We're Back! The Atlantic - Panama continued - The Adventures of Curandera

4 min read

03 Nov

03Nov

We arrived back to Curandera in Shelter Bay Marina on October 25th. Our taxi driver, Diocese, picked us up from the airport. As we were about to load our bags and boxes into the taxi, we noticed a flat tire, so Darryn and Diocese spent the first 15 minutes of our arrival changing a flat in the hot sun! Darryn thought it was funny! After that minor inconvenience we headed to the marina which is near the town of Colon, Panama, about an hour drive. This historic town of Colon was a bustling place back in the days when the Panama Canal was being built. Much different today, as the historic nature wasn't preserved (it burned down once many years ago during the building of the canal). The marina is about 20 minutes from Colon on the Atlantic side of Panama. We left Murf the dog, back in Minneapolis with our daughter, Paige. Being that we have our longest voyages ahead of us, and the issues with bringing a dog from Panama into the U.S., we decided it would be best to leave her behind. We will be reunited with her when we return to Minneapolis at Christmas.

Back in Panama, let the adventures begin!

Curandera was up on the hard while we were gone. We spent two nights in the marina hotel while getting the boat ready for the water. Everything looked good and she was in the water within two days of arrival, so we spent the next few days organizing the boat and buying supplies and food. Our friends on Sea Trial (Dave and Toni) were in Panama City getting ready to do the Panama canal crossing, and asked us if we were interested in joining them. Yes! We taxied over to Panama City the day before the crossing. We were excited to do the crossing as an observer rather than piloting our own boat through as we did back in May. Line handlers came to the boat at 3:00 am and we picked up the pilot at 4:00 out in the bay. Started our journey into the canal slightly there after. Once the sun rose it was a beautiful sunny day for a cruise through the six locks the canal. (3 up and 3 down) All went fairly smoothly and we arrived in the Atlantic approximately 4:00 pm. A fun day, and Dave did a great job!

Curandera getting ready to be lowered back into the water

4:00 am... the start of our second voyage through the Panama Canal on our friend's boat.

We enjoyed our 10 days in Shelter Bay Marina getting the boat ready, going on jungle walks (saw three toucans and lots of monkeys), and meeting new people. There were several people in the marina that sailed across the Atlantic from the UK. One in particular did some electrical work on our boat, John, a young 70 year old, who sailed over on a 30 foot sailboat with his crew mate Lucy, a wise 21 years old. He's actually done 7 Atlantic crossings! They were delightful, and we spent quite a bit of time with them and hope to continue communicating with them as they are planning to sail a catamaran to the South Pacific in early 2023. Lucy is an occasional line handler for boats going through the canal. Impressive! We meet such interesting people on our travels!

We left Shelter Bay early morning of Saturday, November 5th. We are ready to start heading north for our Caribbean adventure! Next stop Boca del Toro, an archipelago about 150 miles away (28hours) and still part of Panama. We stayed at Red Frog Marina, located on Bastimentos Island. A beautiful marina surrounded by mangroves and jungle, so we were excited to explore the marina and resort grounds. We saw a red frog (hence the name of the marina) within our first steps inland! (see pic) We kept walking and saw a sloth munching on a leaf right above us! (see pic) We walked to the amazing Red Frog Beach, the sand was so fine and beautiful. We went swimming later and jumped the waves and enjoyed a Corona at the small beach club nearby. Met a nice young couple that are living on their catamaran with with a 1 and 3 year old (not uncommon in the boating world). We also discovered a University of Minnesota research and study center on the grounds near the hostel on the property. They have a program here for students! (see pic). Small world as I graduated from the U of M! The resort here is very casual and laid back, with a pool right by the ocean (choices!) and three casual restaurants all on the beach. The beach here is one of the best we have experienced since we started this journey. We swam in the ocean both days, worked out on the beach, and enjoyed the flora of the dense jungle. What a great place!

The next day we had to take a panga to the town of Boca. It is on the island of Colon (see map). It was a charming colonial town, a bit run down but still a great place to walk around, mingle with the locals, and enjoy a drink and lunch at one of the restaurants that extend over the water. We had to get our Zarpe (exit doc) at the Port Captain's office and headed to immigration to check out of the country. On our way home we hit a rain storm on the panga and were drenched by the time we got back! All in all we loved our two days here, one of our favorites!