Jeff, Jesse and Colin at Santa Catalina
February was full of beautiful places and friendly faces, but it was not without its challenges. The lowest point was discovering that we were short one prop blade, leaving us engine-less. Rather than snorkeling, hiking and relaxing (all of the things I was doing) during the first two weeks of February, Jeff spent much of his spare time trying to figure out a makeshift solution to the prop situation. He fashioned three spare props out of materials at hand, but each creation had a small shortcoming. I have no doubt, however, that if we had more fiberglass and epoxy on this boat, solution #4 would have been a resounding success.
We didn’t let the lack of a prop slow us down one bit (well, figuratively speaking…we actually slowed down a lot since we had to wait for wind). Cruising around with our friends Colin and Jesse on SV Vagabundo and Ron on SV Mar de Luz was an absolute highlight. When Jeff did manage to tear himself away from working on the prop, fixing our outboard and helping our friend Colin troubleshoot a few engine troubles (he’s always working on something), we enjoyed sailing, playing in the surf, hiking up dry river beds and on meandering footpaths, meeting new cruisers, rounding up people to play games on the beach, drinking at the local cantinas, telling stories around bonfires, hosting and attending dinner “parties” (party being an overstatement…they were more like mellow gatherings). At the end of February we said goodbye to friends and headed back to Boca Chica to procure and secure a new prop.
Here’s the quick recap!
257.1 … number of miles traveled
∞ … mpg, fuel economy
3 … nights at sea
25 … nights at anchor
0 … nights on an anchor
0 … nights at a marina
2 … number of blades on our folding prop
1 … number of blades we lost on our folding prop
3 … replacement props that Jeff attempted to fashion out of PVC, fiberglass and epoxy
$300 … cost of a new two blade fixed prop (in US dollars)
$80 … shipping costs to send the new blade from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to David, Panama (in US dollars)
$60 … amount paid to customs for our package from Florida, which also included a cutlass bearing and some extra tabs to keep the prop on our shaft
14/14 … the specs (diameter/pitch) of our old folding prop
15/10 … the specs (diameter/pitch) of our new folding prop, which is much closer to what it should be
7 … ports in Western Panama visited with our buddy boat SV Vagabundo
9 … ports entered/exited under sail alone, including up and down the San Pedro River
7.6 … knots, fastest speed clocked, coming down the river out of Puerto Mutis
-0.2 … knots, slowest speed clocked when we were becalmed off of Isla Coiba and drifting backwards
38 … highest windspeed encountered during our romp in the islands
22 … hours that we were totally becalmed on our way back to Boca Chica
10 … games of Kubb played on the beach (with our local friends on Isla Parida and new friends from Sweden and England/Wales who we met on our friend Geoff’s charter boat – Pajaro Loco!)
1 … crocodiles seen from a restaurant in Puerto Mutis
15 … vultures that held their ground when threatened by the crocodile (the leader of the pack raised up it’s wings as if to say “come on, bring it.”)
2 … the number of times we dragged anchor at Puerto Mutis
1 … the number of times our buddy boat dragged anchor at Puerto Mutis
$12.50 … cost of clearing out of Puerto Mutis (national zarpe)
$10 … cost for 5 loads of laundry in Santiago (cheapest laundry we’ve encountered to date)
12:00pm … time in the afternoon that the water in Puerto Mutis is turned off during dry season
17 … max number of visitors in a day who came by in dugout canoes or pangas in Bahia Honda to say hello, ask a favor or trade some goodies
6 … beers bought for Jeff and I by a friendly local guy at Bar Bahia Honda in Santiago while we were waiting for our friend Colin to swing by
3 … fish caught and consumed (bonito, sierra, barracuda)
$3 … cost of a warm beer on the “mothership” at Isla Cebaco
4 … glasses of cold, good wine we were offered by a very friendly group of sports fishermen staying on the mothership at Isla Cebaco (so generous! so grateful!)
5 … sunrises captured on camera
20 … sunsets captured on camera
20-22 … meters above the high tide line vagabonds like us are allowed by Panamanian law (thank goodness the beaches are public!)
60-66 … feet above high tide line for those of you that don’t think in meters : ) – you’re welcome
$600 … the apparent cost per night of the yurts on Islas Secas before it was closed for renovation – who knows how expensive it will be after the renovations
$12 … cost per night per person to sleep in a tent on the beach at the surf camp in Santa Catalina (cheaper…but still too expensive)
480 … rivers in Panama
1518 … islands near the shores of Panama