#3 And we’re off!

Triumphs, disasters, and new crew

I had no idea that getting a boat ready for cruising involved so much time on the computer! It seems crazy but I reckon at least a third of my time in the those first 6 days involved tapping away on the laptop.  Firstly, there’s all the research needed for things like what immigration agent to hire in Colombia and what the COVID requirements are for the Bahamas.  Then there’s all the systems, downloading manuals, applying for a radio license number, re-registering safety gear such as emergency beacons to the new owner but hardest of all was getting the satellite phone working.  After two days of phone calls to the UK and France, tearing my hair out and at times wanting to shake the screen and cry, I was saved by the very nice Aussie, Scott, from “The Mob” (the only other Aussie in the marina) who sold me a new sim card for next to nothing which set in motion a chain of events leading to Kilauea now having email, text, phone calls and most importantly up to date weather forecasts anywhere in the world whenever we want it.  And what’s really cool anyone can now see where we are in the world, where we have been and what wind we are experiencing right now.  Click on “where are we now” on the menu and you can see this for yourself.

Day 6 involved a full day in Panama City buying fishing gear and provisions for the boat and then picking up a tired but excited Cousin Tom from the airport and taking him to his new home for the next 3 weeks. Next morning, just 15 hours after Tom had officially entered the country I was at immigration checking us out so we could sail to Colombia.  What followed was an hour and a half of utter shambles which went a bit like this and bear in mind the officials only spoke Spanish and I only spoke English and all exchanges went through our interpreter, Mr Google Translate.

Me “please can I check out of Panama, my next stop is Cartagena, Colombia”

Official “of course, please give me photocopies of passports & boat registration”

Me after running to marina office 100m away, making copies and running back “here you go”

Official “boat is part owned by charlotte, I need copies of her passport”

Me after another round trip to the photocopier via the boat which was a further 100m away “pant, pant, here you go”

Official “now I need cruising permit”

Me “I bought one off you last week remember, you said you would have it for me today”

Official (sucking teeth) “this is big problem, cruising permit not ready, it is IMPOSSIBLE to leave Panama without permit”

Me “when will it be ready?”

Official (grimacing and shrugging, grugging?) “who knows, maybe one week, maybe one month”

Me (imaging all my plans go up in smoke) “and I definitely can’t leave without one?”

Official “It is IMPOSSIBLE”

Me (thinking quickly despite the stifling heat) “OK, so if I MUST leave tomorrow and I don’t have a cruising permit, is there a special payment I can make?”

Official (All smiles now) “Of course! You pay $150 and you can leave tomorrow! Its no problem, I do all the paperwork now!”

Official (teeth sucking again) “but there is another problem, you have not entered Panama” Me (franticly looking through passport and not finding stamp) “ah, I need my British passport not my Australian one”

Sprint to boat for other passport, sprint to photocopier again then sprint to official who is now re-doing all the forms again from scratch. And just like that within 2 hours of starting the process and many dollars lighter, I had all the documentation I needed to leave.

Saying goodbye to the previous owner, Ilya, and Tom fixing the steering

The afternoon did not start any better.  We decided we should go for our first sail.  We motored to the fuel dock safely enough and then overfilled the tank and diesel spilled into the pristine water (so much for our “light environmental footprint” vision). Then as we motored along the channel I realised the GPS did not show us moving and also the steering was making very weird noises.  Back to the dock and good old Tom started earning his keep, shrugging off both his jetlag and his shirt working in the engine locker which must have been 40 deg C, he spent the next hour getting the cable back on the pully and tightening the whole system up lubricating the system with his own sweat.  While he did this, I realised my schoolboy error with the chart plotter and got that working.  By 2pm we were out on the water again practising reefing the main and after a brief jamming incident with the furler (schoolboy error again) we had the jib out as well and were rewarded with dolphins playing between the hulls.  The evening was a few beers and our last feed on land for a week and an early night for the early start the next day.

Wahoo! Our maiden voyage

We left before dawn on 20 October 2021 for Kilauea’s maiden voyage with its new owners (well one of them anyway) for the 55 mile passage to the Hollandes Cays in the San Blas archipelago. Within an hour of setting up the rod for the first time with a red and white rapella lure, it bent over double and line started streaming out at pace.  However, as I grabbed the rod it and started to fight whatever was on the end of it, the line went light, we had lost the fish but fortunately not the lure.  Out it went again and within an hour the whole process repeated itself.  This time after some much fighting and battling (on the fish’s part) and cursing, groaning and grunting (on my part) and a frantic exchange between Tom and myself about how and who should gaff the fish (we decided whoever caught the fish should gaff it as they have more “skin in the game” and are less likely to stuff it up) we managed to drag the 1.4m long, 40kg monster wahoo onto the deck.  I would never have dreamed our first fish would be such a beauty and so big!

An hour and a half later, we had cut the fish up into steaks and fillets, scrubbed the blood and guts off both the boat and ourselves and were settling down to an unexpected lunch of the finest sashimi we had ever tasted.  With a freezer that wasn’t freezing my mind turned to what to do with a week’s worth of meat and about 20kg of fish meat that we had in the fridge.

The answer came after we navigated to our first anchorage off BBQ island next to another Nautitech, a Canadian Open 40 called Habibi and we swapped about 6kgs of fish meat for an invitation to a BBQ on the aptly named island the following day.  In the three days since we caught the fish we have had either sashimi or ceviche for lunch and wahoo for dinner either BBQ’d, fried or last night with spaghetti and sauce. The BBQ with the crew of Habibi was the best feed of the trip so far.  Faddy, the skipper, is a very witty man but takes his BBQing very seriously and the steaks and fish were seasoned and cooked to perfection.  We ate them pretty much on the beach under palm thatches watching our two great looking boats at anchor (slightly biased of course).

A Taste of Island Life

Its now our 3^rd full day in the San Blas Islands and we have settled into a rhythm.  Breakfast of papaya with lime and yoghurt, take the dingy to a reef for a snorkel and leave the anchorage when the sun is nice and high just before noon so you can see the shallow water, have lunch on the way, anchor off a new island about 1pm, check the anchor and either explore the island, go for a snorkel, fly the drone or just relax.  Then dinner of fish followed by a few beers on the bow before turning in.  I have not missed TV or screens once.

I’m very impressed with the light wind performance of the boat. Between islands, our speed (SOG – Speed Over Ground) was matching the wind speed (TWS – True Wind Speed) which is impressive for a racing boat let alone a family cruising boat!

Colombia next

Tomorrow, we set off for our first multi-day sail, the 200 mile sail to Cartagena much to Tom’s relief who has been appalled by the quality of coffee on board and wants to get some of the good stuff.  We’ll leave at dawn and hopefully get into harbour some time the next afternoon after our first night at sea.  Forecast is for very light winds so it could be lots of motoring and possibly dodging thunder storms.

Until next time.

Alex