Bocas del Toro, Panama

Whew, it has been a busy 10 days since we got here. We are fine. Sorry to those who've been waiting with baited breath for the next installment of the Soggy Paws Travelogue.

The first couple of days in Bocas, we took advantage of the Bocas Marina to tie up, get some easy power and water, enjoy a few days of A/C in the heat, and get some chores done. We had the laundry done (wash, dry, fold) for $3 a load (this is a good deal, we were paying $7 in Guatemala).

We spent most of the first 2 days finalizing our entry into the country. Though all the officials visited the boat at the marina within a couple hours of our arrival, we had to go back to the Port Captain to get our Cruising Permit completed. And to the bank and out to the airport to get our 90-day tourist visa completed.

This is a new town, and so we spent one full day just walking the streets and checking out grocery stores, veggie stands, hardware stores, dive shops, and restaurants. Fortunately there is a good cruising community here with a nice VHF net (VHF 68). So when we needed specific information, there is someone who offered some good advice.

Dave took advantage of some time at the dock (where we didn't need the dinghy) to try again to track down the 15HP Tohatsu problem (see separate blog post on that one!). We also found a source for the broken high pressure guage we needed to complete the watermaker project (Hydromundo Panama). And we ordered a brand new AB RIB from Marine Warehouse, who has a satellite office in Panama, and a 'sometimes' office in the Bocas Marina. (More on the dinghy caper in another post).

We had been away from civilization long enough that we had quite a long grocery list, so we have made several trips to the local stores. There are about 3 fairly good sized stores here (all run by Chinese or Koreans), and then there's the 'Super Gourmet', which has a nice deli, a nice frozen foods area, and quite a few American and European specialty items that are hard to find otherwise. (for us, Wheat Germ, Sunflower Seeds, Taco Seasoning, Granola, etc). The Super Gourmet is a little pricey but there are times when you just gotta pay the price. We have looked through and bought stuff in every one of the grocery stores in the last week.

Our friends John and Sandy on Caliente have been waiting in Bocas for us to arrive for a few weeks. John was a Naval Academy classmate of Dave's, and has just completed a lap around the Eastern Caribbean in his Cal 346. So we spent some time in Bocas Marina's cruiser bar having drinks and eating good food and meeting the Bocas cruising crowd. Sherry even spent an afternoon playing Mexican Train Dominoes.

We (both Caliente and us) are anxious to get moving east to the San Blas. Caliente has a friend flying in on April 2 to Panama City, and then they will move a little bit east with us to position themselves for a trip north to Honduras and Guatemala. And WE need to get going because we have an ambitious schedule to see the San Blas, visit Cartagena, Colombia (and maybe do a 6 day hike to the Lost City), make a short trip home, go thru the Canal, cruise a little of Pacific Panama, and be in southern Costa Rica by late July. (whew, this cruising life is stressin' me out!)

But we are both sitting here in Bocas 'awaiting parts' and working on maintenance items. We both got to a lull in our work at the same time, and decided to do a mini cruise of the Bocas area. So we've been out to Starfish Beach, Pondsock Reef, Dolphin Bay, etc. We explored an old cemetery on Shepherd Island and a wreck on Pondsock Reef. And we took John and Sandy back to get 'The Chocolate Factory Tour' (at Green Acres). We re-visited our friends on Camryka, shared 'trying to get stuff in Panama' stories.

John on Caliente has been struggling with alternator problems, and he and Dave finally deduced that it was the diode tray and the internal regulator. The parts for this are not available in Bocas, and the part numbers on the alternator were obscured, so it would be hard to remotely order them. The advice from the local cruisers was to take the parts on the ferry to the mainland city of Changianola to find what we needed. So yesterday we went with John on the $6 boat ride. The trip to Changianola is via some canals and old river bits that the banana plantations used. The high speed outboard (with 20 people and light cargo aboard) snaked its way down the canal, and it felt like an old river in Florida (water hyacinths, palm trees, overhanging trees, etc).

Bill, you were right...It's not the rainy season here now, but we've watched it rain for 5 days out of the last 10 (and 100% overcast on another 3 days). It's hard getting stuff done when it's drizzling all the time. But at least our water tanks are full! I can't imagine what it's like here in the 'rainy season'!

We are hoping that the last of our parts come in today, and plan to leave for 'parts east' this afternoon. Our plan is to anchor somewhere on the east end of the Bocas area this afternoon, stop at Escudo Veragas tomorrow, and overnight into the Colon area.

Soggy Paws is going up the Chagras River for a few days, while Caliente goes into Colon to collect their guest. Then we'll head further east together in a few days.