2-11-99 Caribbean Sea, position: Latitude 14 ° 24' N and Longitude 76 ° 55' W, for those of you who requested we post our Lat/Lon. As a geography refresher, we'll explain latitude and longitude. The world is divided by the equator into the northern and southern hemispheres. Latitudes are imaginary lines which measure distance from the equator. The units of measure are degrees (°), minutes ('), seconds ("). The equator represents 0 °, the North Pole is 90° north, and the South Pole is 90 ° south. We are slowly approaching the equator (14 °north of it now). The world is also divided into the eastern and western hemispheres and longitudinal lines measure distance east and west. The Prime Meridian is 0 ° longitude and the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean is 180° longitude. We're into the fourth day of our offshore passage from the Bahamas to Panama, we left from Great Inagua. We had a great sail through the Windward Passage, between Cuba and Haiti, and are now into the famous Trade Winds of the Caribbean. The winds have been a steady easterly 15-20 knots on our beam (side of the boat) and we are reaching with the wind in 8-10 foot swells. We are nicely making way, averaging 150 miles/day - one 24 hour period we made 182 miles. We have a watch system set up, since we are sailing 24 hours a day, not stopping to anchor at night. With a watch system, we take turns sleeping, navigating and watching. Our current schedule is: 6am-Noon (Colleen), Noon to 6pm (Pat), 6pm to 9pm (Colleen), 9pm-Midnight (Pat), Midnight to 3am (Colleen) and 3am-6am (Pat). So we have 6 hour shifts during the daylight hours and 3 hour shifts in the dark. Our wind vane, self steering system, has been working like a third member of our crew steering the boat for us. We haven't had to touch the wheel , except for minor adjustments and that frees up our time to do other things - eat, read, brush our teeth, navigate, etc.... The radar has been great too, alot of big ship traffic traveling to and from the Panama Canal. Our radar has a 24 mile range and identifies ships with a "blip" on the screen, and we can see their exact location and heading, helping us to avoid a chance meeting at sea. We've been somewhat disappointed in the sea life so far in the Caribbean, only a few ocean birds and schools of flying fish. These flying fish are 4-6 inches long and actually leap out of the water and fly for quite a distance. Not sure if they are avoiding larger predator fish, or they just like to fly and skim off the wave tops. They must not have good steering capabilities out of the water, though, each day several of them have met their demise on our boat. We find them on all over our deck: bent and dried out!! Poor things. We did have one spot of luck trolling for fish. About 10 miles off of Cuba, we caught a 20 lb. dolphin (the fish, not the mammal). These dolphin are also referred to as Mahi Mahi, an iridescent green, yellow and blue pelagic fish. It fought for about 20 minutes, then Pat finally got it along side the boat and Colleen gaffed it to bring it onboard. It was hectic once it was on deck - it obviously didn't want to be there and thrashed about wildly. It jumped off the gaff and back into the water, luckily Pat still had it on the fishing pole. Then we started all over again! The second time Colleen gaffed it we were more prepared. We had read somewhere to use liquor in the fish's gills to quiet them down. So we gave our dolphin friend a good shot of Jack Daniel's Whiskey the second time we got it on deck. It worked like a charm! Pat filleted it on deck and we ate some for dinner an hour later. Can't get much fresher than that! It was excellent, and we have another few meals in the freezer. Well, we're about 300 miles from our destination, San Blas Islands, Panama. We should arrive within 2 or 3 days. We plan to spend a few weeks there, then head for the Panama Canal to transit to the Pacific Ocean. P.S. Thanks everyone for all the email, we had almost 100 messages awaiting for us when we arrived in George Town, Great Exuma, Bahamas. It's nice knowing that folks are thinking about us and keeping in touch. Our only request is that you don't send large files (such as attachments, pictures, or online cards). It takes alot of time to download these, and the cost to get online in the islands is pretty steep, compared to the internet provider services everyone is used to at home.
2-15-99 Hola, amigos! We were escorted into Porvenir, San Blas Islands by a pod of 20 dolphins (the mammal) on our bow. We arrived on Saturday, Feb 13th, after a 755 mile, 124 hour passage from Great Inagua, Bahamas. Our position is 9 ° 33.5' N and 78 °56.98' W. The trip was good, only one period of 10-12 hours where the seas were a bit confused and lumpy. We didn't eat dinner that night, just some saltines and soda. Feels good to be stationary and on the anchor again. The San Blas Islands are post-card-picturesque and the people (Kuna Indians) are wonderful. The government of Panama granted the Amerindians - the Kunas - autonomous rule and officially recognizes San Blas as a separately governed nation as of 1938. The Kunas have a hierarchy of tribal leaders on national as well as village levels and they live traditionally in an ancient life style that has miraculously survived the times. The San Blas are 30 miles off the northeastern coast of Panama and are tiny, low, coconut-palmed islands with thatched huts. We can see the 1500-2000 ft mountains of Panama in the distance. Kunas are very small in stature, slightly muscular, expert boat handlers, and openly friendly and curious. There is constant movement via dug-out canoes between the islands. The languages are mainly Kuna and Spanish, few have learned English. It's been fun communicating with them (Colleen has some Spanish language schooling and has been designated the "translator"). The Kuna women dress very colorfully with lots of jewelry (earrings, rings, breast plates, nose rings, and intricate beadwork on their arms and legs), some face painting, wrap skirts, orange scarves and the most eye catching is their "mola". A mola is an intricately designed and sewn panel on the front and back of their blouse . The colorful molas are a characteristic textile art of the islands and are supposedly quite famous world wide, turning the women into serious cash earners. (Costs range between $10-$50 for a 14" x 14" panel). Creating molas requires painstaking skill, with very intricate needle work and most of the applique designs tell a story about the islands. One women showed us a mola with a helicopter and the name "Sikorsky" on it. I think the Army built the few airstrips on the islands. The women are very industrious in marketing their product to the visiting yachties. We were anchored less than an hour when 5 Kuna women from a nearby village paddled out in their dug-out canoe and climbed onboard our boat with big plastic buckets full of molas and beads to sell! The experience was interesting, they didn't speak any English. We bought a tee shirt with a mola design - fish and coral reef scene for Colleen. Pat bought a beaded anklet that one of the young ladies tied to his ankle with a flirtatious smile .... what else could he do but buy it? Then Sunday we walked around the village with two new boating friends. (one St. Thomas couple just beginning their circumnavigation, like us, and another Portland, OR couple just finishing a 5 year circumnavigation.) The Kunas were friendly and children followed us everywhere showing off their pet parrots and toucans. Then we sat at the village gathering table with several men (no women) and drank Panamanian "Balboa" beer all afternoon, trading stories in broken Spanish-English. (Beer is 57 cents a can here, we may never leave!) They are so proud of their heritage and their beautiful islands and made us feel very welcome and safe.
2-18-99 We've been in the San Blas 6 days now and moved around to several different islands. Most islands don't have villages, but they do have one or two huts on them where the coconut caretakers live. The coconut palmed islands are exactly what you dream of as a tropical paradise. Check out the picture of one we took. The coconuts and coconut trade is very important to the Kunas, and therefore you can't help yourself to any, even on the uninhabited islands. The Kunas' lifestyle is very basic - simple palm frond huts with no electricity or running water. They survive on fish, lobster, octopus, coconuts, and of course mola sales. It's neat to sit on the boat at night and look out towards the nearby islands and see "campfires" - their stove and lighting. All sailboats, coming to an island, are visited by the locals who paddle, sail, or motor their dug-out canoes (called ulus). As a matter of fact, they come from every nearby islands to sell their molas and beadwork, several times a day. Or to sell fish, lobster or ask for things they need. Yesterday we wandered ashore to visit a family on Nuinudup Island (all the Kuna island names are hard to pronounce). There were grandparents, parents, 4 children (ages 5-10) and various extended family members living in two small huts and they were in the process of building a third hut. The father and children spoke Spanish, and the others only Kuna. We chatted for awhile, with our limited Spanish, and the help of sign language, and they had several requests for us. They wanted snorkeling masks (would trade for molas), cigarettes, coffee and magazines. We did offer them some coffee and the kids got a ride in our inflatable dinghy out to SIMMER, anchored 200 yards away to get it. They loved the ride! We gave them some coffee and candies and asked if we could take their pictures, and of course the kids were willing subjects. But back ashore, the older Kuna women would not allow us to take their picture and quickly walked away. I hope before we leave, we will find some willing Kuna women, they are very beautiful and their clothing is so colorful.
2-24-98 We made our way through many of the beautiful offshore islands in the San Blas and decided to visit Rio Diablo village and see some of the shoreline of the Panama coast. We're about 25 miles southeast of Porvenir, where we entered the San Blas. The mountains and jungles of Panama loom over us. Our cruising guide to Panama said you can take a dinghy ride up the river and see white-faced monkeys. We got up early this morning, we heard the monkeys are active then, and went to check it out. You can also do laundry in the river, about 2-3 miles up, where it's fresh water from the mountains. We saw some local Kuna women doing their laundry along the way. We saw alot of different birds, large bamboo trees, banana trees, and yes ... white faced monkeys. They are very tiny and acrobatic - like squirrels, jumping from tree to tree. We tried to take pictures, but they were in the tree tops, about 50-75 up. It was neat, seeing them in the wild and the jungle foliage was so dense and lush. I'm glad we went early in the morning, it would've been very hot and buggy in the afternoon. We'll send a webpage update from Porvenir, when we go back - if the phone is working. If not, Colón (Panama Canal, Atlantic side) will be our next choice.
2-28-99 Our email didn't work from Porvenir. So we'll try again from Colón. We stopped in Portobelo enroute from the San Blas. Columbus named it Puerto Bello - beautiful port in 1502 when his flotilla stumbled into the bay. This is the ultimate"Pirate-Town". In the days of pirates and plundering, Portobelo was a staging area for gold and riches making their way back to Spain and England. The place attracted constant raids by buccaneers and supposedly Sir Francis Drake died and was buried at sea here. There are ruins from four forts and high hills that surround a beautiful harbor. Neat place.
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