Penguin
Tue 11 Apr 2006 22:22
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It has been a while since our diary has been kept
up, there Is one
main reason in that Norman who has been handling
all things to do
with computers and communications has made the
decision that
Panama was going to be his final destination on
this trip, I was
very sad to here his plans but it seems now that he
has so many
good friends back home and it is time to start
things new back there.
I am very gratful that he was interested
enough to be apart of our
journeys over the last few years. He has
contributed an enormous
amount of work and time to getting this trip
together, and anyone
who has sailed with him knows how great it is to
have him there when
things get difficult. So Norman you are a
star and thanks for everything
good luck with your plans back home.
The penguin crew list has been a little fluid of
late but has now settled,
Scottish Colin has signed up untill New Zealand
where he will have to
rejoin the normal world and go back to work as a
radiographer, he has
been back packing around the World for the last two
years.
Niamh has settled in well, as long as Penguin
stops at all the top dive
sites along the way she seems very content, looks
like she enjoyes the
sailing too. Colin has been surfing and
Niamh diving during our visit to
Galagoes so it seems that i am providing a very
good taxi service.
Hopfully one of them will take over from Norm with
the diary. We have
also suffered from a computer melt down, my second
hand IBM laptop
was unable to handle all the programs being run on
Normans machine
so after a number of attempts at getting things to
work we have given
up and bought a new one in Panama.
So now for the Diary.
During the wait after registering at colon for our
transit,we decided that
a visit to the San Blas Islands was not to be
missed. So we sailed back
out of Colon into the wind for a 70mile trip back
along the coast. We
arrived at Chichime at 18.30.It is made up of
two islands surrounded by
coral reef, there are a few Kuna Indians
living in huts and lots of coconut trees.
Once we had dropped anchor in the lagoon we
new we would not be
moving on untill we had to. The native people were
very friendly and
enjoyed selling there hand sewn molas also lobster
fish and crab were
all under $5. Norman had arranged to do the
canal transit as a line handle
on a swiss boat so the time to leave came quickly.
Luckly for him I managed
to arrange one final river excursion, so after
going to the main village and
getting the Chiefs consent we were collected at
0545 one morning to travle
by dug out canoe up the river Mandinga. By the
looks we had from the other
local canoe travlers this was the first gringo that
had been up there. After
about 2 1/2 hrs of Indiana Jones adventure are
destination a Kuna village
was still at least a further 2hrs away, so we
stopped for a drink of coke
admitted defeat and started the trip back to the
boat. We got back to the
boat at 1400 and by1500 we had said our goodbyes
and thank youes and
were back on our way to Colon. Next day we got
Norman to his rendevous
for the start of his transit at 1500. Five days
later it would be Penguin going
through but his flight had been booked.The swiss
boat was nearly swamped
by all norms luggage but Penguin is now floating on
her Waterline. So time
for are sad farwell very brief mercifully its
embarrising to see grown men all
emoitional.
No sooner was norm out of his cabin when Niamh
moved in Perks, of service,
Colin when he arrived was blissfully unaware and
settled to his new cabin with
relish. His previous night had been spent sleeping
on the roof of a hostle so I
suppose the new bunk looked like the
Ritz.
Between us and our taxi driver/shipping agent
Ellington {Clint Eastwood on speed
ex US marine] we managed to get all things done for
the transit, which started
at 1830 on the 25april. Ellington looked after us
well whilst in Colon, it is very
run down with a lot of squaller most of the people
are extremly friendly and helpful
but it is notorious for yachties getting mugged so
you have to be carefull. The
Buildings were all built 60~90 years ago for the
shipping companys, they now
stand as a splendid monument in their decaying
state to a past era.
So at last with a crew of 4 the pilot and
myself we started the transit at 1830,
this meant going through the first set of three
locks under flood light, we rafted
up with 2 other boats and went into the locks
behind a large ship the gates were
closed behind us the bells sounded and the water
started boubling up around us
as we were lifted. Contary to the impression given
by the photo which is obviously
a very clever fake the skipper remained extremly
cool and everything went very
smoothly.By 2200 we were tied to a mooring bouy at
the lake listening to the
wildlife around us. The pilot was due to meet us
again at six in the morning,
because he was a bit late we managed a quick swim
then it was off down
the lake to get to the locks on the Pacific
side for the decent. The lake is
a man made flooded river it provides the water for
the locks and has still
the remains of the trees sticking up above the
water. Once again all went
well, during the decent we were able to see the
scale of the structure which
was built and still operates after 100 or so years
very impressive.
By two o clock we had cleared the last lock and
were heading out towards
the Pacific under the bridge of The Americas
joining north to south, and
that was that a big mile stone past, the only way
back was through the Pacific.
We have now done our first 1000 miles into
the Pacific and have reached
Galapagoes which is fantastic, we crossed the
equator on our way and since
arriving have been diving with seals,turtles
iguanas,and sharks, Colin has
been of surfing the waves on his new board which he
had made in Panama
Niamh is off on her second dive, she is desperate
to see Hammerhead Sharks
before we leave. So the problem is now we have
8000miles of sailing through
the pacific with nothing to look forward to.
I am sure thats going to make
some of you feel very sorry for us.
I have enjoyed writing my diary entry and will try
and persuade one off the
others to write the next entry and keep you all
entertained. Rob..
Hello just a quick note to say hello. I'm the newest member of the Penguin Crew having manged to bum a ride from the gates of the Panama Canal. Have only learned to sail on current travels, admitedly almost two years ago, as I am trying to get back home without airoplanes. Couldn't have hoped for a better place to pass over the wide Pacific. The guys are fantastic and its showing all sighns of being a fantastic adventure cruising through the Pacific islands. Things I've learned so far - how to drink Gin and Tonic and hopefully how to use a sextant, though not at the same time, as Rob is threatining to make me do the navigation for three days without the GPS. We may end up back in Panama, or mabie round one of the Capes. Anyways there are some waves waiting to give me a pounding just along the beach so I will sighn out for now, Colin. |