At long last we are departing Panama, heading west. First stop- The Galapagos.
These are the notes I wrote during the passage and was unable to post them at sea. This is an issue I am still working on for future passages, but for now, here was our experience.
Total distance to go 895 miles
What a trip! Six days planned out to go straight from Panama to Turks and Caicos, sailing, avoiding high winds and currents, turned into 11 days with way too much hand steering, too little sleep, and too much wind and current in our faces.
By Bob
As we rounded the south eastern tip of Cuba it was mid day of day 8. 24 hours more of hand steering from Navassa left us a bit fuzzy from all night cat naps again. Light fluffy clouds and bright sun followed us past the rocky cliffs and wooded plateau that was our only glimpse of this 600 mile long island.
6 hours late, still low on fuel and having no autopilot and no windlass to assist in anchoring and we took off from Navassa. We knew we didn't have enough fuel to make it to Turks and Caicos so we weighed our options. The winds were still whipping down the channel between Haiti and Cuba, the same channel that we were trying to go up. We were determined to sail as much as we possibly could to save what fuel we had so our route was aiming us much further west into Cuba than we wanted. For hours I was watching Navassa recede into the distance, unfortunately it was remaining on our stern when I was hoping that we would be passing it on the starboard (right) side. If Navassa was on the starboard that would mean that we were making progress up the channel, in the direction that we wanted, but alas that was not to be.
Navassa Island- where to go when you really want to get away from it all!
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| Navassa Island as seen from the Space Station |
It should only take 6 days. The weather, wind and waves should all be mild. It should be a relatively easy passage.
Lies, all lies!
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| Passing through "The Parking Lot" at the entrance to the Panama Canal. Apparent Wind speed, 14 knots, True wind speed (not taking in the speed of the boat) 7.8 knots, depth 139 feet, 612 miles to go at 7.3 knots. All our clothespins clipped below the plotter. |
The upside of not escaping Panama has been the chance for more jungle walks.
So join me on my walks and I will share some of the things I have seen.
Oh, that's just Panama not letting go of us.
This is not what leaving for a passage is supposed to look like.
Transitting the Panama Canal is certainly an accomplishment to add to my life list of things to do and i have now been fortunate enough to do it three times. I was informed that I was not so special because I was not the first in the family to do so, my grandmother did it in 1914 when she travelled from Nevada to Massachusetts to christen the USS Nevada.
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| My grandmother, Eleanor Siebert christening the USS Nevada |
"Things happen" said our Panama Canal advisor shortly after he boarded Rhapsody at 5 AM for our canal crossing and we told him the engine wasn't running.
I didn't want to tell him just how often "things" have been happening!
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| Moises, our Canal Advisor, safely on board |
For want of a nail the horse was lost...
What other nursery rhymes fit the bill?
Following up on our previous post of our aborted jaunt to the Galapagos...
We made the assumption that when the chartplotter gave us the message : "No Autopilot computer" that it meant our autopilot computer was not working. Silly us! Apparently the issue was simply a broken bolt. A very important bolt, but not an electronics issue. The bolt was the connection from the hydraulic autopilot arm to the steering quadrant, and it sheered completely through.
When you tell a lot of people they can follow your track while making a passage, it falls somewhere on the spectrum between "Hold my beer, I got this" and "Mommy, mommy, watch me do this" often the result is not quite what was expected.
For several years we have had one or more geckos living on our boat. We suspected more than one, but only recently did Bob see two together. We have enjoyed their company, watching them dart around the boat, hopefully munching on any unwanted insects we have aboard. We were sad that their lives were in danger because we have to get the boat fumigated before we go to the Galapagos, and we were even sadder when we heard that geckos can live up to 15 years. They certainly do no harm to us, and they eat bugs, so we appreciate them being aboard. We have tried to catch them in the past, but they are very quick and very elusive.
Panama, Panama, what are you doing to us? I was so pleased this summer to see how well Panama was dealing with the pandemic. Everyone was wearing masks and practicing social distancing, and cases were going down, from a high of 1200 new cases a day, the numbers fell and were sitting at 200-400 new cases a day. Then something happened. I don't know exactly what prompted the change, whether it was weariness of it all, or because of a series of National holidays in November.
Away from society, away from the chaos, especially with the one you love. In these crazy times it is nice to be able to have some distance from the craziness.
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