Cartagena - Panama
Cartagena - Panama
on Google Earth
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Monica comes to visit Blue Bie and me and we are sailing together to the Islas Rosarios. She has never been on a sailboat, but she gets acquainted with the water and Blue Bie very quickly being an avid diver. Islas Rosarios is a quaint archipelago of tree-covered islands and a favorite tourist spot from Cartagena with a noteworthy sea-water aquarium. Fortunately, we find a nice anchorage away from all the tourist hustle.
After this shake-down cruise, Blue Bie and I are ready for the 270 miles passage to Colon, which lies at the entry to the Panama Canal. I feel elated to leave port and finally say good-bye to Cartagena, which has on and off been my home for five months. It is an indescribable feeling of freedom to raise anchor for a long passage, leaving everything behind and be ready for new experiences. How better to witness this spirit of freedom than on a sailboat roaming oceans without the need for roads?
Reality quickly catches up with me outside the bay of Cartagena: Blue Bie copes better with the gale force winds and 3-4m waves than me: I couldn’t help reading and soon feel uneasy and gladly go without dinner. The wind moderates the next day and I enjoy the rest of the passage. With Colon rising over the horizon, an unexpected melancholy grips me because I am terminating two beautiful sailing years on the Atlantic. The next time I will be hoisting sails in the Pacific. Beautiful memories soon overrule the melancholy and I am passing the breakwaters of Colon in high spirits and steel band tunes.
Colon seems to be the most dangerous and run-down city of the Caribbean since every cruiser and local advises to take a taxi. It feels awkward not to be able to walk the streets and I never really experience the town. I am checking in and registering for the Panama Canal transit with the help of one of the unofficial agents. It would certainly go without, but increases the hassles and the savings seem not too big. After waiting periods of up to three months during high season last year, I am advised that I can transit the Canal within a week. I call my dad with the good news and three days later he arrives in Colon with many goodies in his bags to transit with me. I am spending the time until his arrival provisioning Blue Bie like never before, because everything will be much more expensive in the South Pacific islands. I am spending almost USD 1’000, going five times to one of the three super markets, carrying and storing everything on Blue Bie: 15 kilo pasta, 5 kg rice, 3 l soy sauce, 100 tins of vegetables, 240 tins of beer and 15 l wine and much more let Blue Bie swim 5 cm lower on her water line. The measurer gives his ok for Blue Bie’s transit and after paying the USD 600 transit fee we are ready to go.
Monica joins Blue Bie, my dad and me for the Panama Canal transit and our crew is completed by Isolde and Gabor from the yacht Kestrel, who are getting first hand experience before transiting themselves. The advisor joins us at 20.00h and we motor 2 miles to the Gatun locks, which will lift us in three chambers 30m up to the Gatun Lake. The Canal has been built by the American’s in 1914 after a failed attempt by the French by damming the Gatun River to an artificial lake thus also gaining a natural water flow to fill the locks. Usually some 5 sailboats are transited only once a day, whereas cargo ships transit hourly through each of the two parallel locks.
We raft together with another yacht before the first lock and will not separate the two boats before exiting the last lock. We hand 2 long lines to the personnel on top of the lock, who tie the rope while lifting and walking them from lock to lock. Hardly five minutes after entering, the water gushes in strong eddies into the lock and I have to keep Blue Bie and Kymika in position with the help of the three engines. After less than ten minutes the lock is filled and we proceed to the next lock where the procedure is repeated. After the third lock Blue Bie is swimming on the Gatun Lake and we proceed to a close-by mooring where we spend the night.
At 7am the next advisor is joining us and we motor sail some 30 miles over the Gatun Lake, although officially sailing is not allowed. In theory, yachts must be able to cruise with 8kn; in practice 6kn are sufficient to reach the San Miguel locks at 12.30h. Yachts who do not reach in time have to pay a USD 850 fine:( Thanks to the motor sailing we make it in good time without ever cranking the engine.
We again raft up with Kymika and get lowered through the San Pedro lock and the two Miraflores locks. The lowering is more docile than the raising and we only have to handle one line. Less than an hour after entering the first lock, Blue Bie swims for the second time in her life in the Pacific. We celebrate this with a glass of champagne, the first sip of course for Neptune, and a new National flag for Blue Bie. The moment is particularly meaningful for Monica and me, since she will soon join me on Blue Bie to explore the Pacific Ocean together.
It paid out to do the provisioning in Colon: although Panama City is more attractive, everything is a long taxi ride away from the anchorage. Hadn’t I to wait for engine parts and a SIM-card for the satellite phone, we would have left earlier. Time nevertheless flies by with last minute shopping and a visit with a dentist. But after a few days everything is ready and the weather forecast is promising for the passage to Galapagos Islands.