Take to the sea

The (mis)adventures of two dreamers that do

Passage notes: Isla Parida to Santa Catalina, Panama

A full day at Isla Parida followed by a night full of sailing. On our last trip to Isla Gamez we met a super friendly family from Isla Parida who brought us some fresh fruit as un regalo, a gift: bananas, oranges and the most delicious mangos I have ever tasted. In exchange we offered them some milk, one of my sweaters (for those “cold” Panama nights), and some fresh baked chocolate cake. Rosa, the matriarch, asked if we had any spare sunglasses onboard. Unfortunately we didn’t at the time, but I told her we’d pick some up in the city. Seriously can’t imagine a life on the water without sunglasses.

Passage notes: Boca Chica to Isla Parida, Panama

Low-key, easy and slow sail. We originally planned to leave on Thursday at high tide, but at some point in the late morning the wind started swooping down from the NE like angry, invisible birds. We clocked wind speeds of up 50 knots, but there were likely a couple gusts that topped 50. It was crazy windy and we didn’t really feel like a crazy windy day of sailing. So we spent most of the day hanging out inside, remarking on how crazy the wind was and then every once in awhile popping our heads out just to gauge the actual craziness. Other cruisers out at the islands told us that they were experiencing light wind conditions leading us to believe that this wind was highly localized.

March 2014: cruising budget

Still coloring within the lines, though at some point it would be nice to get our spending below $1000. I know that’s more than possible since there are people who live well on $500 a month in Western Panama.

Passage notes: Isla Gamez to Boca Chica, Panama

Following a late night with Brio we had a late, lazy morning – coffee, computer games, morning radio net, dish washing, a visit from some local friends who brought fresh mangos from their heavily laden tree (yum), chill time on the beach, a visit with our neighbor from SV Best Day Ever. At about noon we were wading in the water on the beach, keeping cool as best as we can, inspecting strange floating creatures in the water when our friend Carlos from Isla Parida dropped by in his kayak. After a short exchange we offered to give him a ride over to Boca Chica – he just had to deposit his kayak back on Parida and pick up some things for a weekend in David with his wife and son.

Passage notes: field trip to Islas Bolaños, Panama!

Good news! The prop is INSTALLED (one blade becomes two)! But before we declared victory, we needed to take the new prop out for a spin (get it?) We were originally planning to just head back into Boca Chica, but upon discovering that our friends on SV Brio were only 20-25 miles away, inbound for Gamez, we decided to stick around for one more night. In the meantime we had an afternoon wide open and a gleaming new prop just begging for some action, so we decided to take a little day trip over to Islas Bolaños, a mere 4 miles east. The engine got warmed up while Jeff hauled anchor. Once we were hot and free, I kicked the engine into gear and we moved forward, which is always a good sign.

Coastal Footprint cont…: beach clean-up at Isla Gamez

When Jeff and I rolled into Boca Chica we turned the corner at Carlos’ marina and were immediately drawn to another little boat with faded red topsides, an almost comical skull and crossbones painted on its hull and a url marching from for to aft: www.coastalfootprint.org. There is no shortage of abandoned boats out here, but very few of them have a means to probe their past. To sate our curiosity about this vessel we pulled up the website as soon as we had internet. That’s some effective advertising right there.

Passage notes: Boca Chica to Isla Gamez, Panama

We stayed up a bit too late on Saturday night hanging out at the Seagull Cove tiki bar, followed by late night libations and musings with our friends on SV Margarita (Jeff apparently remembers a more responsible version where we went to bed early). Despite our relatively slow start, we were eager to make our way to the clear(er) and clean(er) waters at nearby Isla Gamez. We’ve come to refer to the anchorage in Boca Chica as the toilet bowl since we’re sitting in an eddy that tends to collect and circulate some unpleasantries. It’s not THAT dirty, but we much prefer the water out at the islands. Gamez is ideal spot for getting ourselves and our boat clean as well as installing the new propeller (which arrived SO quickly!). In the event that we drop something during the installation process, it’s much easier to recover it in the shallow, translucent waters at Gamez versus the murky whirlpool in Boca Chica.

Babies on boats

While we’re on the topic of babies…

Within the past year and a half of cruising I’ve started reading other blogs, gravitating towards those that chronicle the journey of other young couples on boats. Jeff was more tapped into the “cruising blog” world in the lead up to our departure. It’s a relatively new fixation for me. In this same timespan many of the cruising couples in our age range have either had children or recently announced a pregnancy. 

To all you sweet suckers out there . . .

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Three becomes four

As it is told, first came a plant. It is never discussed what kind of plant, but no doubt it was something resilient and low-maintenance. When the plant lived, fish came next. Fish are a bit trickier to keep alive — there are hidden signs you have to find — but they, too, failed to die. A leap forward was made, and a dog was brought into the house. The dog bonded to them, made its needs known, and was satisfied. They had passed the test and could now fulfill the apex of the caregiving pyramid. My sister was the result. A few years later they refined their process, and there I was. At least that’s how the story goes.