watercolorsailsblog

Bahamas!

painter — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:28:00 -0800

Monday morning, early, we left No Name Harbor, near Miami for the Bahamas. All day Monday we were crossing the Gulf Stream toward Bimini with a North swell and South-East winds. It really was a great weather window for the crossing! We headed for North Rock, an entrance onto the Banks, where depths go from thousands of feed to around 25 feet and sometimes less. The water changes color to a fabulous turquoise from dark blue right at the entrance to the banks. It's breathtaking! The water is very clear and we did see somewhat less swell over the area. We were in the banks the rest of the day and until around midnight as it's quite a ways across. We had a few places where we worried about the depths which got down to around 9 ft. As we got toward the far edge of the banks, late at night, we had to pass a light to get back into the ocean. It seemed like it was taking us forever to get past the light and we realized that there was a strong current coming into the banks from the ocean. We had to "put the pedal to the metal!" to get our speed high enough to make it past the light, while at the same time we were waiting for a freighter to pass us so we could both get off the banks. It was quite exciting and having to take watches and try to sleep for three hours and then be on duty watching-- depth, wind direction (we were sailing and motoring both), and other boats was pretty challenging. We hadn't done this kind of sailing for many months. We reached Nassau about 1:00 Tues afternoon and went to a marina. Sleep was a high priority after checking-into the country--officials came right to our boat, so it was very easy, just a lot of paperwork. We walked around and discovered that Bahamians here have cars with steering wheels on different sides of their cars and they drive on the other side of the road like in England. There are few sidewalks and some very narrow spots for walkers!

After a great night's sleep we explored the downtown area, historical museum and fort, walked around the straw market and ate a great breakfast in a downtown coffee shop with locals and tourists. People watching is high art in Nassau with all the cruise ship folks and locals who work in all kinds of jobs, including running their country. Cruise ship development around town is pretty sureal with all the super expensive international shops, but the buildings are colorful and it seems like tourism is a productive way for the Bahamas to prosper. When we got back to the marina, we enjoyed a Kalik (beer of the Bahamas) at the Poop Deck Restaurant here at the marina and had some conch fritters as well. Yum! We are planning to leave tomorrow for either Rose Island or Highbourne Cay, or maybe anchor in Nassau harbor, all depending upon the wind and swells. It's been pretty blustery and very cool.

We enjoyed seeing some of the sailboats that the local people sail between islands and in local regattas. We may be able to see one of these regattas in Georgetown, farther down the Exuma chain of cays in the next few weeks. We're so glad we finally made it here and are looking forward to all the anchorages and cays to explore!

A week to go

painter — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:38:00 -0800

We have about a week before the tide is high enough for us to leave Boot Key Harbor in Marathon, Florida. We've enjoyed this month, especially the last two days we visited the Everglades. Now eager to see more National Parks as we travel about. We'll be going to Georgia and the Carolinas after the Bahamas, so will visit some more. Due to it being the "dry"season in the Everglades, all the animals and birds congregate in the pools that are right at the most visited spots with trails and boardwalks. It was fabulous! See photos here!

In a week we'll be bound for the Exumas in the Bahamas. We are eager to go see it all. We'll be taking some gifts for kids and hope to meet local people and enjoy all the lovely cays --small islands attached to a bank of shallow water that is quite large. Due to the depth of our keel, we'll be looking for relatively deep places to anchor and travel between the cays.

Marathon, Florida

painter — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:28:00 -0800

Just before New Years, we arrived in Marathon, Florida. It's part of the Keys and we've not yet explored all the natural spots of interest and been to Key West, but we have a month here, so will get to it all!. Had great Holidays with Hilary and Joe, her boyfriend. It was fun exploring the areas south from Miamai to Key Largo. Joe was thrilled to catch a very nice Dorado and we'll have photos soon from Hilary to post of that! Very cold here. Not really Florida weather. Still wearing jeans and layers and foul weather jackets!

Boat projects underway--- wiring, electrical, sewing covers for things--good to be working as we've been waiting for sunshine to do the fun things.
The boat looks spiffy and we'll be ready to cross the Gulf Stream sometime in early Feb to the Bahamas!

Blogs and Facebook

painter — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:16:00 -0800

I have finally gotten around to starting a Facebook page and am figuring out how different it is from the blog. I think this continues to be the place for longer stories of our adventures! If you reach the blog and can't get in, please give me an email and I'll get you all set up. Because of the big gaps in time, you've probably forgotten all about how to do it!

So, Mike and I are just about to start our Florida-Bahamas-East Coast year on Finisterre. Mike leaves Saturday to work on the boat and then comes back in two weeks for a few days. Then, by the 23'rd of November, we will both be on Finisterre in Fernandina, Florida and the boat will be in the marina, and close to being ready to go. Close, but probably not completely! From past experience, I know just putting everything away and assessing what's missing, going to get that and all the provisions is a big process. I think we should start out with just doing part of the provisioning as we'll be in Florida through the holidays and Hilary wll come visit with Joe for Christmas. Maybe we'll be in the Keys then.

OOPS

painter — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:11:00 -0800

Well, I did not continue the story. Got busy with the rest of chemo and other things. The guys did deliver the boat all the way to Florida and managed to get through some storms and wild sailing. And now it's time for Mike and I to return to Finisterre for new adventures.

articles to continue

painter — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:02:00 -0700

I will continue to use Bob's journal to tell the story of the trip, so wait for more in the next few days!

Panama to Florida--getting started

painter — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:58:00 -0700

With many thanks to Bob who sent me his journal of the trip:

After challenging flights to Panama City, Bob met John and Steve and the next day --April 29-- took the train at 7 am to Colon. The train goes all along the Panama canal to Colon. A taxi takes them to Fort Sherman and the Marina where Mike is waiting on Finishterre. The road crosses than Panama Canal at the end of the locks. As the locks swing shut, a steep bridge swings out. Bob says, "You can look up over the locks and see ships and you can look the other way and see the entrance to the canal. Incredible sight, big oilers and container ships going through. We almost have the feeling of going through ourselves."

"We meet up with Mike at the marina and go aboard Finisterre to stow our gear. I asked for and got the little captain's stateroom. Big mistake. There is no air movement to speak of in the room. Only lasted two nights then took other settee across from John. Mike puts us to work cleaning the boat. Dinner that nite at the marina restaurant."

April 30.. Caught the 8:15 shuttle bus to Colon to provision the boat. Spent $500 provisioning boat. Got lots of beer and wine. Some food, too. Store gives John and Steve a ride back to the Marina because we've purchased so many groceries. I ride back on the bus. Get to pass those amazing locks again. Back on the boat we store provisions, hank on main sail, then go for a beer and a swim. Hey, it's Panama and it's hot and muggy! Dinner in restaurant again. Might as well, who knows when we will get another chance.

May 1: Holiday today because of upcoming elections. Hard to find someone to clear us out of Panama. We hank on the jib and finally get clearance.

We're off! We head out of the marina and head down coast to Portobello. Lots of ships are at anchor waiting to go through the canal. We start hitting swells immediately and the first day turns into a rough sail! We close-reach into 5' to 8' seas. Several break the length of the boat. We reef the main and jib in 15-20 knots of wind. Finisterre is a quiet, smooth sailing boat, but there is still a lot of rocking and pitching in all directions. Very hard to move around. This lasts about 6 hours. We are glad to make port.

Finisterrre underway for Providencia Island

painter — Wed, 06 May 2009 09:53:00 -0700

Received another location through the SPOT gps system and Finisterre is either right at Providencia Island, or very close by. On Google Earth, satelite view they are there! I found a few photos of the islands-- Providencia and San Andres which belong to Colombia. These will do until I get photos from Miike and his crew.

I imagine they are resting and getting ready to check in to the country -- the islands belong to Colombia. Their stay will be short, but they'll have time to go to the stores and internet and explore the island a bit. Then, it's off to the
Caymans.

Finisterre reaches Chichime, San Blas Islands, Panama

painter — Sun, 03 May 2009 08:18:00 -0700

Message from Mike by sailmail --email system that uses the radio on Finisterre--

We arrived at Chicime Island today,
and just getting settled in. Tomorrow we will go over to Gun Boat Island and see
our friends. Hope they appreciate the business cards. We then need to find a
needing Ula owner who needs a sail that we brought. John bought a mola, and we gave
some things to families at Chicime.

I found out that one of the safety systems that Mike has on board-- a thing called SPOT which has a gps and ways to using the satelite to connect to other's email and Google Earth works great. I have seen their location on Google Earth and there are also pictures at the site which I'll attempt to put here, too.

It's a great relief to know the parts we gathered up and sent with crew Steve and John are working and they're enjoying the San Blas!

Kay -- at home in Ukiah after last big chemo treatment and doing great!

Mike returns to Finisterre

painter — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:09:00 -0700

On April 20, Mike flew to Panama City, took a taxi to Shelter Bay Marina in Colon, on the Caribbean side of the canal and re-united with Finisterre. The boat has been "on the hard" for almost a year since we weren't able to return for the Winter cruising season. As a result, she was extremely dirty outside, but surprisingly free of mildew inside. Mildew is the dredded plague for cruisers who have to leave their boats closed up during the rainy season! Mike also found out that some of the electronic equipment just refused to work after all that time. He urgently asked me to get regulators for the electrical systems and is still working on the email systems to get them up and running.

So, there will be parts ready to go to the boat with Mike's crew-- Steve and John who arrive in Panama next Tuesday. Bob, who is in Florida will also join the crew in Colon. So, with his 3 buddies, Mike will attempt to leave Panama by May 1st and his route should take him to the San Blas Islands, Panama-- Providencia, Colombia--Grand Caymans--Key West, Florida, up the East Coast of Florida to an anchorage or place "on the hard" in Georgia, S. Carolina or N. Carolina. The crew should be able to fly home around June 1 and Mike will be back in Ukiah around the 15th or so.

Watch for more news on the fast delivery of Finisterre!

Delayed cruising year

painter — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:06:00 -0800

There's a possibility we will get to Finisterre in late Spring this year. It all depends on how things go with my treatment for breast cancer. I've decided not to write here on the blog about it and am just looking forward to being healthy enough to be out on the bounding main again with my captain and our trusty Finisterre.

Cartagena

painter — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:27:00 -0700

Cartagena´s old walled city is a delightful place with curving balcony lined streets, leafy parks, and history preserved in stone. The city´s buildings are painted colors of creamy yellow plaster to terra cotta to sea blue. They are fronts which hide courtyards behind huge doors with brass lions, french doors opening on upper balconies, dressed in wrought iron and bouganvilla. Painting these buildings in watercolor becomes an obsession for me. I paint until I can´t stand the heat, usually as soon as 11:00 am, and then retreat to shop, study Spanish or find an air conditioned place--internet cafe, restaurant, museum. The museum of gold, housed behind the doors of a huge vault within a bank is one of the best museums in Cartagena. Gold artifacts from ancient Colombian groups are described in detail--how they were made and used by the people. A highlight in the museum is a room where a video (three language choices) details how these ancient people changed the land by making water channels that controlled flooding in the interior flat areas where huge rivers come down from the Andes. These earthen channels which are like a woven pattern are still visible from the air, and if modern peoples were to take care of the annual soil deposited within them, moving it up to the tops of the levees, then the system would still work for flood control.

From the 1500´s until the 1700´s Cartagena was a city protected by fortifications and was sacked more than once by various pirates and foreign countries. This facinating naval history is described in the Naval museum, and, nicely in James A. Michener´s Caribbean, a historical novel that Mike is re-reading. The walls of the old city hold in the heat, but walking along the tops, once can see the wind-swept sea beyond and soak in the breezes. At night, street performers dance to drums beside the huge Botero statue in front of the Santo Domingo Church and park. Last night we enjoyed dinner looking down on the scene from the balcony restaurant over that park. We shared fish and pasta with our friends Paul and Liz, English cruisers from the boat, Aphrodite. They return to England by June or July, stopping in Grand Cayman, Cuba, Florida, Intercoastal Waterway of the U.S., the Azores and England.

Cartagena is like a celebration, day or night. You turn a corner and a vendor walks down a narrow street pushing a cart full of red peppers, each fitting tight next to the other in a brilliant gleaming blast of color. The next one may be arromatic mangoes, or huge vibrant green avocados. Colombia and Cartagena is a place where you will still see carriages pulled by horses, horses and carts-- working, vendors using carts and bicycles. That is definitely because the roads are narrow and cars are a nuisance in the streets where people prefer to walk and sidewalks are crowded with vendors. If you slow down and rest in the Parque Bolivar, you can drink lime juice, the best thirst quencher ever, or munch on dripping chunks of red-pink watermelon. A thousand pesos, a pit more than $.50, and you are quenched and ready to explore further.

Recent updates to the bog

painter — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:34:00 -0700

This period of time in March while we´re getting boatwork done has been a great time to write and get our photos onto the blog. You will find recent photos in the new catagory of San Blas Islands and also in the Cruising 07-08.

Any friends who would like additional access into the blog, please email and I can get you set up for notifications of new info that´s put into the blog and you will have access to files and will be able to write comments.

Watch for entries about Cartagena!

Boat work

painter — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 08:49:00 -0700

Here in Cartagena we researched three yards for having boatwork done and storing the boat for our time at home. The cost of much of what happens in Cartagena is more expensive than the U.S. --that includes groceries, travel and boatyard costs. We now understand why the average Colombian uses a motorcycle and frequents non-tableclothed restaurants--their average salary of around $15 a day doesn´t go very far. We had the impression before coming here that it would be different and more like Ecuador for costs. However, it seems that the cost of fuel has driven up prices for Colombians. As a result, we are going to be in and out of the yard as quickly as possible. The teak on the deck has been leaking for awhile and rather than face another season of leaks and back-breaking repairs, we decided to change the deck to fiberglass with a paint and non-skid covering. Other projects include fixing fiberglass bulge on the side of the boat (origin ?), adding a ladder to the back for swimming, cleaning the rigging of rust, getting the old dingy patched up and new paint on the bottom boards, plus many other small projects. All this fixing generates a boatload of fiberglass and wood dust that has now sifted through the hull covering the contents of the cupboards. So, before the splash, cleaning is on the agenda. Mike figured out that for every 5 months being on the boat, one month is devoted to maintenance. We have been very lucky as friends of ours have had their boats´electronics destroyed by lightening and far more urgent breakdowns like refridgerators, engines, etc.

Most of what`s written in our blog is about the magic carpet wonders of sailing to new lands and visiting different cultures so, the way we´ve grown to look philosophically at all the boat work projects, is just that you can´t do the one without the other!

San Blas Islands

painter — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:59:00 -0700

The San Blas Islands are located in the Kuna Yala Comarca, a large area of coastal Panama east of Colon on the Caribbean side. This land is the homeland of the Kuna indigenous people who won the right to self govern within the country of Panama through a revolution in 1925. There are hundreds of islands, some very small with only a few coconut palms, others large enough for a village. The Kuna live on the islands near the coastline and farm the land up the rivers. They tend and sell their coconuts that grow on surrounding islands to the trade boats that come from Colombia. The Kuna are magnificient sailors, using specially designed ullus (dugout canoes) with lateen main and small jibs to sail along the coast and to their islands. Cruisers have been stopping here for many years and enjoying the lovely anchorages, trading with the Kuna and getting to understand their way of life. The Kuna have decided not to raise cattle and all their farming is of plants that fare well in the tropical climate. They bring water in pipes to their towns from the rivers which are clean because they do not raise livestock. The forest is largely free of man´s influence except for farming along the rivers, so animals and birds are abundant. The biggest environmental problem the Kunas have is plastic which floats to them and is a by-product of all packaged goods that they also use. Their lives are simple and you do not see lots of plastic toys and modern appliances. The towns that do not have block buildings look the cleanest and best cared for because the huts can be refirbished with new bamboo and thatch from coconut palms. One of the money-making efforts of the Kuna women is the sewing of Molas which are reverse embroidery pieces that can be made into pictures or pillows. The work is very fine and many molas are designs that are traditional and show the Kuna way of life in fabric. Others called ¨"tourist " molas are of birds, sea creatures, etc and are more pictoral.

At our first anchorage in Kuna Yala we enjoyed swimming and snorkeling--the coral reefs are magnificient throughout the area. We were able to buy a wonderful mola by Venecio, one of the most famous Kuna mola makers. Other crafts we collected were wood carvings of medicine men (for good luck travels in Finisterre), paddles and a model ullu. The Kuna women dress in lovely brilliantly colored tops made from molas on back and front and wrap skirts of darker colors. They wear beads sewn in patterns over legs and arms and gold jewlery at ears, neck and nose. During the time we were at Tigre Island we got to see a re-enactment of the Kuna revolution, during which they won rights to self govern within Panama. It was a well planned dramatic presentation, including traditional dance and music. During our time in the area we visited a number of wonderful anchorages at small islands and met many local people as well as cruisers. We gathered information about our trip to Cartagena from the San Blas and after two weeks headed East and North to Cartagena, Colombia.

watch for more photos, soon!

Panama Canal Crossing

painter — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 06:30:00 -0800

On Feb. 13th we did our Canal Crossing. It was uneventful and delightful until the last lock when we had to react quickly to the error of a line handler on the boat we were to tie to, this fellow attached our line and then promptly took it off and dropped it into the water! This made our boat head right toward the wall on the other side of the lock. The water is very turbulent in the lock, even though it may seem calm. Mike and our crew were fabulous, in getting us re-attached to the power boat we were to tie to, although we went through backwards! Mike also skillfully turned the boat around within the lock for us to leave. Happily, this was the last lock down into the bay at Colon and we gratefully dropped anchor for the night in the small boat anchorage. Our advisor was very complimentary at how we handled the boat, but it remains to be seen if we get charged any extra fee for delaying the operation of the locks. It actually was the fault of the other boat, so we hope it's vivid enough in our advisor's memory that he will speak for us.

The photos here were taken by Diana. She and Steve, our friends from Ukiah helped us through the canal, along with cruisers Jeff and Stephanie. We had a great time. Also, Steve and Diana were treated to a "howler" monkey symphony during a walk we took the next day near Shelter Bay Marina. Finisterre will head out of Shelter Bay in a few days for the San Blas Islands and Cartagena, Colombia.

Holidays

painter — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 10:33:00 -0800

We returned to Costa Rica from Western Panama for the Holidays, 2007. Hilary came to visit and her photos illustrate our adventures during this time. Our base was Golfito, Costa Rica which is located on the Golfo Dulce across from the town of Puerto Jiminez and the Matapalo area on the Oso Peninsula, which is near the Corcovada National Park. The whole area is wild country, some towns and occupied rural areas and some fincas or ranches. The area gets the most rain in all of Costa Rica, and probably the most rain in all of Central America. In December, we experienced the end of the rainy season, and although we did have a number of heavy duty squalls, it was beautiful, sunny and in the 80’s. We anchored off Land & Sea, which caters to cruising boats and had some fun get-togethers with other folks including dinner Christmas Eve in which we all pitched in to prepare and enjoy. Golfito was a banana shipping area developed by Chiquita Banana with many old wooden buildings from that time. Bananas aren’t shipped out of here much anymore, but palm oil is. Great lumbering diesel tanker trucks come to the docks and pump the oil into tanks which is later transferred to ships. It’s a busy town with a sizeable “duty free” zone that is packed with people buying all kinds of produscts, etc. The town is home to many fishermen, locals in dugouts and larger wooden boats, as well as deep sea charter outfits which take people out into the gulf and the ocean beyond. We have often caught many tuna and dorado while entering the gulf, as it is one of the richest fishing areas of the Pacific Coast.

We visited Puerto Jiminez and took a hiking tour of the Matapalo area. Our guide had grown up in the area and without him we would never have seen all the wildlife we saw. We actually got to see over 25 different creatures in the span of just a few hours! Matapalo means “kill tree” –actually the strangler fig tree which grows around an existing tree and eventually kills the original tree. The area is all along the coastline and does not go very high in elevation, but the forest is pretty dense, some primary forest and some secondary. This area is not in the national park but is probably more bio-diverse in a smaller geographic area and you can hike it within a day. We tried to take photos of all the animals, but in looking at them, we often would capture only the habitat of the animal because it would completely blend in and couldn’t be picked out in the photo. The hike was phenomenal with sightings of animals and birds happening every few steps and even though the hike was all day, we saw most everything within the first three hours during their active morning time.

In the Golfo Dulce, we also visited an Orchid Farm and a Wildlife Sanctuary. Both were fabulous places only accessible by water. A National Geographic sponsored tour on the Pacific Explorer cruise ship (small ship carrying only around 100 people) was at the Orchid Farm when we arrived, but we did not find the grounds crowded. The wildlife sanctuary is an official sanctuary identified by the Costa Rican government and their function is to release animals back to the wilds if at all possible. Some of the creatures they have were treated so poorly when young that they would not be able to function with their wild cousins, so these animals are kept there. The re-entry process is so difficult that some of the animals they work with are not shown to the public, such as the wild cats. We saw monkeys, sloths, toucans and macaws here. The guides were extremely knowledgeable about the animals. One of the most interesting things we learned is that the poachers who capture and sell these animals on the world market have been brought into the effort and have found work at the sanctuary and that these local people have practical knowledge about the animals which has make them good employees who now help return the animals to the wild. This, of course, is not a universal situation, and many rainforest animals of Costa Rica are in danger of extinction, largely due to poaching, dogs and loss of habitat.

The Golfo Dulce or sweet gulf is indeed a lovely place with towering clouds, blue skies and clear water. Surf spots on both sides of the gulf are some of the most famous in the world. Mike got some rare waves at Pavones to celebrate his birthday! Get a video of the late 1960s surf movie “Endless Summer” and you will see the fabulous surf spot of Pavones.

After saying “see you this summer!” to Hilary as she boarded the Sansa puddle jumper airplane for San Jose airport, we readied Finisterre for our trip south to the islands of Panama and Panama City. We visited some of our favorite islands along the way and had a good passage around Punta Malo. We left at 0700 and arrived in the Perlas Island of San Jose at 2230. That is a great passage time.

We are now in Panama City and will transit the canal February 13 (could change if the Canal Authority wants to send us on another day). Watch for pictures! We are excited about the trip, looking forward to exploring the San Blas islands on the way to Cartagena, Columbia.

Happy Holidays

painter — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 06:39:00 -0800

Season’s Greetings from Mike and Kay

We are in Panama, soon to sail to Costa Rica for the holidays. 2007 has been fun and busy! We began the New Year in Panama’s lovely Perlas Islands with a “survivor” celebration of cruising crews –with potluck and music and, sea stories. Our trip through the Perlas was filled with fantastic beaches, trips up rivers, fishing, painting and connecting with friends along the way. A highlight was visiting Deter and Gerta on Isla San Jose. They are Robinson Crusoe adventurers who have lived there very simply since sailing from Germany 27 years ago. If you visit Deter, you need to remember to bring a bottle of rum! He’s in his 80’s— spry and feisty. We bought their grapefruit right off the trees—so delicious—no scurvy on Finisterre!

Our next jaunt in March 2007, was into the Darien province of Panama which borders Colombia. Many cruisers avoid the Darien; in fact, we only saw one other who we buddy boated with: Judy and Jurgen on Anna III, up the Sabana River to the Wounaan village of Boca de Lara--about as far as you can go with a sailboat. The Darien is a vast collection of rivers and estuaries. We enjoyed meeting indigenous people—the Wounaan were very friendly and helpful. The women make lovely baskets of great artistic variety, using all natural fibers and dyes. The town of La Palma is a crossroads—or cross-rivers-- of trade with short roads, and long rivers over which many goods travel by boat. A bustling town with one street, Hamm’s beer, fresh fruits and vegetables and a great mix of people, La Palma is the gateway to the Darien Rivers, and actually a good place to provision. We explored lovely quiet anchorages populated by river woodsmen, fishermen, & jungle creatures. The quiet and solitude of some anchorages can be as great as on a high Sierra mountain top, where you’re anchored and hearing only sounds of silence and watching the birds (ibis, egrets, herons, parrots) and sunset across river and jungle.

Our passage to Ecuador went quickly—with lovely sailing and currents helping us get there. We visited small towns on the way to the marina at Puerto Lucia. Ecuador has wonderful sailing fishing boats—with no motors which hold a crew of fishermen and dugouts that fish near each other all night way out at sea—and then return in the morning to harbor. Much work was done on Finisterre by Mike and a crew of local boat workers. Unhappily, we were only allowed 6 months by customs in Ecuador and did not stay there after our trip home for the summer. We got to take a short jaunt into Cuenca, a lovely colonial city in the Andes before leaving in October.

At home for the summer we reconnected with family and friends. Our building project at home made it through permits and cement foundation (to be continued in summer ’08). Mike got in some great bike rides with friends and continued his piece by piece ride down the coast of CA. Kay attended art classes, taught art classes and enjoyed being with friends. Both of us worked, too boosting the cruising kitty.

Upon returning to Finisterre in Ecuador we then sailed back to Panama. Of all the anchorages in Central America, western Panama has been the best. Panama’s islands are often sparsely populated and we experienced many spots without any other cruisers, or fishermen coming by. (Photo of Finisterre & rainbow at Coiba Island, Boca Chica view) Thanksgiving this year was celebrated in Boca Chica, Panama with land-based and cruising friends. We have continued to tinker on Finisterre, fixing essential systems and figuring out better ways to catch rain water and get it into our water tanks. To take on the cruising life, you have to become a fix-it person and get used to tearing into storage for something that’s usually at the bottom of a cupboard—or some other cupboard! We also have visited new and favorite spots, soaking up the rich sights of jeweled fish along the reefs, sounds of howler monkeys atop a ridge of jungle, isles huge and small and oddly shaped. We are looking forward to returning to Costa Rica for Christmas –Hilary will visit us! Then, we’re off to parts south and east—perhaps South America. Stay tuned!

If you can’t get into the picture files or read other articles, drop us an email at mheath@pacific.net
And we will assist…

Ecuador and points north

painter — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 08:35:00 -0700

We ran into a political boondoggle in Ecuador and were unable to keep the boat there longer than just a couple of weeks after returning this September. That changed plans for this cruising and traveling year, so we won´t sail to the Galapagos or visit other countries in South America from the Pacific side. We are considering going through the canal with Finisterre, but have lots of factors to weigh and places to investigate where it is safe to leave the boat for our return home this Spring.

The trip north from Ecuador was fast with winds up to 20 knots and wind waves and opposing swells making the ride pretty bumpy, but we thank Neptune and the winds that made the trip only three days long! We arrived at Coiba, a national park of Panama and the largest island in latin America. It once was a penal colony up into the 1990´s, so most of the land was not touched for all those years. We ventured up a river and saw a great variety of birds and the needle nosed caimen, crocodiles that are small and pretty shy. Lots of rain every day, because it´s still the tail end of the rainy season.

Now we are in Boca Chica, a nice part of mainland Panama and will explore favorite and new islands before traveling up to Costa Rica. Watch for photos coming soon.... Mike and Kay

Into the Heart of the Darien, Panama

painter — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:42:00 -0700

When you enter the Darien, you view a huge gulf that is said to be what Balboa sighted from a mountain top to the East and claimed it the Pacific. It actually is the Gulf of San Miguel and the waters of many rivers as well, an estuary area surrounded by mountains and forest, with the Bay of Panama beyond and then the Pacific.

The Darien is populated by Panamanians who live in small villages and the largest town of La Palma. La Palma is located on the shores of the Turia river and is a collection of colorful wooden buildings on pilings, and homes climbing the hill behind the town. The main street runs along the waterfront and is filled with busy shoppers, including indigenous people from their palm roofed and open sided homes on stilts nearby as well as those who have traveled in from the river towns. Provisions come in by boat from a warehouse on the Iglesias River that can be reached by road from the Panamerican Highway. Otherwise, except for a few cars and trucks in town, all travel is by boat. Going to the Darien is like going back in time and space to a Panama before the canal, probably closer to the 1700’s than present time. Glimpses of modern conviences like outboard motors, phones, electricity, ice machines, dish satellite TV seem out of place here, but they are here side by side with dugout canoes, body paint, fincas—farms growing coconuts, mangoes, papaya in the midst of the forest along the riversides.

Just outside town there is a 70 ft. sailboat at anchor. She is the Pajaro Jai, a boat built by a Panamanian who takes local children to sea. The boat was built right here next to La Palma with local wood and craftsmen from the villages. She is a real beauty.

Our first night in the Darien was spent at Cedro a small group of islands inside the gulf. The next morning we traveled toward La Palma and entered the bend in the Turia River by passing through Boca Chica. This little mouth is one way to go, a longer way is by Boca Grande which we visited on the way out. Within Boca Chica on Isla Encanto are two sets of ruins, one a Spanish Fort used to protect gold shipments through the area from the early early days and one an old Gulf Oil dock area which supported logging in the 1940’s. We visited the Wounaan indigenous people who lived in the old Gulf Oil headquarters building, got directions for hiking to the fort and meandered through the thick vine draped, spider infested forest, not finding the fort so easily glimpsed from the water. The grandmother, abuela came to rescue us, carrying her meat cleaver which served as an all purpose tool for hacking at the vines, dispatching chickens, and fending off difficult tourists, so we were very friendly. The women and kids offered us coffee (sickingly sweet) and gave us plantains as gifts. Our conversation around their outdoor cooking fire consisted of our mutual basic Spanish with the communication of friendship. We returned a day later with a gift of clothes and hopes for our return in a year or so.

We connected with our friends Judy and Jurgen on the boat, Anna III, it being their return to the Darien after three years of cruising all over. With Anna III, we ventured up the Sabana River to anchor at the Islas Bellas, a wide open area of the river just a few miles from the village of Puerto Lara. Here we were treated to a hike in the forest with Nelson, the Wounaan forester—a fast paced jaunt high above the village to catch the view of the bends in the river and the whole town, plus all of the fruit trees grown by the people of the village and the huge trees in the forest. We made a small gift of art supplies to the children in the school. The classroom was right next to a large building project: construction of a new school. Teachers looked like they came straight from Panama City in their suits and the kids wore uniforms in their classroom. They were learning about place value when we visited. In a short while, around noon, school was out and all the kids flocked to the river to storm Anna III and swim off the boat. Jurgen had his body painted and seemed to revel in the attention. Judy, Mike and I got the tourist treatment and watched traditional dances and bought handcrafts which were lovely and varied: baskets of all designs, carved Tagua nuts which look like ivory once carved into shapes of jungle and sea creatures, wood carvings and jewelry. The body painting and topless attire seem to be used as a way to connect to the tribe’s past, for dances and selling of crafts, but for day-to-day, not seen as often. Mike and I traveled back to the quiet anchorage by dingy from Lara to enjoy the large flights of ibis who return every night to the same small island in the center of Rio Sabana to bed down for the night. The birds are lovely in the sunset light as they fly in from all over to roost. The anchorage had the quiet of wilderness only broken by the distant sound of a jet heading south, hundreds of birdsongs and the soft lapping of river water in the ebb and flow of the tide. Very peaceful!!

As we traveled down the Sabana to once again join the huge Tuira river, we enjoyed the complex woven maze of the mangrove tree roots exposed as the tide went out, glimpsed huts along the river and small farms. The rest was woods, birds and hidden or nocturnal creatures who thrive in the Darien.

The Wounaan basket weavers of the Darien are world famous for their tightly woven and beautifully designed work. We purchased baskets from women who arrived by dugout cayucas, long high sided crafts made from a single tree. Each basketmaker had her own style and unique way of creating a design, using natural leaves and fruits for colors. The weaving materials were piled high outside each home, ready for use. We visited some family groups who lived near La Palma and were invited into their land and homes with each person eager to share their tools, the natural plants they use and just to make friends.

We have two guides for Panama and each was used a lot in the Darien so we could be aware of shallows in the rivers. The anchorages near the villages and up the river were calm and beautiful. On our return out of the Gulf of San Miguel we anchored at Boca Grande and enjoyed yet another night roosting spot, this time it was filled with egrets of all types and herons. A cool breeze from the gulf of Panama beaconed us and the next day we sped out, down the river with the outgoing tide and made 10 knots easy with the wind and the water. We only just visited a tiny part of the Darien and want to return someday for more.

Panama exit

painter — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 13:52:00 -0800

On our way to Ecuador in the next few weeks, we'll be seeing more of the Perlas Islands and hope to visit the Darien area of Panama which is between Panama City and Colombia on the Pacific side. Finisterre is ready, a bit sooty from the air around the canal, but with a new transmission and various other fixes Mike made while I was gone to visit our family and friends at home. Panama City and the surrounding area is very busy and crowded with tourists from all over because it's Carnival season and travel season for the whole country, especially the islands. So we expect to see lots of folks in Contadora and other islands. Most of the time anchorages are relatively quiet but we may be experiencing nightly disco once again!

Went to the movies at the mall here and it is a very reasonable alternative to going to the movies in the U.S. Usually around 3 or 4 dollars to get in, sometimes cheaper on Wednesdays and with inexpensive snacks. Plus the theaters are magnificent. Movies with Spanish subtitles allow for some learning to take place, too, as well as entertainment. My only mistake was crunching down on popcorn, so as to destroy a filling leading to a quick replacement here and crown to come in Ecuador! Ah well, those things happen!!

Panama City

painter — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 12:10:00 -0800

We arrived in Panama City once again, having made the passage around Punta Mala with our friends on Icarian and Clair de Lune. We have a couple of days' window in which the wind was not terribly strong, but strong enough. The seas in the whole bay of Panama are often confused due to competing currents and wind waves that build up over a long way (fetch), even being influenced by Caribbean weather as the isthmus is only 50 miles wide and has a low elevation. There was a gale (winds over 30 knots) in the Colon area, so we boogied along to make it up to Panama City area. We went all day and overnight from Benao, a great little surfing town west of the bay of Panama to Otoque, an island 20 miles out of Panama City. The resting evening at Otoque was well received by us seafarers because it was calm in the horshoe shaped anchorage and we were surrounded by a jungle hillside with birdsounds, amazing to only see a few fishing boats while there. There are two towns on this little island, but they are at the other end of the island: Otoque Oriente (east) and Otoque Occidente (west). Their colorful houses were shining in the early morning sun as we passed by.

Once in Panama City, we went to Balboa Yacht Club and tied up to a mooring ball. The next few weeks will be filled with opportunities to talk with other cruisers and see the sights of the city, watch boats go in and out the canal, as we are tied up right on the edge of the entrance, fix things on the boat, and Kay's short trip home. Also, in the next few days, watch for photos as we get used to having wireless on the boat again!

Happy New Year to all! We ushered in the New Year by honking our very loud air horn, Icarian shot off a miniature cannon and Clair de Lune blew their conch shell. We were a few minutes after midnight and even that late, we made enough of a racket to wake the tired surfers on the shores of Benao bay so that they lit their bonfire and began their fireworks. Hope you all had a great holiday season and New Years' celebrations! We miss seeing all our friends and family.

Boquete, Panama

painter — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 14:24:00 -0800

We took an inland trip to Boquete, near Volcan Baru, in Panama while the boat was still at the marina. The rainy season was still going strong, but we managed some hikes both in the rain and in great clear sunshine, too. Mike hiked up to the continental divide and was able to see both the Atlantic side and the Pacific side from the top. The highlands are lovely with cliffs, large trees covered with epiphites, including many orchids, and crystal clear streams due to the daily deluges. We had a lovely dinner up the mountain at an Italian restaurant situated right next to the creek's falls. The environment was a delight and food excelent. Boquete is a bit of an expat hideaway in Panama with lots of contstruction going on. The climate seems great, except for the rainy season, but that gives the flowers the extra they need to be glorious!

We also found a great book on the history of naturalists in Panama who have worked for the Smithsonian and before they began research in Panama during the construction of the canal. Boquete was featured a lot in the book as a retreat that has been popular since the early 1900's and it's noted for the abundance and diversity of creatures and plants living there.

Costa Rica into Western Panama

painter — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 14:11:00 -0800

Costa Rica’s Gulfo Dulce

During our time at Golfito, we traveled to Rincon, a lovely bay up in the far end of the gulf. Here are a few views of the bay and Finisterre anchored there. We hiked, swam and dodged rain squalls which happened every day. The wildlife here was a delight due to mangroves meeting jungle along the shore. We were delighted to see scarlet macaws up in a tree, but they quickly went into their hole and even though they are very large birds, they were all the way into the tree before Mike could get a good picture. We also saw this snake curled up, warming up in the morning sunshine atop the shrubbery along the road.

Boca Chica, Panama
In our travels from Costa Rica toward Panama City included the lovely island group of Isla Parida and then, Boca Chica. Here in Boca Chica, we have met the owners of a hotel/fishing/restaurant place called Gone Fishing Panama Resort. The owners are eager to continue helping the local school with their needs to support literacy in the community. Currently they are working with Rotary to get textbooks for the school and also want to support student reading through collecting children’s literature in Spanish, English and bilingual. Cruisers who travel down the coast of Panama, will find a great opportunity here to contribute to a local effort already underway to help the school children of Panama. If you are planning to come to Boca Chica, drop off donations of books and school supplies to Donna at Gone Fishing, right up from the sailboat anchorage. You may also donate funds to help with the project at Gone Fishing Panama (gonefishingpanama.com) The resort will be holding a fishing tournament this coming spring to benefit the local school as well.

We have found Boca Chica to be a great place to get some of the supplies we need for our month in Western Panama. Everyone has been very helpful here and we found that both Panama cruising guides were helpful to us in getting into the Isla Ventana anchorage, and from there we checked depths during high tide all the way in to the Boca Chica anchorage. Everything was as pictured and written in the guides. There is sometimes surf running at Playa Grande just south of the anchorage and we sampled restaurants here as well, an amenity not often found in anchorages along the way to Panama City.

Golfito

painter — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:55:00 -0800

We're getting ready to head out to some anchorages near here tomorrow. We are working on a few projects as some things didn't work when we returned. Guess you have to expect that. I made a friend and we went shopping today to all the little tiendas, didn't find anything to buy, but know where you can get most anything that's sold in Golfito.

It has been very wet here, guess we're still in the rainy season. Usually rains all afternoon and into evening sometimes. Lots of wildlife to watch, even at the marina where shore birds run along the dock and there's a pet pelican who gets fed by the fishermen fishing off the dock. Herons fly by and even stop to wander around the dock, too. Very jungly up on the hill above the marina. I've been grocery shopping twice and am branching out to choose some Costa Rican products, like yucca, which is the root of the yucca plant, and tastes alot like potatoes. Will be interesting.

One of the places we'll sail to will be an orchid farm that's up the gulf a bit. The people have been growing flowers and veggies there for over 20 years.

When we stayed overnight in Alajuela, we visited a butterfly farm. It was so intersting to see all the phases of the butterflies and all the great colors and shapes. This farm has been there and shipping out butterfly crissalyses for about 20 years and they've trained over 100 local families all over the area in how to raise butterflies as an income. This farm ships all over the world to museums and colleges mainly and other butterfly farms, too. It was wonderful and our guide, a young girl, really loved what she was doing and learning, very skillful at handling the butterflies and teaching about them. We learned that each kind of butterfly has one and only one host plant on which they lay their eggs and the crysallys forms.

Watch for photos of butterflies and orchids, soon!

We're off!

painter — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 09:16:00 -0800

Today is our last day at home and the chores are being checked off quickly. We fly to San Jose--actually, Alajuela, Costa Rica tomorrow and arrive around 9:30 at night and the following day, we're off to Golfito by Sansa, a local airline--puddle jumper south and to the coast. Our plans, though jellowish are to stay there for boat projects, do some local exploring, perhaps inland into N. Panama and then head out by boat to Panama along the Pacific coast. We'll be in Panama until around March--especially exploring the Perlas Islands, and then off to Ecuador, hopefully with other sailing folks who are heading that way at that time. In Ecuador, the boat will be hauled out for bottom paint and we'll leave it on the hard--hauled out, until we return after summer at home. We hope to travel in the northern part of S. America for a few months, too and then be in the Galapagos next season. But that all could change....

Check out new photos of Contadora in the Perlas Islands. Will start new photo groups with date of 06 in title for this year. Finisterrre here we come!!

Watercolor a Week --too busy for a Painting a day

painter — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:19:00 -0700

Artists on the web are quickly selling a painting a day!!

I'll be painting a watercolor a week for the forseable (cool word for sailors~) future. Will figure out how to get the operation underway for people to buy them. But first, I'll just get them on the blog. Probably will happen starting sometime in November. If you are interested in watercolors that are still waiting to be purchased, check out the paintings file on the left side of the blog.

Or, come to Ukiah Sept. 7 for the Artist Stroll! Will be showing paintings then, too.

home again

painter — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 07:21:00 -0700

We arrived home after bringing the boat back to Costa Rica to a marina in Golfito. Our trip back through Panama was easy and we discovered some great new places and visited old favorites like Bahia Honda. Feasted on fresh caught lobster we bought from an enterprising fisherman, who also had an assortment of shellfish--huge, and a pulpo--octopus in the bottom of his boat. The lobster were delicious. We won't tell where he caught them.

Our time at home connects us back to our family and we have numerous friends and relatives to catch up with. The town of Ukiah hasn't changed much and we've eased right back into doing what we love, hiking, bike riding, going to the Mendocino coast, finding local music to hear, house and garden fix-it projects, too. We are making a separate "granny space on the lower floor and garage of our home so we can continue to rent and also return home while having the rest rented out. A good solution for us. We are in the beginning stages, but it's shaping up nicely. The contrast of living on a boat and in a house is a bit of a shock at first. Having space to store stuff is the best! Also, when shopping, realizing you really don't need all the stuff that's out there for sale!

Will put more photos on the blog soon. Have lots of them to catch up on. Lovely here, but very hot--in the 100's.

Panama & the canal

painter — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 11:42:00 -0700

This past weekend we transited the Panama Canal with our friends Barbara and Cori on their boat. We left Finisterre on a mooring at Balboa Yacht Club in Panama City. We got underway about 10:00, with a very lowkey advisor who had thought that the day was going to be his day off....seems scheduling can be a problem as we found out later. Anyway after going through two sets of locks tied up to a boat that once belonged to Al Capone, we headed across Gatun Lake which is about 26 miles or so. We did not get to the final locks in time to transit as they don´t allow sailboats to go through at dark. So our advisor left and we tied up to a huge buoy, so big you could walk on it and two boats could tie on either side and not touch. We enjoyed the lake, the fresh water beconned for swimming and we could hear howler monkeys. We found out later that the canal authority frowns on swimming in the lake due to crocodiles and dead roots of trees that can trap swimmers. We didn´t see any crocs or roots and had a great time. The following morning we found out that they did not have an advisor scheduled for us. This was Father´s Day and the day of the big World Cup Soccer game with Brazil, so probably many advisors saw that one coming and reserved their days off. So we were only about an hour away from our destination on the Caribbean side, but had to wait for the following morning. We talked, read, watched soccer on TV and ate and ate. Barbara is a great cook! The final locks took us down while the first two had taken us up. We did great and were all by ourselves tied to the side of the lock. It rained and thundered throughout the crossing---quite wet, but fun!

Mike and I are now back in Balboa and getting ready to head to Golfito where Finisterre will wait for us during our summer vacation home.

Costa Rica

painter — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 11:59:00 -0700

We enjoyed all our stops in Costa Rica. The land becomes very tropical midway down the coast--you see more birds and animals. Many of the places we visited were sparcely inhabited. Mike caught a glimpse of some great surfing spots which we will re-visit as well. Our choice of Golfito as a place to leave the boat for the summer months mainly is the result of little safe and affordable places in Panama where we are now. So by sometime in July, we'll work our way back up into Costa Rica.