Tag Archives: San Blas Islands

Jan 19

Major Breakdown

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Why does everything happen at night?   Like captain Ron said “If it’s going to happen boss, it’s going to happen out there”.  We are thankful it happened while we were at anchor. there are so may reefs in San Blas you need a working  engine.

. WE HAD SEA WATER COMING IN !!!!!,  and that is never good. The previous day while sailing along our high water bilge alarm went off. It was a new item, I had bought that was actually made to sound a loud alarm when water is detected in houses. It is usually behind washing machines, dishwashers, under sinks or bathtubs or water heaters. Luckily I bought one to back up our onboard system. This water alarm made in Brampton On. by www.waterlineproducts.com saved us from sinking.

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We had finished dinner, the sun had set and it was getting dark fast. On hearing the alarm, I lifted the floorboards. to look in the bilge, I was surprised to see how much water we already had in the boat. I turned on the pump….. no sound,…. panic starting to set in,…. Breath,.. calm down,… think this through. The reason I can’t hear the pump is because it is 2 1/2 ft. under water. After checking the outflow I could see that water was indeed being pumped out. I opened the motor cover and could clearly see that we were taking on water through the heat exchanger. A boat does not have a radiator like a car, but instead uses seawater to cool a tank, filled with coolant to keep the motor at the correct operation temperature. This unit is called a heat exchanger, right now it was pumping in sea water into the boat. We tried many things in a short time but could not stop the leak. That’s when I heard the solution “shut off the intake valve” coming from Muriel. Sometimes in panic situations we don’t think of the most common sense solutions. Once I shut off the valve I started to  think about our predicament.

We are in the middle of nowhere anchored behind an island the nearest town sixty miles away. Marine dealers in Panama city, more than 5 hours away. All we would have to do, is flag down a passing fast boat, then travel 2 1/2 hrs. to Carti, a busy harbour with a direct road to the city, We could hire a jeep to take us over 2 hrs. through the jungle on the road to Panama City, which means at least one over night. One of us staying on the  boat alone, “out of the question” . We talked to the man in Cambombia  and he agreed to watch Mistress as long as we returned with Coke a Cola. We set out extra anchor chain, shut off through hulls, and boarded a fast boat to Carti at 5 am to, make the connection with the jeeps to Panama city. The only other passengers were lobsters being delivered to market. Small ones in a cooler, large ones walking around the boat.

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Fast boat = Large canoe with big engine

Slow boat = Large canoe with paddles

We were loaded into a SUV, 4 wheel drive type vehicle, their all called Jeeps, to travel through the jungle of Kuna Yala,  which is very rough. They even have a border of sorts, between native territory and mainland Panama almost a 1/4 of the total land area.

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The flag of Kuna Yala has a large swastika, but has no political connection to the Nazi symbol.  It was first used in a rebellion in February, 1925.

Our driver took us to a hotel he recommended in the downtown area with access to the Metro so we could easily travel anywhere in the city to find new parts all I can say about Panama city is we will return, right now we want to de-stress and find the part needed to fix our problem. .We will cover Panama City in a future blog post..

When we visited the Yanmar dealer, the maker of our engine, we were told the parts we required had been discontinued,.The only option for us was to seal the leak, and get to a place where a mechanic could have a look at it. No mechanic was going to come to us. Giving up on marine stores and listening to our son Jonny, “Dad real mechanics can fix anything with zip ties and silicone”. So we loaded up with both epoxy and high temp silicone.

The following morning we checked out at 5 am to start our long journey back to Mistress. We took more than a week of applying a layer,… then drying 18 hrs., …turn on the water, checking for leaks,…. re-applying, till no leaks appeared. When we turned on the engine, it was  still leaking but it was just a trickle, we had to get to a marina. Light wind so the motor needed to be used.

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Here we go next stop Porvenir !!!!!!    

Jan 05

Islands in Kuna Yala, Isla San Blas

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Isla Pinos

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This small island was going to be and is a most cruisers original landfall into the San Blas, but we changed our minds when we were still in Colombian waters.

The Anchorage on this island has a bar/restaurant that serves fresh seafood and cold Panama beer with a small beach, right out front, in a postcard setting. It also serves as a over night stopover for the boats delivering backpackers into Colombia. We had one of these boats show up with more than 20 passengers, who spent their time enjoying a lobster dinner then drinks on the beach, before,setting up hammocks and sleeping under the thatched roof.

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Snug Harbour

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Nargana

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At the mouth of the Rio Diablo, close to the mainland are 2 communities united by a bridge, the islands of Nangana and Corazon de Jesus. The residents have decided to give up the traditional Kuna way of life. Most of the women don’t wear molas, and the chef has little authority. Still we were encouraged to go meet with him. This is one of the most “advanced” communities in all of Guna Yala, and has some real benefits. There is a bank, but wouldn’t work for us, a health center, library and best of all, the internet, it came in better if you stood directly under the antennae near the bridge. Pages took around 30 seconds to refresh. Good enough for email.

Walking through the town we noticed the flicker of televisions from the huts. Most of them were huge sets 40 inches or more.Rum and beer can be bought freely at any of the bars., in town there are several. We found a good deal at the pool hall., $12 US for a 1 litre bottle. In the evening, just before sundown, there was fresh bread from a small bakery.

We took a trip up the river but didn’t go the 3 hrs. to a lake and waterfalls where the Kuna go to get fresh water.

The Colombian trade boats are always in the port one leaves, another one arrives.

The men all ages in the evening play basketball, the teenagers play Volleyball ,the town has won several championship awards.

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The sign list what’s for sale at the store…..beside it…We Cut Hair

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Dec 22

Puerto Perme’

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As we started to travel, we moved just 8 miles away from where we checked in to a small harbour called Puerto Perme it is a small pocket, protected from all sides with a reef and a beach. It looks just like a postcard. We enjoyed watching the pelicans follow the dug out canoas around the bay, while the boys fished with nets. seems like the men come  out at sunrise and the young boys fish in the afternoon. By all the laughter we heard, it is as much fun as it is work.

There is a Kuna village but we didn’t visit, we figured they don’t get many boats stopping here, it would seem like we are being nosey. We did go the beach, and sit in the shallow water attempting to cool off. Later in the evening we seen a pelican going across the top of the water at a strange angle when we realized the carcass was in the mouth of a swimming crocodile , just 20 feet in front of our boat.       THERE GOES THE SWIMMING!!!!

 

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Dec 15

Obaldia, ….Arrival to Panama, Oct.30/2017

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After an enjoyable night passage, we are in the border town of Obaldia. The town situated at the southern end of the country, is an easy access point for drugs and guerrillas, so has a high military presence, there is an armed guard post on the main dock.

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Checking into the country here was not easy, the love paper work, everything is written out by hand. Our first stop was to the guard, after looking over our papers, we were sent to immigration our directions were to walk to the palm tree turn left go over a wooden bridge, you should see it. simple !!! After getting totally lost, we ask a man who directed us to the right  place. When we got there, we were told to sit, we were the only ones in the office, the agent would be back soon.

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About ten minutes later a guy comes in carrying his lunch. He sat down at his desk, hid behind his computer and watched a TV on a table in the next room. about 30 min went by before he asked to see our passports. he the looked at every page and read every stamp. He then started filling out forms probably 4 papers for each of us, then gave us a e page form to fill out. Parents names, children’s names, ages, where are they all had to be written down. The best was shade of skin colour. luckily there was a place to get copies made just four doors away. They needed 3 copies of all documents. When we were finished we walked aback over to the guard post. the soldier looked over our papers then told us we now needed to report to the Port Authority funny it was 1 small street away from where we just came from. Upon arriving there we found it empty extended lunch hour. Again after waiting for awhile the port captain showed up filled he necessary forms all written out by hand, stamped and singed. We paid our fees and Mistress was welcomed to the country. Back to see the guard it was now mid afternoon and starting to rain, but he didn’t hesitate, “oh my god”….. more copies. Every new formed copied twice. When we finally in the rain, he inspected all our forms and documents before calling for an agent to inspect our boat. No answer, nobody wants to get wet… Manana, tomorrow, we will be inspected first thin in the morning. A whole day went by but we still must complete one last thing to be admitted to Panama. we stood talking to the guard who is learning English, impressed with my Spanish. We gave him correct pronunciation of words he was having trouble with.

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We returned to Mistress, to wait for morning.