HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Apologies for the lack of updates we now have our sat phone up and running so that should make it a whole lot easier. 

We have had a very very busy last 3-4 weeks which has involved lots of sailing (over 500 miles) and entertaining Mike’s brother who joined us for Christmas and New Year. 

Will start from the beginning…… Our first big adventure Quartermoon. Finally we managed to get out of Hotel California ( the marina) ..what a relief! Only so many hot tub “happy hours” that you can handle. Left SBM for Portobello, little wind and lumpy seas. Sammy felt sick…not a great start! Managed to get to Portobello with no dramas and arrived just as the heavens opened and we have never seen rain like it. No visibility and torrential downpour. 

Portobello is a very old port which was discovered by Christopher Colombus,  and was one of the most important ports for transferring gold and silver throughout the area. There is a really cool old fort and the town is quite a sleepy one except for the crazy festival they hold each year in October  where they celebrate the famous “Black Christ” which is in the local church. Crazy Costa Ricans walk from Costa Rica on their knees to pray to it….now I know what the meaning of dedication is… 

Next stop was Isla Linton, a great little spot. The island has been overtaken by monkey’s whom Mike is convinced are gay. They are hilarious and run down the jetty to try and attack you! They bit the last owner of Quartermoon and apparently stole a stick of some other guy and started beating him with it. 

We decided to do an overnight sail heading West to Isla Escudo de Veraguas. It was a really good shake down sail for us. Blowing 20=25 knots from the NE (prevailing winds). QM looked after us very well and we had a very quick and fun sail to the island.  The island is completely uninhabited apart from 2 Indian tribes. We saw no-one for 2 days; not even another boat. The anchorage was perfect except for the wind which decided to switch direction in the middle of the last night to the West ( Very unusual) and we were battered by swell and seas and we now found ourselves  on a lee shore. Wee bit stressful. A sleepless night for us both but QM held anchor and the next morning we headed outta there. Great Westerly winds all the way back to the Chagres River ( 7nm East of SBM). Arrived at dawn at the entrance to the Chagres. Tricky entrance with rocks and reef surrounding it but the good old Bauhaus cruising guide kept us right on the waypoints. There is an awesome fort called Fort Lorenzo that guards the entrance, another very cool fort dating back to Columbus’s time, amazingly still in tact with all its canons. The Chagres River is stunning, it is the source for the Panama Canal and is about 7 miles long and deep all the way. Again no other boats so it was just us two, Quartermoon and the howler monkeys. ! It is one of the most tranquil places we have visited in a long time and a nice place to chill after our night sail. 

Trip over and back to Shelter Bay Marina to await the arrival of Jamie. Unfortunately his flight was delayed at Heathrow due to lack of De-icer so he missed his connections, got sent to Cuba and then arrived a day late with no bags :-( . They finally arrived 2 days late. We were all very pleased to see them as they contained an angle grinder & drill, fuel filters, Tetley teabags and some proper cheddar ( Bit slimy tho!) . It is hard to get specific parts and bits here so we were very excited to receive our purchases and gifts. 

We headed to the San Blas Islands – 2 day sail heading west to the San Blas .No wind so motor sailed the whole way. The San Blas are a vast archipelago comprising collection of 340 islands which are independent of Panama. They are home to the Kuna Indians whom have managed to preserve their traditions and culture. The very colourful woman make “Molas”,, which are beautiful hand sewn pieces of work  in which they sew many different layers of colourful cloth . Each one is unique. They trade coconuts, crab , lobster, fish etc and until  recently coconuts were the official means of exchange. It is forbidden to help yourself to a cocount as each cocunut belongs to a Kuna. The islands and the people are as I remember then from my trip here 7 years ago, still stunning in every way.  What has changed is the huge increase in the number of boats cruising this area along with tourists independently visiting the islands. The Kunas also now have TV’s, mobile phones etc so it is not nearly as remote as it was then but is still an fairly untouched paradise.  

We did a whistle stop tour of the island starting at Porvenir to check in and to visit the island of Wichubhuala. Jamie got caught by a very persuasive Kuna lady who insisted he buy a number of Molas. He left with one… 

Spent Christmas at East Lemmon Cays. A tricky entrance navigating the reef but anchored in a perfect spot just off a sandy atoll. Snorkelling was stunning. On Christmas day we bought 3 fresh Lobster and 3 snapper for $6 from a some Kuna fishermen in their dug out. Jamie and Mike prepared a great feast on the bbq. 

Boxing day headed to Dog Island to snorkel on a grounded Cargo ship. Absolutely stunning coral and fish. A nerve racking place to anchor as surrounded by reef. Rest of the trip was very similar, lost of lovely islands and snorkelling spots. 

Left San Blas on the 30^th Dec to head back to Shelter Bay Marina as Jamie was flying home on the 1^st . 2 cracking day sails back to Colon in strong NE winds. 3 reefs and small headsail and we were easily doing 6 – 7 knots. Lots of fun J 

Spent New Year in Panama City and said goodbye to Jamie. It was great having him onboard. Hopefully he can fit in another trip to see us. 

We plan to leave tomorrow for Bocas Del Toro…. 

We wish you all a great New Year and all the best for 2010. 

Please keep in touch and email us your news.Love to hear from you.
(Please don’t send any crap e-mails or big attachments to our mailasail address, pls send them to hotmail .We can only download mailasail through a sat phone which is pretty pricey!)