The Galapagos Islands (also known as the Archipelago de Colon), consists of 13 major islands and several minor ones. They are volcanic in origin with the oldest rocks estimated to be 5 million years old. The island group is a province of Ecuador, administered by the forestry service and protected by UNESCO as a world heritage area. Of course all of the animals and plants on the islands are protected as well. The islands are physically stunning, the black lava flows contrast with turquoise water, white sand beaches and green mangroves which are teeming with wildlife.​

​Nowadays tourism is a major part of the economy and small cruise ships are a popular way to visit the islands. The ships stay in Galapagos waters with passengers flying in from mainland Equador. It is possible to visit in your own yacht however it requires commitment: it is expensive, heavily regulated, overly bureaucratic and there are limited ports that you can visit. Use of an agent is mandatory and government and agent fees are high. Food and fuel all have to be brought in from the mainland and are also relatively expensive. Once you are there, you can find a range of  different tours including snorkelling and diving, visits to different islands and self-exploration. So was it worth visiting in ITIKI? Absolutely, we loved every minute of it (well maybe we could have done without the stress of the hull inspection, but more on that later)!

The islands lie on the equator at the convergence of the El Niño and Humbolt currents and in the “path” of the doldrums. Sailing the 880nm from Panama can be challenging and many people find themselves motoring a bit too much or getting caught with currents pushing them in the wrong direction. Fishing boats with long lines and drift nets can also be a problem and fellow cruisers in a monohull told us their story of getting one caught around their keel and having to dive in to unwrap it. We were expecting a challenging passage and decided to take on crew to share the fun! Morrie joined us in Shelter Bay marina, came through the canal with us and would continued on to Galapagos with us, before returning home to the US. He did a great job as crew, line-handler and hull cleaner and his fluent Spanish was a bonus!

​There is a fair bit of preparation work to be done before departing for the Galapagos and we had sent this, along with a good deal of cash, to the agent before we left Panama. We used Johnny and Gian Carlo Romero of YachtGala. The main things we needed to prepare were:

1. Prohibited foods: We were given a list of prohibited foods to enter the area, that would be subject to confiscation. Either don’t bring them or we to eat them on the way. One prohibited item was beef, and as we had stocked up in Panama we requested that this be quarantined in our freezer on arrival.
2. Hull clean & Inspection: The other stressful requirement is the hull clean and inspection on arrival. Some agents insist on a certified, professional hull clean (in Panama). Cost is around $300 for a catamaran, plus marina fees. Our agent allows self-certification but regardless a diver will inspect your hull on arrival and either give you the thumbs up, or thumbs down. If you get the latter you need to head 40nm offshore, clean your hull, provide photographic evidence of your position and come back for another inspection. We did our own hull cleaning in Panama (Las Perlas) and a re-clean on the second last day of passage. There was a surprising amount of new growth!
3. Fumigation: You can have fumigation on arrival, or arrange this to be done and documented in Panama. Most Canal agents can organise a fumigation certificate and that’s what we did via our canal agent.
4. Bio-degradable products: You are expected to have a selection of bio-degradeable cleaning products. Since Martinique I had collected: phosphate free laundry detergent, citric acid toilet duck, vinegar spray and bicarb powder and finally found some dishwashing liquid in Panama. All set!
5. Waste Management: Signs placed on walls as a reminder not to throw waste overboard or discharge black-water tanks, as well as at least 4 separate bins for different recyclable materials.

Quite a bit of theatre involved!

From Isla Chapera, the Las Perlas Islands of Panama, to Galapagos, Ecuador is 880nm. After a last minute check & clean of the hulls and sail drive we set off. Full main and genoa on a beam reach with wind 12-14kts, then peeled to the gennaker. Once we crossed the busy shipping channel, dodging ships heading into the Panama Canal, we changed to the spinnaker. We were making 7.5kts VMG for our first waypoint off the SW tip of Panama; here there is another big shipping channel, with lanes East-North bound and West-South bound, with a separation zone. We cross (at night of course) the westbound lane at right(-ish) angles and have to dodge a few ships powering through on the eastbound channel. We chugged on throughout the night but our dream run had to come to an end, with breeze dropping from 20kts down to single figures. Wind direction was shifting 30-40 degrees south of forecast. With the light weight of the Parasailor we managed to keep moving in the general direction of Galapagos, thanks in large part to 2.4 kts of current in our favour. The zing of the fishing line brought some much needed excitement one afternoon. Pretty quickly all our line was gone though and of course so was another lure! We saw a marlin leap in the distance and can only assume he was the culprit! We also had a few avian hitch-hikers as you can see below:

​Overnight we lost the wind completely and had to snuff the kite and motor for a bit. It filled in again in the wee hours but with a bit more south in it so we hoisted the main and unfurled the gennaker. We have had just enough wind to keep moving and fortunately seas are fairly flat. The current is still being kind to us and pushing us towards our destination. Lost yet another lure but at least they are biting!

We are well and truly into the Doldrums. The wind is fickle here, very light and shifting through 80 degrees now. In the olden days the square riggers might drift for weeks waiting for wind in this zone. To the north and south of us are the “horse latitudes”. These are so called because ships would reach this zone around 2 months out of England and the paid crew would throw the “dead horse” overboard! Fear not animal lovers! The dead horse was the term given to the period of time when a sailor was working off his advance pay (usually money left with his wife back home so he wouldn’t blow it all before he got back!) The expression “flogging a dead horse” comes from this time, there is no use trying to get more work out of crew who have already been paid! But I digress…

Although we lack breeze we still have good currents with us, not to mention a couple of Volvo D2 50s and a tank full of diesel! The Parasailor has been up and down like a bride’s nightie, but somehow we keep moving. 

At 15:12 on the 26th February 2023 ITIKI and crew crossed the equator. We are now in the southern hemisphere and the South Pacific! King Neptune’s representative made an appearance on the foredeck and performed a "crossing the line" ceremony so that Morrie and I were officially transformed from Pollywoggs to Shellbacks! Of course we were painted with "mermaid's blood", had to go for a dip to complete our baptism and finish with a tot of rum! Great fun. It’s a slow finish to our journey with no wind now so we motored the final few miles. 
 
We arrived in sight of land (San Cristobal Island) early Monday morning. Once it was light enough we stopped the boat and the boys went in to clean the hull again. Its amazing how much had grown in the 5.5 days of our passage!

​We anchored in Wreck Bay at around midday and immediately the seals came to do a preliminary inspection. We have transom protectors to stop them invading, however they are very quickly taking up residence on the bottom step of the transom.
 
They clear out when the official inspectors arrived at 3pm. Six inspectors including immigration, health, quarantine, national parks and port captain, plus our Agent Gian Carlos came aboard. A diver arrived separately and went straight into the water to check our hulls. They took our temperature, looked at safety equipment and first aid kit, picked us up on our expired flares, looked in our fridge and freezers, inspected cupboards and wardrobes, took selfies as evidence…. It was quite a party. Well we passed muster and we are allowed to stay-phew! We can start breathing again - and we can start our Galapagos adventure!

Seals rule this particular bay and port. As soon as a new boat arrives they are over to check you out. It is quite novel at first, they are so cute when they look at you with those big brown eyes. The transom curtains/protectors I had made on the way down, essentially to stop a following sea “pooping” us, were still in place and we thought this would be adequate to keep seals out. They started by taking up residence on the bottom step, which we thought was fine, but overnight we had a big, fat, emphysemic old seal coughing, snorting and farting outside our window for most of the night. Every time he jumped on and off the step, the boat shook and it woke us. Also they leave a smelly brown stain of their sweat and fur on the deck. They like rubbing themselves on the roughness of the non-skid deck. We looked around at other boats in the morning and decided a horizontal fender on the bottom step would deter them… No, it worked for about 5 minutes and then it was used as an aid to reach the next step.
 
One day when we had been out we returned to find a seal in the cockpit, fortunately just on the floor. He quickly exited when we arrived, jumping over the top of the transom covers. Little bugger – he knew he was in trouble as he moved pretty fast. We reinforced our transom defenses putting in extra fenders, surely this will defeat them! The ladder on the port side seemed to be acting as a deterrent initially, however they soon figured out how to wrap themselves around it. Surely that is not comfortable! They are using the dinky transom protectors to give themselves a leg up, those things finally have  a use! The next day we return to find not one, but two seals in the cockpit. One of them was lounging on the centre seat cushion, the other had the decency to stay on the floor. Again they were quick to depart, pushing through the transom covers and breaking the side clips! Took a couple of days and several washes to get the smell of seal juice out of the cushions. 

When we are on the boat they are playing around the back and between the hulls. It sounds like someone is snorkelling under there. They have also taken to rubbing their undersides on the hulls. I am guessing they are enjoying the rough finish of the Coppercoat antifoul. Thank goodness we don’t have ablative or it would be all gone!
 
Our fortifications became more and more elaborate. We used our 20L emergency water Jerry cans to block the transom to prevent them pushing through and getting into the cockpit. The passarelle made a re-appearance to stop them jumping over the top. There were also ropes laced back and forth across the transom, making it almost impossible for us to get on and off the water taxis – we were prisoners of the seals in our own boat. It seemed like they were learning to evade our defences more quickly than we were learning how to keep them out! Eventually though we figured out that the vertical fenders worked best. If  you have enough of them and lace them together they can’t just push them aside, and they can’t climb up them. Still it makes getting on and off a little difficult, particularly if you are carrying a load of shopping! I think the ultimate score of this ongoing battle was Seals 4 vs ITIKI 1. Seals definitely rule here.

The Panama Canal, the path between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, a channel between the North and South American continents. A marvel of “modern” engineering and a real thrill to have the opportunity to transit in our own yacht!

​We left Shelter Bay Marina with an air of nervous anticipation, we were well prepared and had an experienced crew on board but an 11th hour hiccup almost put an end to our well planned transit. Read on to find out what happened in that gut wrenching moment.

The Panama Canal opened in 1915, having been built and initially managed by the USA, who basically had sovereignty over the canal and several miles either side of it. It has remained almost continuously operating since then. From 1977 to 1997 the management of the canal was progressively handed over to the Panamanian government. Panama used to be a province of Columbia, but peacefully seceded in the early 1900s in order to secure American support for completion and management of the Panama Canal. Panama remains a neutral country with only defensive forces, which given the significance of the canal is a crucial point. Ships from any country can go through the canal - we learn that an Iranian naval vessel transited the week before us.

​The Panama Canal provides important access for shipping between the west and east coasts of America and of course between Europe and Asia with ships able to transit in both directions. It is the prime source of income for Panama, and because of the canal Panama is a key International shipping hub, connecting North and South America. There is continuous maintenance going on to ensure the canal operates smoothly 24/7 and major works are always in progress to add more locks, widen the narrow parts of the canal (including the Gaillard Cut) and further increase the capacity of the Canal.

For ITIKI the Canal is the last physical barrier between us and our “backyard” of the Pacific Ocean. For any cruiser the transit of the canal is a big deal, exciting and a little daunting at the same time, with of course some bureaucracy and logistics to get through. We chose to use a canal Agent, Erick Galvez of Centenanrio, to smooth our way through this process and we are glad we did. It takes the stress and work out of figuring out the system, making payments, scheduling and dealing with Spanish speaking officials. The Agents know the system and know how to work with it, although they certainly can't control everything.

Every yacht that goes through the canal needs to have 4 sets of heavy mooring lines to use to attach to the lock walls. Large fenders are also required and both lines and fenders can be rented from the canal agent. We also need to have 4 line-handlers on board. There is a great network of cruisers around Shelter Bay area who are ready and willing to “pay it forward” and do a transit ahead of their own to help out others. We were fortunate to have new friends and fellow cruisers as “line handlers” to help us out as well as sharing the adventure. A big shout out to Tad and Robyn of SV Bisou, fellow Helia 44 owners who line-handled for us, and had already done it once before. Also to Morrie, our crew for the leg to Galapagos, who had also transited on another yacht. It seems Keith and I the only “Canal virgins” on this trip. We were also delighted to have our well chosen boat buddies - Ollie and the team on Mai Tai (a Lagoon 40) coming through the Canal with us. This turned out to be a very good choice of transit companion, but more on that later.

The transit process starts with a boat being measured. After leaving Guna Yala we stopped into Shelter Bay Marina which is located at the entrance to the Port of Colon, the gateway to the Panama Canal. Our Agent has organised a time slot for ITIKI to be officially measured. Whilst it is possible to be measured in The (New) Flats Anchorage, its much easier for the busy admeasurer to just walk along the dock to the next boat. The process itself as simple as there are only two size categories: < 65’ and > 65’ and as a 44’ cat we easily inside the first category. The admeasurer outlines the transit process and provide some good advice for the skipper. We will have an advisor on board who will sit with the skipper, and work with the advisors on the other yachts in the ‘raft up’ as well as the Canal operators to get us through safely. Once measured, we book a transit for 14 February via our agent, along with our boat buddy Mai Tai.

With those boxes ticked we have some time to head west to Bocos de Toro for a few days, and return with plenty of time for our transit.
​
We had some "throttle issues" we discovered on our way back from Bocos. We were confident these were now fixed and the engines were working well. Keith also had change the oil filters with Ollie before we left for Bocos and the engines had been starting and running smoothly for over a week now. A few days before our transit date we were back in Shelter Bay Marina, feeling pretty relaxed, when I got a message from our agent saying that our transit date was moved forward by one day! It would now be on 13 February - unlucky for some but fortunately we are not superstitious…

But now we had to get our skates on! I spent the day cooking up a couple of evening meals which would give me more time as we went through the Canal. The advisors expect “proper meals” and rumours abound about unhappy advises calling out for Uber eats at Skipper’s expense if he doesn’t like what’s on offer. Our agent even provided some pictures of what proper meals look like! I think I was more stressed about this than any other aspects of our transit. I also have our line handlers and crew to feed for two days.

And so the moment has arrived. There are three yachts going through today, two cats and a mono. Cristobal station called us on channel 12 to confirm we should head out to The Flats (Anchorage) and wait for the advisor who would step on board at 2:30 pm. So off we go, we anchor and wait, it’s blowing 20 kn and its not the nicest of anchorages but the advisor, Guillame, is on time and with some great manoeuvrings from the pilot boat he jumps aboard. Gentlemen, start your engines…

Then it comes....  The "OMG that’s all we need” moment…
​
We are about to transit THE PANAMA CANAL, busiest shipping channel in the world and the @#@$%& STARBOARD ENGINE WOULD NOT START!

It spluttered and coughed but would just not catch. Keith quickly started the port one and that was fine. After our “double trouble” with the throttles, that was a relief. We try to stay calm in front of the advisor and I quickly messaged Ollie our boat buddy. At this point we were quite sure that the advisor would pull the pin on our transit. Having a mechanical problem transiting the Panama Canal would have a knock on effect for the other vessels and screw up their all important schedules. Fines would also be issued and deposits lost and we would have to start the process again, join the back of the queue! We played it down as much as we could… “yeah bubbles in a few lines will work their way through” … act casual it’s no big deal… We quickly upped anchor and got going and as we were making reasonable speed with one engine, the advisor seems happy to continue. Perhaps he also had his mind on that “proper” meal. Phew!

We liaise with Ollie from Mai Tai who as luck would have it is an amazing, highly experienced “engine mechanic to the stars” with the blood of of McGyver in his veins! What a great choice of boat buddy! Meanwhile the advisors confer and we agree that as our Port engine is working fine we will be the port side of the yacht raft. The mono will be in the middle and Mai Tai will be on the Starboard side.
​
We’ll head off separately towards the Canal entrance passing under the Gatun Bridge, which looks a little like the ANZAC Bridge in Sydney. In front of the entrance to the first set of locks we start to form the raft. Mai Tai and the mono join first but they struggle with a strong beam-on wind. Once they straighten up we can join them but the professional line handlers on the mono make a meal of it and we copped a nasty scratch in our gelcoat.

Finally we are moving as one and heading towards the first lock. Yachts enter the first set of locks behind a freighter and our lock buddy is already in place. Freighters don’t use their engines to move them through the locks. They are towed through by locomotives on rails on either side of the locks lateral walls. This means that there is no prop wash for the boats behind them. There is barely enough room for a fender between the side of the freighter and the walls. Panamax class ships are built to fit exactly in the Panama Canal with no space wasted.

The linesman on the shore throw us the messenger lines. These are lightweight hemp lines that have weighted monkey fists on the ends, and land on the foredeck (eventually). Our heavy mooring lines, supplied by our agent, are already in place and we attach them to the messenger lines so they can be pulled up by the linesmen and placed on cleats high above us on the lock wall. And then the gates close behind us. The water level starts to rise and our line handlers gently take up the slack on our lines, keeping the raft centred in the lock. Although we have plenty of fenders out, we really don’t want to bounce off those nasty looking concrete walls!

As soon as the gates of the first lock close Ollie springs into action, hops across the mono and onto ITIKI, clutching a length of fuel line and with a gleam of confident determination in his eye. The clock is ticking… With the calm air of an ER surgeon, Ollie directs Keith to place a jerrycan in the engine bay, find a cable tie and a weight that will fit through the opening of the jerrycan. Keith watches in awe as Ollie adeptly McGyvers up a system to take fuel directly out of the jerrycan into the engine, bypassing the fuel filters, which are the suspected cause of the problem. Meanwhile the line handlers, Morrie, Tad and Robyn do their stuff while I try to keep the advisor amused and distracted in the skipper’s absence. The water level rises in the lock, which takes about 15 minutes. Keith fires up the Starboard engine and voila! It works like a charm! In the blink of an eye Ollie is back to Mai Tai in time to drive the raft to the next lock. Clever man!

Once the lock is full and we have reached the top, the gates open into the next lock. We are to follow the freighter in front of us and the instructions from our advisor. The shore linesman lower our mooring lines to us. We hold the messenger lines gently as we motor through to the next lock, whilst they walk along the wall beside us, holding the other ends. When we are in position they take the mooring lines upwards again to the high lock wall and cleat them off again. The gates close behind us and up we go again. There are essentially two boats in each lock, the freighter and our yacht-raft. If we weren’t here there would probably be two small freighters, so they are probably not making as much money from this transit as they could be.

The advisors on each of the boats don’t seem to be communicating very well and the coordination of the raft process and the movements from lock to lock is left to the skippers. The advisor on the middle boat should be taking the lead, but we are not even sure we know which guy is their advisor. At one stage Mai Tai gets a bit too close to the starboard of wall and is struggling to drive the raft to port. We only have a port engine on which doesn’t help matters. Our line handlers try to compensate by taking up extra slack to pull the raft across to port.

We have one more lock to go so we repeat the same process one more time to come up to the level of the lake and once the freighter is out and clear we can emerge from the locks and into Lake Gatun. It’s now getting close to 4:30 in the afternoon. The freighter will continue onto the Pacific side and complete it’s transit tonight. Because we are not fast enough to keep up, and don’t have professional crew, we will stop and spend the night in the lake before continuing on the next morning. I prepare an early dinner of spag bol for the canal advisor who is ready for his “proper meal” - I wonder how often they get spag bol? He will get off tonight and we will get a new advisor morning to take us down through the Pacific side locks.

Lake Gatun was formed by damming of the Chagris River and catches the substantial rains that fall through this mountainous area in the wet season. Why are there locks? Why not just go through at sea level, as the original French consortium had planned? Just like the Suez, right? Well, its all about the tides. On the Atlantic side the tides are in the order of 40 cm between high and low. On the Pacific side however, the difference between high and low can be up to 4 metres. The other factor of course is the variation in the water level in the Gatun Lake, between wet and dry season. All of this needs to be managed. The flooding of the lake is part of managing this tidal difference, but it also avoided a much more extensive excavation and moving of mountains that a sea level canal would have required.

There are some super large ship’s buoys in the lake and we head towards them. As Ollie needs to do some more work on our engines the advisors agree we can raft up with Mai Tai overnight. It’s not allowed to use the dinghy in the lake so we can’t take separate buoys and have Ollie make a house call! Swimming is not permitted either and rumours of crocodiles abound in case anyone is tempted.

Mai Tai attaches to the bouy first. Because of the size of the buoy, yachts moor alongside them rather than taking a line from the bow and swinging around. They take a line from a mid-ships’ cleat to to start with, and then fore and after lines as well. Evan jumps onto the buoy to catch the line as their first lasso attempt missed. I think he saw this on a YouTube video.

Meanwhile our engine woes continue. The jerrycan that was feeding our starboard engine is now empty and the engine has conked out. Its not that we have used 25L of diesel in such a a short time, but just that the excess fuel return has been going back to the main tank rather than into the jerry, so the jerrycan ran out very quickly. We now have more fuel in the main tank than when we started! We make an attempt to come alongside Mai Tai on one engine but it failed. It is quite windy in the lake. Rather than risk a failed second attempt, Keith hands the helm to Tad (great to have another Helia skipper board) and grabs another jerrycan of fuel to replace the empty one. We are back in business with 2 engines and successfully complete the raft up process.

The pilot boat comes by and picks up the advisors and Ollie is back on board ITIKI. Before we know it his prosthetic leg is on the deck with the tool box and he is down in the engine bay. This time he upgrades our fueling system to V2.0, with the fuel return coming back to the same jerrycan so we don’t run dry so quickly.

We have our own “proper meal” of curried chicken saving a portion for tomorrow’s advisor, and a celebratory drink. We are halfway between the earths two biggest oceans, floating in the lake between north and south America watching massive cargo ships go by all night. How incredible is that!

We are up early to find the boat covered in ash from a fire that has been burning ashore. As the lake is freshwater we can use the “seawater” wash to clean the deck - Nice one! The new advisor arrives at 7 am and there is no mention of yesterday’s engine problems. The starboard engine starts perfectly. We have 20 nautical miles to travel across the lake, through the Culebra or Gaillard Cut to the entrance of the next set of locks. Our advisor, Harold, is quite a talker and is full of interesting information and history about the canal. He has prepared a series of quiz questions which he poses over the course of the day. I have included these to make sure you were listening!

Harold sets a cracking pace which will get us to our meeting point at Gamboa, well ahead of schedule. We follow the clearly marked shipping channel watching huge Panamax freighters heading in both directions. It’s the smaller tugs though that cause us the most grief, as their bow waves hit us side on, sending the dish rack onto the floor on one occasion. We arrive well ahead of time and use one of our large mooring lines to the lasso the cleat on a large buoy so we can sit and wait. Mai Tai comes next and finally Illimite, our mono friends. We are also waiting for our new lock body, a freighter that is making its way from Gatun locks to join us in the next set of locks. This time they will be behind us. This is to avoid the risk of them being pushed back onto our raft as the lock gates open on Pacific side and salt water meets fresh water.

From Gamboa we part company with the Chagris River and what has been the mainly natural path of the river. The Chagris continues north and we head south east and enter the Gaillard Cut. It’s 7.5 nautical miles to our next lock, the Pedro Miguel lock. The Gaillard Cut (formerly known as the Culebra Cut - culebra means snake) is where the major portion of excavation for the Canal took place. It was carved through the rock and shale of the Continental divide and is currently 152 m wide. We pass Gold Hill with its pyramid shaped, stepped-sides and golden yellow vegetation, and continue on under Centenario Bridge before arriving at the entrance to the Pedro Miguel lock. The Gaillard cut is the section most susceptible to landslides and the largest one which occurred in 1915 was the only one to ever cause the canal to close.

First quiz question: How many times has the Panama Canal completely closed to traffic?

Our raft up procedure goes much more smoothly this time and we are thankful there is no wind to push us around, and that we have 2 engines. We entered the Pedro Miguel lock in unison and this time the advisor on the centre yacht introduces himself and coordinates with the other advisors from the yacht foredeck. Then our lock buddy snuggles in behind us, it’s a huge brown, steel hulk looming over our helm station and dwarfing our little raft. I hope this is the closest will ever come to the front of such a huge behemoth!
In these locks we will be taken down to the level of the Pacific Ocean so to start with we are level with the top of the lock walls. The messenger lines with monkey fists arrive on our foredeck and we send across our mooring lines. The freighter is towering over the canal walls and we see small wooden boats take lines which are lowered from the ship to the waterline level. They then convey these to the shore to be attached to the little trains.

The water level starts to go down and this time the lines are eased as we go. I have decided to have a go as a line handler as I am not too busy making proper meals, tea and coffee etc. I take care of our forward line. The lead advisor calls out commands and blows his whistle to get attention. Harold continues chatting away and the quiz continues:
How many screws are there in the gates of the Pedro Miguel lock?

We reach the bottom, and the gates open in front of us and we (the ITIKI-Illimite-MaiTai raft) move out of the lock and into the Miaflores lake. We have 2 nm to traverse to reach the final two locks.
Next quiz question: Why is there a gap between the Pedro Miguel and Miaflores locks?

We reach the end of the first of the Miaflores locks and have some time for photos while our lock buddy the freighter catches up. He fills the entire lock and we have no chance of seeing the gates close behind us. The water level goes down over about 10 minutes, and then the gates open into the next and final lock. We motor forwarded holding the messenger lines before the mooring lines are sent to shore for the final time. Once again the water level goes down and the gates open. And just like that we are in the Pacific!!
Quiz question: Lake water is used to fill the locks. What percentage of the lock water is recycled?

Somehow I expected a bit more of a fanfare, streamers, balloons, marching bands - a bit like the olden days (ie the 70s) when The Empress of Australia left Devonport for the far flung city of Melbourne…
Instead we retrieve the mooring lines, untie the messenger lines and they are whisked away. We move off to port, release the raft and we are free! The McGyver’s V2.0 engine repair is working well - the final fix will be done when we find a calm anchorage somewhere. For the time being with the fuel return going back into the jerrycan the supply will last much longer. It’s another 4nm of motoring, passing under the Bridge of the Americas (which looks remarkably like the Sydney Harbour Bridge) before we reach the Balboa Yacht Club. Two chaps in a panga come out to greet us and we return our rented orange fenders and blue mooring lines, tipping them the mandatory $12.

The canal advisors on the other yachts are quickly picked up by pilot boats, but somehow Harold is left cooling his heels for another 10 minutes, while we circle around. Maybe he is in someone’s bad books. Finally he is off and we can drop anchor outside La Playita Marina. It’s a bouncy anchorage with a lot of local traffic, with tourist and pilot boats creating wash as they past too close and too fast. We can relax now though and enjoy an evening meal with the crew and celebrate or successful canal transit. Meanwhile the crew of Mai Tai are also celebrating and provide some entertainment with their disco lights and dancing on the foredeck.

Oh so what about the answers to those quiz questions? Send in your answers in the comments section and we will see how well you score!

The San Blas islands are a vast archipelago stretching west along Panama’s eastern Caribbean coast, from the Columbian border. These islands are a popular stopover for cruisers planning to go through the canal, a most beautiful, peaceful and unique part of the world. Nowadays the islands, and the nearby mainland, are known as Guna Yala, as they are home to the indigenous Guna Indians, who have the best preserved culture and traditions of all of the South American Indians. The Guna people are a autonomous, and control this part of Panama, both the islands and the associated mainland of dense and mountainous tropical rainforest. The Guna are a matrilineal society, continuing to live in a traditional way. They live simply, often without electricity or running water and rely on fishing and coconut farming for food and trading.

Cruisers choose to arrive either in of 2 locations: the Southernmost part of the region, and check in at the town of Olbadia on the Darien Peninsula. This area is known for its lightning storms and conditions can be tough getting down this way. Legend has it that Columbian drug runners frequent the area and there are no roads into the town. Whilst this gives you the option to drop into some of the less visited islands as you make your way west, it’s also a bit more of a (sometimes windward) schlep to make your way along the island chain. The other option is to arrive into the island of Porvenir, on the western end of the island group. This is close to the more popular and visited islands and cays, as well as being closer to Shelter Bay the take off point for the Panama Canal passage. The downside of this option is the need to use an agent to get a cruising permit as these are not available at the check in port. We chose the second option as this would give us more time in the idyllic north-western islands, and less time on the move.

​Santa Marta to Porvenir
Having left Martinique for the 3 day journey to Los Roques on my birthday last year, it is appropriate that we leave Santa Marta for the 304nm, 2.5 day journey to Porvenir, Panama on Keith’s birthday (2 January, 2023).
 
Got away around 9:20am, after SV Cinnamon and before WildThing2, both are going via Cartagena so we can only share the first part of the journey along the Columbian Coast. Once we got out into the breeze line we decided to put the kite up. Had 2+m following seas, with big rogues wave4s every now and again and wind in the low 20s with the occasional gust going higher. I was feeling a bit queezy after a month in a marina, so I took half a Travacalm, which of course made me tired, so I had to have a nap. In the early afternoon I woke to a big swell pushing us along nicely and came up to the helm to a surreal scene. ITIKI was completely surrounded by rough, dirty brown water. Had Keith taken a wrong turn and ended up in the Amazon? No - we were passing Baranquilla and the mouth of the infamous Magdalena River which is well known for spewing its muddy, brown water and debris into the sea. Fortunately we did not see too much in the way of large flotsam which after heavy rains can apparently include large tree trunks and the odd cow! We continued on through the night with the kite up and it was easy to manage. Keith had about 4 hours of strongish winds and high seas during his watch and got max speed for our journey of 15.7kts surfing down a wave. It had backed off by the time I came on which was just as well.Santa Marta to Porvenir
Having left Martinique for the 3 day journey to Los Roques on my birthday last year, it is appropriate that we leave Santa Marta for the 304nm, 2.5 day journey to Porvenir, Panama on Keith’s birthday (2 January, 2023).
 
Got away around 9:20am, after SV Cinnamon and before WildThing2, both are going via Cartagena so we can only share the first part of the journey along the Columbian Coast. Once we got out into the breeze line we decided to put the kite up. Had 2+m following seas, with big rogues waves every now and again and wind in the low 20s with the occasional gust going higher. I was feeling a bit queezy after a month in a marina, so I took half a Travacalm, which of course made me tired, so I had to have a nap. In the early afternoon I woke to a big swell pushing us along nicely and came up to the helm to a surreal scene. ITIKI was completely surrounded by rough, dirty brown water. Had Keith taken a wrong turn and ended up in the Amazon? No - we were passing Baranquilla and the mouth of the infamous Magdalena River which is well known for spewing its muddy, brown water and debris into the sea. Fortunately we did not see too much in the way of large flotsam which after heavy rains can apparently include large tree trunks and the odd cow! We continued on through the night with the kite up and it was easy to manage. Keith had about 4 hours of strongish winds and high seas during his watch and got max speed for our journey of 15.7kts surfing down a wave. It had backed off by the time I came on which was just as well.

The kite is doing great as it just looks after itself, but we can’t reef it or slow down without changing sails, so our arrival is set to be in the middle of the night! About 12 hours out the wind has settled into +/-15kts and seas are nice and flat. We come into the anchorage around 1am on Friday 4th. Fortunately there is good moonlight and there are 2 other boats here. We drop anchor to the west of the runway and after a tot of rum, hit the hay.

​Checking in
We wake to the sound of a small breaking wave not far from the back of the boat, where there is a small reef. Not a problem but we would not have wanted to have put any more chain out! SV Voodoo, 70’ mono, arrive around 9am and anchor to the east of us. They left Santa Marta a few hours after us and decided to slow down to arrive in daylight. We have a quick chat over the radio and then head ashore to check in. The process is easy and used as a training session going on - all available personnel look on as the head honcho gives a running commentary in Spanish. Passports stamped and police checks done we have our pictures taken with the anchorage in the background. Then we go to the Congresso to get the local Guna Yala anchoring permit (US$60). The Congresso is the Guna Yala grand council who govern the area via a series of local councils. Before heading off we, took the dinghy over to a nearby small island to get a local SIM card so we could get internet connection.

When we came to lift the anchor the bridle had wrapped itself 3 times around and around the chain – it was so bad I couldn’t get it into the anchor well. It takes a bit of manoeuvring as Keith has to unravel it while I keep the boat head to wind. Voodoo get away before us, wondering what on earth we are doing, and we meet them again over at Chimiche Cays anchorage. Quite a few boats here but somehow there is room. What a lovely place. We have a BBQ and an early night.

We spent 2 ½ weeks working our way clockwise around the set of cays at the western end of Guna Yala. Each of the cays is a little different but generally each of them consisted of a small group of sand islets, stabilised by the roots of the thick covering of coconut trees, and protected by fringing reefs. A little like Tobago Cays in the eastern Caribbean, but there are lots of them. The sand islands are low but the dense stands of tall trees provide good protection from the prevailing winds and the leeward sides can be well sheltered anchorages, particularly on the larger islands. The reefs provide good protection from the swell and the waters abound with sea life, corals and tropical fish, reef sharks and turtles. Sadly as sea levels rise these cays will begin to disappear.

​Chilling out
As we move from island to island and cay to cay, we continue to marvel at the stunning scenery. White sand beaches, coconut trees, crystal clear water and fresh fish. The water colour is the most amazing turquoise colour. Not much to do but enjoy swimming and SUPping – although we are down one paddle board as Keith’s has a terminal leak. There are also plenty of reefs to go snorkelling and we find a variety of colourful coral and lots of tropical fish. We take ITIKI to snorkel at Dog Island Wreck, a small and shallow sunken wreck nearby a beach resort. Here we find some colourful coral on the walls of the wreck and loads of tropical fish darting in and out. It’s cool to be able to see the outline of a ship under all that sea-life. Swimming the anchor at Coco Banderras anchorage I looked around saw a reef shark about my size swimming along the shoreline in shallow water. Hmmm – I know they are not dangerous but that shape, and the music… I swim quite quickly back to the boat with as little splashing as possible. Regular supply boats come into the anchorages so it is possible to buy fresh fruit and vegetables to keep us going. That means we don’t have to rush off to the mainland to find a town with a shop. Fresh fish and lobster are also on offer from the local fishermen.

It was lovely to catch up with fellow cruisers from the Santa Marta Christmas crew at some of our stops - just relax, have fun, share drinks on the beach and plenty of laughs. Everyone is slowly making their way west as we all head towards the Pacific. Mai Tai has arrived from Aruba and have spent a few days here already before we catchup. We do some planning and decide to head up to Shelter Bay together and get measured, and aim to go through the Panama Canal together. That will be a really fun and cool experience to share – it also turns out to be a very fortuitous decision for us, but you will have to wait for that blog…

Living the Guna life
The Guna people we have encountered on the islands are living a very simple and traditional life. They have long resisted hispanic integration, maintaining their traditional dress and lifestyle. Some islands are uninhabited but on others there may be 1-2 families, living in small huts made of coconut fronds. Cooking is done on gas or fires made with coconut husks and fish and coconuts feature heavily on the menu. There is no electricity or running water, not even catchment from the huts. We see fishermen out catching tonight’s dinner and are regularly offered freshly caught fish and lobster, and sometimes the local bread. The Guna boats are amazing, hand-made dugout canoes which can fit 4-5 people at a squeeze. They seem very stable considering they have no keel. They can be paddled by one person, but we have also seen some with small sails which are steered using the paddle. They travel significant distances in the canoes, including from the mainland to the islands to sell their wares including the local handicraft, Molas. The folk we have met are always smiling and seem very healthy and happy. They regularly come by to ask for water and if we can fill a few of their 5L plastic water bottles from our tanks. I was a little confused the first time I was handed a plastic shopping bag and told something in Spanish that ended in “tardes” (later or afternoon). Looking inside I found a mobile phone with a charger and blank screen – aaahhh right. OK, they have no way to charge their phones so hand them over to cruisers to charge and collect later.

We learn that the coconut was once the only currency that the Guna used, and was highly prized for trading with the Columbian boats. Even now each coconut tree is owned by a family and everyone knows whose coconuts are whose. It is important not to help yourself to coconuts, even ones on the ground, as they belong to someone. The Guna are also a very closed society and it is not permitted for outsiders to own property or run businesses here. Their society is matrilineal with women having a significant role in decision making for the community. Marriage outside of the Guna tribes is also not allowed, and could result in ostracism. As a result the relatively small Guna population are all very closely related and albino Gunas are not uncommon. It’s a harsh environment if you have no pigment in your skin, and we did meet one young fellow who scored from us a pair of our sunglasses and a cap for protection. The Guna are also very accepting of transgender people and it is not uncommon for men to dress in women's clothes and wear make up etc. People are allowed to express themselves as they please. We meet one transgender Mola Maker (Mola Lisa) who is very well known in this area and makes beautiful Molas and some funky accessories.

My what a lovely Mola
What is a Mola? Mola are the Guna’s fabric handicraft. They are fabric panels about the size of a laptop with multiple layers of colourful fabric sewn together. Patterns are formed by cutting out and stitching, all by hand. There are abstract patterns, which are more traditional ones, as well as animal and birds more popular with tourists. The Guna ladies wear them as part of their traditional costumes, with matching panels added to the back and front of their shirts. The ladies also wear long strings of tiny glass beads wrapped around the full length of their calves. These are not just for special occasions but worn on a daily basis around the house. At our first anchorage at Chichime Cays we get a visit from one of the most famous and persistent master Mola makers, Venancio. He and his offsider politely invite themselves aboard and bring a 15 gallon drum filled with Molas!! Before I know it our cockpit is covered with dozens of brightly covered Molas. They really are quite beautiful and very well made. Some of the more complex ones must take weeks to make and are priced accordingly. Its so hard to choose, but I end up with 4 by a process of elimination. Venancio is a little disappointed and tells me other cruisers by 10 or more! Well at his prices and at our first island I will stick with my 4 and spread the love to other vendors.

One morning at Coco Banderras – a word of caution
It can be challenging navigating around these waters. Whilst there is plenty of depth between the island groups or cays, within the cays there are shallows and sandbanks, the odd wreck and coral head. Approaching an anchorage, care is needed and our pilot book is worth its weight in gold. Sometimes it looks like you can make a b-line for an anchorage but end up having to skirt around it, taking the scenic route. It’s always important to have someone on lookout when navigating inside the cays and its best to move around between 10am and 2pm when the sun is over head, giving you good visibility.

Quite a strong rain squall came through the anchorage in the morning, with heavy rain and wind up to 25kts. A mono left the anchorage in overcast conditions and was passing the end of one of the small islets but stopped suddenly. Clearly he had cut the corner and had running aground on a reef or sand bank. Keith went over to help, getting drenched in the process as another squall came through. The yacht had smashed their propeller and also lost their main anchor trying to kedge off so they were in a lot of trouble. A Guna fishing boat with an outboard motor came to help and after a while more dinghies joined in the effort. Eventually they were freed but had to be towed with off a flotilla to a new part of the anchorage away from everyone. The Guna were able to dive and retrieved their anchor and as well as their prop, which was in 3 pieces. Amazingly one of the other boats in the anchorage, which was the same design, had a spare prop that fitted perfectly – how lucky was that.

It's always sad to move on but that time inevitably comes. We realise we are very privileged to have visited Guna Yala. With no resorts on the islands and only very basic accommodation on one or two islands, a visit by yacht is really the only way to experience this unique part of the world.