Walks in the Panamanian jungle were filled with military and church ruins, the sounds of birds and monkeys-and monkey sightings as well. We were also lucky enough to be in Panama for Carnival and the trolls visited the marina for some dancing and fun. Below is the Charges River that was damned to make Gatun lake.
An afternoon spent in Colon and a stop at a roadside fruit stand right outside the city. 2nd day in a row visiting the city and fruit stand.
The ride from Santa Marta, Colombia to Colon, Panama turned out to be the worst conditions Painkiller has ever seen. We surfed down 20-24ft waves reaching a record breaking speed of 20.1kts-with only the tiniest of jibs. As much as we tried to capture the size of the waves in pictures it just wasn’t possible. In fact, Jules got hit hard by a wave trying to put the go pro out. We did capture some video of us entering the breakwater of the Panama Canal as a ship passes us on the way out.
Minca, Colombia is a small village in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Mountains. There are coffee farms and cocoa farms in the area as well as many hiking trails. The same lively culture and art was as evident in Minca as Santa Marta. Colombia has been an unexpected stop-and unexpected highlight of our trip so far-visit if you can!
Santa Marta. Colombia was a beautiful stop with exquisite food, lively local culture, plenty of street art and performers, giant mountains and more!
On the way to Panama we stopped in Santa Marta, Colombia as the weather forced us in that direction and it seemed like a good place to stop for a rest, and visit. We had gusts to 45kts and ended up taking the main down and sailing with a mostly rolled up jib overnight. Luckily we had Bruce and Eric for this run as they were definitley put to work.
We started our passage to Panama with a day sail to Culebra as a shakedown of the boat with our crew Bruce and Eric. We arrived in enough time to tie up to the Dinghy Dock for Happy Hour, pick up some last minute provisions in a well stocked grocery, and visit the bakery in the morning before departing for Panama.
Tim, Jackie & Ken enjoying a beautiful evening at anchor on Saint John. We snorkeled gorgeous reefs while turtles swam next to the boat and deer walked the shore in the morning.
With the help of Tim & Jackie on board we were able to rig the spinnaker and use the southerly breeze to push us towards Anegada. The conditions were perfect for swimming and enjoying the only non mountainous island in the British Virgin Islands.
Painkiller was hauled at a yard in Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands. We painted two new coats of bottom paint-midnight blue (a new color!), and fixed a couple of leaking escape hatches. Jules also managed to get enough paint on herself to be assured she won’t be growing any barnacles. We worked hard and fast and were able to splash back in the water in 48 hours!
The Trellis Bay Full Moon Party is not to be missed. Fire balls along the beach and in the water, performers on stilts, hoop performance, music, food and drink, in a beautiful British Virgin Islands setting. The water was extremely choppy, so navigating into the dinghy dock and disembarking the dinghy were probably the most challenging moves of the trip so far.
After our experience in Saint Lucia we became hooked on swimming in luxury hotel pools so we spent a lot of our time in Sint Maarten at this hotel pool (which we snuck into) with waterfalls flowing into an infinity swimming pool next to the Caribbean Sea. We drank rum punches and went swimming as a break from our drive circumnavigating the island-both the Dutch and the French sides. It turns out I forgot to take pictures of anything on the island besides this view from our lounge chairs.
Rain over the island made for an hours long rainbow, sometimes appearing as a double rainbow, with both ends visible.
After negotiating a somewhat tricky entrance we spent a day on Iles Des Saintes enjoying the beautiful anchorage and small French town. We stopped in the market for the required baguettes, had a very interesting drink which included chocolate, and snapped a few photos of the waxing moon visible over the church at dusk during the evening service.
We ended up spending a week in Saint. Lucia to apply for our French Polynesia Long Stay Visas at the French Embassy and to visit with Julie’s friend Margeret who was also in Saint Lucia. Margaret stayed in a beautiful hotel and extended her guest privileges to us. We were at anchor in the bay but would dinghy over to the luxury hotel and spend hours at the pool, including sitting at the tiki bar in the pool, having food and beverages delivered to us poolside, full breakfast with omlete bar, and free wifi! We also did a tour of the island with Margaret and met up with her crew before they set off on their charter. Thanks Margaret!
The breeze was strong, there were several squalls, and we had 2 reefs in between the islands of Dominica & Martinique, then we rounded the southwestern corner of Martinique and saw the majestic Rocher Du Diamant which buffered the breeze as we entered La Marin.
In Dominica we bought fruits and veggies directly from the farmers on this lush island, then we joined a few locals for a beer and some island rum at a bar on the side of the road where propane tanks doubled as bar stools.
The crew arrived in the Virgin Islands just in time for visits from Ken’s daughter Katie, her 5 year old twins Charolette & Eli, Vince’s wife Kate and their son Nick. We spent a week exploring the Virgin Islands together and even launched the Dyer Dink - which might not be a 2 person boat.
After a couple of days sailing with a triple reefed main and tiny jib the wind calmed down enough to sit in the bow seat and do a few loads of laundry while singing sea shanties.