We left Cartagena and visited some of the islands on the way to Sapzurro just south of the border with Panama. We had a good and uneventful trip until we approached Sapzurro... it was windy and the swell was big but we didn't realised how big until Moonwalker entered Sapzurro bay... the waves were huge and breaking all over the place, to say Russell was " focused" was an understatement. But there was no return, he made the call and in we went. I locked myself in the cockpit with Brisa and kept an eye on Russ and on the waves behind and it went remarkably well considering the nerve wrecking conditions.
Once in the corner where we had to anchor was far from perfect, and very tight but quite picturesque. It was a fast visit to say the least. The dreamed surf was a mess, waves big but with wind and without a proper shape. But they were fun to watch from shore. We walked around the village which was very nice, Brisa had her first kindy experience, spending about an hour with the other kids in the local day care. She even had the (extremely sweet) rice pudding the teacher served. They were all lovely and Bri had a ball.
We sailed from there to the San Blas villages in the south, very seldom visited by yachties. Because of Brisa we had some of the most amazing interactions with the local population. She danced with old Kuna ladies, pointed to their nose rings to their delight (thank Godness they didn't understand what she was saying " caca, caca" meaning " dirty dirty"), had lovely swings on their hammocks and ran ammock with the kids in general.
Sorry a bit far away but you get the idea - we carried our furler tied on the side for almost 5 weeks! We sailed on small jib and double reefed main for almost a month and Moonwalker still went well doing 7-8 knots!
Unfortunately San Blas did not get any better...the 3 weeks we stayed there it was windy and rainy, not pleasant at all. The place is beautiful though we can totally see its potential but it wasn't for us so the weather Gods pushed us forward and we made it to the town of Portobelo, a lovely place 20 miles from Colon and the Panama Canal.
Colon is aptly named as it is the "colon" of the world, a shit pitt with very little to offer apart from a quick passage to the Pacific. We organized ourselves so we had to spend as little time as possible in the place and it proved to be a wise decision. The catamaran anchored next to us in front of Clube Nautico got borded and robbed 2 days after we left. Don't think I need to say anything else.
The Panama Canal crossing was in itself fairly uneventful as far as dangers goes. It was a very ordely and timed affair which was made very pleasant by the fact we had good friends in another catamaran Sans Souci attached to us as you can see in the photo. They even had a playmate for Brisa, little Fritz whom is only a month younger than Bri. Our crew onboard were on the ball and very experienced. We had Jo and Selwyn from Morning Cloud (NZ) and Dave from Green Flash (USA). Only the boys did any work, the girls took photos, cooked and played with Bri. Our advisors were very nice and made our crossing very easy.
It was quite an amazing experience to be in one of the wonders of engeneering in the world. The massive iron rivetted gates were there from the beginning and are still doing their jobs very well. And fancy starting your day in one ocean and finish in another? How's that?
The Pacific was felt straight away, cooler water, variable winds and bird life. We are so happy to be on this side. " Only" around another 7000 miles to go and we are HOME!
ps: Forestay fixed, side stay to be done tomorrow - captain is vey proud of himself and happy.
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