Adventurous George

(I am combining these days because there is not a lot of things to talk about, mostly eating, drinking, sleeping, napping, bathing, sweating, then repeat. Your getting the highlights.)

I awoke from hibernation next morning dripping in sweat. I forgot how humid it can be in the high single digits of North Latitude. It reminded me of my early days in the military when I was stationed in M.C.A.S. Futenma Okinawa. The air there was so thick from the humidity, you could drink it through a straw.

Breakfast was toast and coffee. Than on to the days events, continue my tour of the marina, begin planning our departure, learn the systems on the boat, and take her on a shakedown sail. Simple enough.

The Shelter Bay marina is tucked away on the furthest Northeastern portion of the Limon Bay. The Bay itself servers as the point of embarkation and debarkation for the famous Panama Canal.  

If you want to find it using Google Earth you can use these coordinates 9°21’59″N 79°56’59″W to do so. If your not inclined you can just take look at this photo.

Shelter Bay marina

The Bay looks like this.

The marina is perfectly located for cruisers who have just transited the canal or are waiting to do so. It affords them the opportunity to rest up and prepare for their next portion of there voyage. It is also perfectly situated for the local transportation industry (i.e. my driver Olmedo). 

The closest place to really get provisioning supplies are the super markets in Colon, directly across the bay from the marina. Before the completion of the bridge this past August there were only two ways to get there, by ferry or a scenic 5 hour tour around the canal. Now, there are still 2 ways to get to Colon, by shuttle bus which runs twice a week or Olmedo.

A little backstory on Olmedo. He is mid 40’s, married with one son. He is resident of Colon and has worked at the marina 8 years. Everyone knows Olmedo, from the Port Captain to the servers at the restaurant. I found out Olmedo is “the guy” to talk to when you need something done. He has helped us a number of times with transportation, negotiations on pricing, and as translator when speaking with Immigration’s and the Port Caption.

Here are a few photos of the marina for your viewing pleasure.

The first couple of days were not eventful. I mostly familiarized myself with the restaurant and bar, mostly the bar. Panama has 2 local brews Balboa (coincidently also the name of the currency) and Panama (not very original if you ask me). I prefer Balboa, my friend Scott may like Panama better, a touch more hoppy. My friend Steve would say “I can brew something ten times better than this stuff” (and he probably could).  However the food should not be discounted. I found the roasted half chicken absolutely delicious. I know for a fact that it was free range because I saw a couple of them running around the dry dock earlier in the day!

During this time Dave and I started to put the plan together for our departure to Jamaica. Dave was going to contact the weather service to get a 5 day detailed forecast for a Friday departure. We would provision the boat Thursday, top off the fuel and Water, and clear immigrations for a Friday departure. The plan was perfect!

There is a saying in the military, that ever plan is perfect, until the first shot is fired. And so it was with us. The first shot came with the weather report, it could have been better. A tropical low hovering over Columbia (ironic, Columbia is not known for lows) was going to give us winds in 20 knot range.

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The next shot, and the biggest setback came when we tried to clear immigrations, the permits had expired while Dave was in the U.S. waiting out hurricane season. He will have to reapply for them again. Well needless to say this plan became fish wrap! Now it looks like Wednesday the 13th is the next window to depart. In the meantime I picked up a job as a line handler for a German couple going through the canal heading for the marquesas Islands . No pay, I am fed, get a place to sleep ( their boat), and bus fare back to the marina when their through the canal. I start Monday.  Stay tuned!

The flight arrived on time 8:15AM EST (1215 Zulu). 6 hours and change earlier, Peggy had dropped me off at LAX, terminal 3. The customary long lines for check in and security successfully navigated, all I needed to do was repeat the process to enter Panama. The only problem is most of the signage is in Spanish. Fortunately for me I can read stick figures fluently and had no trouble finding my way to Customs. I thought I was dressed to blend in with the locals, but something clearly gave me away. Every time I approached an official they would smile and immediately starting speaking English to me like I had a tattoo “Perdón, pero no hablo español” on my forehead.

Having been questioned and finger printed (still not sure why the latter) I cleared customs, collected my bag and headed for the exit where my “driver” would be waiting for me, “You can recognize him by the Golden State Warriors hat he will be wearing”. I found him soon after exiting the Customs area, it was the hat!

Olmedo my personal driver

What Olmendo lacked in speed and dexterity on foot, he more than made up for it in his white Toyota Yaris. Weaving in out of traffic like a NewYork cab driver, laying on the horn only long enough to let you know you had been passed he whisked me over to the other side of the Isthmus in record time, 45 minutes. A 51 mile trip over modern roads (with working signals), what I would call single lane roads with potholes the size of the width of the car, and something I swear was goat path! Riding with him was like riding on Mr. Toads Wild Ride at Disneyland (I just dated myself)!

I finally opened my eyes and we were in the parking lot of Shelter Bay marina across from the city of Colon. I tipped Olmendo, grabbed my bag out of the trunk and headed straight for the bar uh, boat, to meet Capt. Dave.

Dave was sitting in the cockpit of Endeavor. We greeted each other, he showed me where I could stow my gear and gave me a quick tour of the marina facilities which I found quite modern for being carved out of a tropical jungle (I only found out later the marina was part of an old U.S. Army base where they trained soldiers heading for Vietnam in jungle warfare). The tour took about twenty minutes at which point I found myself back onboard in my bunk and fast asleep. It was a little past 10 in the morning.

I am less than a week away to getting on the plane that will take me to Panama City. My bags are mostly packed, well, I am finalizing the list of the things I’m taking (don’t know if they’ll fit in my bags yet). I have received all the prescribed immunizations recommended from the various websites (CDC, State Department, Web MD, Panamanian Embassy) that if I wasn’t headed for Panama I could visit any elementary school in the country. Am I excited? Yes!

But the excitement started earlier this year when I attended my third meeting as a member of the Long Beach Singles Yacht Club (a story in its own right). the meeting took place in May at the normal location, The Crab Pot Seafood Restaurant in the Alamitos marina. The guest speaker for the evening was Capt. Dave. Capt. Dave, we were told, had just returned from transiting the Panama Canal, taking a break from a two year voyage down the Pacific coast from Long Beach California.

Dave was going to show us some pictures and talk about some of the more exciting moments of the voyage. The presentation went well. There were a lot of “oohs” and “ahs” with an occasional “wish I was there”. When he finished our vice commodore introduced me to him and the plan was hatched.

I would be acting as crew for a short trip from Panama to Jamaica. “Pack enough clothes for a 5 day trip” he told me, “the whole trip should be no more than 7 days”. Sounds good to me I said and went home excited to tell Peggy (my better half) of this great opportunity for some real blue water sailing.

We talked over the pros and cons and decided it would fit the budget and the schedule.

So I let Capt. Dave know I was in. Shortly after that he called me and asked if I wanted to sail the second (Jamaica to the Bahamas) and third (the Bahamas to Florida) legs with him. How could I refuse such an offer? Now I am finishing up my preparations and waiting for the moment to head of to the airport for 6 hour and 2 minute flight Panama City.

I have been asked by many of my friends to “keep in touch” while I embark on my trip to help a friend sail his boat from Colon Panama to Fort Lauderdale Florida. Sounds easy enough, except I had no idea how I was going to do it until someone mentioned “you might try writing a blog”.

(At this point I think it is appropriate to toss in this disclaimer.  I have spent most of my adult life writing programs for computers. I am far more familiar with with special characters like * # $ %  =  <  >  and not so much with ; “ ‘ : ; , . So be careful what you ask for!)

For better or worse, I shall begin. Let me start by saying I’m not really sure what background information you’ll find interesting in me telling you (drop me a note if you want to know more) so I’ll stick to my sailing resume I use when I want to charter a boat.

I’ve sailed Cal20s, Catalina 27 and 30s, Islander 36 (part owner), Hunter 40, Bill Lapworth design 44 (part owner), and chartered four types of catamarans ranging in size from 36 to 45 feet. I sailed the waters of Hawaii, California, Mexico, Belize, and the BVI (British Virgin Islands). All this before spending the time (and money) to take the basic ASA courses 101, 103, 104, and 114 (feel free to checkout the ASA website and lookup the course numbers *note not a plug for ASA).

I have learned a lot over the years and continue to learn new things every time I climb aboard.