We left Ragged Island Friday February 6 around lunch time. Scooting at record speeds in front of a storm that started pounding the northern Bahamas we were chased out of town. We arrived in front of Matthew town at first light, dropped the dinghy and Eric went in to check us out of the country when customs and immigration opened. This was a quick stop only long enough for paperwork, then we had to continue on before that storm pounds Makai. On the way out we spotted Great Inagua’s lighthouse. After many shipwrecks, the English built this lighthouse in the 1800s. It is one of the only three remaining kerosene hand-crank lighthouses in The Bahamas. A resident lighthouse keeper tends the flame and hand-cranks it every two hours.
Oooo weee, here comes the storm. Actually, the wind and seas were perfect. Makai cut through the water totally reefed down going 8-9 kts.
Within 24 hours we were through the windward passage between Cuba and Haiti and passing Jamaica. After two stellar sailing days the wind died down and we did appreciate the rest. Roy got out the pole hoping for a sea monster. Instead he caught the smallest Mahi we’ve seen so far. My research says that Mahi are the fastest growing sport fish reaching sexual maturity in just 3-5 months and growing to 40 lbs in about a year. They said that 90% of the mahi caught are less than a year old and not many live past 3 years. We released this one to go put on a few pounds.
With the wind slowing everyone started to move about. Topaz’s favorite place to lay is on the cabin top right in front of the helm. Today it’s fine to block the captain’s view, but her favorite time to lay here is when we’re coming in to anchor.
The water was very calm and everyone was wishing to go for a swim.
In lieu of dipping into the big blue, the girls put together a spa. They sat in bubble baths and did each other’s hair.
The sargasso weed was unusually abundant. At first we saw huge accumulations of the weed and then for the next few days it was just scattered evenly over the water. This weed circulates around the mid Atlantic propelled by four currents that circulate from Africa on the North Atlantic Equatorial Current to the Gulf Stream back on the North Atlantic current and down again on the Canary Current. Individual sargasso is about 3-5 inches long with little gas filled nodules abut the size of a pea. It reminds me of the kelp we find in California but much smaller.
Bait fish like to hide under the weed patches so fishing should be worth while. With the only exception is that we constantly had to clear the lines. After awhile Roy got sick of pulling the lines in with clumps of sargasso, so he recruited helpers to take a few turns with this job.
Yes in deed we did have luck. We hooked four Mahi Mahi’s. The first one was returned to the sea to grow, next we got a nice bull mahi right up to the stern but failed to land it.
The next one he got was huge and jumping mad. You could see his body flying and twisting in the air. But the line was full of sargasso weed and he got unhooked. The last one, Roy decided he was hungry, so it became dinner.
After 48 hours of motoring the seas flattened down to glass. The next evening a light breeze and the spinnaker had us ghosting along at an acceptable 5 knots. Everyone was happy and rested so Eric decided a movie on the big screen was in order. Everyone was snug with popcorn and pillows. We had our side windows up for the trip as well. They cut down on the wind in the cockpit and protect us from wave splashes to the side and rain squalls.
We had several heavy rain clouds pass over us, but non of them brought excessive wind.
On Friday the 13th at first light we arrived at Panama. For the last 7 days we only saw one sail boat in the distance and a hand full of tankers on AIS that weren’t close enough for a visual. But arriving in Panama the AIS went crazy. Most of these tankers are anchored.
The weather was very warm, cloudy and humid with a nice breeze.
Everyone came out on deck to see our first glimpse of land in a week. We had to constantly call Topaz away from her favorite seat blocking Eric’s view.
The bay is protected by two long break walls. The walls are built with cement ‘jacks’ shaped pieces interlocked and piled up above the water. The wind picked up considerably over the next few days and we could see the waves crashing high above this break wall from where we were in the marina.
The inside of the harbor reminded us of Long Beach harbor back home. The port off to the south east was busy transferring containers with it’s huge cranes.
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The trip log registered 987 NM.
Roy found a dried up flying fish. Makai, like a whale, would sail through their school and they would all take off and skim across the water’s surface 30 – 40 feet or more.
Shelter Bay Marina is a bustle of activity. Boats from all over the world are preparing to cross into the Pacific Ocean. The conversations are all about who your agent is, have you been measured and do you have a canal date. The first few days were really a blurr to us since we hadn’t slept yet and people were coming to measure Makai, collect paperwork, give instructions and finally we got our date.
Meanwhile the kids goofed off. The pool is right in front of Makai so I can watch the kids swim while I hang the laundry out to dry.
We are the second boat in on the right side of the dock. From upstairs in the lounge we had a good view of the marina. While Makai certainly isn’t the smallest boat here, there are several catamarans near by that make her look like a Hobie Cat. Off towards the entrance of the marina is where they tie up the really big boats. There are a few mega yachts over there plus a couple of nice sail boats. We made friends with Barend, Claudia, Charlotte and Nicolaas on Freebooter. They are a Dutch family that lives in Monaco out for a year on a beautiful Swan 70. Most boats, after transiting the canal, continue on across the Pacific to New Zealand, but Freebooter is on our path up the coast. We’re hoping to catch up with them in Mexico.
Finally the paperwork is finished and we were notified that we’ll transit the canal on February 26th. We have guests, Gary and Sandy, coming today. Then we’ll go off to the San Blas islands about 70 miles away for a few days before returning for our appointment with the Panama Canal.
Everyone is happy and content here. They have unlimited internet access, a swimming pool, a minimart with ice cream, a few friends and we even ate at the restaurant for Valentines day. Everything was delicious, served on fancy plates with a margarita to wash my fish tacos down, for half the price of our Staniel Cay, Bahamas price. Now I would never trade the rum punch and conch fritters with our Bahamas friends for this, but it sure was delicious.
In between officials, Eric’s work, my laundry and boat scrubbing, we went for a few walks. The marina is on Fort Sherman, 1912-1999, U.S. military base that was turned over to Panama in 1999 when the US gave up control of the canal. All around us are old buildings, empty and falling down, plenty of interesting things to go look at right here at the marina. Across the parking lot is a field full of the cement pieces used to make the break wall as well as the black molds that form them.
Columbus discovered the new world while looking for a passage to Asia and since then everyone who bumped into North and South America spent their life looking for a way to get through it. In the 1800s the French were sure they could plow through this narrow isthmus and cut a path to the Pacific.
Shelter Bay Marina is located on Fort Sherman’s (1912 – 1999) water front. Fort Sherman was one of the many US installations built to protect the Panama Canal which was turned over to Panama in 1999 along with canal operations.
The closest ruins are a five minute walk down the road followed by a two minute hike down a path. We were immediately greeted by endless rows of leave cutting ants carrying their catch from who knows where to over there.
The kids had fun climbing around the abandoned buildings. HUGE termite nests were everywhere.
Inside the battery tunnels you can see bats zipping from room to room.
The jungle is creeping up on the abandoned structures.
In the end we didn’t see the jungle animals we had hoped for but we did hear howling monkeys and saw the hanging nests of the Montezuma Oropendola bird.
Yesterday we signed up for two spaces on the shuttle bus. The limited space made me think we needed two more spaces in the afternoon as well. So I spent the day on the hour and a half round trip shuttle ride to the grocery store with kids. We managed to collect meat, dairy and produce, and we also had a great Spanish lesson.
Now were ready for some fun.