Crossing the Panama Canal

April 21, 2016 kate brand

After we returned from our overland trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua, we spend Easter weekend in Bocas del Toro and then made the trip down south to the port town of Colón. Before we left though, we met up with a friend from our super yacht days, Peter, and invited him to join us as crew for the Panama Canal transit.

Colón was a bit of a shock compared to Bocas del Toro. We came from beautiful jungle covered islands, surrounded by clear waters and we arrived in a dirty dilapidated "post apocalyptic" city. It was, however fascinating to watch all the massive ships in the port and we had friends with us to help pass the days waiting for the canal passage with lots of laughs and good conversation.

We arrived in Colón on the Wednesday after Easter weekend, Melody had her appointment to be measured the following day by one of the Panama Canal Officials and 5 days later wefinally transited the Canal!

It was our first transit and there are so many horror stories passed between yachties that we were rather nervous, not to mention the seriously high price tag to go through and the fat deposit you have to put down in case something goes wrong in the canal...

In the end it was actually completely relaxed and most of our time was spent waiting - for the big ships to catch up and join us in the locks, for each lock to be filled or drained, depending on which side we were of the lake etc.

It was a victorious moment motoring out into the Pacific as we exited the last lock of the Canal. We are finally here!

Next stop: French Polynesia!!!!

checking out or neighbours in Colon. photo credit: Peter Thomas

Ruf and our advisor, as we enter the canal

on our way to the canal. photo credit: Peter Thomas

friendly crew of the nearby ships in Colon harbour

José our friendly admeasurer, registering Melody for her canal transit — José our friendly admeasurer, registering Melody for her canal transit

fellow cruisers in the Colon anchorage, preparing for the canal transit

João and Natali on one of their provisioning runs before they transit the canal

the "yacht club" we anchored at in Colon

Peter & Rufus prepping the fenders (tyres) and lines for the canal transit

one of our friendly line handlers in the canal

Rufus and I with our advisor in the first lock. photo credit: Peter Thomas

our fantastic line handers, João and Paula

most of the canal transit is a waiting game - João catching some zzz while we wait for things to happen

in the last lock before we exit into the Pacific - Rufus standing on the foredeck, posing for the Canal cameras as our families watch online

our full team aboard Melody as we finally arrive in the Pacific!

Family Farm Life in Costa Rica

April 16, 2016 kate brand

And we are BACK! If you follow our page on Facebook you will know that my MacBook charger took a walk in Bocas del Toro so my photo editing/blogging station has been down for a while. Luckily Panama mainland is not short on malls and electronics shops so I finally found a replacement and I am back online!

The last post was on our overland trip to Nicaragua and Costa Rica. We traveled by water taxi (from Bocas del Toro Islands to Panama mainland) and bus from Panama to Costa Rica and on to Nicaragua and back again. In Costa Rica we stayed with friends in the area of Tarbacca, just outside of San José.

What I didn't mention previously is that the main reason we decided to take this trip now was to visit these friends, since we were so close and we weren't sure when we would be back in this part of the world. We had originally met the Jensen family when we hosted them on a sailing charter in Belize the previous year. We got on so well with them and stayed in contact ever since. They had offered to host us if we ever visited Costa Rica and so we took them up on the offer!

Andreas is from Denmark and Andrea is from the US, of Columbian and German descent, with two beautiful adopted daughters from Columbia. The family relocated from the US to Costa Rica some years ago and have been living on their lifestyle farm in the hills of Tarbacca ever since. They have horses, goats, pigs, sheep, geese, ducks, chickens, turkeys and they grow their own coffee!

Andreas and Andrea hand make a variety of delicious cheeses from their own goat's milk and from time to time their own pork and lamb. They spoiled us daily with delicious meals from mostly their own produce - cheeses, meat and veggies - as well as including us in all the daily happenings of the farm and family life.

We rode horses in the mountains, witnessed their stallion mating (which is a lot more dangerous complicated than we ever expected!), got to milk the goats, ride quads, help dry coffee beans and spend wonderful hours chatting and relaxing with the family and their friends. It was also an extra treat because of the warm fresh water showers!

I think we, especially Rufus, must have driven Andreas and Andrea crazy with all our questions about the farm and Costa Rica but they were so patient and generous with their time and their home. Thank you Jensen family for your hospitality!

The first morning we arrived Andreas put us to work milking the goats - so much fun! photo: A.Jensen

I loved the small details and thought that goes into every aspect of their farm and their home

Rufus peppering Andreas with (more) questions about farming with livestock

Andrea and Nicol spending some quality mother-daughter time in the kitchen

one of the delicious breakfast made with Andrea's own ricotta cheese

Navigating Nicaragua

March 27, 2016 kate brand

Rufus and I recently took a 10-day trip north to Costa Rica and Nicaragua. We left Melody on anchor off Isla Bastimentos and travelled overland by bus and motorcycle. Our first stop in Nicaragua was the surf town of San Juan del Sur where we spent two nights and then rented our motorcycle from Chris at El Gringos.

We spent a day riding through the surrounds of San Juan and exploring the beaches. The next day we rode to the beautiful historical town of Grenada where we spent one night at Oasis hostel and walked the colourful city streets. The last 24hrs we spent on Ometepe which is a volcanic island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. We took the motorbike with us on the ferry and stayed a night on the far end of the island on the permaculture farm El Zopilote.

Nicaragua is one of the cleanest Central American countries we have visited and the roads are in excellent condition, especially for travelling by motorbike. The people are friendly and if you avoid the obviously touristy areas, especially San Juan del Sur, it's not crazy expensive. We never felt unsafe and the weather was great.

I will start including summaries of our travel costs and how we travelled between countries (buses, water taxis, hostels etc) as well as a map for each destination, with our route, to give you a better idea of our trip.

one of the more secluded surf spots just north of San Juan del Sur

sunset over Morgan's Rock, north of San Juan del Sur

happy beer tasting face at San Juan del Sur Cerveceria

gypsies on the road between Grenada and Rivas

Grenada: Hawaiian shirt and potty helmet: the ultimate biker fashion combo

Grenada: colour coordinating my potty helmet with the pink blooms

Grenada: popular spot for locals and budget tourists to have beer and food in the evenings

early morning, outside Oasis hostel, ready to ride to Ometepe

waiting to be loaded onto the Ometepe ferry

two trucks, three cars and a motorbike all fit on this tiny ferry...

view of Volcán Concepción as we approached Ometepe Island on the ferry

"pedestrians" on the "highway" around the island of Ometepe

Surfing Kusapín

March 12, 2016 kate brand

In the last post I mentioned that during our island hopping trip we stopped at Bluefield Lagoon and did a short overland walk to the well-known surf spot of Kusapín.

Two years ago, while we were in Trinidad, we met a Brazillian guy by the name of Manuel Alves. We became fast friends and when we came to Panama he offered his help and connections, as he also has his sailboat based in Bocas del Toro. He is away working right now but he kindly loaned Rufus his surfboard for our time here, as we gave away all our boards in Guatemala, when we thought we would not be returning to Melody last year :(

There wasn't much swell and the waves were teeny when we arrived, but that didn't stop the four of us from having fun in the water anyway!

Here are a few photos from the day and the local indians from the Comarce Ngäbe-Buglé Indian Reserve on the island.

Cruising Bocas with Babilé

March 11, 2016 kate brand

Last week we arrived in Panama, after 7 days sailing down from Guatemala. We dropped anchor in front of Isla Colón which is part of the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, off the Caribbean coast of Panama.

To our absolute delight, the same day we arrived, our favourite cruising friends Natali and João, of S/Y Babile, appeared in our anchorage - reunited after almost 2 years!! We spent a few days anchored there, resting and exploring the island, enjoying the restaurants and bars of the little surf town.

As usual, we started getting itchy feet quite quickly and decided to head off to the surrounding, more remote, islands with Babile and another French boat, S/Y Spip. We did a day sail to the Zapatilla Islands and from there to Bluefield Lagoon where we did an overland trail to the beautiful beaches of Kusapin, a well known surf spot, in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé Indian Reserve.

We filled our days with spearfishing, beach barbecues, swimming, walking in the tropical forests, surfing and enjoying time with our friends over good food and local beer.

Next stop is the mainland city of Colón where we will await our turn to go through the Panama canal!

seeing our favourite Brazilian and Portuguese friends, Natali and João of S/Y Babilé, for the first time after 2 years!

anchorage in front of Bocas Town, Isla Colón

one of the waterfront restaurants in Bocas towm

interesting characters at the Kraken restaurant

there are lots of places to stay in Isla Colón

on our way to the dinghy dock at Hotel Olas, after provisioning for our trip out to the other islands

Portugal, Brazil, South Africa and France brought together by a beach barbecue in Panama

our makeshift "table" courtesy of Babilé

Natali's delicious octopus salad, caught the previous day

barbecues and good food always bring people together