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

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.