Sailing Days 1 and 2

We are doing well, calm winds this morning, motored for a while this afternoon, and then nice winds this evening.  We hope to be heading more port (left) to be staying ahead of the current, but the wind is almost on our nose, so we are aiming straight to the islands (not ideal for later).  Have seen dolphins, jellyfish, debris, and some jumping fish and a ray.

Choppy seas this morning, so I did very little.  Yesterday was smooth and I scrubbed our cockpit chairs, cleaned up a bunch, organized some, etc.  Today, not so much.  Got some trickles of rain - need more to wash the black Panama soot from the boat.  I swabbed the decks and cleaned most of our hard cockpit cover with the bits of fresh water.  I do better outside with the breeze.  The seas seem smoother this evening; think we got past the Punta Mala mixed seas as we got out of the gulf.

Food supplies are doing well, eating our fresh.  In the Galapagos they take anything that looks bruised or old.  May as well eat it now and resupply there.  Supposed to be cheaper and fresh out there.  Same theory with the fuel - it was OK to motor out of the choppy seas when we had no wind because the fuel in Ecuador is cheap and we can resupply there again.

Our friends, the Ferrers, from Spain who were running a sailing school in Contadora, Panama were with us for a couple of trips to and from Panama/Contadora.  Very nice family.  Marti helped me sew cushion covers for our living room.  Cindy's husband Nathan donated the cushions!  They turned out great!  The Ferrer family gave us sewing machine as a gift.  I made a French flag on our way to Contadora.  Now I need to make an Ecuadorian flag.  I hadn't really planned on flag making.  I bought material for $2/yard that was blue, white and red like a French flag that I was going to hand sew.  Ecuador is yellow, blue and red.  I don't have yellow.  I'm eyeballing our materials to see what I can use.  I may cut the French flag material (I have extra) into stripes, then I have yellow food coloring to stain the white stripe??  Think it'll work?  
I may be able to let you know soon.  There is a logo on the middle of the flag, but only the government buildings fly it.  Without a logo is also accepted as a national flag, so we are OK there.

Going to send mails and relax and go to bed early I think.  I like to sleep a lot when it's under way, especially rough seas.  Now we are moving smoothly, but I think I can sleep anyway.  Courage is taking watch until around midnight and Cassidy has already gone to sleep to take watch when Courage goes to bed.  Cassidy did 11-2 am last night, but woke Courage twice for issues (as do I).  I try to do days while the kids are up and they get to take naps.  I go to bed early so I can get up around 6 am and get started.

Goodnight, will check our mails again soon.

Shannon

Day 2

The night was quite fascinating, with gorgeous phosphorescence lighting up the many fish and the visiting dolphins. The entire way out of the Gulf was filled with supertankers going both ways. The wind steadily picked up through the night, and with just the women and I working the sails I managed to get the Spinnaker Sail stuck. So no longer were we able to adjust the Spinnaker to the wind, but rather had to adjust our course to keep the Spinnaker filled.  In other words it was a fantastic night with just the right amount of learning, and fun!!

Today we hit a huge swath of red tide. I guess no more shellfish for a while. The wind finally did pick up again this afternoon, and right from where we are headed. But the advantage is that as we sail tight to the wind we generate our own wind, and hence can sail even faster.  It is almost like a wind generation system.

The ocean is starting to smooth out some, but there are still some fairly strong currents and the associated waves.  Looks like another fantastic night!

We are all doing super! --and having great meals.

Courage

Setting Sail Across the Pacific

March 18, 2014

Valiant was unfortunately taking a nap, but here we are at the send off party for the Pacific Puddle jump. Bottom clean (ish), laundry done, probably overnight here in Contadora since the sun is setting then off in the morning.  You can track us on the satellite tracker at the top of the page.

March 19, 2014

Day 1

What a wonderful day it is.  After a last big sleep at the Perlas Islands we hauled the anchor, and set our course directly for our next destination.  Unfortunately there were a bunch of gigantic reefs right in our way, and when the depth got down to 9 feet, the panic started. We even started the second engine. I think we have gotten a little to used to these uncharted pearl infested reefs. The only problem with an uncharted reef is you don't know which way to turn to get away from it. But within 30 minutes we were all well and way past it.  After about an hour of motoring we hoisted the sails and we sailed. We passed a couple of pods of dolphins, saw a ray just gliding under the surface, and even caught two tiny little fishes on our gigantic lures.

Now the sun is setting like an orange fireball. The winds are freshening up to 15 - 20 knots, and we are gliding along at about knots. We have both the Spinnaker and the Mainsail up, and are looking forward to an uneventful night.

Until next time!

Courage

Preparing for Pacific Puddle Jump

March 4, 2014

Canned 12 more jars of chicken yesterday and today. Stowed 20 bags of flour. Have 280# of brown rice all vacuum packed. Have 310 bags of oats (looking to get 450 bags total if possible, but Courage and I have cleaned out the stores in Panama City). We could survive for 10 months on what we have now. A few more items desired, but we are primed for the jump!! Will one day soon maybe write a blog about all I've learned while provisioning for the long haul in a humid, moist environment where you buy food with bugs in it straight from the store! Been interesting, lots to learn!!

March 16, 2014

Last minute things!! Bought $100 of things at the farmer's market yesterday. Errands today, probably leaving Panama City for good tomorrow, off to the Perlas for a few days to clean the bottom, etc., then off to ??? Galapagos or French Polynesia? Definitely going south.

March 18, 2014

The Ferrer family from Spain expanded their sailing school to Contadora and Saboga in Panama. We loved our time with them and wish them the best of luck and life until we meet again!!

Here we are in Panama City with another catamaran of Kurt Hughs design.  The other one is 60 ft. in length.

Did I mention? We caught a shark on the way to Contadora!! Catch and release no less.

I am not sending emails or using Internet for a while. Leaving Panama after 6 months!! Next stop - Galapagos, Ecuador!! Very excited!! Doing laundry and cleaning the boat bottom today, favorable winds this evening for a couple of days, so we are going to push onward!!

Island Hopping Near Panama

 Making Cinnamon Rolls

Cruising the Islands

Feb. 18

Nice beach day - Intrepid found an eel, maybe a small Moray eel?, saw 2 eagle rays swimming by, lots of jelly fish floating by the boat, Vitality caught one and they put it in a pan, had watermelon on the back swim steps, lunch, and now it's quiet time. Getting back into the routine. Probably leaving Internet this afternoon. We were going to swim, but the jellies floating by were a bit of a deterrent.

Feb. 20

Made it to Boyarena - nice little island that is all sand on top and no trees. It gets washed over at high tides. Nice snorkeling today, kids played in a large tide pool that was like a kiddy pool with no waves, sandy bottom, and about 1 -2 feet deep. It was perfect for them. Then cool watermelon on the back swim steps with sandwiches for lunch. Good half to the day.

Feb. 23

Nice island trip. Great day today! Sun, great diving rocks into a "pool", water slide on slick rocks, cold watermelon on the beach, nice swim back out to the boat. Perfect set up for naptime - while I try to sew some cushion covers. Departure to South Pacific rapidly approaching!!! Enjoying time with Cindy and baby Grace for only a couple more days. Doing great!

Feb. 24

Beautiful sail into Panama City today! Brought a family from Spain with us. They have 3 kids, ages 3, 5, 6. Kids can't talk, but played great all day! They run a sailing school in Spain and Contadora Island, Panama. 

Have loved having Cindy and baby Grace here for 2 weeks!! Went so fast. They fly out tomorrow and we will miss them!! But I'm sure we'll see them again soon! 

For those of you counting, that was 10 kids onboard for today's sail! One 15, all else under 10.

Off to the Islands

Luggage reportedly at the airport, but we have left. We made it to Contadora today and will be out and about the Perlas islands for the next week or so. Beautiful sail out today, perfect winds ~20 knots, sailing at 8-9 knots (we are loaded for the South Pacific no less). Nice day at the beach and the awesome tree house at the park. Getting back into the travel mode after being stuck in the errand mode for so long. Caught a Bonita on the way out and had fish tacos for dinner. Lots of wind, so we are even running the fridge. Getting spoiled now! Now off to bed, thinking it's going to be a snorkeling kind of day tomorrow.

Nice beach day - Intrepid found an eel, maybe a small Moray eel? saw 2 eagle rays swimming by, lots of jelly fish floating by the boat, Vitality caught one and they put it in a pan, had watermelon on the back swim steps, lunch, and now it's quiet time. Getting back into the routine. Probably leaving Internet this afternoon. We were going to swim, but the jellies floating by were a bit of a deterrent.

Feb. 18, off to Chapera to snorkel with the white tipped sharks!! Nice winds, sails up, kids napping, see you in a week!

Made it to Boyarena - nice little island that is all sand on top and no trees. It gets washed over at high tides. Nice snorkeling today, kids played in a large tide pool that was like a kiddy pool with no waves, sandy bottom, and about 1 -2 feet deep. It was perfect for them. Then cool watermelon on the back swim steps with sandwiches for lunch. Good half to the day.

Immigration Fiasco - Stuck in Mexico City

Panama has this policy that if an airline flies someone in, they are responsible to confirm they have a way to leave the country. If not, they have to fly them out. We came in by boat; now the 15 year old has flown to LAX and is on the RETURN leg of a round trip ticket to return to the boat in Panama. We entered the country by boat and will leave by boat. She has the boat papers. She has a 6-month visa approved for French Polynesia. She has an airline ticket booked from Tahiti in July. We are NOT staying in Panama! They don't believe her. They need her to buy a ticket from Panama to LAX to prove that she's going to leave the country. What the _____? She's NOT going to be on that flight, so why do we need to pay them to book it?? It's a ransom. So she's stuck in Mexico City indefinitely. The ticket was even purchased, but over an hour before her flight left, she was bumped. So we paid the ransom, but too late. Insane!! Maybe going to get her on a midnight flight out of there!! I sure hope so!! Seriously?? Judy on Grace had the same ransom threats and had to buy a ticket. It's a round trip - Panama to LA to Panama. Can they do this??

My complaint letter -

I have a 15-year-old daughter who was flying your airline for a visit to the United States for one month. She flew OUT of Panama City to LA to visit her father, and then was to return to Panama to be with her mother and mother's family with whom she lives on a boat traveling the world. We arrived in Panama by boat and are leaving it by boat. We have received a ZARPE from every other country and we immigrate legally. We are legally in Panama currently and planning to go to the Galapagos, then French Polynesia in March. 

Her return flight was on February 13th at 12:01 am. She didn't realize the details and missed the flight thinking it was that night, not first thing that morning. We paid a change fee and she left LAX on Feb. 15th to return to Panama. She had a layover in Mexico City. She was allowed to fly from LAX to Mexico City. She was at the gate in Mexico City, but was denied entry to the plane because your gate agents couldn't prove that she was going to leave Panama. She had our boat documentation with her, which is all we've needed. We entered the country by boat and are leaving by boat. We are here legally on visas. She is on the RETURN leg of a round trip ticket. She was allowed to fly half way. We sent her an email showing our approval for our long stay visas for French Polynesia from the French Consulate. We would not buy these if we were not planning on going. She has an airline ticket from Tahiti in July for her visitation. She showed them this ticket was booked. We are clearly not lined up to stay in Panama. We were then forced to buy a return airline ticket Panama to LAX (I want a FULL refund of this!!) that we have no intention of using. We never did and the gate agents know this, so how is this PROOF that she is going to leave Panama. It's a RANSOM and everyone involved knows it's just a scam ticket. She HAS PROOF with her that we show intention of leaving. That is all the proof anyone has before actually departing. We need her and her passport back to get our ZARPE by the 28th of this month. So, we paid the ransom and she went to the flight that was just boarding and they told her she'd been bumped over an hour ago. What?? She was running around trying to prove to them that something is going to happen in the future. And she met all their demands. Now they wont' rebook her for another flight. She's 15 and stuck in Mexico City, with her father in LA and her mother in Panama City. This is NOT OK@@ She had $20; she does not travel with money. We have been on the phone with Copa (the airline carrier that refused to let her on her scheduled and paid for flight) and Aeromexico (who booked it). We are now trying to pay for yet ANOTHER airline ticket as required by aeromexico to get her home this last leg. Copa has "locked" the original ticket, so they are booking her a whole new one because they don't know why she was bumped. They can't take payment over the phone 1:45 min before the flight. She has no money. I gave her the credit info, but Copa only has gate agents, no one to take payment. My 15 year old is trapped in Mexico City due to your gate agents. 

All we get over the phone is run around and finger pointing. I can't do anything; Copa locked the ticket. I can't do anything; you have to pay Aeromexico a fee. Seriously, we paid for the ticket, provided everything necessary, your gate agents failed to interpret it correctly and a young girl is trapped at an airport in a foreign country. You have effectively taken her hostage and demanded a ransom. 

Finally it seems that we paid a $150 change ticket fee - again, and she is going to go. We sure HOPE no one in Cancun is going to bump her for the same ridiculous reasons as she was held up and charged all kinds of fees in Mexico City. I want a refund of my $150 change fee; we did not want or need to change that ticket. I want my Panama to LAX completely refunded - NOTHING taken out of that. And I believe you owe me for the stress and difficulty, not to mention hours and hours of phone time working to sort this out on her behalf.

Finally got the girl, no suitcases. They didn't know where they were so they sent out emails. What are those bar code trackers for if they can't locate them? Since they sent out emails and were pretty sure they weren't in Panama, we left. Probably go back in a couple of weeks when we return from the islands and try to get them again. . . Must say they royally screwed this one up.

Preparing for Ocean Crossing in March

In March, we are going to do the Pacific Puddle Jump crossing where we head across the Pacific Ocean to the South Pacific islands. It's a 20-30 day crossing, then we arrive at remote islands for 3 months or so. When we get to Tahiti, we can resupply, but everything is very expensive due to the fact that it's imported, so we don't want to have to plan on that. We can supplement what we have, but hope to not plan on needing to shop for 10 months until we are somewhere more mainstream.

We have a water desalinater for fresh water, and we collect rainwater. We have 4 propane tanks, use about one per month, will fill them just before we leave. Getting parts to adapt to the French system, can refill in Tahiti. And just bought a little two stroke motorcycle so we can get around the islands!! We will be OK.

Mega Provisions Delivery

Got 2 months stowed in the bilge (still needs some cans of things, but probably 75% of the month's supply is in there). Hoping to get 2-3 more done this afternoon. Will be nice to get our rooms cleaned up and re-organized.

Preparations for Ocean Crossing to French Polynesia

Spent the week in Panama doing our appointments with the French Embassy for our long stay visas for French Polynesia, then provisioning!! Wow, provisioning! I think I've spent about $3,500 thus far. Mega Depot (7 fully loaded shopping carts and $2,500 of the food) delivers to the stairs, then we take it down the stairs, load a dinghy and bring it to the boat, bring it up the stairs, then sort, organize, clean, then stowe everything. Everything else must be taken back by taxi and dragged from the parking lot to the stairs. I tried once to bring the groceries down the rocks only to take off a chunk of my pinky toe. No easy way to do this. All of the food must be prepared for long term storage in a humid, wet, and tropical environment. The flour is very questionable here, so I bake it before allowing it onboard to erradicate it of moths, weevils, etc. Everything must be in vacuum pack bags or ziplocks or plastic containers. I now have 10 piles for each of 10 months laying out in the bedrooms currently not occupied. Now I need to update my spreadsheet of what I have, what I need, then find the bilge space for it all. Met another boat today that just came from there and indicated that everything is VERY expensive there if you can find it. Many islands have limited options. "Bring everything and then some" was their advice. Should be interesting to see how this goes. So there's my week in review!! Today came to Taboga island to continue to get the food organized and stowed before packing more on. Here we are away from the city, have more options at beaches, clean water for swimming, more protections from waves (created by boats passing who are going to the canal) and nicer atmostphere. In the meanwhile, Courage laid our new living room flooring which looks GREAT!