Bonaire to Panama, Including the San Blas Islands - December 2002 to January 2003

Bonaire was a marvellous stop and we enjoyed the opportunity to increase our PADI certification. We formed a wonderful relationship with the people of WannaDive, who became our "air suppliers" and source of dive equipment. The regular morning routine consisted of running the tanks in for refill, and getting our fill of morning entertainment.

When we decided to make the commitment to study for our Recue Diver certification, we had the terrific opportunity to take the program with Heather and Matt of Pelorous Jack - a lovely Island Packet from Seattle. This proved to be an fun and educational experience, and John was a fantastic instructor.

Time was passing quickly, and it was sad to have to say goodbye once again. John and Alison stayed behind to celebrate Christmas in Bonaire, while we headed north to the San Blas Islands. This took us five days of sailing, and instead of having squalls and heavy winds that were rumoured, we had a beautiful downwind sail for most of the trip. Two nights we were becalmed and were below 2 knots without the engine. Thunder and lightening hammered along the Columbian coast, but as we were 150 miles off, it didn't come near us. We enjoyed the picturesque light show.

We arrived in the San Blas Islands at 1100 on the morning of December 20th. The continent behind was overcast and cloud covered, but the islands stood out like idyllic tropical islands, each with a grove of coconut palms. We dropped anchor in Chichime and were immediately approached by the local Kuna indians, wanting to sell us Molas. We were quite tired and they were respectful of our need to rest. However, for the duration our our stay, we had Kuna knocking on the boat wanting to sell us anything from Molas to octopus. There were some very nice fish and the occasional lobster. The crab, however, proved to be the best treat.

Unfortunately the Kuna do not respect issues regarding the decline of lobster populations and continue to fish them out, consuming the egg-bearing females.

The water was wonderful to swim in, with some areas so warm it was like being in a hot tub. We found ourselves swimming with anything from squid to nurse sharks and exploring white sand beaches.

A few days later we headed off to the Porvenir, where the airstrip was. We were picking up a friend, Chris, who was taking a break from medical school to spent the holidays with us. What an experience! The airstrip bairly fit on the island, and it was important to anchor so that the boat's mast did not obstruct airtraffic. Just west of the airstrip was a large Kuna village with tidy sand paths and bamboo and palm frond huts. Molas were displayed outside for the tourists.

We moved over to the East Limon Cayes, where we spent Christmas and plenty of time chasing fish and exploring.

We started to move over to the Hollandese Cays, but our normally reliable Perkins diesel cut out and wouldn't restart. Fortuantely, a sailboat is a sailboat, and we were able get to the West Limon Cayes, although navigating in through the reefs proved to be a challenge. We had some immediate lesson on how best to maneuver our 49' Trintella with our 8' AB dinghy with 15HP outboard. The best driving location turns out to be parallel to the aft wheel, pushing into the the larger vessel, while Barry steered at the 1 to 2 knots we were able to move at. The local Kuna came out in their dugouts to see what was happening and guided us in to a safe anchorage. We proceeded to feed them soup and have a marvellous chat in our broken spanish and their broken english.

We soon discovered that the Racor filter was coated in fine, coffee like particulate matter which we eventually found in the engine's main fuel filter as well. Fortunately, it seemed to have stopped there. It took us two days to clean everything out and test the system, and with the assistance Paul from SV Espresso - by way of radio - we managed to troubleshoot any other possible problems. However, this was not the end of our difficulties. We proceeded to have problems with the Racor unit, which would periodically fill with air. After tracing fuel lines, cleaning them out, inspecting the fuel tank, sucking out the bottom layer of diesel, and changing filters several times, we still had the occasional problem with the air, but by this point, it was manageable.

Chris, fortunately, managed to get some snorkelling and relaxation in, and proved to be quite the fisherman providing us with barracuda and bonito. We had another splendid sail, tacking our way to the Hollandese Cays. There were many boats at anchor and it was difficult to find a good spot without crowding anyone. In addition, all boats seemed to be swinging in different directions! A substantial current comes in across the reef on the eastern side, which has quite an affect on the boats at anchor. A little further south-east was "the swimming pool", where several boats eventually moved to.

New Years was a quiet event for us as we exhausted ourselves well before midnight. There was an afternoon gathering over by the "swimming pool", which was just a dinghy ride away. The three of us then waited until dusk for a night snorkel, where we saw several lobster and Barry spotted a nurse shark and a Lemon shark swimming past the dinghy. Pretty exciting! After all that exercise, we barely managed to move ourselves at midnight, and we missed to party over on Falkor.

The time spun past us so quickly, and soon it was time to start the trip to Panama. Chris had never done a night sail before, so we decided that we could get an extra day out of the Hollandase Cayes by delaying our transit unti the late afternoon. The passage was marvellous and uneventful, with a good sail on a broad reach. We arrived at 1000 and dodged the freighters to get into Cristobal. The anchorage was pleasant and not in the least bit crowded. We could watch the boats travelling up and down to the Gatun locks, although they remained out of site.

We were sorry to see Chris leave as he had been so much fun and terrific adventurer.

Cristobal is home of the Panama Canal Yacht Club, where it is possible to get a very decent meal, a beer, and taxi service into Colon. It is important, however to be careful about Colon as it is considered to be an unsafe area. We had chosen to hire an agent to assist us with our Canal passage and paperwork, and Tina McBride turned out to be a real gem. She has a terrific sense of humour, and really knows her way around. Through her, we met Dracula, our taxi driver, and later one of our line handlers.

Under the watchful eye of Dracula, we managed to get in and out of Colon unscathed. The "free-zone" was really quite fun, although we arrived there on a Friday and all the shops closed early for Shabbat. It was a great opportunity to replenish the liquor stores and check out cheap electronics.

Thanks to the efficiency of an agent, we had only five days to wait for our transit - and that was by our choice as we had work to do to prepare. We hired lines and line handlers as we felt that we had no time to deal with any boat damage, and we hadn't had any time to go through as line handlers ourselves. This turned out to be an extremely wise decision, which we would repeat again despite familiarity now.

Our transit would be broken into two stages as we had to return to Canada for five weeks.