Bocas del Toro July 5-13, 2009—Steve’s visit
Sunday July 4th our son Steve flew in to Panama City on American Airlines, stayed overnight at the Milan Hotel, boarded the Regional flight to Bocas and arrived in Bocas at 8:00AM. We were so excited to see him as we hadn’t seen him in the year since we started our cruising.
We started a whirlwind of activities that didn’t stop until he flew back to Panama on July 12th . (Unfortunately, when Steve arrived in Panama his flight was cancelled or changed and he didn’t get to leave Panama as planned!)
First was a big welcome breakfast at Lily’s Café as the airlines gave him nothing. Then off to Sea Star with the bags with Steve driving a dinghy for the first time in years. We happily climbed on to Sea Star where we chatted, perused our “boat gifts”, boat filters, zincs, and repaired binoculars, and he got reacquainted with his cat Maggie, who now lives on the boat. We went out for a walk around Bocas Town, down the two main streets and into a drugstore where Dan took our newly acquired World unlocked phone and set up the calling process. Wow! A cheap, working phone- it had been about six months since we could use our cell phones and the Sat phone was very costly so used in emergency or at least urgency.
Steve wanted to get going on his vacation right away and took a surfing lesson off Isla Bastimentos. He was able to stand on the board by the end of the lesson, and felt he knew the technique and all he needed was practice. He was so excited when he returned and it was so hot he jumped into the water-with his sunglasses on. Whoops, gone! Our group of Tregoning, Windsond and Sea Star went to supper at Lemon Grass and back to the boats.
Situated in the aft cabin he proceeded to become ill. High fever just came on suddenly and he suffered from a 24 hour flu, we found out in 24 hours when he was better. Meanwhile we sailed out of the Bocas anchorage, deciding on a snorkeling trip to Crawl Cay about 10 miles away. Off in the distance we could see the famous Zapatilla Cays. We again wiggled into an anchorage which was 40 feet deep and deployed the anchor. Steve dove on it and told us we were holding pretty well-in coral.
Despite the less than perfect water clarity, we had an interesting shallow snorkel where brittle stars in many colors coiled around various shapes and colors of sponges; barrel, tube and reaching sponges, saw lots of reef fish of various sizes and beautiful colored coral structures, spending hours in the water. Later we circled Deer Island, in a mangrove river by dinghy, ate a wonderful fish dinner at a restaurant at Crawl Cay and decided to head for Bluefields and Rio Cricimola for Steve’s adventure.
From Crawl Cay we sailed on to Laguna De Bluefield, where Guaymi (Ngobe) indigenous people live on the edges of the water seemingly on little money and subsistence fishing. When entering the anchorage at Punta Allegre the friendly people came out to talk and greet us in their family Cayucos.
After two nights we moved on to Laguna De Chiriqui and the mighty Cricamola River. In Irish Bay where we anchored in a protected mangrove cove, the water was brown with run-off from the many rivers and we plogged up our watermaker (temporarily) and actually had to use bug spray to repel the no-see-ums as the anchorage was dead calm. It made us wonder how the natives could stand to be there all the time, despite the prolific wildlife and fish.
We had to use the dinghy motors on full throttle to move up the Rio Cricamola , and what a grand vista with mountains in the background, tall Kapok trees and foliage, banana plantations and indigenous villages one, two and three along the muddy banks of the swiftly downstream moving river. We had a great trip looking for birds, visiting with the villagers at village one and purchasing the woven carrying bags the people are famous for making. I’ll let the pictures tell the story!
From Laguna Chiriqui we gave it our best shot to sail or motor sail the 35 miles back to Bocas taking the Split Hill and Sumwood Channels between Chiriqui and Almirante. That was an adventure in navigation! The ferryboats take the channel regularly, but it is not well marked. We knew it would be the shortest way and should have plenty of depth if we could find the channel.
Our choice of path was somewhat complicated by Windsong’s mechanical issues. At the end of our trip to the Dark Lands, Jamie’s main shaft had broken off, dropping his propeller somewhere in the Bocas anchorage. He was totally motor-less and showed his sailing skills as he tacked his way back to Bocas with his dinghy strapped closely to his hull providing some propulsion but sucking up his gas.
The day was overcast and the water a dark blue so visibility as regards the shoals and shallows was impossible even when perched on the boom. Lucky for us Steve was aboard the boat as he and I spent hours in the dinghy using the portable depth finder sending the path to Dan who drove the boat with a few quick reverses needed as we measured the water -from 19 feet to 5 feet in the space of a boat length. Tregoning and Windsong relied on our information to safely negotiate the tricky channel through the mangroves and out into the bay.
Sea Star, using motor as required, arrived back in Bocas first and provided the only dinghy with gas to go for Pizza as Tregoning, followed by Windsong in the dark, arrived safely back at the anchorage.
The next morning we had a goodbye breakfast together and Steve was on his way home to Greenfield, MA and his plumbing job. We were sad to see him go. There was so much more to explore in the Bocas area. No wonder so many cruisers have purchased property in the area and moved to Bocas permanently.
Sunday July 4th our son Steve flew in to Panama City on American Airlines, stayed overnight at the Milan Hotel, boarded the Regional flight to Bocas and arrived in Bocas at 8:00AM. We were so excited to see him as we hadn’t seen him in the year since we started our cruising.
We started a whirlwind of activities that didn’t stop until he flew back to Panama on July 12th . (Unfortunately, when Steve arrived in Panama his flight was cancelled or changed and he didn’t get to leave Panama as planned!)
First was a big welcome breakfast at Lily’s Café as the airlines gave him nothing. Then off to Sea Star with the bags with Steve driving a dinghy for the first time in years. We happily climbed on to Sea Star where we chatted, perused our “boat gifts”, boat filters, zincs, and repaired binoculars, and he got reacquainted with his cat Maggie, who now lives on the boat. We went out for a walk around Bocas Town, down the two main streets and into a drugstore where Dan took our newly acquired World unlocked phone and set up the calling process. Wow! A cheap, working phone- it had been about six months since we could use our cell phones and the Sat phone was very costly so used in emergency or at least urgency.
Steve wanted to get going on his vacation right away and took a surfing lesson off Isla Bastimentos. He was able to stand on the board by the end of the lesson, and felt he knew the technique and all he needed was practice. He was so excited when he returned and it was so hot he jumped into the water-with his sunglasses on. Whoops, gone! Our group of Tregoning, Windsond and Sea Star went to supper at Lemon Grass and back to the boats.
Situated in the aft cabin he proceeded to become ill. High fever just came on suddenly and he suffered from a 24 hour flu, we found out in 24 hours when he was better. Meanwhile we sailed out of the Bocas anchorage, deciding on a snorkeling trip to Crawl Cay about 10 miles away. Off in the distance we could see the famous Zapatilla Cays. We again wiggled into an anchorage which was 40 feet deep and deployed the anchor. Steve dove on it and told us we were holding pretty well-in coral.
Despite the less than perfect water clarity, we had an interesting shallow snorkel where brittle stars in many colors coiled around various shapes and colors of sponges; barrel, tube and reaching sponges, saw lots of reef fish of various sizes and beautiful colored coral structures, spending hours in the water. Later we circled Deer Island, in a mangrove river by dinghy, ate a wonderful fish dinner at a restaurant at Crawl Cay and decided to head for Bluefields and Rio Cricimola for Steve’s adventure.
From Crawl Cay we sailed on to Laguna De Bluefield, where Guaymi (Ngobe) indigenous people live on the edges of the water seemingly on little money and subsistence fishing. When entering the anchorage at Punta Allegre the friendly people came out to talk and greet us in their family Cayucos.
After two nights we moved on to Laguna De Chiriqui and the mighty Cricamola River. In Irish Bay where we anchored in a protected mangrove cove, the water was brown with run-off from the many rivers and we plogged up our watermaker (temporarily) and actually had to use bug spray to repel the no-see-ums as the anchorage was dead calm. It made us wonder how the natives could stand to be there all the time, despite the prolific wildlife and fish.
We had to use the dinghy motors on full throttle to move up the Rio Cricamola , and what a grand vista with mountains in the background, tall Kapok trees and foliage, banana plantations and indigenous villages one, two and three along the muddy banks of the swiftly downstream moving river. We had a great trip looking for birds, visiting with the villagers at village one and purchasing the woven carrying bags the people are famous for making. I’ll let the pictures tell the story!
From Laguna Chiriqui we gave it our best shot to sail or motor sail the 35 miles back to Bocas taking the Split Hill and Sumwood Channels between Chiriqui and Almirante. That was an adventure in navigation! The ferryboats take the channel regularly, but it is not well marked. We knew it would be the shortest way and should have plenty of depth if we could find the channel.
Our choice of path was somewhat complicated by Windsong’s mechanical issues. At the end of our trip to the Dark Lands, Jamie’s main shaft had broken off, dropping his propeller somewhere in the Bocas anchorage. He was totally motor-less and showed his sailing skills as he tacked his way back to Bocas with his dinghy strapped closely to his hull providing some propulsion but sucking up his gas.
The day was overcast and the water a dark blue so visibility as regards the shoals and shallows was impossible even when perched on the boom. Lucky for us Steve was aboard the boat as he and I spent hours in the dinghy using the portable depth finder sending the path to Dan who drove the boat with a few quick reverses needed as we measured the water -from 19 feet to 5 feet in the space of a boat length. Tregoning and Windsong relied on our information to safely negotiate the tricky channel through the mangroves and out into the bay.
Sea Star, using motor as required, arrived back in Bocas first and provided the only dinghy with gas to go for Pizza as Tregoning, followed by Windsong in the dark, arrived safely back at the anchorage.
The next morning we had a goodbye breakfast together and Steve was on his way home to Greenfield, MA and his plumbing job. We were sad to see him go. There was so much more to explore in the Bocas area. No wonder so many cruisers have purchased property in the area and moved to Bocas permanently.
Here are 100 pics:
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| Steve's adventure |
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