Log book
- Port of departure: Isla Cebaco, Panama
- Departure date and time: Friday, February 21, 2014 11:00am
- Port of arrival: Boca Chica, Panama
- Arrival date and time: Monday, February 24, 2014 1:00pm
- Total travel time: 50 hours
- Miles traveled: 79.5 nm
- Engine hours: 1216.9 begin – 1216.9 end – 0.0 hours
- Fuel consumption: 32.6 begin – 32.6 end – 0.0 gallons used
- Fuel economy: ∞ mpg
- Average speed: 1.59 mph
- Tides and currents: We left on an outgoing tide from Isla Cebaco. Any effects from currents weren’t discernible on this passage, with the exception of our entrance into Boca Chica. High tide on Monday was at 10:45 am, which we missed it by about an hour or so. We were fighting a weak ebb as we entered Boca Chica.
- Weather: Light and variable!
So long buddy boat! After nearly a month of tripping around with our friend Colin (and his crew mate Jesse) aboard SV Vagabundo it was time to part ways. He was headed for Panama City for his big city fix (and to get his Carnaval on) and we were headed back to Boca Chica to try to settle this prop issue once and for all. Boca Chica is a known quantity for us – it’s calm, it’s safe, it’s relatively easy to navigate, it’s cheap. We aren’t ready for big city living yet.
I’m not going to bore you with details because, to be honest, this was one heck of a boring passage. It took us 50 hours (over 2 DAYS!) to go nearly 80 miles. Yeah, that’s less than 2 miles per hour. People laugh when we tell them they could walk faster than we sail…but it’s true. If you started walking on the same day we started sailing in 2012, you’d probably be to Patagonia already.
Here’s the quick recap. We sailed off the anchor out of Isla Cebaco with about 5-7 knots out of the NE. The wind was light and blew from the SW (stern quarter) most of the day once we got out of the bay. It died that night and we were becalmed for over 12 hours (in that 12 hour period we moved forward 2.5 miles and backwards 0.5 miles) – fortunately the seas were calm and the conditions were actually quite comfortable. The wind picked up again the next morning at around 11am, blowing from the SW again at 8-10 knots. We made the most progress during the afternoon, getting up to 4 knots at times. In reality we should have been flying our Spinnaker but…we didn’t. Becalmed again after sunset, we made very little progress at night.
Day 3 we had wind from the W/SW again, this time 10-13 knots, meaning we were moving along at a nice clip (finally!) High tide was at 10:45 and we were hoping to ride the tide into Boca Chica, which was looking unlikely given the miles we still had to cover and our current speed. Plan B was to anchor behind Punta Bejuco and wait until the next day…not our preferred plan. I curled up in the V-Berth to catch up on sleep (instead I got what was akin to 3 hours of fever dreams, it was so hot in our cabin) and woke up in a zombie-like state to the sound of chain on deck. Were we at anchor?
I popped out of the hatch and there’s my man, full sails up, wing on wing, ear buds pouring music into his head, tapping his feet, bopping around on deck, getting the anchor ready should we need it, going downwind against the current into Boca Chica and I couldn’t help but smile at it all.
“What time is it?”
“Noon. We missed high tide, but with the wind at our back we’re still making 3 knots, so I figured we should try for it. Worst case scenario we drop anchor and wait.”
“Sweet deal.”
Jeff plugged in some Builders and the Butchers and cranked it up. He deftly sailed past any potential hazards, wove through the boats at anchor in the bay and yelled for me to drop our anchor in almost exactly the same spot we’d anchored before. Happy to be back!