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| Chichime |
I thought this would be my final blog entry for
this sailing season; however, we had some excitement while in Banedup in the
East Holandes Cay, so I thought I would fill you in along with a YouTube clip
that was created by another boat in the anchorage.
After dinner, while Mel was washing up (he is the
main dishwasher while we are on Passages), I was sitting in the cockpit like I
usually do, enjoying the serenity of the anchorage and ‘swinging on the
anchor’, when I noticed a ketch – a yacht with two masts – one is bigger than
the other , coming into the huge anchorage from what is referred to as the Hot
Tub. The Hot Tub is an anchorage behind a small island, surrounded by coral
reefs. I commented that it was rather late to be sailing around in this area,
as there are coral reefs all around and it is best to approach any anchorage
when there is good daylight. There is an unwritten ‘rule’ by the locals to be
in an anchorage by 6.00pm at the latest.
Little did we know when we woke up the following morning, Saturday, that the same yacht had grounded itself quite badly on a reef. Nobody knows exactly how it happened and that is not really the point as one NEVER wants to see any vessel stuck, lopsided on a reef at the mercy of the water and
waves.
By 7.00am there were quite a few dinghies trying
desperately to help the lone sailor – a mature German sailor. After about two
hours of trying to do all that could be done and while the tide was in, it was
soon realised that a stronger, more powerful boat was needed to pull the yacht
off the reef and the best time was later in the day at about 4.00pm, when the next
tide was in. In this area the morning tides are higher than the afternoon
tides, but the tidal range is minimal.
As is the norm now – fortunately or unfortunately
– WhatsApp is the way of communicating with everyone in the area, i.e., if you
have joined the San Blas WhatsApp group.
(BTW – it is driving us a bit crazy with all the messages,
so we have turned off the notifications.)
A message was put out for people to help on the boat
with winching, etc., and not to bring their dinghy to the boat - Mel put his
hand up as we have had a few issues with our outboard motor. It is just one of
those things that happens when living on a boat and is a whole other story
which I will not bore you with, other than saying Mel has been doing LOTS of
rowing!!!
Just before 4.00pm, Mel was collected and taken to the stranded boat. I was watching what was going through the binoculars from Passages and all I can say is I saw Mel winching away (against an anchor
they had put out to kedge the boat off). He was exhausted when he returned to Passages. Well, the good news was the yacht was pulled off the reef with minimal damage – Luckily it was an old boat with a full keel. We can be snobs when referring to different makes/types of boats.
Mel said the owner of the boat was quite traumatised
as he thought he was about to lose his boat for good. It was wonderful to see how many people
galvanised to assist and offered help afterwards, making sure he was okay.
👉YouTube clip of vessel being pulled off the reef.
Mel can be seen towards the end throwing lines to a dinghy as he was ‘stationed' on the side that was heeling over into the water.
Thankfully our last day in the beautiful
anchorage of the East Holandes was uneventful.
On Monday morning 9 March, we decided to leave Banedup, East Holandes for the East Lemmon Cays, which was 11 nmiles away. We sailed the whole way which was wonderful and reminded us of all the positives of sailing and having a sailboat. It is quite amazing, as can be seen (hopefully) in the photos of the different depths. For example, on entering this anchorage, we went from 45 – 50 metres (dark blue)
to 5 metres (turquoise) below the keel in a blink of an eye.
While we were here, we were visited by Chandra –
sv/Serendipity, also from Fremantle and who we had met while in the East
Holandes – Banedup. We rowed over to his lovely cat for sundowners.
We stayed in the East Lemmons for 3 days, then
sailed the very short distance to Chichime, which is our final anchorage in the
Guna Yala/San Blas Islands.
Chichime is the first island/anchorage in the Guna Yala Islands that most people anchor in when they sail from Colon, Panama or from Colombia because it is a very open and wide anchorage and it is closest to Porvenir, one of the two entry points to Panama in the Guna Yala. The other being further SE
in Puerto Obaldia, where we ‘checked in’. There were lots of tourist boats with day trippers, coming and going from the mainland to the island. We enjoyed our time here despite the anchorage being a little rollie, as the waters were beautiful and clear and so refreshing as the heat and humidity has been quite relentless (and it’s their winter). We had lunch at one of the restaurants, although we are starting to get a bit tired of deep-fried chicken, rice or plantains and a very small salad.
After three nights at Chichime, we saw there was
a good weather window to sail west along the Caribbean coast of Panama as we
would now be out of the Guna Yala territory. We left early on Saturday morning
(March 14th) arriving in Linton Bay anchorage at just before 4.00pm.
As we were anchoring, Jeroen and Carin on sv/White Pearl came passed us in
their dinghy. It is always great seeing familiar faces.
Linton Bay has a marina and boatyard, plus one of the best chandleries in the area, which always gets
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| Linton Bay. |
Mel excited. We spent quite a while in the chandlery as there is always something to buy for Passages.
We had dinner at a local restaurant at the marina
with Jeroen and Carin – this time we had a tasty Thai Chicken curry for a
change.
While we were in Linton Bay, we noticed a cat
with two kangaroos on either side of the boat, entering the anchorage. The name
of the boat was Billaroo, and the occupants were Sue and Kerry from Mackay,
Queensland. They came over to Passages and introduced themselves and asked if
we would like to join them for dinner that evening at the next anchorage where
there is a small marina, called Panamarina. To get to this anchorage, we went
in Billaroo’s dinghy and travelled through the mangroves. It was quite special
and a little hairy especially in the darkness, but we had a lovely meal and
evening.
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| Portabello anchorage. |
The following day, we sailed to Portabello, which is the next main anchorage along the coast and the last one before the entrance to the Panama Canal at Bahia Limon and where Shelter Bay Marina is located. Portabello was celebrating their 429th birthday while we were there. It is quite a historical place as Christopher Columbus used it as a trading town. It has an old fort and Customs House, all very dilapidated though. Early in the morning and as the sun was setting, we would hear the guttural sounds of the howler monkeys. The bird life in this area was quite prolific as well.
Portabello is also well known among the sailing
community for having one of the best pizza restaurants with a dinghy dock in
Panama. Naturally we spent some time in town and had to try out the pizza
restaurant. We were not disappointed. The only downside was the fact that the
weather was awful and Mel had to row. When it rains here in Panama, it buckets
down like a huge body of water falling from the sky. It is quite incredible. A
positive is it isn’t cold but a lovely temperate after the rain.
We spent 3 nights in Portabello and then sailed
our last sail of the season to the anchorage outside of Shelter Bay Marina.
This anchorage can become quite busy as many boats that are making the Canal
crossing, wait here for the advisor who must be onboard your boat, when going
through the Canal.
On our approach to the Panama Canal, we had never seen so many container ships or tankers anchored. It was fascinating to see and hear on the radio the organisation and the flow of these huge vessels,
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| Outside the marina with a few big ships. |
entering and departing the Panama Canal. We knew we would have to radio Cristóbal Signal Station asking for permission to enter Bahai Limon and the breakwater leading to the Panama Canal.
When we did this, the official just said to watch
out for any ships entering and exiting the entrance, as if we wouldn’t be
watching out for these huge vessels. On our AIS, we could see the movement of
some ships, so waited for one to exit the breakwater, before we made our mad
dash across the entrance and safely to the anchorage. There were quite a few
ships anchored close to our anchorage as we could hear their generators humming
along.
We had decided to arrive at the anchorage outside
the marina the day before we had booked to stay at the marina, so we could make
an early start into the marina, as we knew we had quite a lot of work to do on
Passages preparing her for storage. While we were in Shelter Bay Marina, we met
up with Iris and Peter sv IP – we last saw them when they were leaving Santa
Marta, Colombia for Panama, and once again Jeroen and Carin sv White Pearl and
Sue and Kerry sv Billaroo.
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| The entrance to Shelter Bay Marina - Mel was at the top of the mast. |
In Shelter Bay Marina there is a special vibe as many or most of the boats in the marina are preparing to cross the Panama Canal or have just completed their crossing. An indication that a boat would soon be making the crossing were the big fenders and bright blue lines on the vessel. The fenders would either be bright fluorescent red or white. Plus, there would be many trolley loads of supplies being carted to the vessel.
So here we are at the end of the sailing season.
Passages is back on the hard with all her covers on to protect her from the
sun. We always have such mixed feelings leaving Passages as she is our home for
half the year and we do worry whether we have prepared her enough to withstand
the weather conditions, wherever she is. Panama experiences a lot of rain and
the humidity is oppressive. We have organised someone to check her twice a
month, making sure the dehumidifier is working and that she is okay.
I intend writing one more blog post, reflecting
on our sailing season – which has been a bit of a challenge, particularly
keeping the blog going without Starlink but…….
So, until next time…..
Take care, keep well, and stay safe.
Best wishes, always
Mel and Caryn
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| Children having a wonderful time in Chichime. |
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| Passages on her way to the storage yard. |
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| Shelter Bay Marina from top of the mast. |
