The Wondrous Voyages of WOW - Blog 7, Along the Panamanian Coast

May 14, 2019

The Wondrous Voyages of WOW - Blog 7, Along the Panamanian Coast

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 in search of the world’s best burritos, dark’n’stormies and margaritas. This excerpt from the ship’s blog finds us sailing from Bocas del Toro in western Panama to Guna Yala and the San Blas Islands

Isla Chichime, San Blas, Panama

After surviving Filthy Friday in Bocas del Toro, we embark new crew members Timmy and Brian for the next leg of our voyage eastwards to the San Blas islands. If you want to know more about Firthy Friday you’ll have to ask Cpt Dave and Foredeck Maestro Al, save to say it rivals full moon parties in Koh Samui but doesn’t quite compare with full moon on Caye Caulker, Belize.

It’s another 2 day overnight passage of some 200 nm with light winds and still no moon to light our path but as we approach Colon, the aptly named arse end of the Panama Canal, we see lots of commercial traffic which makes night watches more interesting.

By midday on the second day we approach Chichime Cay at the western end of the San Blas archipelago. Our first sighting is a large cargo ship which turns out as we get closer to be wrecked on a fringing reef, so we drop the sails and approach with caution through a narrow channel between extensive coral reefs. There are a large number of boats in the designated anchorage, which is reached via a narrow passage, so we decide to anchor in 5m of water in a sheltered bay just off the island of Chichime.

Guna women (from E Bauhaus The Panama Cruising Guide)

The San Blas islands are a group of over a 350 islands and cays lying about 30 miles off the north coast of Panama stretching east towards Darien and Colombia. They form part of the province of Guna Yala, a largely autonomous area run by the indigenous Guna people. Although fiercely independent, the Guna we encounter are all incredibly friendly. Within minutes of anchoring we are approached by a family in a dugout canoe, keen to show us, and sell us if we so wish, their embroidery, known as “Mola”, which depict animals, fish, birds, butterflies etc and can be used for t-shirts, cushion covers or simply hung on the wall. The Guna are a martri-lineal society, where women are in charge and the men are sent out to fish, or to work in the sugar or banana plantations, but where everyone finishes work by 1pm and spends the rest of the day at leisure. It’s one of the few places where the intrepids can feel tall, as the Guna are the shortest ethnic group after the african pygmies, but nevertheless have remarkable longevity, perhaps as a result of a very stress free living and diet of lobster, coconuts, crab and fresh fish.

Life on the islands is very relaxed, several islands welcome campers from the mainland, mainly Panamanians who flock to the islands on long weekends together with the occasional european or australian backpacker. Set in a turquoise sea, most islands are uninhabited, with soft white sandy beaches and a few palm trees. There are few tourist facilities, although many villagers will offer you fresh seafood and of course a cold beer. After exploring Chichime, which takes all of 10 minutes to walk round we settle into a beach side shack for a dinner of lobster and red snapper. The next day, Nestor, a wiry Guna takes us to meet his friends to buy a dozen snapper which he cheerfully cleans for us on the back of WOW, whilst his friends sell us beads and more mola.

Unfortunately, as the Guna are very protective of their territory and don’t allow any outside tour operators, we are unable to leave WOW as disembarking a boat make it appear as a tourist business. As the Intrepids and Able Seaman Al have calls to duty elsewhere, we have to return westwards to Linton to leave the boat, a 40 nm voyage in the wrong direction. However no-one seems to mind too much and we spend a day sailing back along our track. Linton, or Puerto Lindo has a new marina where we are assured we can get a taxi to Panama City and rejoin the rest of the world. It’s an uneventful sail and we arrive in the harbour early in the afternoon, where a very helpful girl arranges a taxi for us, although it's a little delayed as first Timmy has to use it to go to the local supermarket to replenish WOW’s beer supplies for its onward voyage to Cartagena in Colombia where it will have a well earned rest until next year’s voyage. We are very sad to be leaving WOW just before the end of the voyage but with new crew coming aboard it’s time to move on.

End of our voyage, Linton Marina, Panama

Eventually we make it to Panama City where our hotel in the heart of the old town turns out to have a rooftop bar and a splendid view over the old city to the new city, which looks a little like Dubai or Singapore, full of high rises along the waterfront. The old town is going through a metamorphosis, with historic buildings being restored and turned into boutique hotels, coffee shops, restaurants and bars. It’s a beautiful area to wander around, with flower-covered mansions, little squares, ruined churches, palaces and floodlit towers. After almost 3 months at sea we spend a few days getting used to being back on dry land, sleeping in comfortable beds and luxuriating in running water. One day we visit the Miraflores locks on the Panama Canal to see how it operates from the land side, almost a year since we travelled through it on the Clipper yacht. Then it’s time to leave and fly back to Los Angeles to begin the next adventure.

Catamarans (not WOW) passing through Miraflores Lock

So all that remains is to thank Captain David and our fellow shipmates wholeheartedly for a magnificent adventure on WOW, which took us safely to places we could only dream of, to see sights, encounter people and experience which will remain with us forever. During the three month voyage covering over 2200 nautical miles and seven countries, six of them for the first time, we’ve swum with dolphins and manta rays, seen flying fish and frigate birds, perfected bread baking and margarita mixing. We’ve met with Mennonites, Mayans and Mexicans, dived in coral reefs and underground cenotes, gossiped with Guna and Garifuna peoples, sewn sails, worked out how to weld, explored spanish cities and mayan ruins, developed a taste for Colombian and Costa Rican coffee, Belizean Belikan and Mexican mezcal. We’ve learned all about antifouling, water maker maintenance, rigging masts and overhauling outboards. We’ve sailed by sextant, monitored the moon and meteors, seen sloths (both two toed and three toed), armadillos, macaws (green and scarlet), caiman, turtles and toucans. We’ve seen blue lizards, green lizards, black and white iguanas, green frogs, red frogs and been howled at by howler monkeys and chased by capuchin monkeys. We’ve partied with pirates, or at least their descendants, climbed mountains, trekked through jungles and safely sailed the length of the world’s second largest coral reef. The only word to describe the adventure is WOW!