Still in Panama

Pat & Maureen on Gunboat Island

Calypso finally pulled up a very heavily encrusted anchor after six long months embedded in the muddy bottom of the bay outside Puerto Lindo Panama. Although it was for too short a spell, it was one we’d been looking forward to for some time.

We have spent our time here helping to care-take a house and a menagerie of animals while, at the same time, completing some rather lengthy maintenance jobs aboard. We received a much needed push up the backside to get moving again coming in the form of my sister and her husband, Pat and Bill, who arrived out from Canada to spend five weeks with us.

Our first outing was a couple of days doing the hot and sticky sightseeing ‘thing’ in Panama City which included Panama Viejo (Old Panama). This dated back to the time of the Spanish conquistadors in the early 1500s & become the first European settlement along the Pacific. It has an interesting history of running gold and silver from Peru to Europe up until it was plundered and destroyed by the famous buccaneer and pirate, Henry Morgan, 150 years later.

A trip to Panama wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the canal locks. This really is a marvel of engineering. It stretches for 80km from Panama City on the Pacific side through to Colon on the Atlantic and cuts right through the Continental Divide. Ships worldwide are built to the dimensions of the canal’s locks which sees nearly 14,000 pass through each year. It has three sets of double locks with a huge artificial lake in between and with the passage of each ship, a staggering 52 million gallons of fresh water is released into the ocean.

The canal is now in the process of being enlarged as a recent referendum voted for an expansion which will incorporate a third lane on each lock. The government has allocated $5,25 billion on this project which will stretch over seven years and finish in conjunction with the canal’s centennial in 2014. It is, of course, hoped that this construction will give a major boost to the economy of the country as the canal would then be able to accommodate more and larger vessels including the enormous cruise ships bringing in tourists.

Leaving the muggy and grimy city behind, we headed out for a short trip up to the mountainous region of Chiriqui in the western end of the Isthmus which showed us a very different aspect of this long narrow country. Chiriqui offers beautiful mountainous landscapes with lush green and fertile valleys and is much cooler than the central north coast on the Caribbean Sea where we have spent all our time to date. It is considered to be Panama’s ‘bread basket’ where flowers, coffee, vegetables and citrus fruits flourish and is a very popular area with the ‘gringos’ who have created many settlements throughout the region. We took this opportunity to visit a few friends who have made their homes away from the heat and humidity of Colon Province and were gracious enough to put us all up for a night or two.

Back to Puerto Lindo for a few days to get the boat ready and install our new deck wash system, a wonderful gift from Pat and Bill. We set out in Calypso heading eastwards to some of our favourite spots and to find some new in the San Blas Islands of Kuna Yala.

The one day journey over to the islands proved to be a tad rough and my poor sister, who has always suffered badly from motion sickness, hugged the railings for a good part of the trip but she managed a smile once she saw the islands of our destination. Thankfully, during our stay, the short hops between the islands were taken in her stride.

It’s always so great to meet up with old friends in different anchorages and here we met up with our good diving buddies on Argo who we hadn’t seen since Bonaire and, although scuba diving isn’t permitted in Kuna Yala, we did manage some good snorkeling. Easter Sunday was spent very socially joining in with a myriad of other cruisers for a BBQ, egg hunt, games and good fun. All in all, the islands give one the opportunity to do as much or as little as one desires. There’s no pressure to ‘see’ things. If you want to lie in a hammock and doze the day away, so be it! What bliss!

Trying to take in as much as possible without seeming rushed, we stopped at five or six anchorages and took in one traditional village island for Pat and Bill to see how the Kuna Indians live. Too soon, it was time to return as their holiday drew to an end. Maybe this little taste will encourage them to visit again. We loved showing them around and were absolutely thrilled to be back on the sea again.

When we returned, I had to have an operation to my shoulder which had been giving me grief for a while but should, hopefully, be as good as new before long. I thanked my lucky stars that we were somewhere where the medical facilities were excellent.

There's always something going on around here despite the fact that we're a good distance from any commercial centre. The entire area was vitually taken over with the filming of the new James Bond movie (quite exciting) and our little bay is now the home for a new fish farming setup which is also proving to be an incredible development.

Puerto Lindo is quite a crossroads as there are always many cruisers visiting the bay and we’ve been amazed at how many boats we’ve known in the past that have come through. Both our Orinoco River traveling buddies have stopped over, Blue Print Match and several times, Imagine – always great to bump into you guys. A Swedish friend we’d originally met in Brazil called in after he bought another boat in Mexico and transited the canal eastwards before heading back to Europe. We had a brief but delightful reunion with our Scottish friends on Just Do It as they waited to transit the canal with the ARC World Rally.

We have continually been looking for a piece of land to purchase but this is proving to be quite a task. The property market is extremely unsophisticated with no such thing as estate agents along this coastline and prices have absolutely skyrocketed in the last couple of years. The equally unsophisticated sellers have no idea what property is worth so ask ridiculously high figures whenever a ‘gringo’ appears on the scene. The next problem is to try to determine who actually owns the land and a vast majority of it is under dispute. We’ve literally been knocking on doors but, to date, no luck. We press on regardless. We hope to find something soon so we can carry on cruising then come back to it in the years to come as Panama has a lot to offer and we fancy the idea of settling here.

....Garden in Chiriqui............................................... Pat enjoying the islands

...... Underwater scenes in San Blas ......................................Spotted Drum

........................................Pat & I after snorkeling
A beautiful Kuna smile

Visiting a traditional village.....................................................A little bit of paradise