We're There

Oxford, MD - We left Beaufort, NC on May 11 and had rough seas rounding Cape Lookout. We motored into them with both sails. About six hours later, the sea calmed and we motored all evening, rounding Cape Hateras about 10 p.m. About 4 a.m., the wind came up and we sailed all morning, including a stretch of 20k wind where the boat speed reached 8k.



Captain Squall
We motored as we neared the ship channel for the Chesapeake Bay entrance, passing military boats along the way. The weather report had severe thunderstorm warnings out for counties in North Carolina and Virginia, but we weren't sure where those counties were; however, as we neared the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, the sky grew dark and lightening flashed. We took down the mainsail and hunkered down behind one of the tunnel abutments just in time for a downpour and lightening show. We watched the squall on the radar and were glad the anchor was holding. After the storm passed, a giant car carrier ship passing through the channel hailed us on the VHF to see if we were alright, which we were. Steve told me that he'd gotten the nickname captain squall in the Caribbean since they'd endured a squall four consecutive times he'd come on watch.

Narrow Channels
So, we got back under way up the bay to Cape Charles. The Chesapeake Bay is relatively shallow and towns along its coasts have dredged channels out to deep water. By this time it was dark and we had to navigate flashing red, white, and green lights and ranges to enter the harbor. Once there (of course, we'd never been there), it was just a small place with a town on one side and an industrial complex 100 yards across the harbor. We parked right in the middle.

Layers
By this time, we'd stopped using fans to keep cool while sleeping at night and gotten out the blankets again. We had to wear several layers top and bottom to keep warm. What happened to summer?

Oxford
We had a smooth sail that morning up the bay until the wind died and we motored into the dark.

Of course, as we neared the channel entrance to Oxford on the Tred Avon river, the wind came up again and we rolled our way passed buoys and lights and decided to seek a protected anchorage across the bay near a place called Cornersville. It was a good decision and we had a peaceful night's rest.

The next morning we arrived at Bachelor Point Marina, figured out how to tie up to a "single finger pier," and called it quits. Oxford is another historic east coast town dating back to the 1600s.



A Sailor Looks at Seventy
Steve has spent his sixties with Litha, and before her, with Beltane. They've kept him in great shape and he's enjoyed them immensely. I guess you could say unfathomably. He loves the navigation, the sailing, the sail tuning, the daily challenges, planning trips, maintaining and customizing each boat, repairing Litha's scars, the self sufficiency of it all. But 5600 miles in four straight months is enough.

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.

-- R. L. Stevenson

Cape Fear, Not

Beaufort, NC - We left Charleston May 5 after a day of rain. The weather called for south wind 10-15k so we thought we'd have a good shot at the place they call Cape Fear. And we did, but we motored for all but an hour of the overnighter to Beaufort, NC. As we rounded Cape Fear around 3 a.m., the sea was as calm as a mill pond and we even crossed the Frying Pan shoal off the cape.



At sunrise on the second day, Steve took this picture of a big thunderpooper that included lightening. He said he thought he'd have to call me up on deck to reef the mainsail, but thankfully, the cloud moved away from us.


As we entered the channel to Beaufort, I saw a couple very large fish, like killer whale types, and one that could've been a large shark. But maybe it was a dolphin. Fishing is big here and fish boats were powering past us in the narrow entrance channel. Lots of pictures fishtales in the bars and restaurants in town.

We've been following the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) but Litha's mast is a little too tall to pass beneath some of the bridges, so it's out of bounds for us. However, there are lots of boats around that seem to be going that way.

History
Beaufort is a historic town with a nice boardwalk, small folksy marinas, and barrier islands where wild ponies roam. There are concessions for deep-sea fishing and adventure sails. When we were on our way here with the waves just six feet away, I never thought of our trip in those terms.

Litha travels the same water, but every port we enter has a different flavor. Now, on the U.S. east coast, we're seeing lots of historical buildings proudly displaying plaques saying "Built in 1817," etc. We are spending several days here waiting for a cold front to pass before rounding Cape Hatteras. Grits are on the menu at the cafe ashore.

A smooth sea will never teach us how best to sail the boat.

Florida to South Carolina

We had a good sail up to Palm Beach and Elizabeth left to return home and life as usual. She'd had more than she expected of sailing -- well, we all had.


We were anchored in Lake Worth, the body of water separating the multi-million dollar homes with the their manicured boxwood walls on the east from the unwashed in West Palm Beach, maybe a mile away. Steve and I took a day for R and R and left for points north a day later.

That afternoon, 50 miles later, we entered the strong currents in the ship channel at Ft. Pierce, FL and anchored with several inches to spare near a bascule bridge on the Intracoastal Waterway. After I woke during the night hearing the boat scrape the bottom, I went back to sleep and awoke to hear Steve motoring out of the anchorage at 8 a.m. We'd had enough of shallow anchorages and headed for Charleston, SC. Why not? It's only three days away and the weatherman called for SE winds 10-15 knots and seas 3-4 feet.

We had a good -- if rolly -- sail, wing and wing for downwind, pulling in the headsail at about 4 a.m. each morning. Yes, that's three days and two nights of nonstop sailing with just Steve and I. I'd had enough of the roller coaster ride and very little sleep two days later when we got to Charleston May 2. We made good time with the Gulf Stream giving us a boost of a knot at least. The Gulf Stream is like a river anywhere from 4-50 miles off the east coast. Either it has worn a channel in the sea floor, or it follows a cliff already there. Anyway, it is a force of nature and it was going our way.


My parents drove up from Atlanta and met us for a first ever tour of Litha. And Steve got to tour Charleston for the first time.


From here it's just around two capes, Fear and Hatteras, to the Chesapeake. Why should I be afraid?

Storm at Sea

Palm Beach, FL - Elizabeth had never been aboard a sailboat before and our first day out of Key West was
spent motoring into 2-3 foot shallow seas. Not the best way to start, but we made it to Boot Key and had a good
anchorage next to the seven mile bridge. The next day called for too much wind from the wrong direction, so we stayed put and watched fishing
boats come and go, jet skis, played Scrabble, etc.


The next day we put up the mainsail and headed for Key Largo. The wind had shifted to the south and we had a
brisk sail that eventually died out and we motored into Rock Harbor at Rodriguez Island which the chart showed to
be about 10 feet deep. However, our depth guage read 4.7 when we dropped the hook. There was another, larger
sailboat anchored nearby and others headed in so we felt like they must know something. Anyway, it turned out we were at low tide and I dove down to see two feet of water under the boat and a soft, silty bottom. We were OK. By sunset, eight other cruising boats had anchored.

The next day called for a cold front to pass through and the sky was hazy. We headed out for Miami, ate lunch, it
started sprinking. In the distance we saw thunder and lightning, The Coast Guard issued a warning for severe
weather in the Dry Tortugas area, far away from us. The rain got harder. The water turned to blue from green. We pulled in the headsail. The wind increased and with it the waves. I got out the life jackets and stayed below to stay out of the rain. By this time, we were in a storm and being tossed about. Elizabeth was in the cockpit with Steve who was at the top of his game handling the rough seas and checking the radar for ships and the chartplotter for course and wind gage for direction. Elizabeth signaled that she was OK and I was strangely calm below deck. I didn't want to know the wind speed or see approaching waves. In the face of terror, you handle the matter at hand. The squall stayed with us, seeming to follow us, for an hour or more. This was no fun. The song in my head switched from "Cocomo" to the theme from "Gilligan's Island."

I later learned that the wind speed hit and surpassed 50k and the boat speed hit 9and 10k. The sky lightened, the rain stopped, and the sea calmed. Elizabeth is quite a trooper. Litha had no problem.

We were way off course and so it took several hours to reach Miami. We entered the main ship channel and anchored between Fisher Island and Virginia Key (after getting stuck in the mud), all alone, in between million dollar condos and a park with the Miami city backdrop behind us. Here's to safe harbors.

Hello and Goodbye

Key West, FL, USA - Gary and Clive had recently learned that British citizens have to have a visa to enter to the US on a private boat and getting one takes at least two weeks. Hmmmmm. Complications. So, all three blue-eyed sailors bid adieu to Litha in Cancun and Chris joined Steve for the journey to Key West.

They left April 19 and thankfully the trip was uneventful. No wind, so pretty boring, but the Florida Strait can be a disaster area, so no complaints either. Meanwhile, I had driven from Colorado to Atlanta, then to Orlando, FL to my friend Elizabeth's house. We drove to Key West and met Steve and Chris on April 21 when they checked in to U.S. customs and immigration in Key West.


We had lunch at Sloppy Joe's (farewell to $1 beers) and shared stories about our trips. Two days later, Chris left and Elizabeth and I boarded Litha to head for Miami.

Steve says the air is much dryer and cooler here in Florida than in the tropics where he's been the last 3 months. But Key West was a zoo of tourists and airplanes, cars, bikes, mopeds, noise. And very expensive. Welcome back to the U.S.A.

Very Hairy

Belize - (as Steve reported via Sailmail)
They checked in to Belize in Big Creek after Easter, then left Wednesday and went “through the reef.”

The next email said:

We had to go through the reef in a very narrow channel with another little reef just inside the cut. There were big swells pushing us in. The boat tried to surf. Very hairy!! A dive boat was guiding us in. At the bottoms of the swells the depth gage read just less than 2 meters. How was your day?




We are at the port of San Pedro which is on Ambergris. Is. From here we will go (plan to go) nonstop to Is. Mujeres.

It seems that many of the tiny cays are private. They often have houses that are two feet above water and not on pilings. Hurricanes?

Aduana
Checking in to customs and immigration in Central America is a pain. It has cost from around $400 to $12 per country, seemingly at the whim of the person in the office at the time. And to do it right, which not everyone does, you are supposed to check in with every country you enter. Then you need to obtain a zarpe that tells the day you are leaving and the next country you are going to. That's OK if you are flying, but not if you are on a little boat in the ocean at the mercy of the weather.

Escapades of the Blue-Eyed Sailors

Steve and crew sailed from the San Blas Islands to Isla Providencia, a tiny island owned by Columbia in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. They spent a week there among 16 other cruisers and snorkled, went diving, etc. I don't know; I wasn't there. It's all hearsay. Something about riding a scooter around the island, a beach party, and dancing with children. Steve did say that he saw the best coral reefs ever.




On March 23, they sailed for Roatan, Honduras, planning to stop at some tiny cays on the way for more diving, lobsters, etc.

From Roatan, they plan to sail to the Cancun, Mexico area. Then, on to Key West, Florida, and the American way of life.

The map's in your soul and the road's in your mind. (Dan Fogelberg)

San Blas Islands

March 14 - The San Blas Islands are a little known, independent territory along Panama´s north coast. At least I hadn't heard of them until a year ago. They are owned and populated by the Kuna indians where the men fish and the women sew and that´s the way they like it. Kuna Indian life - congresogeneralkuna.org



Tropical Thoughts
Overheated. Jump in.
4 words: ginger ale and rum.
Cruising - (v.) driving around looking for fun.
No-see-ums. Cutter. Deet. Off. Hydrocortisone cream. Gold Bond lotion. Balboa beer.
All a bar requires is one person with money and another person with beer (or rum).
Lobster season ended March 1.
Doing dishes in paradise.
Does anything ever dry?
Sweat. Hazy.



Was I really the only non-native on a little island with 2 Kuna indian women, a little boy, and a man asleep in a hammock Friday? (And their dog, Pula -- a sandy terrier).

Quiet roar of the sea. Rhythym of small waves rolling to shore.



Panama City
I've left the blue-eyed sailors and am flying home. They are heading north toward Belize (via San Adres and Providencia).

Panama City has a large international population and is a shopping destination for all of South America. In the mall while ago, I felt like the only American, and that was good for the perspective it gave me. In Spanish speaking coutries, "buenas" is the accepted greeting, at least in the morning, for "hello," "good morning," "good day." There's something good about saying "good" many times a day.

from The Moon and Sixpence:
...but the sea is so calm, so silent, so indifferent, that you are troubled suddenly by a vague uneasiness. Perhaps it is only by a kink in my nature, strong in me even in those days, that I felt in such an existence, the share of the great majority, something amiss. I recognised its social values, I saw its ordered happiness, but a fever in my blood asked for a wilder course. There seemed to me something alarming in such easy delights. In my heart was a desire to live more dangerously. I was not unprepared for jagged rocks and treacherous shoals if I could just have change -- change and the excitement of the unforeseen.
-- W. Somerset Maugham

Hello Caribe!

COLON, PANAMA 3/9/10 - We were ready for our canal pilot Monday at 10:00 and he showed up about noon. Victor guided us over to the Gatun Locks where we milled around for an hour waiting for a big container ship to make its journey through.



We entered with the red tour boat that we'd moored next to overnight. We were attached "mid-channel" this time, not rafted next to another boat. So each crew member had a line at a corner, captain was steering, and Victor was supervising and telling us when to take up or slack our lines. Canal workers alongside threw each line handler a "monkey fist" to tie to our bow lines and then haul our lines to the canal sides. They walked us through each of the three locks at Gatun. Check out the big ship behind us.


Shelter Bay Marina
After the last lock, we motored into the wind and waves. Yes, it was very windy again and the waves were crashing over the sea wall at the entrance to the canal "waiting room." We had lunch and Victor's ride came and took him away and we headed for Shelter Bay Marina, a slip, and some R&R. We're in the Caribbean Sea now. Wow! What a journey.

Canal Web Cams:
http://www.pancanal.com/eng/multimedia/index.html

Canal Transit

Panama - The Panama Canal Authority pilot, Armado, was dropped off on Litha Sunday, March 7, at 8:45 a.m. We were glad to leave the busy, rocking, and rolling anchorage.



We motored to the Miraflores lock about 7 miles away and rafted next to a triple decker tour boat full of Americans, some from Florida. Litha was outfitted with tires in black garbage bags serving as fenders, and even though Steve was concerned with having enough room for the spreaders in the 15-25k wind, we did just fine. It was so nice for me to have Dan, Gary, and Clive aboard to handle the lines and, following Armado's instructions, Steve did a great job motoring alongside the tour boat with all the turbulence from its prop and the wind.


We snapped lots of photos and listened to the tour boat's loudspeaker giving details of the lock, canal, etc. as the lock was flooded. There are two locks at Miraflores and once we were through them, we motored up Miraflores Lake and waited (in the windy, wavy conditions) to go through the Pedro Miguel locks.

Pedro Miguel Locks
As we were coming alongside the same tour boat, this time on our starboard side, one of our tires caught on the tour boat and pulled until it bent the stanchion it was tied around and its line snapped, releasing the tire. Well, the boat was OK and we have a replacement stanchion.


After the Pedro Miguel locks, we had a long day of motoring through the Gaillard Cut and across Gatun Lake. Armado left us about 5:00 and we were moored next to a big, fancy tour boat just outside the Gatun locks. It was a peaceful area and the wind had either died or we were sheltered from it. Realizing we were in fresh water for a change, we all took a dip and bathed. The water temperature was perfect and felt so soft. We grilled steaks and were about to eat in the cockpit when it began to rain. So we ate inside.






Chocolate Cake?
After the dishes, we were listening to the howler monkeys and watching the tour boat next door when Dan noticed one of their dinghies was drifing away. Gary whistled over to alert them, they retrieved it, and Clive asked if they had any postries to share (for our reward). They brought some sodas. We were hoping for chocolate cake. Oh well.



Midnight Rendezvous
Gary and Clive are excellent Scrabble players and we played until about 10 p.m. At midnight, we were awakened by a lot of yelling outside and got up to see two other sailboats -- one small boat mooring on the same buoy as us, another big boat wanting to raft to us. The pilot on the big one was very vociferous, especially for a sleepy bunch of sailors.

Anyway, they all left at 6 a.m. and we got up to undo the lines when we heard the engine from a tug outside (that was bringing a pilot for each boat). Another boat had also joined overnight. These were all canal transitters heading for the Pacific. But we won't see that ocean for a while.

Take this trip yourself... Litha is now (2017) for sale in the Chesapeake. We'll be glad to share what we learned.

$40 Laundry

March 1, 2010 - Panama City
Apparently, after the U.S. gave control of the canal to the Panamanians in 2000, the Chinese have been buying up the cargo facilities on either side of the canal. There is a large Chinese population in Panama City.

We found few services close to the anchorage, so had to taxi our huge load of laundry to a lavanderia and were told it would be ready at 4:30 and would cost $21. That's a lot for laundry but we had a lot of dirty clothes and some other errands to run with the taxi. Anyway, when we returned for the laundry, the Chinese clerk wanted $40 for it. We paid, Steve told the taxi driver who became incensed and went to the police. The police went back to the laundromat with us and after lots of arguing and tension, we split the difference and got back 10 of the $40. We now have clean, but expensive, clothes, sheets, and towels. There is more than one divide in Panama.

You'd think with 30 boats in the harbor at time in one of 2 anchorages, there would be a laundromat, cafe, wifi, drug store, etc. close at hand. No. It's a mile walk to the wifi cafe and store, and a bus or taxi for laundry. I'm looking forward to the first world again.

New Crew
Gary and Karen flew home to Wisconsin the first week of March. Three new crew -- Gary from England (and Madeira), Dan from U.S. (most recently Orlando, FL), and Clive from Spain (but currently residing in Panama) -- joined us for the next leg of our trip. To keep matters simple, they all go by the name "Brian" so we all don't have to remember new names in a pinch. Future blog entries will feature escapades of the blue-eyed sailors. (Steve's gray eyes turn blue in a blue environment, such as the ocean.)

Panama

Feb. 2010 - Our overnight sail from Puntarenas, C. R. to Puerto Armuelles, Panama was bliss. It took 36 hours and we were eating spaghetti in the cockpit when a panga pulled alongside and asked for the captain. The port captain, aduana, and a few others were aboard and wanted to check us in to Panama. They took our passports and told Steve to meet them in the officina at 8 the next morning. So, we all had a good night's rest and Gary took Steve to the old banana pier to walk to town in the morning.

Well, it cost about $300 all told, but we got some fuel and food (pineapples, watermelon, mango, bananas) and after a dip in the turquoise water, left for Isla Parida. There was a small resort there and a huge yacht anchored in the well protected bay.


The next day, we had a good sail to Isla Seca, where a "resort" of high-tech tents was situated among the tropical jungle. We swam a little, but didn't walk the white sand beach.

The next day, we sailed to Coiba, the largest island in MesoAmerica. We anchored off an idyllic island straight out of Gilligan's Island. Ahhhh! Watch the current when you dive in. The park "rangers" came over in the morning and took the captain to their office to pay the $120 park fee. Ouch! But we dinghied to the island, snorkeled, and came back to the boat in the rain. It was a long shower and washed the salt off the boat -- and us. Can you feel the humidity?

Continuing toward Panama City, the Cap'n said we'd sail overnight to the harbor just before Punta Mala, the bad place. But the wind came up, and the sun set, and the waves built and we decided to head for Bahia Naranja. Of course it was unlit and the wind was 18-20k and we were rocking and rolling. Ugh. But we found the right spot, got the sails down, and anchored in a snug harbor for the night.

Next stop, Benao, a surfing hotspot, not that it mattered to us. But what a nice surprise to find $6 scrambled eggs and bacon ashore at a nice hotel, a hard sand beach with a surfers hangout at the other end with $1 beers. Another Hallberg-Rassy, "Ever After," showed up just before we left at 4:00. They were from Finland and would soon be heading to the South Pacific.

We motored around Punta Mala (chili for dinner) with about 8-10k wind and calm seas, thank the gods. Everything felt damp even though the moon was in and out of the clouds showing us big freighters far off in the shipping channels heading to and from the canal.

We landed in the Las Perlas islands and eventually made our way to Contadora, the closest in the archipelago to Panama City. More current to deter swimming, but fancy houses on the beach. Steve and I went ashore and walked about a mile and that's all there was to the island: an airstrip, Restaurant Romantico, fancy hotels, a mini super (with more $1 Balboa beer), and a little swimsuit shop.

Tsunami
Lest I forget, we awoke one morning (the morning after the earthquake in Chile which we didn't know about) and saw a lot of activity with one of the boats. Then, the woman onboard starting blowing a horn and then a whistle. We turned on the VHF and heard another boat ask if there were any concerns about a tsunami in our area from the earthquake in Chile. Soon every boat was taking up anchor and heading out, us included. But there was no problem. We milled around a few hours until we got word that any tidal activity would be minor and over by 9 o'clock our time.

Sail to Panama City


Feb. 28 - we left the anchorage at 9:20 and had an awesome sail to Panama City. 20k wind, 3-4 seas to starboard, one reef in the main; we went 8 knots and got to Panama City in 5 hours with no engine and lots of cool breeze. Sitting on the high side was pretty comfortable. Thus the champagne. We are in the La Playita Anchorage awaiting paperwork and a crew change.
08`54.347N
79`31.547W
Aloha.

I'd Like to Sail Away

I am writing this on Litha in Panama. Between now and the last writing, these things have occurred with Litha:

Feb. - Mar. 09 - Sailed from La Paz to San Carlos, Mexico; put in dry dock.
Sept. 09 - weathered Hurricane Jimena in San Carlos.
Nov. 09 - sailed back to La Paz
Jan. 2010 - sailed to Zihuatanejo, Huatulco; no problem in Tejuantepec; arrived in Quetzal, Guatemala
Feb. '10 - Papagayo: mainsail shredded in 30k winds and 15' seas; arrived Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

The new mainsail arrived on Feb. 15 and we left on Feb. 17 for Panama. Just a note to other cruisers: Puntarenas is no cruising port. It is a shallow estuary that requires careful maneuvering. Checking into customs, etc. is 3 days. Use Koki (Jorge on Ch. 16) for this. Getting fuel is a chore. Use Koki for that also.

We've had a pleasant sail to Puerto Armuelles where we are anchored at the old banana pier. Thanks for fans, freezer, watermaker, and the new sail that performed beautifully. We just won't go into the details.

Quetzal, Puntarenas, and now Pto. Armuelles are all industrial harbors. This has not been a pleasure cruise so far.

Man, is it hot! The thermometer has read between 85 and 95 at various times on the day and night. The humidity is like a pitcher of water. I feel like a wet, greasy rag.