Passage to Panama

Belize and Passage To Panama

The poorly generator has rather dominated our season so far, and at times we have felt it would be easier and cheaper just to throw in the towel and buy a suitcase generator. At the time of writing it still does not work properly. It is 99 percent done and runs sweetly, it just takes a lot of cranking to get it started. We are just as fed up writing about it as you are reading about the endless saga, so let's come back to it at a later date when we have had a chance to garner some more opinions.

Now as places go, Placencia in Belize is ok, especially if you like ice cream. 

It may have a swinging nightlife, but we are usually in bed by nine, curled up with a good book, or listening to music. However, we did do a little exploring by day.

The downside to the anchorage in Placencia, is that in anything except with wind from the North, it is rolly to the point of uncomfortable. Those with shallow drafts could, if they wished, head round into the lagoon behind the town, but we stayed put. Some anchorages afford a gentle rocking motion that eases you into slumber, not always so in Placencia. The rolling from side to side means that you become human conkers in bed, not at all conducive for a good nights sleep. That said, when it is calm, it is wonderful.

We did witness the lunar eclipse, and even managed to take a respectable hand held photo from the moving deck.

It was therefore a relief, or so we thought at the time, to be underway again and heading to Panama, a place that has eluded us for the last two seasons.

All started off fine. We decided to head out of the outer reef system via the Ranguana entrance we came in at. We had the foresight to record a track, so we followed this all the way out.

At first we got lulled into thinking all was rosy. We managed to make some Easting close hauled, and our 1000nm passage did not seem too daunting. Our aim was to stay well clear of the shallows off the coast of Honduras and Nicaragua, as several incidents with pirates had been reported. This meant doing a wide detour.

Our logbook shows that things started to go a little pear-shaped that evening. The winds were light and variable and the swell troublesome, progress became tedious and going anywhere close to the direction we wanted was not an option.

The best course to wind we could make took us North towards Cozumel in Mexico. When the wind did change and we tacked back, we headed just 20 degrees from due South. The only way we could make any gains was to run the engine and beat East into wind at 3.5 knots against the counter current. You know when it is a rough passage when you have seaweed on the side decks! It was looking as though we might have to head to Cuba to make the angle. However, our options narrowed down to just one... Grand Cayman. 

We won't dwell on our time in Grand Cayman, we visited 2 years before and did a blog entry back then. It remains the most expensive place we have encountered in the Caribbean for provisioning.

It was in Grand Cayman we met up with Katherine and Steve on a racy catamaran called Gemini Sunset. We left at the same time and kept in touch each day via a position report using the Sat Comms.

As a small digression, we also had an issue with the Sat Comms. Using the iOS App on our Apple devices, it would send the same email nine times! Using the PC it was fine. A big shout out to our airtime provider GTC, who worked around the clock with helpful support.

Back to the passage to Panama...

We took on much needed fuel in Grand Cayman and finally the North East winds kicked in, allowing us to make a good angle and fast, although not as fast as Gemini Sunset, which is a rocket ship!

We noticed an increase in Merchant Shipping the further South we went, which was to be expected, and kept our AIS transceiver on as well as the active radar. Even then we made at least three ship to ship calls to confirm intentions, better safe than run over. We also had a visitor in the form of a very tired migrating Barn Swallow who made him or herself at home.

After seven days at sea we finally arrived just outside the entrance to Linton Bay. Although we had waypoints around the reefs, we decided to wait until the sun came up, rather than risk an approach in the dark. By 10.00am we had cleared in with the Port Captain at the marina, organised the laundry and said hello to our friends Pamela and Charlie on Castalia.

Linton Bay Marina is going to be very nice when it is finished, and it is not too bad now. No shops, but guys in pick up trucks seem to come round near daily with fish, fruit and veg and sometimes a bread van will turn up.

In order to complete our clearing in process, we had to travel Portobelo to visit Immigration. As we wanted to buy supplies as well, we opted for a taxi at 12 US dollars. We would have needed a bank loan to provision in Grand Cayman.

Portobelo is an interesting place. Not sure the town captivated us in the way the guide books suggested, but we enjoyed walking around the remains of the fort and noted that it was one of the earliest Spanish settlements in the Caribbean. If you have the time and inclination, we enjoyed reading about the exploits of the notorious Henry Morgan in a book called The Buccaneers of America by John Esquemeling. By all accounts, some of the content is contradictory with other sources, but nonetheless, it makes a cracking read, although perhaps not for the squeamish.

All too soon it was once again time to leave the comfortable environs of a marina, and our aim this time was to sail about 40nm East to the San Blas islands.
Many cruisers spend whole seasons in the San Blas, but we will only gain a snapshot. It is on our list of 'must sees' and close by, so we will go.

At some point, perhaps after a week or two in the San Blas, we will head to Shelter Bay Marina and start to make our arrangements to transit the canal. The busy period is now over and we hear it is possible to make arrangements in just a week to ten days.

As WIFI coverage is meant to be hit and miss in the San Blas, our next update will come via Shelter Bay, or close by. 

Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman

Our 30 hour passage from Cienfuegos to Grand Cayman, the largest of the Cayman Islands, was thankfully a lot less dramatic than the passage up from Jamaica. We did encounter some squalls, but miraculously all but the last one as we approached the tip of the Caymans, went behind us.

The pictures below show what a squall looks like on the radar screen, and then what we see from the deck.

This is what it looks like on radar

And this is what we saw

We announced our arrival a few miles from the port of entry, George Town, to the Port Authority. They asked us to pick up any available orange mooring buoy and await further instructions. When the instructions came we had to motor around the corner to tie up along side the customs dock. This would ordinarily not be an issue, but this one was a little different. The dock was a concrete wall, with three widely spaced bollards, no assistance to take lines and a huge rock sticking out of the water about a boat length to the side of us. Not a huge issue in the calm conditions, but would not like to attempt it with a strong wind blowing.

Grand Cayman was never really on our agenda, but luckily we managed to trade a few beers for a courtesy flag in Cuba from a fellow cruiser. Having cleared in we took up a free mooring buoy, got the rib sorted, admired our nearby Cruise Ship neighbour and headed into town.

Nice spot

The town shops are mainly geared up for the cruise ship passengers with seriously deep pockets, so armed with new directions, we headed in the other direction to find the local supermarket. Our non tinned provisions were running a little low.
What greeted us was simply the best and most diversely stocked supermarket we have ever been to since leaving Europe. So much so, we spent well over an hour just wandering around, scarcely able to contain our excitement. Imagine that, excited about being in a good supermarket! It was so busy we decided to come back later in the evening, when it was quieter. The down side was the prices. In some cases more than twice what we would have expected to pay. It was a shock when it came to pay at the checkout for what was a very modest bag. It would be easy to spend $1000 on a weekly shop!

For the next few days we relaxed a little, met our neighbours and then welcomed our good friend Gerry, who had just sailed single-handed from Jamaica.

We had thought of trying to get into the inner lagoon (known as the North Sound), but the depths are sketchy at best for our draft. Plus the water was not clear for swimming, whereas you could see 5 metres down from our mooring.

Chartlet showing North Sound inner lagoon

Christopher Colombus first sighted the Cayman Islands in 1503. He noticed that the islands and the sea around them, was teeming with turtles and so he named the islands Las Tortugas. The abundance of turtles soon led to ships sailing through the Caribbean to pass through and stock up on turtle meat - a great source of protein for the crew. Sadly, so many turtles were hunted that their numbers were severely depleted.

The Islands remained uninhabited until the 1660's. Privateers and Pirates were active in the area for many years, using the islands as a base from which to attack the galleons bound for Europe, laden with gold and silver from the New World. Throughout the 18th century, some of the world's most famous pirates, including Blackbeard and Henry Morgan roamed these seas, stopping off on the islands to repair their damaged ships and stock up on water and turtle meat.

The Treaty of Madrid, signed in 1670, officially decreed the Cayman Islands a British possession and a dependency of Jamaica, although the islands were not permanently settled until the 1730's.

In February 1794, ten merchant ships, led by the HMS Convert, foundered on the reef at Gun Bay in the East End of Grand Cayman. Local settlers went out to rescue the crew and not one life was lost. Legend has it that one of those rescued was a royal prince, and in gratitude to the people of Cayman for their bravery and gallantry, King George III declared that the Cayman Islands should forever be free from taxation and war conscription. The islands continue to maintain their tax free status to this day.

As the water around our mooring was so clear, Lynne was keen to do some snorkeling. She swam a short distance to an area known locally as Cheeseburger Reef, due to it being just offshore from a Burger King restaurant. She saw turtles and lots of colourful reef fish. She also got chased by a Tarpon, who didn't appreciate being watched. There were a lot of Tarpon around that area and some grow to about 8 feet in length. Having seen how aggressive they are when feeding (we had seen them being fed by a local beach bar the night before), Lynne decided to swim back to the boat after that encounter.

We put together an island itinerary and hired a small car from Dollar, for not a lot of money. In fact it cost more for the temporary driving permit than the car hire. Thankfully, it was an automatic, as neither of us has driven for a long time.

The roads are pretty good and if you avoid rush hour and school traffic, fairly empty. Driving along the coast road you could tell very quickly this was an island in transition. Just about every parcel of land with a sea view was for sale, or had a dwelling the size of a small hotel on it. Presumably these would be second or third homes.

We set off for Grand Cayman's oldest dwelling, known as Pedro St.James. It was one of those places where, before you go, you wonder why you are going. But after visiting it, it ranks in the top five of all the attractions we have seen in the Caribbean so far.

Without completely boring those kind enough to read this blog, Pedro St.James started life as a house for a wealthy Englishman named William Eden. Exactly why he chose to come to Grand Cayman from his comfortable home in Wiltshire, England is subject to debate, but he did and built a house using slave labour and had a large cotton and mahogany plantation next to it.

He arrived at a time when the population was around 500 humans and 500 million mosquitoes. Livestock was often suffocated by large swarms of them, not to mention the diseases spread by them. Even today the Cayman Islands spend nearly $6m in mozzie control. Whilst we were there, we regularly saw a light aircraft flying above the mangroves, spraying something to kill the mosquitoes.

Anyway, back to William Eden and his nice house. It was easily the largest dwelling on the island back in the day, at three stories high with 18 inch thick walls and verandas on all four sides. Apart from the mosquitoes, life was probably fairly comfortable for a while.

The house was inherited by William Eden II after his fathers death, (his mother had died during a childbirth), and he subsequently sold it, only to buy it back just two years later. The house was leased out and was used as a court, and even had a jail cell. Not too sure however, how secure the security was in the jail as prisoner James Shearer Jackson managed to father a child. It was also the birthplace for modern democracy in the Caymans and witnessed a decree read from its steps, abolishing slavery.

The house survived hurricanes and fires, but fell into disrepair. William Eden II had long since moved to Ecuador, abandoning the house when a bolt of lightning struck his daughter as she stood by the front entrance to collect rainwater during a storm. Left to decay, the verandas and everything else made of wood, plus the roof rotted or got stripped away, with only the stone structure remaining.

Pedro St. James after years of neglect

The building came to the attention of an American citizen called Thomas Hubell. Mr Hubell was a retired US air force colonel and was a pioneer of Scuba diving in Grand Cayman. He saw a business opportunity and converted the old building into a mock castle with bar and restaurant.
The building continued in the same vein, passing through different owners after the untimely death of Mr Hubbell in an aviation accident. Eventually the restaurant went bankrupt and the building was left vacant. Once more it was damaged by fire and a hurricane in the late 1980's.

The building was eventually purchased by the Cayman government in 1991, who set about a multi-million dollar restoration. The missing verandas were rebuilt and the old building fully restored. However, in 2004 Hurricane Ivan knocked on the door and caused huge damage to the Caymans and Pedro St. James. So, the building was restored once again.

Just as an aside, if you had a spare few million in the bank and decided to build a house in the Caribbean, you get tons of kudos, lovely warm weather, inviting beaches, a laid back lifestyle and maybe a view to die for. And then a hurricane happens. Guess you have to factor in the rough with the smooth.

Before we got to see the house, we took a visit to the excellent muti-sensory 3D theatre. Here we got treated to the history of the place with great visual, sound and other effects, that made it a little Disney-esque. If you do happen to visit Grand Cayman and are seeking somewhere to visit, this place is a must see.

After our little tour of the house we wandered around the stunning grounds and met a descendant of William Eden, Mr Stacy Eden Hurlston, the 7th Grandson of William Eden, along with the only donkey on the island, Jack aged 37. We chatted to both for a while, although the donkey did not say much, he was enjoying tucking into his corn ears.

Fully restored

Pedro Saint James

Nice place to relax and enjoy the view

Just the one bedroom

Keep your sunglasses on

1826 James Shearer Jackson imprisoned in Pedro St. James

Outdoor kitchen

Jack having lunch

 
Next, we headed to the North of the island. In the garden of a house in Old Man Bay, owned by a sculptor called Davinoff, we saw some of his work which was on display. The sculptures were all made from concrete and were quirky and quite fun. He had named some of them. Our favourite was a crab called Clawdette.

We found the right place

Concrete octopus

Clawdette

We continued our journey heading west along the north of the island, and went as far as you can go to Rum Point and the small beach, known as Starfish Point.

Rum Point

Lynne waded into the water, which didn't even reach her knees, and was met by a dozen or so starfish. She put the GoPro in the water and took a photo of one of them close to her feet.

Hello Mr Starfish

We then retraced our steps back to George Town and around the western edge of the North Sound. Here we found a small town called Hell, so named due to the quarter acre of blackened calciferous rock in the area. Hell has its own Post Office and you can even send postcards from there, which are postmarked with the name Hell.

That day we went to Hell and back

And the reason the town is known as Hell

Actually a nice friendly place

Before we took the car back the following day, we took the opportunity to do a big provisioning shop and get some jerry cans of diesel for the boat from the local petrol station.

Our visit happened to coincide with Carnival, which is described as 'an explosion of Caribbean music, dancing and costumes'. Unfortunately, due to a disagreement in the parties involved in hosting the Carnival this year, the celebrations were held over two consecutive Saturdays. We had missed the first parade the previous week, and when we went to watch the second parade, there were only about six carnival floats, so the procession passed within a matter of only a few minutes. Some of the costumes were spectacular but the volume of music from each float was so deafening, it was uncomfortable to get too close.

Sorry, think Steve got distracted

Turn the music down please we are old folk

And so that was pretty much Grand Cayman.

Next up, we make our way to Guatemala and arrive at our Hurricane Hole, Tijax Marina located up the Rio Dulce.