June, 2010

Across Ecuador
We got the first glimpse of the spectacular countryside from the 8 hr bus ride from Bahia to Quito, also the first cool weather we had in a long, long while. The beautiful colonial city, the old town's narrow streets are full of restored churches, monasteries, plazas, also car exhaust fumes, yelling street vendors, streets full of people. It was fun to be in a city for a while, but Andes countryside was our favorite. And what a countryside that is, full of gently rolling hills in contrast to high volcanoes (mostly its' peaks hidden in clouds, although we did manage to see some snow), rivers, waterfalls. We were amazed, how the agriculture is carried out high on the mountains, amazed how farmers can work on such steep hills, where we got out of breath just hiking up for some spectacular view. We enjoyed steaming thermal baths in Banos, saw many, many waterfalls, and on the day we were leaving, Volcano Tungurahua surprised everybody with a first serious eruption since 1999, and when we arrived to Guaranda, over 100 km away, the whole town was covered in volcanic ashes, all face masks sold out, although at the end we managed to buy some. Air traffic was stopped from Guayaguil for several days and we just hope there won't be any repeated eruption and the wind won't carry ashes in the same direction, as that is the airport we'll be flying from to visit back home. I'll be leaving in few days, while I have to admit I am quite jealous of J-P's plan to go back to a beautiful Cuenca – the colonial jewel of the south (with international restaurants, art galleries, cool cafes and bars) - to take 2 or 3 weeks of Spanish course. We spent there several days, enjoyed some good food, and everywhere we went in Ecuador we really took advantage of almuerzos, which means lunch, where you receive big plate of soup, main dish, could be any meat or fish, or in case of Cuenca also vegetarian dish, juice and often a desert, all this for under $2!! We visited many colorful markets, where the prices are cheap and one can get any local craft, but we were disappointed in the materials they use for textile, mostly synthetics rather than natural fabric. But we weren't disappointed in the countryside and when we'll be back from Canada, we intent to explore this diversified country some more, before our visa here will expire.

May, 2010

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador
Our pilot-adviser finally arrived as the sun was going down, although we have been scheduled to be ready to depart “the flats” as they call the waiting area for the yachts crossing the Panama Canal, by 16:00 hrs, and immediately we proceeded towards Gatun Locks. There was just one other sailboat crossing that day, and as for once we were the bigger ship, after rafting together (up to three boats can be tied together), we became the tow boat for going through the locks, with our military-style adviser Emile taking control of both sailboats' safety. Once through, with the adviser gone, attached to the mooring on Gatun Lake where we were to spend the night, our job for the day wasn't finished yet, as we had to take care of and feed our four hired line handlers, as we had to do for the next day as well, supplying everybody with endless drinks and food (my job!). By 06:30 hrs our new adviser for the day arrived and each sailboat under its own power crossed the lake, where once again tied together, under cloudy skies, heavy rain and lightening we passed through Miraflores Locks and by 15:00 hrs finally welcomed the Pacific Ocean, leaving the storm behind us. We spent three days in Panama City, provisioning and visiting and also took an advantage of an excellent health care in Panama to visit the dermatologist as well as the dentist. With clean teeth and J-P's two suspicious looking moles removed, we raised the sails first for Perlas Islands, than for Ecuador. We had a very little wind for the first four days of our trip, enjoying visits by dolphins in the calm sea, observing turtles floating by, birds (hey, we even had a hitchhiker with us for the whole night, one with bright red legs, first pruning itself thoroughly and than sleeping on our balcony, taking off again with the first rays of sun), flying fish, night sky full of bright stars reflecting in mirror-like Pacific, its surface only disturbed by long gentle swells. Unexpected patch of bad weather heading our way, and after some reflection, made us turn Nikan towards the Colombian coast, which gave us a chance to see a rarely visited port by any sailboat, and also the bustling Tumaco City, full of people, cars, motorcycles, fumes...and to buy some fresh fruit and vegetables. After five days we lifted the anchor again and two days later we reached our original destination of Puerto Amistad in Bahia de Caraquez. Right now, anchored in the river, surrounded by mountains, with some refreshing breeze, lower humidity than we ever had for this past year in tropics, we wait to be cleared by the customs, so we can go and explore this town and beyond.

March, 2010

Shelter Bay Marina, Colon
Owning is maintaining! This means once a year Nikan has to be hauled-up and all her systems have to be checked and revised. Just to give you an idea:
• Propulsion: engine, sails, winches, running and standing rigging, mast, propeller
• Ground tackle: chain, anchor lines, windlass
• Energy: solar panels, wind generator, alternator
• Hull: anti-fouling, hull and deck top coat, deck anti-slip paint
• Interior: complete spring clean-up
• Mobility: dingy and outboard engine
• Safety: life raft, flares, all instruments inspection
• Future: spare parts inventory and renewal
Living on the hard adds some complications in this hot and humid environment - the inboard bathroom and sinks are out of order, boat access is by a ladder only (lots of! up and down), dust everywhere – and so we try to limit this time to minimum, which is not always easy, as the speed of having anything done is not on a par with North America (endless phone calls, suppliers' follow-ups, internet research and lots of diplomacy is required to get parts on time and services performed. But after a bit more than two weeks we are glad to report Nikan is back in the water. Of course there are still things that remain to be done, but we can now start to organize the transit through the Panama Canal and to get prepared for our next destination – Ecuador.

February, 2010

Colon, Panama

4 ½ months since the last entry and we are once again back in Colon, a jump-off point on the Caribbean side of Panama for crossing the canal. Nikan is going on dry and we have to tackle a long list of preventive maintenance projects J-P prepared, besides the annual "spring cleaning", as everything is saturated and covered with salt. The first two months I spent in Toronto, helping my mother with her rehabilitation after the stroke she suffered. Meanwhile J-P sailed alone to Cartagena, Colombia, where he waited for me very patiently, taking long walks in this very beautiful colonial city. Very hot and humid during the day, pleasantly cool in the evening, as I had the chance to find out during the three days I spent there, after I joined him there by mid December, and by which time he was anxious to move on. The last two months, without any Internet anywhere, we cruised through the San Blas archipelago of over 340 islands, many uninhabited, full of coconut palms and sand beaches, with some unbelievably beautiful “National Geographic” snorkeling. Others, home to semi-autonomous Kuna Indians, who have best preserved their culture and traditions out of all the tribes in the Americas. They believe, that money changes one's way of being (selfish, greedy...etc.), although today, even in the most traditional villages we saw signs of civilization one needs money for (solar panels, cell phones, battery radios...and other little pleasantries of modern life). Until a few years ago coconuts were the official means of exchange, now they are sold to Colombian trading boats one sees all the time passing by. Another mean of making money is by selling to cruisers “molas”, which are beautiful traditional blouses Kuna women wear. The most famous part of this dress are the panels that decorate the front and the back of the blouse, made by cutting and sawing different layers of colourful cloth into all kinds of figurative or geometric designs (ex.: see the header of this blog). San Blas is a very enjoyable cruising ground in calm water, heavy swells stopped by the many very healthy reefs, with picturesque islands, where the traditional villages blend into surrounding landscape. Kuna people are always polite and friendly with a big smile. Although Panama is a very interesting country, after the nine months we spent here it's time to move on.

October, 2009

Shelter Bay, Panama
Howling monkeys are everywhere. A lonely sloth, hanging on a branch across the little stream that we are exploring on the dinghy is so close, we have to watch not to bump into him-her? Parrots are screeching as they fly from one bank of the river to the other one, always in pairs. And we even have a bit of scare, twice, when we chance on a snake, which quickly disappears, probably quite scared of us. There is an atmosphere of mystic silence, except for the cries of wild birds and animals. This is what we imagined jungle and tropics should look like and we are not disappointed. This is the Rio Chagres, a beautiful tropical river surrounded by virgin rainforest, where we anchored for few days, after an overnight sail from uninhabited island (Escudo de Veraguas). One can go up the river for about six miles, up to the dam, which was built in 1910 to create the Gatun Lake, which supplies the water for the locks of the Panama Canal. When our food supply gets low, we get moving back to civilization and now we are in Shelter Bay Marina, with a restaurant, a swimming pool and a daily bus which takes us to food stores in Colon. Reputation of this city, one of the world’s largest ports, is that it’s a surprise, if you don’t get mugged at knifepoint! We are advised visitors should have no problem – as long as they take taxis everywhere and never set foot on the streets. So we follow this advice, as do all the other boaters, and contribute to the economy of this town full of poverty in many taxi fares. We are (or rather J-P is) installing a wind generator to increase our energy production, so we can play music, make water, and have all the lights on at the same time! Of course he has to change the oil in the engine, fix the outboard engine where everything is plugged from the dirty gas they sold us here, and do all the other man stuff (sometimes it pays to be a woman!). Overall we saw many beautiful places since leaving Bocas archipelago and we are looking forward to meeting some new fellow cruisers at the potluck organized in this marina. And if J-P would want, he could even meet some non-smoking friends in the daily afternoon volleyball game!

September, 2009

Isla Bastimentos and around, Panama
The famous strawberry poison-dart frog, also called red frog, can be hard to spot because of its small size (18-25 mm), but once you see one, they suddenly seem to be everywhere. We see lots of birds, parrots especially get very busy towards the end of the day, but we haven’t spotted any sloth yet, although they had been spotted where we go just seconds before we arrive. These supposedly slow-moving animals are very fast in our case! We had some nice visit on surrounding islands, more as observers than participants. While we could stroll on the beech of Zapatillo Island (part of the national park) during the day, at night only the park ranger is allowed and we could observe him from Nikan as he made his tour every night with the red light checking for endangered species of turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. In Bluefield Lagoon, where we stayed for three days anchored in the well protected bay, with just few huts scattered here and there, we observed the locals of Ngöbe-Buglé tribe holding onto their culture, their daily life so different from ours, basically spending their days in gathering food, as the little store they can paddle to in their wooden cayocos, has really only few necessary basics, and there is no road to bring civilization closer anywhere close by. Fishing is the whole day occupation, as is washing clothes by hand. Back here in Bastimentos we are back to civilization with a great Thai restaurant, with a 100% real Thai cook. Most of the population here, descendants from Jamaica, who came here originally to work on banana plantations, speaks English. The town is quiet and clean, with laundry service and Internet as well. We are patiently waiting for the parcel to bring our new sail bag (the old one got burned by the tropical sun) and than we will move west towards Colon. Did you know that Panama has set aside more land as National Parks and protected forests than Costa Rica, so famous a destination for thousands of ecotourists?

August, 2009

Bocas Del Toro, Panama
We are leaving this Saturday (August 15) to explore the islands in Bocas del Toro archipelago. There are eight major islands, 51 cays and over 200 minor islets. Till now, since arriving from Jamaica, we haven’t moved from this marina on Carenero Island. Being at dock means upkeep and repairs and we are putting the final touches to Nikan. J-P installed the two sliding hatches we brought with us from Quebec to the dodger, which will make our cockpit breezy and fresh in this tropical hot and humid climate. We already notice the difference, although it’s open-close-open… as the rain comes and goes. It’s a rainy season now, although we are told rains were six weeks late this year and while we were in Quebec, there was rationing of water, it even went so far as no shower. Now it rains almost every day, sometime with violent storms, I still have laundry to do but am not afraid for lack of water. There are no rivers on this island and all the water the habitants use here comes from rain. We are looking forward to be at anchor again, to swim, snorkel and fish. All this is not possible right here, the water around marina, as the village itself, is quite dirty. We are going to miss the daily access of Internet and the library, although the owner of this marina doesn’t like women’s books or movies, so mostly I had to settle for murder, espionage, action. Right now we are here three boats from Canada, few from Argentina, rest is from USA. There is another marina on Colon Island and many other boats at anchor. I am sure we will cross some of these people again, everybody is heading more or less in the same direction.