The Voyages of WOW - Blog 6, Providencia to Panama

April 30, 2019

The Voyages of WOW - Blog 6, Providencia to Panama

Being the adventures of the Intrepids aboard the good ship WOW, David’s 45’ carbon fibre custom built racing catamaran making its way around the world from Thailand and currently cruising the western Caribbean. This excerpt from the ship’s blog finds us sailing from the Colombian island of Providencia southwards to the Bocas del Toro archipelago in western Panama.

Seven shades of blue, Providencia, Colombia

It’s another two-day passage of some 300 nm with light winds and this time there's no moon to light our path. However we arrive with no major dramas, although swathes of brown sargasso weed slow our progress as we approach the coast of Panama. We haven't found where it comes from or how it gets there but there’s masses of it covering large patches of the sea, so we are sure it won't be long before someone works out how to turn it into fillet steak or some other delicious food. For now though it simply clogs up our rudders, dagger boards and the little propellor which generates our electricity on WOW.

Bocas del Toro is an increasingly popular backpacker and enviro tourism centre in the far west of Panama. It comprises several large and millions of tiny mostly emerald green mangrove covered islands. We make landfall at dusk and anchor off Starfish Beach on Isla Colon in the Drago channel where a norwegian Hurtigruten liner is making its way home to Norway after a visit to the Antarctic. The following morning we sail round to the main town in the province where customs, immigration, quarantine and all manner of government departments are waiting for us. Where else in the world could you get at one hour's notice 5 separate government agencies to send their representatives out to our boat anchored in the middle of the channel, stamp our papers and passports without charge? Legally admitted we jump in the dinghy and head to the yacht club for a margarita or three before sunset. At $3 each they are some of the largest and strongest we have encountered and no-one has the slightest recollection of how or when we got back to the boat that night.

Bocas del Toros, Panama

We spend a couple of days exploring the town which has a good collection of bars, restaurants and cafes before embarking in a water taxi to the mainland port of Almiranti, a 30min bone shaking ride in a open wooden boat with two 300hp engines. From Almirante a shuttle bus awaits to transport us 30km to the border with Costa Rica where we walk across a rickety railway bridge and and find another minibus waiting to take us on to Puerto Viejo near Limon on the Costa Rican coast. Puerto Viejo is another little fishing village and tourist centre with wooden houses and a great surf beach. The Intrepids attempt at bicycle riding is somewhat short lived and whilst the rest of the crew head down the coast to Manzanillo national park we catch the local bus, ending up at an amazingly laid back rastafarian cafe with the reggae music pumping, the rum flowing and the jerk chicken jerking on the barbeque. Later we hire a car and drive north along the coast towards Tortuguero. On the way we pass through the port town of Limon, the place where virtually all the world’s bananas come from (after Coffs Harbour). There are banana and pineapple plantations as far as the eye can see and what must be half the world’s refrigerated containers to pack them in. Lyn would have a field day; there must be a million containers occupying every piece of cleared land around Limon.

Eventually after several U turns, (never distrusted google maps) we make it to La Pavona just in time to jump aboard the riverboat, little more than a dugout canoe, to journey down the river to Tortuguero, a small river town accessible only by boat (or private plane). The river which at the end of the dry season is only barely navigable, runs though jungle screeching with green macaws, (the type you only see in pet shops or on pirates’ shoulders), howler monkeys and the occasional crocodile. After an hour or so we emerge at a river junction, marked with motorway style signage and join a stream about 500m wide towards Tortuguero where we disembark and eat pizza, as you do. We catch a water taxi across the river to the Toucan and Tarpon lodge in the heart of the Costa Rican jungle. It’s dusk and Arturo takes us on an night walk. We see spiders and tiny little bats hiding under leaves, glass frogs and scorpions but no sloths or jaguars this time. He seems a bit miffed when we spot an armadillo before he sees it. However the following morning, we go kayaking and discover blue, white and green herons, kingfishers, some owls (although they might have been termite nests high in a tree), howler monkeys, a young caiman (like a crocodile), and several bright green Jesus Christ lizards, so-called because of their ability to walk on water. Later back at the lodge it lives up to its name with a flock of black and yellow toucans and a three toed sloth dropping in for breakfast.

Refugees crossing the border into Costa Rica

Rastafarian BBQ, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

River boat to Tortugueros, Costa Rica

River highway, Tortugueros, Costa Rica

Then it’s back on the boat for the long trip back to Puerto Viejo and another night walk, this time from the jaguar sanctuary where the guide also seems miffed by our ability to discover things she hasn’t spotted first, including a turtle, some bats and several green frogs. Still it’s a pretty awesome experience although it doesn’t really compare with the magnificent three toed sloth and troupe of capuchin monkeys we spot right next to the path when we’re walking back from Red Frog beach on Isla Bastimentos, back in Bocas in Panama the following day.

Back in Panama, we stock up on groceries, mainly the liquid sort, and after visiting the footprint-shaped Zapatilla cays and picking up new crew members Brian and Timmy, we set sail eastwards towards the San Blas islands and a new log entry.