Waiting in Panama!
Bamboozle
Jamie and Lucy Telfer
Sat 25 Mar 2006 21:04
|
We arrived in Panama on 17th of March after a
swift but uneventful passage
from Bonaire. The conditions on this trip are often uncomfortable at this time of year as the strong winter trades and seas funnel down into this corner of the Caribbean causing gale force winds and short steep seas particularly off the coast of Colombia . We benefited from a timely lull in the weather and had winds of between 20 and 30 knots all the way which helped us cover the 740 miles in just over 4 days with "Otto the Autohelm" doing most of the work. We were travelling over the full moon which on such clear nights gave almost enough light to read by in the cockpit but given the number of ships heading this way we had to keep a sharp lookout and even used the radar more than usual as we approached the coast. Entering the breakwater of Colon, the city at the north end of the canal, was quite a special moment. We have spent so long talking about getting here it was quite a surprise to actually be here and having spoken to port control we followed a huge container ship into the anchorage and joined the other 40 or so boats moored close to the Yacht club. Given the amount of commercial shipping that uses the canal small sailing boats are hardly a priority so we have to wait in turn to be fitted around the usual business of the canal which at this time of year usually means a wait of anything up to 3 weeks for a slot. We have been now given the date for our transit, the 4th April so now we wait! Unfortunately Colon is not a nice place, It is dangerous, dirty and structurally on the verge of collapse. The only city on the planet I have ever been to that is nearly as bad is in Mozambique and there they had a thirty year civil war as an excuse. We have enlisted the help of a taxi driver named Dracula to look after us when in town. He earned his nickname when he bit someone in a fight so is good to have around on our
side!
Fortunately the shopping is better than we have seen for ages which is lucky as we are now stocking up for the next six month and each day Lucy returns laden with supplies. Even with only two of us on board we are rapidly running out of space to store things, so much so that the starboard aft cabin is now known as "the garage" as everything from long life milk to autopilot spares waits for a more permanent home. We have also completed a transit of the canal on a friends boat "Invictas Reward" as linehandlers. This has given us a chance to see how things work but we will fill you in more on this when our turn comes and we venture across the continental divide with Savoir Vivre in a week or two's time. |
