San Andres

The Reef Barrier on the East

Earthling finally departed the Panamanian waters last week. A 220 nautical miles sail took us from Portobello to San Andres on one tack in 45 hours. The weather could not been any better, calm seas, and moderate winds were the perfect conditions especially for the inexperienced Panamanian crew, Marie Louise. I had to make sure to have a Panamanian citizen aboard to get permission to exit the waters of Colon area, smile!  

San Andres is located close to Nicaragua and Costa Rica but it’s part of Colombia. This is a vacation island and mostly visited by Latin Americans, primarily Colombians, Chileans, and Argentinians. It’s flat, sunny, windy, beautiful white sandy beaches, and lots of tourist. There is lots of activity around the main anchorage in front of the town. Jet skis and tourist boats are zooming close by without any consideration, No wake laws are absent here!

In the Background, Johnny Cay

Speed Boats

The first impression of the island was the active people. Many were running along the beach with their nice running equipment. People were biking around on racing bikes and so forth. We were surprised of how athletic people in San Andres were! The following day we went ashore and realized that there was a triathlon!     

The Board Walk along the Beach

When you check in to Colombia you must hire an agent that does all the paper work. In San Andres, the cost of hiring an agent is $80, in addition to the tourist card $25pp required by anyone visiting San Andres and Providencia. (Agent: Rene speaks a little English and can be reached on VHF16 or +57-315.680.7980, serrana_agencia@hotmail.com)  

San Andres is only 8 miles North to South and 2 miles East to West. It’s easy to bike around and explore it. Common transportation is golf carts and motorbikes. Marie and I rented a golf cart and drove around the island. On the leeward side (West) of the island, the water is calm and clear with coral lines and a perfect place for snorkeling. The beaches are mostly on the windward side.

South End

The residents of the island are mostly Caribbean with a Colombian twist. The natives speak Creole, English, and Spanish. On the radio, mixed Caribbean and Latin music is played! It feels good to be back in the Caribbean spirit!

Marie flew back to Panama yesterday and tonight Darius is flying in from Chicago. In a couple of days we are going to sail to Providencia, which should be much more tranquil. 

Love from San Andres   

Read other updates of Colombia

Cruising Colombia
Roadtrip in Colombia

Islands of Colombia
A Fishfull Passage

When It Rains It Pours

The Bay of Portobello

It’s in middle of April and I’m still in Panama, which is a beautiful place to be, but I’m not used to stay in one place for a longer time.

Before coming here, I use to hear that Panama is one of the places where dreams come to an end! Which meant that people sailed from around the world with the plan of transiting through the Canal and sail the Pacific Ocean, but many would settle here for a longer period of time.  Sailors would simply not feel ready to cross the big Pacific Ocean. Many would return to their home counties and leave their boats behind in Panama.

I’m not a superstitious person, but I think there is a unique energy in this geographical location!   

It took me three months to break off Turtle Cay Marina, which became my home and it was a little difficult to leave behind. I have to give credit and thank Yogi at Turtle Cay Marina for the reimbursement of my cost of hiring the crane.

My Turtle Cay adopted family aboard for dinner

When Earthling was splashed in water, the engine would't start, even though it started the day before on land. I took care of the starting issue, reconditioned the starter with new solenoid and so forth. Right after that I realized that the backstay terminal was cracked! With the help of friends I got a new backstay, one size bigger than the original. 
Before leaving the marina, I was confident that most things were in good shape. The engine was serviced, new belts, impeller, oil, filters, etc. But when I left the marina, right outside the channel, smoke started coming out of the engine room. For one second, I thought about returning, but then I acknowledged that I just escaped one place, so I shut the engine off, furled out the Genoa and sailed away. I checked the engine during the passage and realized that the new belt was loose, so I tied it up, but the belt was slightly damaged. At the mouth of the bay in Portobello, I started the engine and slowly motored into the anchorage, before I found a good place to anchor, the belt broke, so I anchored under sail.  

I was excited to row a shore with the brand new oars that I had made and varnished. The oars were strong and would not brake as the last one did. I rowed ashore and came back to the boat with a friend. After an hour, we noticed one oar was gone!

Once a new belt was in place, we went out for trial sail. As we were entering the anchorage to Playa Blanca, I recognized there was very little water coming out of the exhaust, the engine started overheating! Once again, we had to anchor under sail. 

Now, the belt issue is straightened out. I order a new oar from the same Indian gentleman. But I still got water circulation issues. This morning I realized there is water in the oil! For some reason the water is blocked in the system. I really hope I can repair everything sooner than later and get the engine going so I can sail away to new destinations.   

Playa Blanca

Dinner Party

 On April 1^st as everybody in the marina were celebrating a staff’s birthday, a boat got caught on fire. The celebration ended quickly with tragedy. The Catamaran was burning fast and there was nothing anybody could do. The fire distinguishers were not operating and the water pressure was too low to put out the fire. Everybody stood around and watched the French Catamaran burn till it sank. The owners were devastated! Luckily nobody got hurt!

Johannes's Birthday  

Sad Moment

     

Love from Panama

Three Full Moons are the Charm

Earthling Getting Launched

Finally Earthling got launched and it feels great to be floating. Last season she was launched in Grenada right before Christmas and this season launched a few days before the Persian New Year, “Norouz”. The fifth leg of this sailing adventure is about to start, although it's much later than previous years, but I’m still feeling fortunate to live and experience this lifestyle. The agenda for this leg is to sail Northbound. First to San Andres and Providencia, followed by the Islands off Honduras, then Rio Dulce in Guatemala, and then Belize. I have to be back to Chicago for summer and the Mackinac race in July and I would feel bad to store my boat on the hard somewhere in the tropics again! Boats stored unattended in the heat and rain simply can get destroyed. Therefore, if everything goes well, I am contemplating to sail back to the U.S. by end of this season. The previous legs are as following; the first leg started in Chicago and ended in Florida through various rivers and the intercostal waterway. Second leg started in Florida to the Virgin Islands through the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Third leg was from the Virgin Islands to Grenada through the Leeward and Windward nations/Islands. And the fourth one came true from Grenada to Panama through Trinidad, quaint Venezuelan Islands, Colombia, and the San Blas Islands. I would have liked to visit Bocas Del Toro Islands in Panama as well, but there is no more time left for Panama.  

I will always remember the stress and trouble I had to go through in this Marina to get my boat back in water. Yesterday was full moon and my third full moon here at Turtle Cay Marina; it took three of them to get Earthling in water! 
Turtle Cay Marina have charged boaters for haul out and launch, but they refused to launch the remaining boats. The boat owners had to pay from pocket and hire a private crane company to launch our boats. This marina is located in a very peaceful place but it’s lacking intelligent management system! Bathrooms are rarely running, Internet gets disconnected constantly, it doesn’t have laundry, and it’s far away from stores without a consistent reliable transportation. But it’s the closest marina to the San Blas (Kuna Yala) and it’s a great stop before hitting the Panama Canal. The only person that knows how to run this place is the harbor master, Yogi. He has been a cruiser for many years and is experienced and can assist you with your needs.

 

Illusion was the biggest boat to get launched first, without the input of her owners, I would have still been on land

Uli's boat almost took the new bathroom roof down, that would have been funny :-)

Celebrating the Diablo Festivities, Yogi in the center along with Uli and Toti

People perform in different Diablo costume

The music setup in Nombre De Dios

Diablos signify the Spaniards

Not sure about this one

Diablos whip people as if they were slaves

The Monkey Family at Turtle Cay Marina

The true settlers of Turtle Cay Marina park :-)

I’m floating but nothing is better than being on the hook. At anchor you are within harmony of nature. That’s the real cruising! 

Love from Panama

Imprisoned in Paradise

When you are free to move around, anywhere in the world could be the paradise. When you are not allowed to move, then you can be in paradise and still feel imprisoned. The whole idea of living on a boat and cruising is that you get to be free and move just about anywhere.   

Turtle Cay Boat yard

I have spent the last 54 days at Turtle Cay Marina in Panama. Here, it’s like paradise, it’s warm, sunny, palm trees, and sandy beaches. But my boat is not floating! The travel lift at this marina is not working, they are supposed to order a crane to come in and put the five boats in water, but the manager says it’s the owner’s responsibility to repair the lift and no crane is available! The owner is playing it off and comes with different excuses weekly, one week the engine to the lift is ready, another week the parts are here, oh now is Carnival, or somebody was sick and so forth. It's difficult to not be frustrated and angry when people lie into your face and come up with different nonsense. It feels like they want to keep us kidnapped here! The main purpose of this marina is not to serve yachtmen, it’s about gaining more prestige in society. It’s more important to have a big sign by the main road stating false information than having a proper bathroom and shower for their current clients. People come by here almost everyday asking where is the hotel and resort? There is no hotel and resort as the Turtle Cay Marina’s signs state. This is the longest I lived on a boat out of water and I’m getting a "boat on land fever". I try to make the best out of it! Last week, I took the foldup bicycle and biked up and down the hilly road 2.5hrs away to Puerto Lindo, where many cruisers anchor. I got to spend time with friends and stay on their boat, Peregrine.

Gwen and Trevor on S/V Peregrine

The Monkeys on Isla Linton are used to human

In between the bike ride I take a swim break in the river

Some of the challenges with living on the hard on a boat are as following; you can’t use the head (bathroom) on your boat, there are ants, flies, mosquitoes, and cockroaches on land, your boat is never as clean as it would be on water, the cabin gets really hot during the day since no wind comes through, you are constantly in a repair mode, and finally you have to climb up a ladder tons of times a day, I always wanted a tree house, now it feels like living up in a tree!

Paradise and heaven is at one’s heart. It’s totally up to you how to choose to carry on life. How to capture wind and surf the waves! Right now I can't capture the wind in my sails but I have a little bicycle. I'm gonna put air in the tires and bike the curvy hilly dirt road out of Turtle Cay Marina to Portobello.

Port Neighbors Debbie and Wayne at Sunday Picnic

Crocodile caught in a creek close to the Marina

Starboard neighbor "Gert" caught a Barracuda 

Love from the Prisoners in Paradise

Learning Spanish / Aprender Espaniol

There are so many ways to learn a new language. My new goal is to be more or less fluent in Spanish. This language is widely spoken in Americas. I like to learn Spanish because everybody looks at me as if I should speak Spanish! I remember some people in Puerto Rico and DominicanRepublic were taking it personally and getting upset because I didn’t speak their language. They thought I was from hispanic decent but grew up in the U.S and never got to learn Spanish.

The best way to learn is to be in a Spanish-speaking environment. Last year in Colombia, my Norwegian cruising friend and I took some private classes in Spanish. We found a good teacher in Cartagena and took 2 hours classes, 5 days a week, for one month. The note book from that class is my Spanish Bible. Nowadays, there are so many other sources for learning a new language, such as apps on your electronic device. The best Spanish learning app I found is "Duolingo". It’s so easy to learn a new language through this application. In addition, when you get to advanced level and formulate new sentences, Duolingo applies those sentences and translates the Wikipedia and other documents to Spanish. Another useful app is “Translate”, which is just a regular multi language dictionary but very easy to switch between different languages. And then there are audiobooks that you can play all day while cruising on your boat.

Aboard Earthling, we also have Spanish for dummies and cruisers, and Spanish music, such as Julio Iglesias and Gypsy Kings. Moreover, a good way to end a hot sunny day on the boat is to watch a Latin movie with subtitle. 

Between all these sources, one should be able to learn a new language quickly. But the most important criteria to learn a new language is Self-Discipline! 

If you find yourself in Cartagena and need private lessons in Spanish, contact Lu Rodriguez at clasedeespanollu@gmail.com

El Amor De Panama

Coco Heaven

Gorgidup Dummat, San Blas

Coconuts are everywhere in the Caribbean, from Florida Keys to the rainforest in Dominica. But in this part of the Caribbean, San Blas, there are more coco palms than most it combined. All the deserted islands in San Blas are covered by palm trees of all sizes. I have never been in such a coco paradise. This fruit has been the major commodity for Kunas and they have been trading it with Colombians for centuries. Therefore, coconuts have been a sacred fruit and it's more or less forbidden by outsiders to help themselves with a nut on the ground. Katherine and I were talking about how weird it is that we are in the Coconut Heaven but can't have any of it! Consequently, I had a dream! They caught me because I took a coconut. I was in trouble, but confident that I could protect my rights as a citizen of Earth. In a conference with the Kuna chiefs, I presented that I respect their culture and understand how significant coconuts have been in their history. However, as a guest, visitor, or someone that is just passing through and find themselves thirsty or hungry, and there are coconuts on the ground, then, that should be the least amount of a gift offered to a guest. Most people that pass through don't carry a Machete to open a coconut and most wouldn't clime the trees anyway. If they are willing to do that, then they should be allowed to.  After that conversation, Kuna chiefs made a new statement that visitors can help themselves with coconuts for immediate indulgent but absolutely for no commercial use. And then, I woke up, heard someone outside the boat, went to the cockpit and saw a father and a son. They handed over two coconuts and said “Regalo” (gift)!

Love from Coconut Heaven 

Living on the Hard

The first steps on a boat that has been sitting for six months could be chocking. Especially when you left your boat in the water and the marina hauled it out as one the first boats ever hauled out. When I returned to the marina, ten days ago, at 9:30pm, I stepped into a flooded cabin. The batteries were dried and shut, as a result, the bilge pump stop working and rainwater down the mast and other leaks flooded the inside of the boat. Luckily, the water was lower than the engine. I was pumping out water and cleaning till early morning hours.

Turtle Cay Boat Yard

The way it seems, Earthling will remain on land for at least 3 more weeks. Turtle Cay Marina has a beautiful boatlift, that is not working, it never has been working in this marina. They must order a crane to come in and put the boats in the water. This is a new marina, remote from anywhere. Closest village is down the curvy dirt road in the rainforest to the main road, and then another ten minutes drive to Nombre De Dios. The first big city, for provisioning and boat parts is Colon. You can take a chicken bus from Nombre De Dios to Colon, but you might sit next to passengers that are holding a chicken on their lap! It makes it all more adventures. Finding boat parts in Panama is not as easy as walking into a major chandlery in the U.S. Even though there are a few chandleries, but if they don’t carry what you looking for, you can’t really order it either! You have to search to find things! That requires going to Panama City, which is 2-3hrs drive from the marina. The best option for me was to rent a car from the airport and gather supplies and do a major provisioning. Otherwise, things would have taken much longer time. I purchased "Petit Trinidad" antifouling paint, but they didn’t have it in red so I had to buy it in black at the highest price ever. After a few days of searching, I found good deals on 4DM batteries, but I still haven’t been able to find fuel filters!

  

Settled Base 

There is a list of projects that I hope to accomplish before start cruising again. 

The list is long and it goes by priority. Before getting launched, everything below has to be done, such as getting the bottom ready for paint. Which includes scraping off the barnacle shells and lightly sand the hull. The keel has to be faired, since we hit reefs in Kuna Yala. A friend of mine lost his boat 3 weeks ago on a reef in San Blas. The Garmin charts are "off" in this area and sailors must keep a careful outlook. In our case we were lucky! Furthermore, two stern through-hulls leak and must be re-caulked. The propeller and shaft have to be cleaned and new zinc put on. Then everything is ready to apply the bottom paint. After that, the top of the hull needs to be polished and waxed. 

Priority number two is to service the engine, which includes changing fuel filters, oil filter, and oil. I must also take apart and clean the starter from rust debris. In addition, the starter solenoid must be replaced since we’ve experienced difficulties starting the engine before. Also, the auto syphon must be inspected since it sprays out too much water.

The next priority is to recaulk the stanchions and shroud fittings, a job that needs four hands! And then there are zillions of other small things to do. This part of "Cruising Life Style" is not as pretty as it looks on the pictures of white sandy beaches with palm trees. But I have to admit, this marina’s location is just like heaven, there are two long beautiful beaches just by here and there are monkey families living up the trees not far from the boat. It’s as isolated as it can get on a deserted Island. 

The tent is setup and utilized as storage area, last time we used it in Barbuda

Love from Turtle Cay Marina in Panama

Kuna Yala

Sailing Ulu by Achutupu

Kuna Yala is the land of Native Kuna Indians, also known as San Blas. This area stretches around 150 miles along the South Eastern side of Panama. Kunas live very original, the most primitive I ever witnessed.  Their homes are made with bamboos from the jungle, majority don't have electricity or running water, and bathrooms are outhouses over water. The men paddle "Ulus" (Dugout canoes) toward the rivers on the main land early in the mornings and return with supplies throughout the day. They get their water from the rivers, vegetables and fruits from the main land in the Darien forest, and meat from the sea. The only signs of modern world are radio antennas, a few outboards, and mobile phones, which is more evident in the northern villages than southern. The first language is kuna and Spanish is widely practiced. There are around 360 islands in San Blas and most are not occupied. Villages are usually located close to the main land and well populated.

Supplies from the forest

Ustupu

Achutupu

Women paddling to the river to get water

Isla Tigre

Typical view of a village with Darien Jungle in the background

A school's bathroom in Ustupu

Homes out of bamboo

Kuna Yala is a woman dominant society. Women make most important decisions, they choose their husbands and manage financials. In Hollandes Cays, a gentleman came over to greet us. First thing he asked was if there was a woman aboard? Yes, and Katherine came out on deck. Thereafter, he talked to Katherine about anchorage fee and handed her a note in english. I'm standing there and watching and this guy doesn't even look at me till he got his $10 and gives a receipt, only then he turned around and started chatting with me.
Women dress in tradition clothing called Mola, which is the primary art Kunas offer.
They are sewn patterns of nature on different colors and layers of fabric. Molas are a famous hand craft of Panama. Some molas are definitely a piece of art and great souvenir and gift for friends and family. Usually Kuna women row up on their ulu to the cruising boats and offer the handcrafted molas for sale.

Estelfina invited us to her house to see her molas

Mola stand

Kunas like to give visitors gifts (Regalo). We have got seafood, fruits, molas as gifts from various locals. However, one experience has been making me a little cautious with taking gifts. In Ustupu, a happy person, Ricardo rowed on his ulu up to Earthling and sold us bananas & mangos. The following day he came by & offered fruits again but we already had some and were not interested. But Ricardo insisted to take some as Regalo because we were amigos. Ok, gracias amigo as I took four mangos. Ricardo said; De nada, Un Balboa($1)! I wasn't going to get into the definition of Regalo with Ricardo with my broken Spanish, so No problema, A dollar for you amigo :-)

Kind giving locals in Isla Tigre

Lobster or Lancoste

Ricardo brought fruits by every day

Kunas are peaceful and in harmony with nature and they would never hurt anyone. They don't lie, cheat, or steal. They are trusting and we never felt it was necessary to lock the boat. The Kunas in the southern islands have had little interaction with outsiders and seldom might not come across as friendly as others. Some individuals from previous generations might not really be excited to directly interact with visitors. And it makes sense, since Kuna Yala has been threaten by outsiders several times in the history. Originally the Spanish tried to rule it and then the Panamanians. Furthermore, people dug for gold in their rivers and the drug trafficking of rootless people have not left a good impression in Kuna's mind. Fortunately the only people that left better imprints are the sailors and cruisers and once they hear you are on a sailboat they soften up. They have been violent twice throughout the history, stood up for their land and fought first with the Spanish a few hundred years ago and second with Panamanians in the mid 1920's. Where they even massacred the interracial Kunas. Their new flag symbolizes both of the fights.

Wichubhuala

 Some villages are like a labrynth, we got lost in Achutupu, Earthling's mast is visible in the middle of the pic, but how do we get there

Ustupu, largest Kuna island

Kunas are known to take care of the nature and maintain it clean. Nowadays one can't go by without noticing plastic, metal cans, and glass floating on the water around villages and stacked up along the shores, a sad scene in paradise. The other day we payed attention to a person that walked up to the sea and threw all the trash in the water (it's common). Many of the trash was food rest and degradable, in addition there were plastic soda bottles and thin cans. It's not really the person's fault, she has been throwing rubbish into the sea for 70 years and it always disappeared but today it doesn't just go away and it could be because of the evil spirit. Could the evil spirit be the corporations that mass produce & export cheap products around the world? That is a political discussion for itself. In a perfect world if we are producing materials that would not disappear in nature, then it's our responsibility to educate our peer. I think most if not all packaging materials should be degradable.
There are many deserted islands in Kuna Yala. Before getting back on the more common cruising route north of Rio Diablo, Katherine and I got to spend an amazing evening totally secluded on Farewell Island. This little island was resided by 100s of palm trees of different sizes. The hammock was set up in between two of the trees on the beach with a Bonfire next to it under the full moon. Every time we set up a fire, our trash gets burned, in addition we try to clean up the surrounding of all plastic materials and burn them as well. In the Farewell island we burned tons of plastic bottles that were floating on the beach and in the water.
Since the first bonfire in Chub Cay, Bahamas, I learned from Ali to have a clean bonfire without leaving any evidence. First dig a deep hole in the sand on the beach, create the fire and when it's over, put it out with water, and then cover it totally with sand without leaving any kind of foot print. That way the nature is back to its original shape and beauty!

Farewell Island

Trash collected on the beach

If you are depended on Internet and planning to cruise the remote islands of Kuna Yala, plan a head for some other solution since it is more or less impossible to find Internet. I must add that all the schools in the populated islands have Internet but it might be difficult to access it at all times. We have gone to schools and tried to use the Internet, sometimes the weather has been cloudy and the solar panels couldn't put out enough energy to turn the modem on, other times there are so many kids with their small laptops that the speed can be slower than dial up, another time we had to go to school director's house and see if he could let us use the Internet, he said in half hour, after half hour we were informed that Internet wasn't working that day.
In Ustupu, you can find wireless Internet by the the airport at the power plant, additionally there is a wireless Panamanian network that occasionally works on a very low speed in some islands like Nargana by Rio Diablo. In other islands like Achitupu there should be Internet at the Hostels but the hostel was closed. The only reliable wifi is on Elephant island in West Lemmon Cays.

This is the path to the electricity plant by the airport in Ustupu, in search for wifi

One rewarding adventure has been rowing up and down the rivers. There are tons of rivers in Kuna Yala. The mouth to most of the rivers is shallow since debris, and tree logs get stock there, making it difficult for dinghies with outboards to enter. Once up the rivers you can find mango trees and load up with mangos. furthermore, the Kunas have their cemeteries on land by the rivers.

Cooling down and towing the dinghy in Rio Diablo

Nargana

 Local teenagers we met on the river

Kuna graves

Large tree trunks in the water, always keep an outlook to avoid them

Earthling cruised in San Blas for five weeks and anchored in seventeen different places from Isla Pinot on the South to Provenir on the North. 

Love from Kuna Yala

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