Made it to Panama…
Monday, June 07, 2010
Last time I wrote I was sitting in the blaring heat of Anguilla! But I didn’t get a chance to actually write about Anguilla. It was a surprise first stop on the voyage! Due to less than favorable winds in the Caribbean, the Captain decided to stop in Anguilla for a few days instead of bobbing around in the Sea going nowhere. It was a decision we all agreed with! Anguilla was wonderful! Sunny, hot hot hot, sandy beaches and margaritas. We anchored in Road Bay on May 24th near the tiny town of Sandy Ground. Most of us ventured into the main town, called The Valley, for a least a few hours to see what was there. Another day a bunch of us also taxied/hitched up to a highly recommended beach called Shoal Bay. The waters off Anguilla get really deep really fast, so when you swim you only need to go out 6 or 8 meters before it’s deep enough to not touch bottom. We left Anguilla for some Caribbean sailing on May 27th.
When we did get out into the Caribbean, the Captain was less than happy with the wind situation. A few short days later on May 30th we made our second stop in port to again wait for the wind. This time we were down near Venezuela on the small island of Bonaire. It’s part of the Dutch Antilles and is known as one of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao). It is supposed to be one of the best dive spots in the world and even Bonaire license plates claims it’s a ‘Divers Paradise’. Lots of people onboard were excited to get out there and see all the weird and creepy creatures of the Sea, not me though. I’m happy to just float around on the surface thanks. Bonaire was very different from what we had just experienced in Anguilla. Firstly it’s landscape was very different. It was much hillier and lush looking in some parts, then in other parts it was very barren and bleak. Secondly the culture was very different. A big portion of the population is Dutch and the town, Karlendijk, is much more modern and built up, although the population of the entire island is only about 18, 000. One day I rented a Jeep and a few of us drove around the island to see what we could see. We headed north up the coast from town, around winding and hilly roads, we stopped in a little town called Rincon, then we booted over to the north coast. Unfortunately we had a little intermission on our driving adventure… I pulled over to stop and take picture of an interesting stretch of coast. There were some tire tracks off the road and the landscape was just gravel and dirt. But out of nowhere… the steering went! I had nothin’! The wheel didn’t respond at all and I though for a moment that we’d be hitch hiking back to town for sure. The Ship’s Bosun was with us and Ta daaa he found the problem pretty quickly. The tie rod for the steering had fallen off! That didn’t sound too good to me. But he managed to use the Jeep’s jack to smush it back up into the joint and then he used some twine he had to lash the rod in place temporarily (what a good seaman! LOL) The four of us kept thinking how lucky we were that it happened when it did and we were only driving very slowly off the road. If it had happened earlier when we were zig zagging up and down those hills in the rain then we could have all been toast. We walked over to the coast to take a few pics and passed some wild donkeys on the way. Then we headed back to town (only going 20km/h the whole way) to trade in our crap Jeep for a new one. After we got another Jeep we headed off south down the coast past the salt lakes and salt pyramids. We saw some flamingos (the island is famous for them) and stopped in at a Beach Bar on Lac Bay where there is tons of windsurfing and kayaking. We sailed off the dock from Karlendijk on June 2nd to finally take advantage of the favorable winds to carry us to Panama….
On Sunday June 6th we had a Caribbean Seamanship Derby! It was a good event to see what we know about the ship and what we need to improve on. We had events like Pin Rail Races (no running on the Ship though!), Knot Tying, Compass Boxing, Coiling Lines, Steering,and Sea Bucket races. We got extra points for team style as well as for bribing the judges with cool bevies and treats 😛 And you know it… 4-8 watch won!! There was no trophy but it gave us gloating privileges for the rest of the day. We finished the day with a Power Shower and a talk from the Captain about our next stops in Panama (yes, plural!)
I better get this and my pics posted. I’ll try to write again soon with some Panamanian details!
Besos,
cheri
p.s Don’t forget to keep reading the Captain’s Log’s on the Picton Castle website!! Maggie and the Captain have been frequently updating them during the voyage. www.picton-castle.com
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
We arrived to the mouth of the Panama Canal yesterday just before lunch in the rain. We first spotted land during my morning 4-8 watch. We stowed all sail and motored in to our anchorage spot. Many people think that the Panal Canal runs from the Atlantic on the east side to the Pacific on the west side. But actually it goes from the Caribbean and runs south east to the Pacific. It’s true! Look it up! J So we motored south in between the breakwaters and anchored off the shore to the west. There are HUGE cargo ships and tankers everywhere! The weirdest ones are the car carriers, tat are enclosed all the way up with massive high walls. Since we have what they call an open bridge, we have to do a daylight transit through the canal. We may go though on Wednesday morning, but there is also talk that we may be bumped to Thursday morning. We are going to be all hands tomorrow at 0530 to move our anchorage to Area F at the mouth of the Canal. Then we’ll know if we are going through tomorrow or Thursday.
We did tons of ship work today in this Panamanian heat. We slightly lower the port side fisherman’s anchor so that it doesn’t stick out the side. Everything has to be tucked in no wider that the ship to go through, So the Monomoy was also hoisted onboard and is now temporarily living on the galley house. It was quite a procedure to see a 2,000lb wooden rowboat hoisted up with tackles (pronounced tay-kles). The rescue boat is currently in the water right now, but tomorrow it will be hoised onboard as well and rest on the hatch until we are in the Pacific. We scrubbed rust and painted to make our ship shine again. After all we are going to be filmed in the Canal! There are two webcams and people at home can watch our transit if they tune in at the right time.
We just found out that we have permission to go ashore for a couple of hours this afternoon to ivisit the yacht club, but we cannot leave the yacht club as we aren’t really cleared into Panama until we get to the Pacific side. Since my 4-8 has the watch tonight, we can’t leave the ship. But the other 2 watches have gone ashore for a quick swim and some cold beers. I’m really missing having a swim call at anchor. But the waters here aren’’t so clear, and definitely smell funny, so no swimming for us. The yacht club has a pool 😛
My watch is chillin’ on the hatch watching ‘Boondock Saints’ right now so I’m going to wrap this up. The bugs here love my lit up computer screen and it’s driving me crazy. Ew, and the bugs here are GARGANTUAN! It’s hideous :S
Will write again soon!
Cheri
Thursday, June 10, 2010
I’m in Balboa!! Wooo! We transited the Canal today and I’m finally on the Pacific Ocean! Computer dying… will write more later…
xo
cheri's space 
