All too soon Sea Star and the others left Little Corn Island. In the morning when the wind was just right as forecast, 15 knots, we were merrily sailing along toward Panama. At exactly 12:00PM the wind switched by 60 degrees and then straight on the nose, then shortly after that the wind simply fell out and died. We needed to arrive in Bocas in the daylight and so on went the engines and we motored on the first three foot swell, then calm sea trying to maintain our 5.5-6 knots per hour to arrive with the light needed to enter a new harbor.
Dan had decided on the Bocas del Drago Channel entrance and we made good time but impatiently watched the depth finder to note we were in very deep water and off soundings. When we were closer to the channel we could just pick out the expected landmarks- a flat rock called , a pinnacle rock and a small rock island. These landmarks brought us to the clear channel and the red and green channel markers towards Isla Colon and Bocas del Toro.
We were going to have to share the channel with a large cargo ship that was steaming in at about 18knots. Dan called him on the VHF and confirmed that we would be staying to the left of the channel and the ship moved closer and closer. Just as the huge ship neared the channel curve and narrows, he did a U turn! We figured out by listening to his communication that he was awaiting a pilot boat to guide him in and he had been told to stop. The fast change of direction certainly surprised us, but all was well as the pilot met the ship and they passed us inside the channel but leaving no wake to speak of.
Ahead of us on Isla Colon we saw a few homes and the raised stilted buildings of Bocas del Toro where, after we turned in, we could also see the masts and boats at Bocas Marina and in the anchorage near the marina where we were heading.
By now we had put up our yellow “Q” flag to notify the Port Captain that we were entering the country of Panama.
We were safely anchored and of course exhausted but the officials needed to board us. It was relatively painless but more expensive than written in our guidebooks. Four officials arrived at Sea Star by launch , two men and two women. The quarantine officer checked that we were not from an area of the new flu such as Mexico, and asked us about our health. He took Maggie’s papers, $15.00 for her permit, there was a boat inspection-but no one entered the cabin, an agricultural inspection-but no trash or food was checked, and immigration gave us a 30 day visa for the country that could be extended to 60 days. The Port Captain checked in the boat by length and then the group left with our passports and $123.00US.
Later in the day we were to pick up the passports from the Port Captain where we paid $69.00 more for the cruising permit, $20.00 for something else important. The following day we walked across town to the airport and met with the “migration” officer with some stamps purchased at The National Bank for $15.00 per person so another $30.00 for us. Our receipts in some cases did not match the amounts paid to the officials. The story was we would receive the receipts when we went into the office, but in two cases that did not occur. Our poor Spanish may have been the cause of our not questioning the prices.
Anyway, entry completed and prices forgotten for the moment, we walked and explored Bocas Town, finding Lily’s and Pirates to tie the dinghy and looking for the groceries, hardware stores and shops that make Bocas a pleasant place to anchor and a base from which to locate anything you might need from David or Panama City. I unfortunately had lost my new tooth repair done in San Andres and I found a local dentist in Bocas, Dr. Wong, who spent quite a bit of time and effort refilling my tooth.
Our first meal out was Happy Hour and Pizza at Wari Wari,an open air restaurant with black and white décor reminiscent of totem poles and the popular red, green and yellow trim of the Jamaican rasta- on bamboo. Very interesting. Another day we ate breakfast at famous Lily’s, home of the “Killin’ me Man” hot sauce, a wonderful fruit salad to start and eggs, toast and great Panamanian coffee. Then it was a wonderful restaurant blitz..Pirate’s has great international style foods, Lemon Grass for Thai food and the Calypso Cantina Restaurant and Bar at Bocas Marina serves excellent food. It’s a very popular place with cruisers to play volleyball and relax out of the sun each day. We had a blast playing Trivia there one Thursday night and a cruiser planned a Fourth of July party there with a potluck supper and lots of fun with forced activities like Limbo and Girls Sing.
Here are some Bocas Town pics
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| Bocas town |
One really interesting visit we had was to the Smithsonian Research Center. To get there we took a taxi out of town to Sandfly beach where the Center has special tours a few days a week. Our guide, an ex-pat living in Bocas and two native young scientists walked us around the grounds. The three toed tree sloths were close up and personal, yet wild. The guide discovered them hanging over the road when we had all begun to leave and called us back to see them.
Below is a little movie of moving mother and baby sloths.
Here are pics of the Smithsonian Research Center in Bocas
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| Bocas del Toro OL |
There are cruiser nets that include Bocas. A VHF net on channel 68 at 8:00 daily and the Southwest Caribbean Net on SSB at 8:15AM. A problem we are having is we can no longer receive the weather reports from Chris Parker whom we relied on father north. While we are here in Bocas Dan has done the research and ordering of a new battery bank for Sea Star, a major purchase, but we can’t seem to keep a charge in the current AGM three year old batteries, so we must replace the seven of them together. At least everyone says, “anything you want you can get in Panama City.” He’s ordering the batteries through an agent and from Miami. Someday they will arrive by ship.
More to come on Bocas as we explore and travel. We are expecting a visit from our son from the States on July 5, so I’m sure we will do some fun things to write about!
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