A whole pile of pictures

We've gone through our photos and have created slide shows of them to share with everyone. You can either go to our home page and see the list of new stories or you can follow each of the links here.

Photos from our time in Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador

Photos from travel in Ecuador

Photos from travel in Peru

Photos from crusing Colombia

Photos from transiting the Panama Canal (on Moondancer)

Is that mast on jacks?

Sometimes we have to find creative solutions to solving problems. In this case our mast sits on our deck and inside there are wires that run through the deck to the inside of the boat. All fine and good until one day it started leaking and we had a waterfall inside our boat. So how do you lift a mast without a crane or two boats tied on each side to hoist it? Well, we decided to try to jack it up.

I built some supports and then tied the mast fore and aft at the base, just in case it tried to move. Then we took off the sails, boom, and anything that added weight to the mast. When we were ready, we loosened all the stays as much as possible, and we started jacking each jack (one on each side) slowly. After we raised it about 2-3 inches we could clean out the old sealant, then we blocked and moved each jack one at a time to clean each side and then reseal it with new sealant.



It seems to be keeping the water out so far. We're pretty excited that for about $25 bucks for the jacks we probably fixed the problem. Now we are cleaning up all the gear and repainting everything to protect it from oxidizing.

Golfito

We spent the night anchored off a peninsula called Bruica and it was nice because we actually got to use our own guidebook to navigate there!

However we're getting a bit anxious for civilization and our garbage and laundry is really piling up so we spent the night and bolted in the morning to Golfito where I'm now writing this message. It was a long trip full of very sloppy waves and my body aches from the loooong day. But Golfito itself is very calm and it is so nice just to anchor and enjoy a cold drink.

{GMST}08|37.211|N|83|09.181|W|Oh yeah|Golfito{GEND}
{GMST}08|04.630|N|82|50.950|W|Good spot for sleep|Punta Balsa{GEND}

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weird to be back again

Almost a year ago to the day we departed this anchorage for that fateful 7 day passage to Ecuador. The one where we helped two another boat about 300 miles.

Anchoring here alone it seems like such a long time ago -- another age. Yet here we are again. I didn't think I'd be back, but sometimes you never know the path you're going to take.

This little island is pretty protected and there is a fresh water stream so we might do a little laundry. Other than that, we'll probably rest a day before starting the hops to Golfito.

{GMST}08|05.629|N|82|20.331|W|Calm but hot|Isla Parida{GEND}

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14 miles of dead fish

I'm no biologist, but it seems something is seriously wrong when you run into a bunch of baby fish (fry) that are dead. At first we thought, hmm...lots of dead little fish and they sure do stink but after about 3 miles of dead fish we began to wonder if this was going to hamper our snorkeling in Islas Secas. I jokingly said, "It can't be like this for another 11 miles." But it was a carpet of dead fish for 14 miles. There must have been 10 million of them. As we got closer the island they were floating belly up in big clouds swirling on the water.

It seemed to just be small fish of all the same type. I scooped some up as we sailed by and found they still had signs of the egg yoke so they were probably quite young. Something in the water? I don't know but swimming in dead fish stew didn't sound like fun, even if the water was ok. It's too bad to because everyone raves about the snorkeling at Las Secas.

Not to miss trying it, I jumped in, but the visiablity wasn't very good. There is a lot of coral and fish which was a surprise, but the spectre of dead fish stew kept me from staying in the water long.

{GMST}07|59.613|N|82|01.887|W|Eeew. Dead fish stew|Islas Secas{GEND}

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Ensenada de Rosario

Well, I tried my hand at working on 2 more generators and a second attempt at a third, but I had no luck. No one seemed to be to disappointed and they appreciated my work. I did get a VHF radio wired up and got some LED lights working, so I wasn't a total failure. Part of the problem is there are no parts around here. One generator needs a new field controller and another has some burnt out wires on the rotor and the third was quite a mystery why we couldn't get the engine running. It's too hot for lights anyway, right?

We said goodbye to Domingo and his family and a few of the others we met and took off to see some more of the coast. According to our charts we are anchored on top of a 450' hill. Stupid charts.

The coast here is beautiful and full of islands, jungles, beaches, and howler monkeys. We're both surprised at how nice this part of the coast is. The water is also very clear which adds to the effect. We are slowly working our way back to Costa Rica and with the water Domingo gave us we should be able to meander our way there at our standard pace without having to go to a city or somewhere with a reliable water supply.

{GMST}07|51.207|N|81|34.860|W|Calm behind the island|Rosario{GEND}

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Fountain of Youth

Ever heard of someone loosing 20 years off their age in one day? We've been getting to know this family that lives here in Bahia Honda. I've been working on their generator, VHF radio, LED lights and Sherrell has been busy reversing time. She was talking with Domingos wife who insisted she was 90 years old. At some point in the discussion she disappears and brings out her ID card which shows her birthday on 1949. Sherrell then explained to her that she was only 60 years old, but rather than being pleased she seemed a bit distraught. She said Domingo told her she was 90. Since Domingo is a bit older looking than her we wondered if something more
complicated was going on. Sherrell is a trouble maker.

We haven't got much work done on the boat. Our radar is still not working right. I think it needs a new cable. That's going to be expensive to get shipped down. Domingo did offer to let us take water from his property which he has plumbed running water from a creek high up in the hills. It is very clean and we were able to replenish our water supply so now we have lots of water on the boat again!

This is a great bay to hang out in. The only draw back is it is removed from any supplies. There is a small hotel here which runs to Puerto Mutis once a week, but that's it. Too bad because I could spend a lot of time in this bay. The small store in the village just doesn't have enough supplies to keep us demanding gringos fed properly.

Domingo took us on a tour of a indigenous village where his wife comes from. You can only enter at high tide through a maze of mangroves. It is a stark contrast to go from the skyscrapers of Panama City to the mud huts in these towns. The village was fullof curious people who chatted with us and often offered us food. They have a proper school, a little Catholic Church, a store and
naturally a solar powered satellite pay phone. The trip was interesting and we got to meet some more of Domingos family and friends. But birth-control would do this places a world of good as 12 kids is really a bit much. Hey Pope are you listening?

On other news, the Tehuantapec is forecast to blow at hurricane force. I don't think it has ever developed a storm that strong this late in the season

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Bahia Honda Village

Everyone told us how cool bahia honda is, but in reality it's hot -- very hot. Right now we are reading 97F in the boat and not much wind. We decided to try to anchor off the village to see what the scene is like there and visit the stores. It's your typical case of dropping the anchor and having a pile of shy kids show up in dug out canoes trying to sell fruit and ask a ton of questions. Then you go into town and have another pile of kids yell candy candy candy. After being told there's no candy they quickly switch tactics to money money money. We did get a couple of cold sodas, watched a guy take his pig for a swim (too cool off), and had some drunk guys invite us to beers (rather boisterously). No luck on finding bread or veggies. There is supposed to be some guy in a panga who sells stuff to cruisers, but maybe he isn't around.

It is a bit noisy off the town because the restaurant is cranking their obligatory music so we'll probably move to a quieter part of the bay. We glimpsed another cruising sailboat but they left from the other side of the bay just about the time we anchored off the town. There is one other sailboat over there but I'm not sure anyone is on it. There sure aren't many boats cruising the coast. We've hardly seen anyone.

{GMST}07|45.220|N|81|30.835|W|Calm like lake|B. Honda Village{GEND}

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Isla Santa Catalina

Just a short 15 mile up from Isla Cebaco is Isla Santa Catalina. We arrived to find massive swells and brave surfers trying to ride them. They are way to big for me to try and the bottom is pretty rocky. Because of the large swell we don't think we can make it easily into the little town which is a bummer because we would like to pick up some supplies and maybe eat out.

Despite the pretty beach and the fairly protected anchorage we will probably head out tomorrow morning because I won't be surfing those giants.

{GMST}07|37.509|N|81|16.387|W|The swells are pumping|I. Santa Catalina{GEND}

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the other ensenada naranjo

We were forced out of the last anchorage by squalls. All night there was lightning and wind from odd dirrections. Then at 4am the wind started funneling right into the bay and waves started to build. We got up and got the boat ready to leave. Since our radar has not been working we decided to try to hold on until day light at about 5am the rain came down in buckets. By 6am however it started to clear up and the wind died down. The seas were still quite rough, but we hoisted the anchor and bailed out. Two bad nights and one good one just isn't very good odds. Sadly I missed out on taking any photos or doing a hike up to the hill.

Now we are at an island called Isla Cebaco in another bay called Ensenada Naranjo (naranjo is an orange). Some books call one of these Ensenada Naranja, but there seems to be confusion among the charts, books and cruisers. I don't know exactly what this (or the last place) is called. I do know there is a fuel boat here which sells fuel at $3.75 a gallon ($2.00 back in panama city) and they have sodas and beer. Wacky. There isn't any significant shore-side population and it appears this fuel boat is mostly for sport fishing boats.

{GMST}07|29.572|N|81|13.407|W|The boat Cebaco Bay sells fuel here|Ensenada Naranjo(a?){GEND}

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Ensenada Orange

This place is fantastic. We had the calmest night last evening since leaving Isla Cana almost 3 months ago. There were no wakes from the pilot boats (Panama City), no swell, no wind chop, just a nice calm night. To top it off this bay has beautiful silky black sand beaches with hiking trails and wild fruit like orange sized limes (great for rum drinks!). The water is much warmer and I can see about 20 feet down without any effort.

Anyway we might stay another day or two before heading out...it all depends on the weather forecasts.

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Ensenada Naranjo

Feeling lucky that we didn't get pummeled at Punta Mala and with a forecast of light winds we decided to leave Benao after 2 nights and a day of surfing while our luck was still holding. While we have a long history of getting surprise weather and naturally the 20-25 knots of east wind was a surprise. The fortunate thing is we were going west. So instead of doing 1 knot against it we were doing 6-7 with it. All those headlands really build up the seas with the current swirling around them and it was just like sailing along South America again. The bouncy soup of whitecaps wore us out.

We arrived in Ensenada Naranjo almost 2 hours faster than planned. It was calm and out of the easterly winds. What a relief, until 10pm. Then a funky little swell starting rolling in bouncing our little boat like a basketball. It's hard to sleep inside a basketball. We put another line on the anchor chain, put out the flopper stopper and moved to sleep on the couches. About 6 hours later when the tide changed the little chop died down...interesting. A larger boat (which most people have) probably wouldn't have felt much.

Hearing the howler monkeys again this morning made up for it. Now we'll see if we can find a better spot in the bay and try to get some more rest. We heard there are a lot of hiking trails here too, so we'll have to do some exploring.

{GMST}07|16.459|N|80|55.443|W|Howler Monkeys|Ensenada Naranjo{GEND}

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Ensenada Benau

It was a rolly ride, but we managed to pass Punta Mala, a notoriously miserable part of Panama with very little excitement. Some rain a little wind and in the final rounding of the point we ended up motoring because there was no wind. We waited for exactly the right forecast and to our luck the forecast was right. This time of year it isn't uncommon to have 30-40 knots of wind at Punta Mala. For the rest of Pamana it is mostly downhill from here.

This spot is a famous surf beach and has about a 2 mile stretch of beach which is calling to us. We're both way to tired to attempt a shore landing or any surfing. The water is still a bit on the cold side, but the sun is blazing so it will feel good.

I was hoping to get WIFI here but we had to anchor a bit further out than most people because there is a trimaran anchored in the prime area. I'm not sure the signal is strong enough to reach the boat anyway....

{GMST}07|25.526|N|80|11.398|W|Past Punta Mala|Ensenada Benau{GEND}

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Beating the odds

I think the betting pool had us at 2:1 we wouldn't actually make it out of Panama City, but we did. We are on our way to see Western Panama, an area we have yet to visit.

We got a lot of work done on the boat and found lots of parts and materials we haven't seen since leaving the US about 5 years ago. We spent a lot of time shopping and very little time meeting all the people anchoring around us, which was too bad. There were a lot of new boats coming over from the Caribbean and many old friends gathering here to -- surprise -- shop.

Of course we haven't gone far. We are only about 20 miles away at Isla Otoque where we can clean the bottom of the boat, and get ourselves back into the mindset of sailing after adjusting to the frantic pace of the city. It's nice and calm here and we are starting to unwind.

{GMST}08|35.736|N|79|36.069|W|Bye bye big city|Isla Otoque{GEND}

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All that work

We've been busy. Before going through the canal. Before my mom's visit. We busted our butts. New batteries, a new solar panal, patched our sails, worked on our engine and the grand project of them all:

REFRIGERATION!

Yes after 6 years of warm drinks we now have a fridge. After some research and talking to other cruisers we opted for the Engel fridge/freezer. It is a nice compact unit that can either be a refridgerator or a freezer. We ripped out the old ice box which was fiberglass and crappy foam insulation:

Then I painted the inside with white enamle paint, which turned out to be disco gold, not white.

We added some radiated heat insulation to the walls.

Then I got busy building walls and a floor and adding thick foam insulation. We also added a formica finish.

Then finally some paint, wiring and we popped the Engel into place. Getting it to fit properly was a HUGE headache, but in the end it turned out great. There is a HOT side and a COLD side. The hot side is vented and the cold side is insulated. This allows us to put other items like bread or things that just need to be kept cool all around the outside space of the Engel. That gives us more room for drinks and other things in the fridge.

Hard to beat cold beer in 90 degree weather. And so far the solar panels are keeping up with the power demands as the Engel only needs about 15 amp-hours a day, with us turning it off at night. It's been great!

Went through the Panama Canal

Ok, so we didn't go on Sarana (because we don't want to go that direction), but we did go through the canal. Small boats like us sailboats need extra crew to handle lines going through the Panama Canal. Other sailors usually volunteer to help those boats in return for some food and getting some money for a cab ride back.

We went through with MOONDANCER X and it was a pretty cool experience. It is amazing they built this canal 100 years ago and it is working like clock work.

Here were are going up 25 feet in the first set of chambers at the Mira Flores Locks. The total rise with 3 sets of locks is almost 60 feet above sea level. Notice the bubbling current that can cause a lot of turbulence and problems for us small boats. Here in this chamber we are side-tied to a tug.

Check out the tourists checking us out:

There is a lot of traffic in the canal in fact the WORLD just passed us by:

It was a great trip and Nancy and Tony on MOONDANCER were great. They feed us and kept us going with snacks. We were fortunate to have an advisor who was very good. He managed to squeeze us into the locks ahead of a couple of ships and thanks to his efforts we were able to complete the transit in one day...one very long day.

Panama

We have been working like dogs on the boat and shopping like good old Americans in our free time. We've been working on a HUGE upgrade to Sarana as a present to Sherrell but it is also a good surprise for my mom who is visiting in 7 days.

Panama continues to amaze me with everything there it has to offer!

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Photos from Colombia

Here we are anchored in Tumaco, Colombia in a protected estuary.

We sailed north to Isla Gorgona a national park. This lizard was a rare find. It is endemic to Isla Gorgona and exists no where else in the world.



This is our guide who took us on a nature hike around the island. We saw a snake, lots of birds and even monkeys.


Further north in another park called Ensenada Utria we found paradise. One of the coolest places we've been to. This waterfall flows right into the anchorage.

Further north still, our final port Bahia Solano where we checked out of the country. We found a hike up to a raging waterfall, but it required scrambling up a rocky river in the middle of the jungle.

Is that boat sinking?!

On our way to do some internet and find a cold beer with Nakia, John points out a boat and says, "Is that boat taking on water?" It was sure low in the water and moving a little funny. Thinking only about cold beer John kept going. I said, "Shouldn't we go over and take a look? Maybe we can get inside one of the hatches."

I jumped aboard and started trying hatches. I got one open and looked inside to see my own reflection sloshing around. The boat was probably 1/3 full of water and filling fast. John took off with everyone else to get more help. I found a switch for "bilge pump" which did nothing. Some others arrived and I asked them to bring some tools and buckets. Someone else arrived with manual bilge pump handle and a big grin. I told them there isn't a manual pump that I can find.

The boat was taking on water fast so I decided to try to climb inside and try to locate the hole. It wasn't easy getting in because there was a door in the way of the hatch, but I squirmed inside and opened the other hatches. The water inside was up to my waist, full of diesel, oil, plastic, paper and god knows what else. The water was so murky I realized there's no way I'm going to find the leak from inside. I can't even find the through-hull fittings without a scuba mask and a waterproof light.

I slowly waded around the murky water on the boat checking the usual spots, hoping to see a rush of current or something. Then I heard a gurgle sound. I followed it to the galley. It was louder and there seemed to be a little current in that area. I felt under the sink and found a detached pipe that was gushing water. Please let this be it, I thought. I could feel the water rising it was rushing in so fast. My guess was 30 to 40 minutes before the boat went down.

I knelt down in the mucky water and tried to find the seacock, but it was under about 3 feet of water in a dark recess. So I set to work trying to plug it. With some effort I reattached the fitting that went to the sink and the flow appeared to stop. If the water level had risen another foot, it would have continued to siphon into the boat, but for now the sink was high enough that it stopped the water flow.

In the meantime a group outside had started working on getting the main companionway hatch open. I would feel safer if I had an easy exit from this boat. Everything was sloshing around. I made a mental note of the water level in case I hadn't found the main leak. As soon as the hatch was open we started a bucket brigade passing up gallons of nasty water. Someone dropped in to the main salon hatch and they started their own brigade. Soon we had people with generators and electric pumps to help remove water. It appeared the level was going down slowly.

Nearby, a ferry was anchored with a Panamanian crew who saw what was going on. They came over and offered use of their diesel powered pump. After some work (they are tough beasts to prime) we got that baby going and sucked the boat dry in about an hour.

The owner showed up in a complete daze. There were probably 15 people, 2 generators, 2 electric pumps, 1 big diesel pump and buckets of water flying all over his boat. I found out later he was a young Argentinian who was planning to use the boat to do charters. Everyone felt bad for him because his boat was a big mess. At least we saved it from going down as it was sinking fast.

The Panamanians it turned out were crew for the big ferry in the anchorage and one of them told us he surrvied a sinking ship once in 20 foot waves. He spent 4 hours in the water and when he saw the sailboat sinking he had to help. It was amazing how fast everyone pulled together and saved that boat.

This is the second boat I've helped bail out now. This boat ended up in a lot better shape than IVY ROSE from San Juan del Sur Nicaragua (if you remember that story). The fast work of everyone involved kept the boat from getting too damaged, but it's going to be a big mess to clean up and restore.

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Panama City!

We spent a couple of days at Contradora walking the island, swimming, catching up on our 300+ email messages and spending an hour on the phone with Paypal trying to get them to fix something. It was a little like work but a slow re-introduction to civilization.

Despite this, I don't think we were quite ready for Panama City. We could see the skyscrapers from 20 miles off and we knew right away this was going to be a different kind of place. It's busy with ships everywhere, people everywhere and FOOD everywhere. We had a fantastic Italian dinner with fresh mushrooms! Oh it was so good.

Our new batteries are waiting for us - shipped in from Florida. And we've already set our sights on Indian food! The anchorage is a bit disappointing. It's crowded and the constant stream of ships going by creates surprise waves just when you think it's calm. I suppose we'll get used to it as there are really no other options. Anchoring alone costs $5/day for landing your dinghy on shore. God forbid you land on the beach were they will have a fit and try to fine you $500.

All in all I think New Years in Panama City shows some promise and this is certainly a place where you can buy anything, if you have money that is.

{GMST}08|54.555|N|79|31.468|W|Where the action is|Panama City{GEND}

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Two hours from cold beer and food

We spent last night at a slightly cleaner anchorage. The shore line still looked like a garbage dump but the water was free enough from trash that I could dive on the bottom to clean it and change a zinc. Our friends on Blew Moon said the other parts of the Perlas weren't trashed like the Eastern side of Isla del Rey. I hope so!

We are on our way to Isla Contradora where there is a store! Finally food and cold beer! We are tried of eating dried goods and are desperate for something fresh!

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