Isla San
Andres, Columbia
06-February-2019
Bocas del Toro to Isla San Andreas, Columbia |
We had a
fabulous time in Bocas del Toro, albeit a much longer stay than planned. We
have made friends there we will see again either cruising or by land travels. (Yes
s/v
Goenplaces II, Dave, you,
Mags and I will see Max in Lankawi, Malasia. Porque no?)
We will miss all the staff of Bocas Marina who were wonderful and became good friends. We wish you and your families well. Bocas is great for provisioning and repairs, we recommend it highly.
A farewell from close friends, Russell, Dave, Rich, Larry,
Christian and Brian. We'll miss you guys!
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We will miss all the staff of Bocas Marina who were wonderful and became good friends. We wish you and your families well. Bocas is great for provisioning and repairs, we recommend it highly.
While there
we replaced our VW/Audi/Pathfinder engine with a new 54hp Yanmar 4JH5E that is
so quiet and starts instantly. We hauled Kanilela out at the Almirante boat
yard and did the engine swap ourselves. The yard is set in a filled clearing
behind a mangrove coastline. It has both a mobile crane and travellift but is
off the electrical grid with a genset running only during working hours. Again,
Dave from Goenplaces II came to the rescue and loaned us his Honda 2000
genset so we could run our air conditioner while hauled out. Without it the
month we were there would have been very difficult so he saved me from a
mutiny. The chitres (no-see-ums) would have been unbearable.
We had 4 new
agm house batteries shipped down from Florida and they are performing
perfectly.
Our pvc/aluminum
inflatable dinghy split a seam last month but we very were fortunate that a
friend in the marina, Shannon on s/v Elsewhere, had just bought a new
hypalon/aluminum inflatable that did not fit his big catamaran. In discussions
we decided to buy his brand new 15 hp Yamaha engine as well. The new dinghy
flies so we can get 4 people to snorkel/dive sites in minutes. Thank you
Shannon.
As well we
had parts and new equipment too numerous to itemize both purchased in Bocas,
shipped from Florida and carried in our luggage from Vancouver. Kanilela
was ready for her first crossing since arriving in Bocas 2.5 years earlier.
Looking North at Laguna Bluefield, fisherman in a beautiful
new cayuco
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The two cayucos leaving Kanilela, heading to the village
in the distance.
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Beautiful in the late afternoon sun |
As an aside
on the Panamanian indigenous cayucos. They are carved out of a single tree and
can range from as small as six to seven feet up to forty plus feet.
In the 2.5
years we watched a very big one being carved and then finished in Almirante.
It
was nearly ready for launching on my last visit to the Port Captain in
Almirante to get out Zarpe documents to leave Panama. We were often amazed by
six or seven kids out in the bay at Bocas playing in a cayuco with only two
inches of freeboard and someone constantly bailing. As you travel through the
archipelago the cayucos are ubiquitous, with men and women out fishing and children
playing. The largest have outboard motors but most are paddled. While in
Dolphin Bay we anchored near an Indian village that had small open deck
restaurant over the water. The fish tacos we had were excellent and the beer
was cold but most interesting was the local Indian who came up in his cayuco
and ordered a beer. He stayed in the cayuco with the restaurant deck at the
perfect armrest height. In the course of an hour or so he had three beer and
then left paddling a few kilometers across the bay. He never left the comfort
of his cayuco. In Laguna Bluefield we saw several brand new cayucos that were
the beautiful honey brown colour of new wood. All very reminiscent of our time
in Alert Bay off Vancouver Island when twenty plus first nations dugouts
arrived on a coastal journey north.
More than 40 feet (12m) long by 6.5 feet (2 m) deep,
difficult to get a shot that gives its true perspective.
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The adze work both inside and out was amazing followed
months of sanding and finishing.
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We left
Bluefields at about 4:00pm for the two nights and one day trip north to San
Andres. The Bocas coast is a world renowned surfing area with breaks exceeding
ten feet so you have to choose your departure time well. Our forecast was for
waves to six feet, wind light. The winds from the north were light but the
waves were in the ten to twelve feet compounded by the reflected waves off the
various irregular coastlines. A veritable washing machine. Motorsailing into
the wind, pitching and rolling in all directions for our first time back at sea
in 2.5 years.
Although we
had regularly added biocides to our diesel tank and because it had been near
full I thought the condensation and sludge issues would be minimal. The
constant rolling and pounding stirred up our fuel tanks that in fact were a
mess. In the middle of the night I drained off water and sludge from the two
engine filters, 10 and 2 micron, and went back to our day tank. After running
through the day tank I transferred fuel from the main tank to the day tank
through our 20 micron Recor 500 filter. After running for several more hours it
was apparent that I would have to change all the filters to be able to
continue. This is not a fun job in a sweltering engine room over a hot engine
in rolling seas but eventually was completed. After about one hundred miles the
wind had clocked to the NE and the seas became less irregular, also from the
NE. We were sailing and feeling much better. Late in the afternoon Mags noticed
our house battery charge was getting low. After a bunch of checking I found a
connection from the solar panels that had melted and failed. After repairs it still
did not seem to be getting the afternoon charge it should so we decided to
motorsail again to provide power to the autopilot. We travelled through the night with only one
more incident when the Jabsco transfer pump spun its impellor while trying to
refill the day tank. Fortunately we have spares and after again cuddling the
hot engine in a sweltering engine room in the middle of the night the new
impellor was in and the fuel transferred. The worst part of fuel issues is that
you cannot relax, you are constantly concerned the engine will stop at the most
inopportune time.
Finally dawn
came and Mags got some land fall photos of San Andreas in the distance as we
approached the entry buoy. While we were dropping and stowing the sails to enter
the channel through and behind the reef into San Andreas we had an Armada Maritime
large inflatable with 3-300 hp engines and pilot house on it approached and
wanted to board. We of course invited them on as we continued up the channel,
Mags at the helm. Four very friendly young naval personnel and a beautiful
golden Labrador came on board, checked our documents, opened most compartments
and sniffed everywhere, the dog did the sniffing and they left us just prior to
our arrival at the only marina in San Andres, Columbia.
We decided to opt for
the Marina because I thought I may need power to solve the charging issues and
possibly have the fuel in the tank polished.
M/v Chartwell and s/v's Coco Prinz and Kanilela Med moored
to the dock at Nene's Marina.
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We are stern
tied to a dock on the Malecon. The marina staff are friendly and were patient
with my inability to smoothly Med-moor. The water is clean and a beautiful blue.
The street in front is a frenzy of activity with motorbikes and scooters to rival any Asian city. We have done a little walking in the town and as a duty free resort for wealthy Columbians it is teeming with activity. Kanilela has her encrusted salt washed off and sails all stowed. The two nights sleep have been glorious and tomorrow we plan to take the dinghy out to the reef for some snokelling.
Palms and bright colours of the Malecon at the Marina. |
The street in front is a frenzy of activity with motorbikes and scooters to rival any Asian city. We have done a little walking in the town and as a duty free resort for wealthy Columbians it is teeming with activity. Kanilela has her encrusted salt washed off and sails all stowed. The two nights sleep have been glorious and tomorrow we plan to take the dinghy out to the reef for some snokelling.
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