SarikArt: Panama to Galapagos

It seems like such a long time ago since I last wrote, and so so much has happened. We have ended up spending quite some time in Panama prepareing the boats for the crossing. We have two boats but only one zodiac with a motor and one car between us all...everything takes so much longer to happen when waiting for others, and the one car makes it a logistical nightmare to get a seamingly simple job done.

Panama has been a bag of mixed fortunes. On one had we got the opportunity to do a Panama Canal crossing with a couple who needed crew, and what an amazing experience it was, but on the other hand I had my bag stolen out of the car with computer and camera....and to top it all off, the news that my stepfathers fight with cancer had sadly ended......RIP.

The message there is that life is too short, and we have a trip ahead of us that many only dream about.... Well having said that, there is nothing new about all this for Sarah. She grew up sailing across oceans and our destinations are ones that she has visited before. The excitement for her is the fact that she is reunited with her father and 16yo little brother who she hadn't seen for 4 years, and, that she is showing and sharing with me her life experiences of crossings and passages on the HOPEFULLY not to high seas.

One last thing to do before we leave...a trip into the suburbs of Panama City for a dinner that sarahs childhood friends had prepared for us. As it turns out it was a trip down memory lane for Sarah and Roger as there were some faces there that they did not expect to see and had not seen for 16years. Adith wipped up an absalutely delicious meal and Jesus(no not that jesus) had some tricks of his own...not with food but with balloons(this jesus was a clown….Hmmm). It was a great way to say goodbye to Panama. Spirits are up, we set sail tomorrow....

Sarah is now 19 weeks and 1 days pregnant. The baby measures 170mm….all is well.

So here we go…. is this going to be a trip of a life time or is the boats bucket and me going to become best friends. I have sailed a number of times before but with varying degrees of success so far as holding onto my stomach is concerned. This is a big trip we are embarking on, and one would be a fool to think that we would not be encountering rough weather from time to time….If it is possible to cross them than I have them crossed..fingers, toes, legs, arms. Everything but the eyes…that would be ridiculous!

16th of August - 07:30 hours

Position : 8°55’ W - 79°31’ N

Anchor is lifted and finally "Our Pacific Adventure" begins

Our final destination is hopefully The Cook Islands, but we are behind schedule already.

We’ll have to wait and see how much the wind blows in our favour.

First destination is Las Perlas islands

Las Perlas is an archipeligo off the coast of Panama.

Our first port of call is Contadora island.

Position : 8°37’ N – 79°02’ S

It is one of the first of the islands and it is 38 nautical miles from Panama City.

It was a very relaxing start to the journey. The weather was nice and Jo Jo caught a nice fish for dinner

We reached Contadora in around 8hours arriving with a dolfin escort at about 15:30

The waters here are crystal clear so of course we celebrated our arrival with a swim.

There seems to be plenty of sea life here, we have seen whales but also Jo Jo passed over a whale shark whilst returning from Margot in the tender. He was only about 10m from our boat at the time.

We spent about a week sailing through the very picturesque Islands, stopping at Isla Bayoneta, Isla Pedro Gonzales with it’s small islolated fishing village within a beautiful lagoon that JoJo made the most of by dusting off his windsurfer skills. I also had a crack at it…..I persisted for 2 hours…the blisters have now heeled. Our final stop was Isla San Jose which was a very large private nature reserve island. It was home to one very fancy hotel/resort, the kind getaway for the very rich with it’s most basic rooms at $365/night…no meals or activities included. The only other inhabitant of the island was a recently widowed 75yo german lady who was shipwrecked there with her partner some 25 years earlier…well before there was any hotel there. She now lives there alone in her humpy like dwelling with her alsation , chickens and 30 goats…..her children have never visited. Makes you wonder if they even know she is alive.

24^th of August we lifted anchor and set sail for Isla Iguana…this will be our first overnight sail putting our system of 4hour watches each to the test.

Isla Iguana is a small solitary uninhabited island. We hope to be able to collect some Bannana’s here before the real long distance sailing begins.

Position : 7°37’ N – 80°00’ W

It’s a pretty little island that is now reserve. Again there seems to be plenty of marine life and our anchorage is right alongside a coral reef which was great for snorkling.

We stayed here for 2 days….now the real sailing begins!!

The plan from here is to go to Cocos Island which is where Jurasic Park was filmed, and then on to the Galapagos.

So here we go off into the wild blue yonder…Jo Jo , Sarah and I…4 hour shifts, 24 hours a day for who knows how many days. Maybe 10 or maybe more..it all depends on which way the wind blows and of course how hard too…Ohhh yeah did I mention before? We have no auto pilot!!! We are actually physically sailing this thing with our bare hands….and no I have never done that before..

Our first 2 days has mostly been motoring…Barely any wind. The motor has to be rested every 10 to 12 hours for 4hours. If there is no wind, we drift ….hopefully in the right direction.

Some cloud and wind is now building up. It moves in fast and before you know it, it’s 30 to 35 knots. The boat is now moving and the waves seem to be coming from all directions and so is everything else that isn’t bolted down….the organised kaos that I had become accustomed to now has become…unorganised.

The 2 golden rules of sailing in this weather is –

1. One hand for yourself (Hang onto yourself) and

2. One hand for the boat (hang onto something else)

The storm lasted for 2 hours and each hour after that saw the seas calm.

The weather has not been in our favour. We are not going to get to Cocos. The new course is straight for Galapagos…The wind is on the nose so it is tacking with the wind shifts and due to the cold currents from the south the closer to the equator we get the colder it also gets. I am now wearing long johns and a wet weather jacket to keep warm.

On the evening of the 7^th of Sept during my 8pm to midnight shift, although I didn’t see it, we crossed the equator….So the following day we had some dress up celebrations. The theme of course was something maritime. Jo Jo got creative with his dive and windsurfing kit, Sarah called herself the shipwreck with her assortments of ropes, netting and an unfinished model boat that she managed strap to her head and me, well I figured I’d pay tribute to my sea legs(non existent sealegs that is) by strapping fenders for below deck protection and goggles and lifebouy for the quite likely manoverboard scenario….But wait there is more. There was also a challenge for each of us. Jo Jo was to dance to the Barbie song every time we put it on , Sarah we decided also had to wear flippers all day and I was served a delicious porrige for breakfast…..cooked in sea water of course…Mmmm Yummmm!