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Passage to Panama
Our first 26hrs we covered 150 miles – day and night: Friday till Saturday
2nd day, 52hrs = 300 miles – day and night Saturday till Sunday
3rd day, Sunday at 8:30 pm we reached 355miles, we stopped at Isla de Providencia for an overnight rest. (Had to go in at dark, but we had been there before so we had the waypoints)
4th day Monday, 08:00 until Tuesday 12:00; 480 miles behind us, getting closer
5th 24 hours, Tuesday until Wednesday morning at 05:00; 560 miles covered, just a few to go.
Wednesday, June 29th at 1:30pm we finally arrived in Bocas Del Torro, Panama. It took us: 5 days to cover 600 miles.
From leaving Marathon, Florida on May 13th till arriving in Bocas Del Torro June 29th; we traveled 1600 miles; that was an incredible journey.
We have all agreed we have travelled enough for now, we need a rest. It can be very tiring.
Overall the passage was a mixed bag filled with some heavy seas, more light seas, some lightning and thunder from the distant tropical storm, more fair conditions, the calms that follow rough, winds ranged from 0 knots to 35 knots, but mostly we enjoyed10 knots to 15 knot breezes. We sailed a good 2/3 of the passage and motor sailed the rest. The only visitor was an enormous dragonfly which hitched a ride one night. I called him dragon, his wings sounded just like we had a drone aboard in the cockpit, but honest it was a dragonfly.
We came upon fields and fields of sargasso seaweed. The weed was so deep that if the engine was running we would wait till we cleared it and we had to reverse the engine to shed our load off the prop.
We also hit what we assumed was a log one night. We were smoothly sailing along when there was a big thud. John looked out, but saw nothing as it was too dark. However as soon as we arrived and were in the dinghy we could see the damage to the bow. The bottom paint on the bow was taken off right down to the fiberglass!
We sailed into Bocas Del Toro in the late morning of an overcast day. We were in our 1st new area, region, since pre-covid, an exciting new destination with new beginnings for us. Entering slowly the scenery looked amazing. Palm lined sandy white beaches, mountains in the back ground, and mostly uninhabited.
After finally finding an anchoring spot in the north anchorage we set off ashore to check in.
Finding the authorities was fairly easy, as they are right next to the ferry stop. In Panama you 1st see the Port Captain, who was a very pleasant lady. Here the authorities fill out most of the paperwork, which was also a pleasant surprise.
2nd was the agricultural/health person. He was mainly interested in Chico, and photographed many of Chico’s documents and passport pages. Never even asked about covid.
Then came the immirgration guy accompanied by the customs fellow. More paperwork for them and we were checked in. Lastly we applied for our cruising permit, which takes a while to be processed.
Bocas town
It was off to explore the town and figure out where everything was located. Basically Bocas town is one wide Main Street, Calle 3RA. Parallel to it runs smaller calles and across the calles you have the avendidas. The town is definately centered around the tourist, it is colourful and at night it sounds very lively.
There are several, well many grocery stores, all are very well stocked, most food items are available.
There’s Johnnys bakery which sells baked goods and serves other excellent foods too. We had a wonderful sandwich there, a tuna panini, which they call just a tuna sandwich.
There several large well stocked general stores/hardware stores which means that John is extremely happy.
And very importantly excellent fresh produce stalls or venders.
Another very nice cafe that we found is called JJ’s at Bocas Blended. There we found we could get an excellent breakfast plus use their dock for our dinghy, buy ice and dispose of trash.
Red Frog Marina
After nearly a week we headed over to Red Frog Marina, on Isla Basimentos, where we had a booking. Neither of us had any idea what to expect.
We were given a brilliant dock space, basically nearly at the end of the furthest finger pier, in other words way out at the end.
The manager took us on a mini tour around the resort in his golf cart. The place is huge!! Lots of walking to do. Both of us were very pleasantly surprised by the whole marina, resort etc set up. It really is quite self contained. As Marina guests we have use of all the facilities at no extra cost.
There’s a good laundry, a marina grocery store, nice bathhouse, good security and everything is well maintained and clean. The staff are all friendly and helpful, the dock where we are is too far out for Chico to roam into the jungle. In other words we are very happy with Red Frog.
We have taken several walks around some of the Red Frog property and some of the lanes that meander through, around and about.
At the beaches where we have wandered we enjoyed the sound of the surf crashing, the emptiness, the open space.
The surf attracts surfers as it is long rolling waves that eventually crash ashore there. Behind the 1st beach, called Red Frog, there are 2 small restaurants that serve the Selina hostel.
We have only tried 1 of them for breakfast and a lunch, both of which were very good. Afterwards we strolled along the beach, back along the lane to the marina.
A bit further along the lane is the Red Frog resort beach club, which we have the use of too. We haven’t been here but have walked past and it looks very nice.
Further along still, from the beach club, is another quite wild stretch of beach with lovely shady trees from the jungle that lines the shore.
Still further along the lane is another area of beach that seems to be sheltered from the surf by a reef line and small isles that run along the shoreline. Here it might be possible to snorkel.
This scenery is wild, extreme and just wonderful. We haven’t ventured further along the trail yet as usually by this time the sun is overhead and getting hotter by the minute.
The other trails lead uphill between the villas that have been built in the jungle or are being built, some sold and some for sale. Along these lanes in the trees we have seen sloths hanging.
Did you know that Panama’s jungles are home to 3 of the 6 types of sloths, one of which, the Pygmy three toed sloth, is endangered. The other two types found here are the Brown Throated sloth and Hoffman’s sloth. Here are 10 incredible facts about sloths: (some of which we were told to me by the marina manager)
- Without sloths there would be no avocados. …
- Sloths are three times stronger than us. …
- They poop a third of their body weight in one go. …
- Sloths are blind in bright daylight. …
- They are faster in water than on land. …
- It takes sloths 30 days to digest a leaf….
- They can starve to death on a full stomach…
- Sloths can fall 100 feet without being injured….
- No-one knows how long they live for….
- They prefer to eat the leaves of the cecropia tree aka Trumpet tree/Guarumo which is a canopy tree.
We have found that spotting sloths in the trees is really quite challenging, darn hard, as they don’t move or make any noise.
One evening we were lucky enough to meet a sloth who was crossing the lane. Very very slowly he/she was pulling himself across to the other side. We stayed and watched, plus made sure he/she was safe.
We have also spotted Red Frogs along the damp banks of the lanes as we stroll along. They too are quite fascinating, but much easier to see. Fun facts about the Red frog:
It is not as poisonous as some of its cousins and is not a threat to humans.
It subsists on a diet of ants that dine on poisonous plants, providing the red frog its protective skin toxin.
Males attract females with a loud quick chirp.
And then there is also the vast area that surrounds Bocas.
Hundreds if not thousands of cays, isles, mangrove lagoons and bays. We have only ventured out in the dinghy once. We found it incredibly beautiful slowly putting around the waterways nearby.
We are both amazed by the area we have moved to. Everyday we have been seen such beauty.
It exceeds our expectations. And we are so very blessed to be in Bocas Del Torro.
To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that’s enough for one man’s life……TS Eliot
You cannot help but learn more as you take the world into your hands. Take it up reverently, for it is an old piece of clay, with millions of thumbprints on it…… John Updike
