Pacific Panamá was a surprise to us. Its many islands, such as Parida, Gamez, Secas, and the beautiful Bahía Honda bay, were great places to visit. And don´t miss the special section on Balboa (see above navigation).

ISLA PARIDA, ISLA GAMEZ, PEDREGAL AND DAVID:

Hello family and friends,

Our last stop in Costa Rica was in Golfito, where we topped off our diesel tanks and checked out of the country.

We left Golfito just before dark, to navigate the entrance in daylight, and proceeded south into the night, at low speed, to insure a daylight arrival at Isla Parida, Panama. Even though we are in Panama proper, we will not check into the Country until we get to Balboa, near the Canal. This is the customary procedure for all the cruisers.

We dodged rainsqualls and thunderstorms all night, which reminded us that SIESTA is back in tropical waters. As we approached Parida at dawn, we saw squalls pretty much everywhere inland of us. We tacked back and forth waiting for the storms to subside. Radar came in handy for spotting the storms and their movement.

Finally we came into Parida, on the northwest side, and went around to anchor off post-card perfect Isla Gamez (as we suspected, we learned that it should be spelled Gomez, but somebody mispelled it and it took!).

We touched base with PLAYPEN, ANNIE and ALYSSA on VHF, trawler yachts that had left Golfito the day before. They were moving on at the time we were arriving. We also heard from PIPEDREAM, anchored off the nearby Islas Secas, about 23 miles from here, and the catamaran CHEWBACCA, anchored in Veradero Anchorage, on the south side of the island.

We came to visit them by dinghy, and later in the day moved SIESTA to the anchorage in Isla Parida as well. Bruce and April, with their two cute blonde daughters, Kendall and Quincy, introduced us to a local family that lives in the island. Kendall and Quincy found local playmates and they were always having a good time. Things moved quickly from there in arranging our trip to Pedregal and David..

Chachi agreed to take us into Pedregal very early the next day on his 27' panga, with a 4.5' beam, and a 9.9HP Yamaha engine for $70 round trip (Panamanians use US dollars as currency, although the Balboa is the official currency, at parity with the dollar). He and his wife and daughter would stay in Pedregal while we took a cheap 15 minute cab ride to David, the second largest city in Panama. Cachi's family and his parents and brother own part of the island and live in very modest dwellings with dirt floors.

Panama is on East Coast time, so when Chachi arrived to pick us up at the agreed to time of 6:30am, it was only 5:am Costa Rica time, and we had to hurry.

The two and a half panga ride was an experience in itself. We did not see a soul, or any sign of human habitation almost until we got to Pedregal, traversing the bar, then meandering off the estuary and the river upstream. The panga moved at a pretty good clip, considering that we were seven of us, and lots of backpacks with gear. We estimated the speed at 14 knots.

The tide ranges here are 10'+, and we went through some areas that were almost dry. Yet when we got to the small town of Pedregal, we were astonished to find several sailboats anchored off the Pedregal Yacht Club! And a pretty good sized ship, in addition to some mighty large shrimp boats. Tide and know-how is everything here!

We stayed at the modern Hotel Nacional, close to the plaza downtown, for $54US a night. The hotel has a large pool, a movie theatre with four good-sized movie halls. It also has a good restaurant and buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and a casino! Plus it had CNN satellite TV in the room and a private phone in the room as well.

We watched Bush give his war speech live, dubbed in Spanish, on Panamanian TV, and then later in the evening watched Mexico's Fox give his war speech live to the Mexican people. He regretted not being able to support Bush on this one, since he felt that not all diplomatic means were exhausted.

We were astonished at how cheap things are in Panama, compared to what we had seen so far. It was the first day of school, and all the stores downtown had specials. I purchased some great synthetic surfer print shorts for $5 a piece! The same type of shorts in Zihuatanejo or Mazatlan were $25-35US!

There was a well-stocked grocery store near the Plaza, and we purchased some items to bring to Chewbacca. We had just stocked at Golfito and did not need much.

We also went to T.E.S.A, Transportation and Equipment SA, which means corporation, and purchased a brand new Yamaha 15hp outboard for $1,500 net, with no tax. The even lower special price was due to a big faire going on in David, with government concesions on tax. We paid 3% to put it on our credit card. The same engine in the States is about $2,500 plus tax. TESA David did not have the engine in stock, so we are picking it up on the 2nd of April in Panama City, freshly unloaded from a ship from Japan. TESA has offices in David, Panama City and Boca del Toro. We were impressed with the quality of the engine that TACKLESS II and SANDY LEE had purchased, and wanted to replace our still working 1974 Evinrude 15hp, which we will sell when we get home.

While we were purchasing a newspaper off the Plaza, Kathy lost her wallet out of her backpack to a pickpocket. She feels sure it was a 12 year old that she saw when she felt a slight tug. She had $80US cash plus one ATM card that she promply cancelled.

After another long and salty panga trip, we returned to the anchorage, where SIESTA was lying at anchor safely. It was a great adventure, which we did not think we were going to have time to do, and we were glad we did.

Fair winds,

Ed and Daisy

ISLAS SECAS

Well, it was bound to happen. In the last few days, we have been unable to receive any Florida Waterway Net station on 7.268 during the window of 01:15 to 01:45 Zulu due to the QRM we are getting on the Pacific side. Hopefully, things will get better once we transit the Canal and have a clear shot north.

We are currently anchored at the Islas Secas, (Latitude: 07-58.99N, Longitude: 082-01.48W), a pristine and uninhabited set of islands off Pacific Panama coast, which is still visible on the horizon. This is the clearest water we have seen in all of the Pacific so far, approaching the visibility one often finds in the Bahamas. The lush green vegetation on the hilly terrain, and the 12-14' tides makes this a very different place, when compared to some of the remote Bahama islands, though. You really need to think through where you are going to anchor to make sure you float through the lows. Our portable "flash-light like" Speedtech depthfinder comes in handy when we survey our anchoring spots with the dink before we settle for the night.

We miss our XMRADIO satellite radio system, which worked all the way south to Acapulco. It is supposed to work only in the US, but we enjoyed 120 crystal-clear digital stations, including live audio for CNN, Fox News, ESPN etc. etc. for over a year, since leaving the US. Now that the war is underway, we are making good use of our SSB to get fairly clear reception of NPR, VOA, BBC and others. We'll have to see when we can start picking up XMRADIO as we start heading north on the Caribbean side.

Since we left Golfito, Costa Rica, we have been re-acquainted with squalls and thunder-boomers, a faint memory since we left the East Coast. This is the one aspect we did not miss while cruising in California, Mexico and the northern Pacific Central America. We did not have a single electrical storm in Pacific Mexico in over a year. Cruisers there do not appreciate what this means! :-)

Our next stop will be Bahia Honda, on the mainland of Pacific Panama. From there we will hop along the coast on day trips until we get ready to make the turn around Punta Mala and into the Gulf of Panama. We plan to visit some of the Perlas Islands, as we approach Balboa and the Canal. We would like to get to the Canal in the first week in April, and transit it soon thereafter.

Winlink continues to operate flawlessly. We have no trouble connecting with many of its stations, including the ones in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, and Tennessee. It's simply amazing, and a wonderful thing to have aboard, to keep in touch with family and friends while in remote areas.

So, this will have to do as our official position report, until we re-establish a direct radio connection with a WRCC station, in the not-to-distant future. We will try to send our position reports via email from time to time until then.From Isla Parida we had a great day-sail sail to Islas Secas, pristine and isolated islands, with very clear water and beautiful snorkeling reefs. The anchoring there is a bit tricky, but not bad. You have to anchor in 35-50 ft of water, although you are sitting in 70 ft of water. The large tide variations make it mandatory that you check all around your anchor to make sure you have room to move around.

At Secas, we got to meet with PIPE DREAM, whom we had not seen since the previous year when they headed south. Quite a few boats have slowed their cruising down to a crawl, in order to really enjoy the unspoiled, beautiful Pacific Panama Islands, the low cost of cruising in Panama, and the convenience of having all these islands a short day sail away.

BAHIA HONDA

From Secas, we headed for Bahia Honda, a longer but yet still a day trip among these islands. We went by the Contreras, but did not stop there. We hear that they are also beautiful, but anchoring there has the same issues as the Secas.

Bahia Honda is a magnificent bay, very large, and surrounded by green hills. We anchored in the second bay to port in about 50 feet of water. We saw another sailboat who had local knowledge come after us and anchored a lot closer. This beautiful bay is quiet and calm. No rolling at all! Rolling has never been a problem with us, even without a stern anchor, but some cruisers are quite conscious about rocking and rolling in the Pacific swells. Many anchorages do not completely protect you from these swells. Bahia Honda does!

It wasn't long before we received a visit from Kennedy, and later from Domingo, Kennedy's father. Both leave on home right off the anchorage. They bring whatever vegetables and fruits they have handy. They do not quote you a price, they ask us to give them what it is worth to us! Talk about a guilt trip!

There is a very small village reachable by dinghy. We purchased gasoline there from a small abarroteria, and were asked if we could sell them some outboard motor oil, which we gave to them. We purchased some soda, and that was it. Not much there!

We saw the beautiful catamaran ELAN, which had been purposely beached for bottom painting. We dinghied in to watch, as the 18' tide came back and floated the cat sure enough.

We have great memories of Bahia Honda.