the port captain’s office where nobody spoke a word of English. Eventually a secretary worked out that I would have to have an agent check us in. I was trying to convey to these people that we were just requesting an emergency 72 hour stay which yachts in transit are supposed to receive. But that wasn’t getting through to anybody. So an agent showed up who spoke English and whisked me away to his office. Then his boss said they couldn’t help me and they called another agent. Alex showed up and took me back to his office. We rode on his little scooter, me sitting on the back with a rain poncho on, and every person on the streets turning to look at the funny gringo. Alex was a very nice guy who was really eager to help us out in any way he could. Eventually I worked out a fair price to pay for his services which I had to negotiate over the phone with his boss. I asked him if they saw many cruising yachts and he said he hadn’t seen one for a long time. Then later when we were walking down the street together, I asked jokingly where all the gringos were. He said he hadn’t seen one for a long time.
By now it was 12:30. Ali had been on the boat all morning watching the parade of boats come by to check us out. The police boat came by a couple times and were very friendly. Through sign language they said they would keep an eye on us. Back at the dock I was negotiating a price with the boat taxi guy. He was trying to rob me blind and charge me $20 to take me back to the boat. I had gathered a crowd of about 30 people who were standing around watching and listening to us. I told him I would swim before I paid $20. Someone in the crowd translated this into Spanish and the crowd erupted in laughter. It was fun and eventually we agreed on a price which included him bringing out the inspection people at three o’clock.
So at three the boat came around the corner, and wouldn’t you know it, there were five of them. They all hopped on with big smiles on their faces and made themselves comfortable on the couch. Everybody opened their briefcases and we started passing around those famous crew lists to everyone. We actually had a good time with them and a half hour later we had a couple pieces of paper called shore passes. So we are not officially cleared into the country, but we can go ashore for a couple of days. And the city looked very nice with a lot of roadside stands and crafts, but also some nice restaurants and grocery stores. So that’s it, an awfully long story I know. But we are safe and we are in Colombia, which I never thought we would be. And we’re still 800 miles from the Galápagos. But we don’t really care. We’ll get there when we get there.
may 19 2004 : buenaventura
Today we got to go ashore and explore the city a little bit. First stop was to the agents office to fill out some more paperwork. Man these countries love paperwork. We ended up spending two hours at the office talking to the owner John while Alex did all the work. He admitted that they had never seen a cruiser come through here before, which made us feel pretty special. I believe it to by all the curious looks and questions we get on the street. I don’t suppose they get a lot of tourists here.
After we left the office we went walking around town. There were a lot of craft stands and fresh fruit stands. Mel Gibson’s new movie was for sale on the street as well. I thought that was kind of funny seeing as it was released only a couple weeks ago in the States. We exchanged some money for Colombian pesos so we could buy some stuff. The exchange rate was like 2400 pesos to the dollar. It always takes getting used to when you see things that cost 40,000 pesos and you realize that’s only about $16. We stopped at a little café/bakery where we bought three bread items (we’re not really sure what they were, but they were good) and a soda for about 80 cents. Then we went back up and bought a bunch more bread and cookies to bring back to the boat.
We wandered around a while longer and eventually stopped at a little pizza place to have lunch and a couple beers. A little boy we had seen earlier in the day who was asking for money saw us and came running over. He had a great big smile and was very nice and polite, so we bought him a Coke. He said gracias and then ran off. He kept smiling at Ali from around the corner and a little while later came back and said, “hey amigos, gracias” then shook our hands and ran off, yelling ciao over his shoulder.
Ordering the pizza was fun, since he didn’t have any of the ingredients listed on the menu, he finally just got what he did have out of the fridge and showed me. We ended up having chicken and mushrooms. It was pretty good. Then when we were done, there were two pieces left on the tray, a guy walking by glanced over and then asked if he could have a piece. We said sure and he helped himself. At the corner he must have told his friend who came over and asked for the last piece. I don’t want to make it sound like there were beggars all over the place because that’s not what it was like. Everybody was very polite and didn’t want to bother us. And the two guys who took the pizza were just normal guys who saw that we were done, and they were hungry, so why not?
After that we went to the grocery store and loaded up on fresh fruit and vegetables. We also picked up a couple souvenirs at a little shop and headed back to the boat. One other thing I should mention is that they aren’t kidding about how good Colombian coffee is. I don’t even drink coffee but this is good stuff. At all the offices they serve it to you in nice little cups with saucers. So much nicer than the styrofoam back home.
My final thought on Colombia as I know a lot of Americans probably feel that there would be an anti-American sentiment here but we didn’t see any hint of that. Everyone was very welcoming and friendly. And diesel fuel is the cheapest we have found by far at about $1.20/gallon. We are off again tomorrow afternoon.
may 20 2004 : en route to the galápagos islands…again
Well after an exciting night we are on our way again. Last night at 3:30 a.m. I heard a strange noise outside. As anybody who lives on a boat will tell you, you become incredibly sensitive to the noises of your boat. I know if a noise is a drop of water leaking from the kitchen sink, or if that noise was a bilge pump, or in this case, whether or not that noise outside was just a tree branch hitting the boat on it’s way downriver. Well, it didn’t quite strike me as that sort of noise so I looked out the window at the foot of the bed and guess what I saw? A boatload of very suspicious looking Colombians. Then feet scrambling by and jumping into the boat. Ali and I raced outside, she being one step in front of me since I thought a pair of shorts might be a good idea in a confrontation. As we got outside the boat was already backing up quickly and the four or five guys kept saying, “No problem, no problem, Policia.” We were yelling at them, though unfortunately we don’t know any good cuss words in Spanish. We were saying, “No Policia,” as they kept trying to convince us they were the police as they finally sped away.
We went back inside, turned on the lights, and grabbed a flashlight. Back outside we looked around, even though there was nothing lying around for them to take. We then saw what they had been doing. The outboard motor lock was broken. Actually not the lock itself, but one of the handles that it goes through. He must have realized he made too much noise when he broke that, and he got spooked. It’s kind of funny though that they would even attempt that. I mean, the engine was also tied at the bottom to keep it from swinging, which I’m not sure he would have even noticed. Then there is the fact that it is directly above our cabin, and you can’t sneak around on a boat without being heard. And lastly, the thing is really heavy, and the mount that it is on is pretty high. I am six foot two and have a hard time lifting it up high enough for it to go on. So unless this guy was pretty tall, or Popeye, I don’t think he was going anywhere even if he had gotten it undone.
Strange thing about the whole incident was that we weren’t even mad about it, nor did it even get our adrenaline going. It was just such a pathetic attempt that the whole thing was laughable. So we just went back to bed.
This morning we upped anchor and went over to the floating gas dock which was only about 50 yards away. The fuel lines were like 5 inches thick, so it was an experience dragging those things all over the boat. But it went okay. Then we headed over to the public dock to meet our agent. They needed another $8 from us as well as some more paperwork. There was no place to dock the boat, so I just inched the bow right up to it and held it there while Ali exchanged papers. This gathered another crowd and was pretty fun. I’m getting pretty good at handling the boat using just the throttles, if I do say so myself. With that done, we turned the boat down river.
Then this afternoon we decided that it was time to see what I look like with no hair. It’s been 30 years since I’ve seen my skull, and I always wanted to know what it looks like just in case I go bald someday. Especially since I’ve always said I would just shave my head if that happened. So using a dull scissors and a razor Ali chopped and sliced at my head for three hours until at last I was shiny as a cue ball. I think it looks pretty good. At least there are no strange lumps in my head. Ali still seems a little unsure, but is withholding final judgment until it gets tan.
may 22 2004 : en route
Well it is only day three of the passage and we are ready to go insane. The passage from Panama to the Galápagos has to be one of the worst there is. The wind never stops blowing from the direction of the Galápagos. We are still pinned along the coast of South America. The wind is blowing directly from the place we need to go, so we end up sailing almost straight south along the coast instead of SW towards the islands. We can’t tack in the other direction either because we will end up in Mexico if we do that. So we just continue beating into the wind hoping for a shift. We are averaging under 4 knots so far even though the winds have been about 15 knots the entire trip. That’s what happens when you are beating into the wind instead of sailing with it.
Anyway, as you can tell, I’m a little frustrated at this point. Not much we can do about it though. So we’ll just keep our fingers crossed and hope for better winds. Oh, and with the boat moving this slow I don’t think the fish are fooled by our lures. We can’t seem to catch any dinner.
may 24 2004 : en route
Day five rolls around and at last we are making some headway to the west. We are currently on a heading of 280 degrees which has us aiming quite a bit north of the islands 500 miles away. But with any luck in the next few days we should be able to point a little farther south. We are starting to get really tired of this passage, so a little help from the wind would be much appreciated. Finally caught a tuna yesterday. He weighed in at about 8 ounces, not even big enough to use as bait, so back he went. Nothing else so far other than a few squid washing up on deck during the night.
We also had a line break today. It is the line that runs from the top of the mast to the back of the boom. I’m sure it has a name, but I don’t know what it is. Anyway, it snapped right in the middle, so there is about 25 feet of line flailing around at the top of the mast. I rigged the spare halyard to replace it for the time being. I’m not really sure if that line was to actually support the boom or just to help adjust it. But whatever, the backup plan seems to work fine for now. And I should also mention that Ali continues to look at me strange. She won’t come out and say it, but I have the distinct feeling that she likes me a lot better with hair.
may 25 2004 : en route
Last night there was a line of lights across the horizon, yet only one boat was showing up on the radar. Eventually we ended up sailing right through them but still couldn’t really see what they were. Then this morning while I was sleeping, Ali went outside and right alongside the boat was an open boat with an outboard engine and three guys on it. Keep in mind we are over 200 miles from land. They waved and then moved off. So we figured out what all the lights were that night. It was a bunch of these small fishing boats out tending the nets, and the boat that did show up on radar must be the one that brings the small boats out here.
Later we were sailing along in 20 knots of wind and pretty big seas when another one of those small boats appeared out of nowhere. They were waving and pointing for us to turn. Problem was that they wanted us to turn right into the wind. That wasn’t going to work so I just turned as much as I could. A minute later we went right over their net lines and they ended up getting their engine stuck on the line while we sailed right on by.
A few minutes after that I saw more buoys and tried to avoid them. This time we got snagged though, and we were soon dragging tons of nets behind the boat. I didn’t really know what to do other than to drop our sails and jump in the water to unhook us. With twenty knots of wind and a mess of fishing nets in the water I wasn’t too excited about that plan though. So I went to plan B.
I grabbed my dive knife, reached under the water and cut the line. Problem solved. I felt a little guilty afterward, but come on. Now a few minutes later another of the little boats appeared alongside of us. The guy on the front was holding a green line like the one I had just cut, and he was making a slicing motion across it. It was quite obvious what he was trying to say, but I decided to just play dumb by pointing in front of us like I was asking which way to go. They eventually got tired of this and moved off. And that was the end of our run in with the fisherman.
may 26 2004 : en route
I was just thinking that since we left for the Galápagos on the 12th, not once have we actually had the boat pointed towards them, not even within 30 degrees of them. That’s pretty bad. Right now the forecast is for 12 knots of wind from 190 degrees. Instead we have 20 knots from 220 degrees. So once again we are beating into big seas but not actually heading towards our intended landfall. We are about 125 miles north and 325 miles east of the islands right now. A long way to go still. It’s a passage like this that makes me think maybe driving around the world wouldn’t have been such a bad idea. I mean we will have wasted over two weeks of our lives to go 800 miles. Our spirits are down but not out yet. We’ll just keep our fingers crossed and hope that the forecast is right for once. We did see some dolphins playing in the faces of the big waves, which was pretty cool. Still no fish though.
may 28 2004 : en route
We are giddy with the anticipation of landfall tomorrow morning. Knowing that this is the last night of the passage is the best feeling. The last couple days have been really uneventful. We have seen dolphins a couple of times, but they haven’t come up to the boat to play. They have stayed back and haven’t come closer than about 50 yards. We still haven’t caught any fish. We have had different lines out with different lures every day and nothing. Hope we do a little better on the next passage because we really could have used a little change in our diet.
The plan for the Galápagos is to book a tour on one of the cruise ships for a few days. The reason for this is that you can’t sail your own boat around the islands. You can only anchor in two approved anchorages, Academy Bay and Wreck Bay. Actually, if you can get a permit you can sail your own boat. But the cost is $200 per person per day as well as having to hire a naturalist guide. That’s a bit much. Anyway, the 31st is our 7 year wedding anniversary, so this will be like a little present to ourselves.
One other thing I wanted to mention is that when we left Colombia we raised the mainsail and the jib. Ever since then, 8 or 9 days ago, we haven’t made one sail change. And in fact we only had to tack one time. So while we weren’t able to go in a straight line to the Galápagos, at least we weren’t constantly dropping and raising sails. Just thought that was kind of cool.
may 30 2004 : isla santa cruz, galápagos islands, ecuador
Land Freakin’ Ho! And it’s about time. After 1450 miles to cover a 900 mile trip. Of course our landfall wouldn’t have been complete without a few more last minute mishaps. When I woke up yesterday morning and looked around I could finally see land. Then as Ali passed me to go back to bed she muttered those now famous words, “Pat, there was water on the floor in the engine room again.”
Of course, that can only mean one thing, another hose burst. I tear the room apart again to get at the engine compartment and sure enough, right next to the last burst hose sits our freshly burst cold water hose. So I went searching for a valve to shut off the flow of water to that section of hose. There wasn’t one. The next step then was to pull apart the fittings from the worthless sections of hose, including a shut off valve and reinstalling them farther back on the hose so we could cap it off and still use the water to the rest of the boat, which now is basically only the kitchen sink. The strange thing is where these hoses burst. It’s just in the middle of a straight section that runs along the inside wall of the engine compartment. It finally dawned on me that it was right were the coolant (from back when we had our overheating issues) and other miscellaneous engine fluids would sit and slosh around until I got them cleaned up. So my new conclusion is that those fluids must have weakened, or ate away at, the hose until it burst.
Anyway, the problem is fixed temporarily as we pull into Academy Bay on Puerto Ayora. We pulled in and found that this is a very busy little anchorage. Ali dropped the anchor and had let out about 50 feet of chain when suddenly, a bang, and an abrupt stop in the anchor windlass told us that it had jammed. Luckily, 50 feet was just enough to hold us still for the time being, while we worked on getting it working again. After an hour or two we finally figured out how to get it apart and had the chain free again. Then the problem was that the fuse had blown and it had no power. So now it was back inside to try and track down where the fuse was. I found the wiring diagram for the boat in the file cabinet and was actually able to quickly find that it was one of those big 125 amp bussbar fuses. We only had a 100 amp replacement, but it worked, and we were in business again. We set the anchor and then dropped a stern anchor to keep us pointed into the constant ocean swell that flows into the bay.
Then it was time for me to head in and see the port captain and immigration, while Ali worked on getting some of the salt off of the boat. The port captain wasn’t in but his assistant said it wouldn’t be any problem for us to stay a couple of weeks and to come back in on Monday. Then it was off to immigration, where I interrupted the officer in the middle of a game of soccer with his friends. He was friendly but was obviously in a hurry to get back to the game and quickly signed the paperwork, stamped our passports, and sent me on my way. I was actually expecting a little more hassle getting cleared in here. All of the cruisers we had talked to in Panama were going to Wreck Bay to check in there instead, saying that you wouldn’t be able to get the extension in Academy Bay. But I figured that Wreck Bay seemed kind of boring. There isn’t a very big town there like here, and it would be harder for us to find a cruise ship for our touring. Glad we didn’t follow the rest of the pack.
Back at the boat I picked Ali up and we went back to town to walk around and to find a place for dinner and drinks. The main street here is great. There are dozens of outdoor restaurants, and tons of shops selling everything a tourist to the Galápagos could want. We walked around and spent a bunch of money on Christmas gifts for family. Yeah, we’re thinking ahead for once. Then stopped in at one of the bars and ordered up a couple cervezas.
Their beer here is called Pilsener and comes in three sizes, though the grande seems to be the norm. They are at least the size of two normal beers and cost about $2. After those we wandered down the street and stopped at another place for dinner. I ordered up the $6 filet mignon, which might not have been Chop House quality back home, but for me it served its purpose just fine. Ali had a nice plate of chicken and we ordered something off of the appetizer menu too. We didn’t know what it was but it was only a buck. It actually turned out to be pretty good. It was deep fried plantains, we think. They tasted like potato wedges when they were hot, but then once they cooled they tasted more like bananas. Back at the boat by 7, we were sound asleep by 7:30. We slept like babies for twelve hours. God it felt good to sleep for more than a three hour shift.
