Immigration Central American Style

Current Date: 20th April 2022

Current Location: Linton Bay Marina, Panama

Kevin's Little Blue Shack.

 Blue Customs Container.

When you arrive in a new country by boat you normally have to check in with Port Police, Customs, Immigration and potentially the marina. Sometimes this is very straightforward as in Bonaire. Sometimes it is not as when arriving in Panama at Linton Bay Marina. And remember this is our first arrival in a Spanish speaking country too.

Here's how it went.

Tie up.

Met on dock by Kevin, dock master? Come and see me when you are sorted.

Ask for Kevin in small blue shack.

Not there. Another guy says go to customs (or is it Port Police?) in the blue container on the other side of the hard standing.

Go there.

Guard on marina entry duty says he's just gone to lunch. Come back at 1pm. It's already 1.05.pm.

Return to boat for an hour.

Go to blue container. Custom guy says have you done you Covid form?

No. Where do we do that? You need to see Kevin in the little blue shack.

Return to Kevin. Very helpful. Photocopies our NHS vaccination forms. Then sends them to Panama City by email for certification. Should take an hour.

Next day!

Kevin brings authorisation email. We can progress to the next step.

Return to customs guys in blue container.

Custom guy says do we have all our photocopies? We don't.

You can get photocopies from Kevin in small blue shack.

Return to Kevin. "Do you want photocopies?"

Yes. He makes photocopies, no charge. 3 x boat registration, 3 x crew list, 2 x passports.

Return to customs guy. He fills in big form with us.

But we don't have our engine number which he needs for his form and our registration document has printing on both sides and he needs copies of them both. Also we decide  (for simplicities sake!!) to apply for our cruising permit, which is actually only required on exit from the country. That's 250US dollars if you do it from here as they have to take the completed form to Panama City by hand.

Gill returns to the boat for money and engine number. I go to Kevin in the little blue shack who happily makes some photocopies for me.

Back to the blue container and ..... we're finished with customs.

Just immigration left to do now.

However immigration is in Portabelo 6km away.

We walk to the road and wait for a bus whilst watching a line of leaf cutter ants marching across the bus stop. It arrives after an hour. It is raining.

The bus is like out of a film. Garish, Spanish music playing. It's now pissing down. We pay 3US each and sit near the back. The bus is almost empty. We travel through the jungliest jungle.

Typical Panamanian Bus.

Inside our bus (before it filled up)!

The bus has no windscreen wipers but never fear the driver can clear the misted inside of the windscreen with his dirty rag.

The bus stops. It fills up with maybe 40 schoolchildren. Every seat including ours now has three people on it and the central aisle is crammed full.

Did I say it was pissing down?

We came to s small village. Two kilometres out the other side we think "Shit, was that Portabelo?"

Try Gill's Spanish in loud bus. Where is Portabelo? Girl points back to where we've come from. Bugger.

Large woman in front of us gets up to force her way to front of bus. We tuck in behind and emerge in middle of nowhere in the pouring rain.

Cross road to bus stop going back into Portabelo. Ask schoolchildren when next bus is.1.5 hours. We're soaked by now.

Taxi comes along and a guy flags it down. We jump in the back. 2US back to Portabelo.

Find immigration office.

Very helpful until they realise our Aruba departure document which is actually the Aruba arrival document with an extra stamp on it says Santa Marta, Colombia as our next port of call [that's where we thought we would go next when we checked into Aruba 2 months ago]. Ah, problem!!

No problem. You need to write a letter to Panama City explaining it was too windy to go to Santa Marta so you came here for the safety of yourselves and the boat. You can do it now. Here is a pen and some paper.

We write the letter.

But...we need more photocopies to accompany the letter.

Where can we do that?

In the pharmacy down the road. [You might think that an immigration office might have a photocopier. You would be wrong].

Walk to pharmacy.

Get photocopies.

Return to immigration office.

Complete formalities. Put "Galapagos" as next country! Who knows if this will be the case though.

Get very feint Panama entry stamp in passports as ink running out in stamp. 

Thank immigration staff and leave office.

Decide to get taxi back to Linton Bay. An 'interesting' journey as it is still pissing with rain (the rainy season has just begun), the road is potholed and the driver is watching Liverpool playing a Euro match live on his mobile phone attached to a bracket on his dashboard.

Nevertheless we survive the ordeal and finally arrive back at the boat six hours after leaving the marina.

WE ARE NOW IN PANAMA!

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Passage to Panama - Wait, Wait and Wait some more

Current Date: 26th April 2022

Current Location: Night watch, 80 miles from Linton Bay, Panama

We loved Aruba. Despite its reputation as a glitzy cruise ship mecca we found the people to be open, welcoming and friendly. Their motto and to be seen on all the vehicle licence plates is "One Happy Island" and that's how we found it. As usual it was hard to meet the locals but the Americans and Europeans we came in contact with seemed at ease with themselves and happy to help us. The yard and marina were run expertly by Paul a Frenchman and local yard foreman Rishie. Boaties Jack and Penny on Ishcar and Eileen on Raven became quickly made friends too.

But what we were waiting for was the famous "weather window". All the tourist pictures of Aruba show beautiful flat blue seas with nubile beauties sunning themselves in this tropical paradise. In reality for the last six weeks it's been wind, wind, wind. All day every day at around 20 knots. And that's in the protected marina.

[Wow, there's the most amazing lightening storm some distance off our port bow, possibly over the San Blas islands. Beautiful and awe inspiring but we do happen to be the only ship and the highest point for maybe 50 miles so an element of concern too!].

Eventually though a four day window appeared and off we went. I have no idea how the forecasters can predict this days in advance as to our eyes it just seemed like the wind dropped for no apparent reason. This we realised was to be the longest passage yet on our own and with a reputation of being a nasty one. A big Cape, Cabo de Velo (the name says it all) and a notorious windy area off Barranquilla. 600+ miles in total. Here are a few memorable events.

More goodbyes. This time its Paul the marina manager.

Leaving Aruba

A very fast first day with a strong westgoing current pushed us along at up to 8 knots. Too good to be true though as we approached the Cape. We were 30 miles or so from land to counter the worst effects but we were met by a line of white water where the sea floor fell away several thousand feet. The water swirled unpredictably for 50 or so miles. And this during a quiet spell.

Eventually we rounded the Cape and were into quieter water...for a bit. Then we saw the barometer drop by 4 bars and Jenny's next weather update said there was green weather approaching. One of our forecasts, Passage Weather, uses different colours for different strength winds. Green is 20-25 knots consistent with occasional gusts. And that's what we got for almost a full day. Main sail only, double reefed. The waves weren't the biggest we've seen but they were nasty, short and steep. They rolled up from behind or from our port side before smashing into Mehalah. We took a couple into the cockpit though mostly just big splashes. It must be horrid here when the winds are really blowing. During the worst of the weather with Gilly getting a bit twitchy ("now, is that emergency grab bag fully stocked?") we listened to a couple of episodes of the Soul Music podcasts where people talk of how a particular track has impacted their lives. U2's Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For was good but Song of The Siren, Jeff Buckley's haunting ballad about life, death, lost love and shipwrecks fitted the occasion beautifully.

By today the big winds had eased leaving a hefty swell and we made good progress until the wind dropped away almost completely. On with the engine for the last 135 miles. We had hoped for and expected to travel at over six knots. Instead, although we are moving through the water at this speed we are only making 4.4 knots over the ground. Our error, we hadn't seen the strong 2 knot current against us. So we are struggling along to cover the last 30 miles. Instead of our planned 10am arrival (9am Panama time) it will be after midday when we finally arrive. VERY frustrating but a typically challenging end to a very testing passage.

Too noisy to sleep below with the engine on. Sleep under the stars instead.

Fauna

The fishing has been instructive but in the end not very productive with only one small one landed. Several others were hooked but lost together with my lures. The tackle is already pretty beefy but I obviously need it to be even beefier!. 

Tending the lines at dusk.

150 miles out we spotted two beautiful birds. J&E's Birds of Central America, one of inspired joint Christmas presents, could only offer a ?? plover which fitted the size and colour perfectly but the open ocean is not where you expect to spot them. More research required.

Also earlier today we were met by a big group of dolphins. We watched them for maybe twenty fun filled minutes before they got bored and swam off somewhere else.

Incidents

At one stage as we were being tossed around, the gas alarm started squarking down in the saloon. It smelt of petrol too. The only petrol we have on board is in the starboard lazarette. What did I find there? A fallen over can of dinghy petrol, leaking from its top. Problem solved.

After gybing in the middle of the night with two reefs the lazyjack got caught around a batten. At daybreak we motored into the wind across the waves, lowered the sail and released the rope by pulling from the back of the boat. Problem solved.

Almost lost a solar panel when the mainsheet caught around it. Disaster averted.

Started the engine with the shaft brake engaged. Rope snapped, brake anchor bent. Can sort.

Gas ran out in roughest part. Changed to other bottle next morning.

It wasn't all bad though and hit of the trip must go to Paul the wind steering gear. Following his extensive refit in Aruba he has performed flawlessly. Sometimes following the wind rather than a course can be a drawback. But on this passage with big waves he rolled with them as they swept beneath us when we could hardly steer by hand. Even when his steering string snapped (my error) he was back in operation two minutes later. Paul, you are our man of the passage.

On the go repair. The yellow rope was just not up to it.

Update: Made it to Panama through the lightening storms.

Aruba flag down, quarantine flag up.

Click here to see the full Mehalah and Petronella blogs going back over fifteen years.

The Hidden City, the Panama Canal and Las Perlas

Current Date: 7th April 2022
Current Location: The PACIFIC OCEAN. En route to Las Perlas Islands

With our excitement growing Jack on Ishtar drove us the few miles to Queen Beatrix airport where we were to fly to Panama City to meet up with Peter and Sally on Milly who we had been locked down with in Carriacou in 2020.

Direct flights to Panama cost around £300 but by saying we would then continue our journey to Medellin in Colombia we could save almost half of that?! So we booked two flights each but only used the first one. Apparently the carriers do this because the route to Panama is much more popular than continuing on to Colombia. Jumping off after the first flight is known as flying the Hidden City. It meant though that we had to say we were continuing to Colombia and any hold baggage would automatically be put on the second flight. Hand baggage only for us then. We also had to complete all the Colombian entry documentation even though we weren't going there. Because of all this subterfuge we were given quite a hard time at check-in but we just about got away with it.

Two hours later we landed in hot, steamy Panama. Out of the Caribbean and into Central America. Sally had arranged for Olmedo (you'll know him by his girth) to collect us at the airport and drive us to the famous Shelter Bay Marina where we joined them to transit the Panama Canal.

A bit of geography. Although we are leaving the Caribbean and travelling to the Pacific we were not going east to west. Panama itself runs east to west so we were due to travel from Colon in the north through to Panama City in the south where we would enter the Pacific. This feels like a major step in a circumnavigation and the atmosphere in the marina is one of anticipation and a little apprehension. We will be travelling through the canal with some BIG ships. There are three locks in the north, then the massive manmade Gatun Lake in the middle followed by 20 miles of motoring before the last three (one and a pair) and bursting out in to the Pacific at Miraflores locks.

Milly had had engine coolant, shaft seal and toilet leaks but thought they had them fixed at the last moment.

The jungle just a few minutes walk from the marina is thick and green. Howler monkeys howl like lions and we spotted a coati climbing an old chain link fence. Capuchin monkeys flitted from tree to tree.

Next day with leaking pumps mostly fixed, Santiago our professional line handler arrived complete with balls and ropes for our transit. Soon we were off out into the waiting area where, after an hour or so of motoring around, Laurence our first day "advisor" came on board delivered by his own pilot boat. Our AIS showed 250 boats within a few miles of us.

Yikes!

Santiago - our professional line handler.

Ropes and 125' lines (no metres here!)

Laurence our "Advisor" preparing to board.

Big ships everywhere!

Maximum concentration required.

In the canal the skipper runs the boat, the advisor is responsible for telling the skipper what manoeuvres to make and the line handlers (one for each corner) make sure the boat doesn't hit the sides of the locks.

Lock 1,2 and 3 up on Day 1; the lake, the cut and locks 4, 5 and 6 down on Day 2. We went into Lock 1 (Colon) behind a tug behind a big orange freighter called Style. Light lines with a weight on (monkey fists) are thrown onto the boat, attached to our long hired lines and pulled up to the top of the lock. The gates close behind us and water pours in. We all try to keep Milly centralised, Peter (Pedro de Panama) steering and the rest of us hauling in the lines as we rise up the lock. Quite hard work but by the time are on Lock 3 we are feeling like pros.

As well as the "Style" we were locked in with a tug.

First lock.

The "mules" that pull the big ships into position and two of our "monkey fist" throwers.

Approaching another lock.

Final lock of the day.

It's dark now as we pull into the large man made Lake Gatun. After a mile or so "following the reds" (red right returning) we turn to starboard and through the darkness see a large red buoy. With springlines deployed Santiago leaps onto the buoy and ties us up.

Now that's what I call a mooring ball.

Now, one of the requirements for transiting vessels is that they provide three hot meals for all crew. And that's quite a task. Sally had prepared a lot in advance but without an oven there was inevitably a lot to do on the hoof. Dinner tonight is pasta arabiarta - delicious. Lawrence takes his in a paper bag as the pilot launch comes to take him off. Tomorrow we will have a new advisor to take us down the locks. It was a long but satisfying day. Santiago tells us in his broken English about crocodiles, manatees, Liverpool football club, his girl friend and his insistence that Peter is actually Harrison Ford's double! Bed.

Yet another meal for 6.

We wake up to see ships anchored all around and even at 7am there are pilot vessels and tugs scurrying around as another transit day begins. Rafael our new advisor arrives and after a quick breakfast we're out into the lake. Past the Smithsonian Institute base where they have been studying the flora and fauna since the canal was opened in 1914. Then, after a long motor down the manmade cut we came to the last locks. First off the Pedro Gonzales lock and then the final pair of Miraflores locks opened. And there we were. In the Pacific Ocean. As we exited the bottom lock a crocodile swirled past to welcome us.

Leaving the lower Miraflores Lock - Out into the Pacific Ocean

A quick motor out past the Panama and Singapore docks and we tied up in the rolly mooring field of the Balboa Yacht Club. Rafael was taken off by the second pilot craft (the first one had lost an engine) and Santiago left in the decrepit yacht club launch to make his way back to Colon.

We were on our own again and somewhat amazed to be the other side of America. In the distance were the skyscrapers of Panama City and after yet another delicious dinner served with celebratory prosecco we were lulled to sleep by giant ships passing just a few hundred yards from us going to start their own passage north. We toasted Milly and their crew and they toasted us and told us we had done a great job. They want us to sail north up the Mexican coast with them once we are through the canal. We shall see.

Up close and personal.

The rest of the time with Milly was to be in the beautiful Las Perlas Islands. First though we set off for the island of Toboga and weaved our way through a fleet of another 250 ships anchored or moving around. I fished and we caught but lost a smallish fish and we watched the larger, and larger tailed, Pacific dolphins playing around Milly. Taboga was a good staging point for Las Perlas 40 miles distant so we anchored, went ashore and climbed the southern peak in the heat of the day up to a crucifix. The island was very religious with many small shrines and the second oldest church in the western hemisphere.

The very religious Toboga island.

Over the next few days we explored a few of the Las Perlas Islands, the "Pearl Islands". 40 miles from Panama City most of the 200 islands are uninhabited with protected bays and an abundance of wildlife and fish. We swam, we chatted, we fixed the watermaker, we learned how to sail with the screacher sail, we fished and we generally hung out together.

Our own Las Perlas beach.

Our final meal together - Milly in the background.

Wildlife Update

So much to talk about, so much to see.

A flock of pelicans.

A mass of tiny mussels.

Coati in the undergrowth.

(Distant) capuchin monkey in the trees.

Current Date: 13th April 2022
Current Location: Varadero Boatyard

Back in Aruba after a wild ferry ride to Panama City from Las Perlas and a fight with the airline staff of Wingo who insisted we must buy an onward ticket from Aruba despite the fact our boat is here and we had all the documentation with us.

The amazing Panama City skyline

And now it looks as though we might have a weather window to sail to Panama ourselves next week. We shall see.

Click here for Mehalah's full blog history. 

Aruba and a Pacific Decision

Current Date: 27th March 2022

Current Location: Varadero Boatyard, Aruba

After a day or two in Renaissance Marina we discovered that the marina is associated with the Marriott Hotel and that we have free access to their pool and free boat trips to "Renaissance Island" a mile or so along the lagoon that fringes the west side of the main island. We made the most of it. Lounging, fishing, paddle boarding and flamingo spotting.

Wild flamingos.

Someone has to do it.

On the Monday we caught the bus to the airport and walked the 3km to Varadero boatyard to see Paul the French manager and Judith his assistant. "Can we lift out sometime?". "How about this afternoon?" they said. Cripes. We need to get back to the marina, stow dinghy, check out of the marina etc etc but yes we probably can do that. They gave us a lift back to the airport and we caught the bus back in the rain. Jobs done we cast off and motored down the shallows and into the VERY shallow (0.1m below the keel) channel and tied up nicely in 23 knots of wind. Phew.

In the boatyard we needed to sort the stiff prop shaft, vibration and dripping "dripless" seal that had had a maintenance kit applied in Curaçao. Initially we tried to fix it in the water but we all agreed there were still problems. Whilst we waited a couple of days to lift out I worked on Paul the Aries self steering which had stopped working on the way to Aruba. Somehow one of the cogs seemed to have slipped by one tooth and a new shim was also required. That had to be made from a spare stainless washer and the centre hole ground larger with the Dremel. When almost complete I lost the washer and had to start with a new one. Anyway it's all back together and hopefully working again.

The bit closest to the water should be parallel with the boat not off to the left.

Lift out day arrived and out we came again on yet another trailer. A tricky manoeuvre nicely executed in strong winds resulted in the yard manager telling Gilly she could "dock in a hurricane".

Five men to keep us centred. Still windy.

The prop shaft was disconnected, the shaft centred and cleaned of antifoul. The PSS seal was replaced with a brand new one and hey presto...all is good.

New seal to keep the ocean out of the boat!

Shaft meets coupling meets gearbox. All needs to be lined up.

Thank you Edmundo.

Back in we go yet again. The third tricky manoeuvre as we reverse round a corner and ferry glide back to the dock.

Tractor and trailer viewed from catamaran Raven.

One of the best and most reasonable yards we've visited Varadero was a great place to haul out. They even let us stay on the dock for free for several days which is unheard of.

A day off was called for so we hired a car for a day. It arrived two hours late and we are not very good at doing touristy things but we got to see the lighthouse at the northern tip of the island, some nice but busy beaches and stocked up with provisions.

In the afternoon we teamed up with Eileen an American woman on her own on a large Leopard catamaran and she joined us for a visit to the picturesque Baby Beach in the south of the island.

Baby Beach

Over the next few days we got to know Eileen better as well as David the scout leader rushing to get his new boat ready for charter in the USVIs and Jack and Penny back on their boat after 18 Covid months away. Jack can't get his engine started - I still think it's air in the line but we will see tomorrow when Rishi and the guys are back in the yard.

So with the prop shaft fixed, the seal replaced and vibrations eliminated it was time to think of the next passage. Santa Marta is 280 miles away and Panama around 680 miles. A small window of lighter (relatively) winds was forecast for the weekend so we were looking to make for Santa Marta. But were we putting ourselves under pressure to get to Panama to help Milly through the Panama Canal? After another review of the forecast and a sleepness night I had an idea which has become a plan.

Top line steady knots, second line gusts. Hmm, not nice.

This journey is known as one of the "five most dangerous passages in a circumnavigation" and not to be taken lightly. Strong trade winds together with gusts off the Colombian mountains and short, steep nasty seas mean it is not unknown to arrive in Panama with damage to your boat.

So the new plan is to leave Mehalah here in Aruba and to get a cheap flight to Panama. There we will join Peter and Sally and whenever they are ready we will act as two of their line handlers through the canal. We'll then spend a few days with them IN THE PACIFIC!! before returning to Aruba to wait for a better weather window under no pressure to leave before it feels safe. We both feel very comfortable with this decision. Here's what lies ahead transiting the canal.

It's still blowing in excess of 20 knots here in the sheltered boatyard so we will probably wait to hear from Milly about the timing for their transit of the Panama Canal. How exciting!

Stop Press: It looks as though Milly will transit the Panama Canal on 4th April so we will likely fly out to join them on Saturday.

Link to the full Mehalah blog.