Home Again

Location:  San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

We’re back on the boat, happy to be “home” and headed north and west towards Mexico and California.  We arrived back in Golfito, Costa Rica on 8-Feb after spending the holidays with family in Austin and January on the farm in Alabama. 

Ben and Maggie at the zoo



Cat, Maggie, Ben and Baby Benjamin

The "Fat Elvis" from an Austin Food
Truck called "Gordoughs".  They
make sandwiches out of doughnuts.  This
one included bacon, bananas, peanut butter.

Another Gordoughs sandwich, Canadian
bacon, cream cheese and jalapeno jelly.

 

We left Austin early January, picked up my mom, Louise, in Houston, and gambled at all the casinos between there and the farm.  We stopped at our favorite Louisiana casino, Coushatta, and spent one night and then drove to Biloxi the next day and spent three nights.  My mom and I both have birthdays in January so we were able to get free buffets at most of the casinos.  We won some and lost some until Dave had a great round of three card poker at the Palace Casino, so we ended up ahead of the game.  We arrived at the farm on Monday, 6-Jan and were greeted by Dave’s friends Al and Paul.  They had driven through the night from Beverly, MA (just north of Boston). 

Turkeys in the green field behind
the cabin at the farm.

Rocky creek waterfall on the farm

One of the last things we did on the farm last year was to move all of the furniture from the Fairhope house into the cabin.  We didn’t have enough time to organize or unpack anything, so a pile of boxes and jumbled furniture were waiting for us.  We went to work setting up the beds, organizing things so that we could walk around, and unpacking the kitchen stuff.  Mom got to clean up all the mouse debris in the trailer as that was going to be her room for the next few days.  Al and Paul brought a bunch of groceries and snacks along with homemade lasagna and pepperoni bread so we were set for food until we could make a run to the grocery store.  We got enough chores done before 3:00 p.m. so that the guys could head out to the woods for their afternoon deer hunt. 

Sunrise on the farm

The next week went by quickly.  The guys hunted in the early mornings and late afternoons and we all did cabin projects in between.  Al and Paul were able to harvest five deer and we had a lot of fun playing cards after dinner each night. 


Al, B and Paul on B's birthday.  Dave
"baked" the cake.

Mom left on 12-Jan to go and visit my Uncle Max and Aunt Darlene in Florida and Al and Paul headed back to MA on Monday, 13-Jan.  Dave and I spent the next few days doing more cabin projects, working with the tractor and preparing to put the farm on the market.  We are trying to sell so that we can buy a place in Texas, closer to the grandkids.



The tractor stuck near the creek.

Mom returned from Florida on the 22nd; we celebrated her birthday and then put her to work doing controlled burns of our planted pines along with other fun projects.






Louise burning

My brother, Kevin, flew in from California for the last week of deer hunting season.  The weather turned cold and we even had snow on the farm, a rare occasion.  Kevin hunted most mornings and afternoons, saw a lot of does and turkeys but didn’t find the big buck he was looking for.  We left the farm on 1-Feb and headed back to Texas via Biloxi and Coushatta.  We dropped Mom and Kevin at the Houston airport and then headed back to Austin for a few more days with the grandkids before heading back to the boat.

Our flights back to Costa Rica were uneventful (the best kind) and we (and the cats) made it back to the boat with no problems.  We spent the first few days re-provisioning for our trip north, checking out the boat to make sure everything was operational and getting our paperwork to clear out of the country.  Chama, the guy at Banana Bay Marina who watched over the boat while we were gone, did a great job.  Everything was in top shape and all systems fired up with no issues. 

Turtle at Banana Bay Marina.  He
has been coming at high tide
every day for the last ten years
for fresh bananas
.

We pulled out of the marina on Wednesday, 12-Feb and turned the boat north and west.  The first night we anchored in Drake’s Bay. 

Rounding the point prior to anchoring
at Manuel Antonia Park.



Iguana



Monkey

Monkey

Capuchin Monkey

The second night we anchored near Manuel Antonio Park (near Quepos).  The next day, we swam from the boat to the park beach and hiked some of the park trails; we had lunch at a restaurant just outside the park, hiked a few more park trails and then swam back out to the boat in time for happy hour.



Splash for a ray jumping.

Dave swimming back to the boat

Dolphins cruising the bow wake.

The next few days we continued north, anchoring in Bahia Ballena, Bahia Brasilito and Bahia Santa Elena before crossing the border into Nicaragua and anchoring in the harbor near San Juan del Sur.  The officials came aboard to clear us into the country and then we headed into town.  San Juan del Sur is a nice small town, clean, with some good restaurants, a nice beach and friendly people.



Brown booby catches a ride.

 

Mangrove swamp in Bahia Santa Elena. 
We took the dinghy in to do some exploring.

The dinghy motor fails us.
We have to paddle back to the boat.

We did run into some weather along the way.  There is a seasonal wind phenomenon here that they call “Papagayos” or the “gap-winds”.  During certain times of the year, typically January – April, these winds can blow 30 – 40 knots with gusts in the 50s.  They’re created by the Caribbean trade winds coming over the low, narrow land mass of Central America and into the Pacific.  The Papagayos can reach as far north as Guatemala and as far south as Panama.  Along with the winds, the seas can be rough.  As we were crossing the northern part of Costa Rica, we experienced winds in the 40 knot range with gusts in the 50s and sig waves of 4 – 6 feet (8 – 12 max height).  There is a similar wind phenomenon called “Tehuantepecers” that occurs across the Gulf of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico.  The season for these winds is the same as the Papagayos, but the winds can be much stronger and the seas much rougher.  We will be watching the weather closely before we transit that area.
 

Waves breaking over the bow.

 

Secure for sea.  The trash can on the
floor so it doesn't fall over, along
with the cat food container and
Dave's shoes, holding the dishwasher closed.
The coffee pot is on the floor in the corner.

 



Happy Hour in San Juan del Sur.

 

We’re departing San Juan del Sur in the morning, headed to a marina in northern Nicaragua call Puesta del Sol.

End of the year

Location:  Austin, TX

One last blog for the year… Happy Holidays to everyone.  Hope you had time to spend with family and friends and time to enjoy the last of a good year.  We’re in Austin, TX, spending time with our new grandson, Benjamin Allen, born on 16-Dec and with our granddaughter, Maggie (2-1/2) and of course, their parents, Ben and Catherine.  We left Seabiscuit in Golfito, Costa Rica at Banana Bay Marina. 

After coming through the Panama Canal, we spent some time cruising the Panama Islands on the Pacific side including Las Perlas, some of the outer islands of the Coiba Park and Islas Secas.  From there, we crossed the border into Costa Rica and spent a few days cruising Golfo Dulce before pulling into Banana Bay Marina and officially clearing into the country.

Picture of our chart plotter as we are leaving Isla Montuoso.
The green dot shows the way point where we planned
to anchor.  Where the red lines u-turns is our actual anchor
location.  From the chart plotter, it looks like we
anchored on the island, but in reality we were about 100 yards
off the shore.  A good example of how a chart plotter can be
off, why they are only "aids" to navigation and why
it is important to be aware of your surroundings.



Dolphins riding the bow wake

We saw a lot of sea life cruising the islands, including dolphins surfing the bow wake almost every day, sea turtles, sea snakes and plenty of seabirds.  You never get tired of spotting different animals and watching them in their natural habitat.  We decided not to do any fishing because we knew we had to empty the refrigerator and freezer before leaving the boat, but we saw lots of sports fishers and long liners along the way.

From Isla Montuoso (where we posted the last blog), we moved to Isla Secas where we anchored in a cove near the north end of Isla Cavada.  There is a resort located on the island, where you can rent a yurt for around $600 per night.  We stayed for three days and were happy to be able to anchor for free.  We did some snorkeling and swam from the boat to shore to explore the beaches.  One of the boats we had met in Shelter Bay, “Akka”, pulled into the same cove to anchor on our second night there.  They are also moving up the Pacific coast and were planning to leave their boat in Nicaragua while they went home for the holidays.  They had anchored near Isla Coiba the previous night and ended up going to the ranger station to pay the park fees for anchoring and then had to travel back to their boat via dinghy without a lot of gas in their tank.  They were headed toward Boca Chica where they could fill both their dinghy tank and their diesel tank, so we loaned them 2 gallons of gas so that they could use their dinghy when they got there.

Lunch break near Isla Parida

From Isla Secas, we moved to Isla Parida and anchored up in a cove on the north end of the island.  We took the dinghy out along with a picnic lunch and went exploring the beaches and some of the nearby islands.  We found a secluded beach and set up our chairs for lunch.  While we were eating, we noticed a turtle feeding in the cove, so we had some entertainment watching him.

Our next move was to Punta Balsa, our last stop in Panama.  We dropped the hook and decided to do some maintenance while we were there.  The insulation in the engine room fan duct had collapsed so air wasn’t flowing freely into the engine room.  We disassembled the fan housing on the boat deck and duct taped the insulation back into place.  The fan housing is rusted and the fan bearings are squeaking so we have them on the list to be replaced at a later date.

Dave disassembling the fan housing

Looking down the fan duct.

The next day, we cruised around Punta Barica, across the border into Costa Rica and into Golfo Dulce.  We anchored up outside of the small town of Jimenez and took the dinghy in to explore and to get a few supplies.  We were greeted in town by the local police and were worried that they were going to check our IDs (we hadn’t officially checked into Costa Rica and therefore didn’t have stamps in our passports), but it turned out they were reminding people to be safe for the holidays and wishing them a happy Christmas (Feliz Navidad).  We stopped and bought some ceviche and plantain chips from a van near the town dock and headed back to the boat for happy hour.  Our plan was to go back into town for dinner but it started to rain when we got back to the boat so we stayed in and ate our happy hour snacks.

The next day we moved about 15 miles to the west end of Golfo Dulce and anchored near Rincon.  We did some bird watching from the boat and saw a toucan and two scarlet macaws in the trees near the shore.  We dinghied to shore and hiked up a nearby hill to see what was on the other side, then we hiked down the main road to the Rincon River and had lunch at a local bar.  Both Rincon and Jimenez are on the Osa Penisiula near the Corcovado National Park.  After lunch we went back out to the boat and spent a quiet night at anchor. 

Scarlet macaw in flight

Toucan in the botanical garden

The next morning, we moved about 15 miles along the north coast of Golfo Dulce and anchored near Casa Orquidea, a botanical garden maintained by an expat family.  We dinghied to shore and were greeted by Ron, one of the owners.  He gave us a brief overview and then turned us loose with a map and descriptions of the various plants.  Not only was the garden filled with plants, but we saw lots of different birds including scarlet macaws and a toucan.  At the end of our tour of the gardens, Trudy (Ron’s wife) gave us some fresh basil, ginger, turmeric and pepper corns to use in our dinner.  We went back to the boat and Dave chopped and grated the spices to use in our marinade for dinner.

Dave chopping fresh spices

Tuesday morning we heaved up anchor and headed into Golfito.  Once we were safely tied up at the marina, we walked into town to the immigration office, then took a taxi to customs and finally headed to the port authority to finish the clearing in process.  We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant and stopped at the two pet stores/veterinarians in town to see if they had soft carriers for the cats and if the vet could provide health certificates for the flight home.  With no luck at either, we went back to the marina to ask for their advice.  Cindy, another cat lover, advised us that there was a vet from the next town over that came to Golfito every Wednesday night.  He was coming to the marina the next day to see her cats so she called to see if he could see ours while he was there.  We spent the rest of the day cleaning up the boat and doing small boat chores.  Wednesday we did more boat chores and then walked to the nearest grocery/department store and bought two gym bags that could be modified into soft cat carriers.  Wednesday night the vet stopped by at about 9:30 p.m.; he examined the cats, said they looked healthy and promised to have the paperwork back to us on Saturday morning.

B sewing screen into a gym bag
for a soft sided cat carrier that
can be used to carry the cats in
the airplane cabin for the trip home.

Thursday and Friday we constructed the cat carriers, did some more boat chores and prepared for our departure.  Saturday morning, the vet came through and delivered the cats’ health certificates.  We headed to the Golfito airport that afternoon for our flight to San Jose where we spent the night. 

Waiting at the Golfito airport

Sunday morning, we went to the international airport in San Jose and boarded the flight to Houston, where we all arrived safe and sound.  Our plans are to spend the rest of December here in Austin with the grandkids and then head to the farm in Alabama for January.  We’ll be back on the boat in Costa Rica the first week in February to continue our journey up the pacific coast of Central America, into Mexico and then into California.

B, Maggie and Ben on a nature walk

Panama Canal

Location:  Isla Montuoso (Panama, Pacific Ocean)

We’re through the Panama Canal and now cruising in the Pacific Ocean.  After arriving at Shelter Bay Marina late October, we took some time to do some minor maintenance and to prepare for our canal transit.  The boat was admeasured shortly after we arrived at the marina and we scheduled our transit date for November 20 and 21.  Dave did a quick trip to Aberdeen, Scotland while I met some of the other cruisers at the marina, went for walks, went to happy hour and re-provisioned.  To get to town (Colon) from the marina, you had to take a 40 minute shuttle bus ride and cross over the canal on a one lane swing bridge.  The canal expansion construction was very visible. 

Heron at Shelter Bay Marina

Old military buildings near Shelter Bay



Panama Canal Expansion Project

Here is some basic information on the Panama Canal.  She opened to traffic on August 15, 1914.  The first ship to transit was the S.S. Ancon.  The canal runs mostly north/south and each lock has an east and west side.  There are three locks on each side of the canal.  The Gatun Locks, on the Atlantic side, are physically connected to each other.  The change in elevation (rise, in order to cross the continental divide) from first entering the locks to Gatun Lake is 26 meters (84 feet) via three chambers.  The three locks on the Pacific side are separated.  The first lock coming from Gatun Lake is the Pedro Miguel Lock which lowers each vessel 9 meters (29.5 feet).  After exiting the Pedro Miguel lock, you cross Miraflores Lake to the Miraflores Locks where vessels are lowered to sea level.  The canal is now under expansion with a third set of larger locks being added.

In order to transit, along with all the required paperwork, the boat must be equipped with four 125’ lines, enough fenders (or tires) to prevent damage, the captain (Dave) and four line handlers.  Our agent, Roy Bravo, arranged everything for the transit including providing lines and tires, doing all the paperwork and providing one line handler (Rick).  We asked around the marina to see if any other cruisers were interested in transiting with us and Debbie and Carl volunteered for the trip.  They have been cruising in Panama for about 3 years and transiting the canal was on their bucket list. 



Rick and Dave on the bow

Debbie and Carl and their boat Diva

The day prior to transit, Roy delivered eight tires, so we tied them along the sides of the boat.  We hung some of our heavy duty fenders near the flopper-stoppers to give them some extra protection. Roy also sent us our transit schedule and let us know that our advisor was scheduled to board at ~4:30 p.m. so we should plan on leaving the marina about 3:30 p.m. 


Seabiscuit dressed up for transit

Seabiscuit ready for transit

On the morning of the 20^th, Roy stopped by with Rick and let us know that our advisor boarding time was changed to 5:00 p.m.  We finished our final preparations, iced down the cooler and left the marina at 4:00 p.m.  Another boat in the marina, Batai (length of ~125 feet), was also transiting on the same day, so we followed them out to the Flats Anchorage.



Following Batai out of Shelter Bay

Our advisor, Francisco, boarded at about 5:30 p.m. and informed us that there was an issue with going center chamber as they didn’t have enough canal side handline crew to handle both us and Batai. 

Francisco, our advisor for the
Gatun Locks, in the pilot house

Sizing up Batai

Our options were to go side wall, which we had specifically requested to not do because of the flopper-stoppers, to raft up to Batai and go through together, which neither boat wanted to do because of the difference in size of the vessels, or maybe we would get lucky and have a tug to tie up to.  We cruised up alongside Batai to assess the possibility of rafting up with them.  Both vessel captains and the advisor and pilot decided it wasn’t a good idea (For vessels less than 65 feet, an advisor accompanies you through the canal.  For vessels greater than 65 feet, a pilot accompanies you through the canal).  So Batai proceeded towards the Gatun locks to go center chamber and we stayed back and waited to see what our method of transit would be. 

While we were waiting, we dropped anchor for about 30 minutes and had our supper, King Ranch Chicken Casserole, Jalapeno cornbread and a green salad.  At 6:30, we heaved up the anchor and proceeded towards the locks.  We moved up slowly with Francisco guiding us through twilight and darkness towards the lights of the canal.  “Move ahead at about 6 knots”.  “Slow down to 3 knots”.  “Minimum speed”, “Stay to the right to give that ship room” etc.

Entering Gatun Locks

Gatun Lock gate

Gatun Lock, looking forward,
notice the tug on the right



Tied up to the Panama Canal Tug

Top of the lock

As we were getting closer to the Gatun Locks, Francisco gave us the good news that we were going to go through with a tug boat.  They would tie up to the lock wall and we would tie alongside them.  For the Gatun Locks, there are three chambers so we would tie alongside after entering the chamber, rise up, untie and move under our own power to the next chamber, tie up and repeat through the second and third chambers.  We exited the third chamber into Gatun Lake at about 9:30 and were tied up to our mooring for the night by 10:30.  Everyone relaxed, had a cocktail and then retired for a short sleep.

 

On Thursday morning at 6:30, Guillermo, our advisor for the day, boarded.  We got underway for the 28 mile trek from the Gatun Lake mooring to the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks. 

Guillermo, our advisor for the
Miraflores locks, in the pilot house

Capt. Dave looking ahead

We passed some interesting sites, including a crane that was confiscated from Germany during WWII and some of the original terracing that was done during the original canal construction.  About 2/3 of the way to the locks, we passed our friend Batai, tied on to a mooring.  They were supposed to complete their transit through the entire canal on the night before, but it was foggy so they weren’t able to transit the second set of locks.  We ended up transiting the Miraflores locks with them.

Crane from WWII

Terracing from original canal construction

Carl and Debbie resting up for center
chamber duty

As we neared the first lock, Guillermo informed us that we would be going through center chamber and called a short meeting for the line handlers.  He gave us a brief overview of how center chamber would work and what we had to do.  Basically there would be one line handler and one line on each corner of the boat.  As we entered the first lock, we would ease over towards the port side and the canal side line handlers would throw down a monkey fist attached to a messenger line.  When the monkey fist landed on the boat, the port side line handlers would tie the messenger to their line.  Then we would ease over to starboard and repeat the process.  Then the canal side line handlers would walk us into the chamber  and on their signal we would feed them our lines. 

Canal side line handlers

 

Canal gate

They would attach the bowline at the end of our lines to a bollard on the canal wall and then the chamber would start to drain.  As the water went down, we each slacked our lines until we reached the bottom (about 30 feet elevation change).  After the first lock, Pedro Miguel, we had a short transit to reach the Miraflores locks, so the canal side line handlers would detach the messengers and we would pull our lines back onto the boat.  When we reached the Miraflores locks, the process was repeated with the monkey fists, etc.  Since the two Miraflores locks are next to each other, the canal side line handlers walked the lines from the first lock to the second.

Debbie and B line handling on the bow

After the second Miraflores lock, we were through.  A successful transit.  Guillermo disembarked after we passed under the Bridge of the Americas and we proceeded to Balboa Yacht Club where we would drop off Rick, our lines and tires and pick-up our zarpe (exit papers) and passports. 

Pilot boat pulling alongside to
pick-up Guillermo



Guillermo leaving via the pilot boat

From there, we headed to the Las Brisas anchorage for the night.  Carl and Debbie stayed on board another night so that they could do some shopping and provisioning in Panama City on Friday morning before heading back to Shelter Bay.  Thursday was Dave’s birthday so we celebrated with some rum drinks and a casual dinner of smoked salmon, chopped onions, chopped boiled eggs, capers and crackers.

Container ship passing under
the Bridge of the Americas



Roca San Jose, heading south
from the canal entrance



The Pacific

Marciano, grilling lunch on Isla Contadora

Varmint Tracks in the sand, Espiritu Santo

Bird Tracks in the sand, Espiritu Santo

Lizard tracks in the sand, Espiritu Santo



 



Friday morning we headed toward Flamenco Marina to pick up 650 gallons of fuel and to drop off Carl and Debbie.  After fueling, we headed south towards the Las Perlas islands and our first adventure in the Pacific Ocean.

 

We anchored on the north side of Isla Contadora Friday night.  Saturday we hailed a “water taxi” and went into town for lunch and a few things at the grocery store.  We had a quick swim off the stern that afternoon and a relaxing evening on the boat. 



Sunday morning, we heaved up anchor and moved about 15 miles to Espiritu Santo.  We took the dinghy and explored some of the beaches on the nearby islands.



Monday we were going to move to another island in the Las Perlas, but the weather was good and the seas were calm so we decided to make a long run to Punta Mala, about 115 miles or 15 hours.    After dark we turned on the radar and saw some ship traffic along the way.  Most vessels coming and going from the canal go around Punta Mala.  So it was good practice for identifying targets, recognizing lights and maneuvering to stay out of the paths of the big commercial ships.  We arrived at our anchor spot near Benao in the dark at about 10:00 p.m., dropped the hook and went to bed.  The anchorage was very rolly so we got up the next morning and travelled another 75 miles to the north side of Isla Cebaco near the village of Platanal.  We stayed for two nights, resting up and doing boat chores and maintenance.  From there, we headed south to Isla Jicaron, a uninhabited island, and anchored near the north shore.  The next day, we dinghyed to the island and walked along the beach.  We were lucky enough to see several capuchin monkeys in the trees near a fresh water stream, eating fruit from a soursop tree.  We did a little snorkeling near a reef closer to the boat and then called it a day.

A small bird and his friend hitched
a ride from the Las Perlas to Punta Mala



Capuchin Monkey, Isla Jicaron

Today we moved about 30 miles to the uninhabited Isla Montuoso, took the dinghy in and walked along the beach and did some snorkeling.  Another tough day on the water.



Last, but not least, we have been doing some boat maintenance.  Carl taught us a new maintenance term “wamdos” which stands for work-around and make-dos.  Prior to leaving Shelter Bay, our anchor light wasn’t working.  (You may remember that this was one of the maintenance things we did after leaving Bocas del Toro…).  The connection between the housing and the bulb kept coming loose, so Dave got creative with a “wamdo” and did some soldering.  So far, so good.  While we were fueling, one of the manhole cover gaskets, mid-hold port side, started leaking, so we did a temporary repair on it.  When the forward tanks get empty again, we’ll need to re-gasket all of the manhole covers.  Our stabilizer pump has been chewing up impellers and tripping the breaker.  While we were anchored near Platanal, Dave replaced the old pump with a new one and rewired the connections to the junction box.  We did a quick test and everything seemed fine.  As we were moving from Platanal to Isla Jicaron, we noticed that there was no cooling water being circulated by the new pump, so we shut it down.  Yesterday, Dave took apart the cooling water piping and the stabilizer heat exchanger to see if there was any blockage in the lines.  Sure enough, he found impeller pieces, shells and rocks inside the heat exchanger.  Now that those are cleaned out, the pump seems to be working fine and we had cooling water and stabilizers for the entire voyage today.

Next stop, Islas Secas.