Barry Grove was recently asked by one of his old cruising acquaintances if he'd like to help on a trans-Panama cruise. He also asked Barry if he could find any other sailors who'd like to go with them. Barry asked Pat and Jack Armitage, and they were off to the Caribbean, heading for the canal. Here's their first e-mail...
Hi Everyone,
Sending warm thoughts from your friends in the Bahamas. We are in Georgetown awaiting a weather window to begin our trip to the Panama Canal. The winds have been very strong after a cold front came through a couple of days ago. Sounds like tomorrow, Sunday, March 2, they should drop to 15-20 knots. Houston we are cleared for takeoff! Hopefully the weather will cooperate.
Chyka is a beautiful 35 foot Island Packet built in 1997. Henry Holtz, our American skipper has it loaded up with lots of goodies including radar, inflatable emergency liferaft, SSB receiver, tafrail trailing log, parachute sea anchor, EPIRB. She carries 100 gallons plus gerrys of water. She takes on 100 gallons of diesel for about a 500 mile range. She also has refrigeration, hot running water and a real nice galley layout. Henry is a very competent skipper who usually sails single handed,so sail controls are all set up for easy access. Chyka has a furling main and double furling head sails. Full bimini, solar recharge and full electronics.
We are headed for Rum Key via Conception Bay tomorrow. Hopefully we will have time to snorkel in Conception Bay, with an overnighter there. Then on to Rum Key Monday. Another stop at Great Inuaga Island, probably Tuesday. From there it will be on to Cuba, Porto de Santiago de Cuba. Hopefully a couple of days there. Then on to Montego Bay in Jamaica. From there it will be the long hop to the Canal - probably will take 5 or so days. Leaving a few days over for weather windows.
Wishing you all the Best!
Pat & Jack Armitage, Barry Grove
Greeting!
It is Wednesday,March 13, 2002 at 11:00am. The temperature is 86F and
the humidity is 71%. We should make Montego Bay in about 3 hours. Cruising
speed is 5.3 knots. Sea state is calm and we are motor sailing at 2200rpm.
I was off watch at 6:00am and had been asleep for about 2 1/2 hours when Jack
roused me to come on deck. Dolphins had been sited! I quickly arose
and got up on deck still mostly asleep. That quickly changed! The dolphins
came towards us and started to swim in our bow wake. Big ones and little
ones. About 20 of them stayed for about 15 - 20 minutes, playing and jumping
in the bow wake. I went up to the bow sprite and looked down at them through
the crystal clear water. They turned side ways to get a good look at me
and as if to show off, they would do a barrel role and zip out of sight. What
a way to wake up! No coffee needed this morning!
We run 4 hour shifts in team of two with a short 2 hour shift each in the afternoon
to ensure that no on gets the same shift two days in a row. My shift with
the skipper, Henry, was real good last night. We got to see the sun set and
rise on our shifts from 6 - 10 pm and from 2 - 6 am. Not much activity
last night, a couple of freighters showed up, but only came within about 4 miles
of us. They radar is great - it shows vessels as well as rain showers.
There were a few rain showers around last night but the closest one came
only within 2 miles of us. Henry and I have been practicing our star identification
at night and can pick out quite a few constellations. The North Star is
very low in the North here - 27 degrees to be exact. And the ecliptic
and the milky way are almost directly overhead. So identifying the stars
takes some getting used to with a different orientation.
The off shift is asleep right now, Jack and Barry. We all had pizza for
breakfast - Henry and my favorite! I had made Breakaway pizza a couple
of days ago and it stays frozen in the freezer. With the amount of motoring
we have been doing, running the refrigeration has not been a big problem. The
wind did come up last night for a while and we managed to get a sail in for
about 4 hours. That gave Big Rudy a rest and us a chance for some quiet
with only the bubbles off the hull, waves and the stars around for company.
Sailing at night is a beautiful experience, and with the auto helm, GPS
and radar it really amounts to a watch with hourly plots on the chart as a check
on navigation. Lots of time for conversation, snacking and watching for
lights in the night. One needs to check the horizon at least once every
10 minutes for traffic. With two people on watch, one can take a power
nap as required with the other one on watch. We have been towing a fishing l
ine since last night, but no luck yet!
We started on this passage yesterday. We left Santiago de Cuba habour
at 10:30 am. Cuba is a beautiful country, what little we saw of it. We
arrived in Cuba on Sunday March 10 after a boisterous down wind ride from Great
Inuaga Island, the southern most island in the Bahamian chain. We arrived
at Santiago Marina with some trepidation, having heard so many stories about
problem taking in an American vessel to Cuba. They turned out too be all
stories! The Cuban officials, and we have a series of 7 on board, were
gracious and efficient. No bribes were asked for, although when we offered
cold beer, they did not turn us down! The search of Chyka was minimal
and the questioning was direct and to the point. With our smattering of
Spanish and their equally weak English, we cleared the formalities in about
2 hours. English is now being taught in the schools here and the younger
generation under about 25 speaks English quite well.
This has got to be one of the last unspoiled countries left. They people
are open and curious about us, as we are of them. They do not have access
to consumer good the way we do, although the making of US dollars is not frowned
upon. They store and restaurants stock only the most basic of things and
not much at that. The local markets tuned out to be very meager by our
standards - US dollars are taken for everything. There is some begging,
but very little. On the other hand the Cubans will ask for things like
vitamins for their kids, spare cloths and fishing line. But they will
insist on repaying with a service or with some food stuff that they have such
as eggs. They lady that did our laundry invited us into their home which
amounted to as much space as this boat and wanted us to stay to visit with her,
her two small children and her husband. We managed to visit with mostly
hand gestures and broken Spanish on our part. I had brought small gifts
for the children consisting of toothpaste, hand creme and shampoo. I also
gave Maria a tube of red lipstick along with a Canadian flag. They reciprocated
with 8 fresh eggs. We met these people through a fellow cruiser that we
came to Cuba with from Inauga Island. Turns out Vern, the skipper of Jolly
Friends, a 43 foot Benateau, has been friends with this family for a number
of years. Vern is a retired Mechanical engineering professor for UBC and
has been cruising the Caribbean for 10 years. He know the ropes down here
and we learned many good things from him.
We met Vern in Great Inuaga where his first mate and cook jumped ship. They
had taken essentially the same track as us. and had met the same rough conditions
we had. Wind on the nose, winds gusting 25-30 knots and seas state 10-12 feet.
It was like living inside a washing machine for 48 hours. We had
gotten pretty beat up also, with bruises and sea sickness. Vern's mate
left due to sea sickness. I had also been incapacitated for 48 hours.
Spending the entire time in my bunk with a bucket! The guys looked
after me very well. I had not taken enough sea sickness medication and
once you are sea sick the only thing you can do is take more and stabilize.
So we were taking a breather in Great Inuaga when we me Vern. Vern
was having trouble with his transmission and his refrigeration had gone down.
Vern took a liking to us and actually was going to Jamaica through the Windward
Passage with us when he too decided to go to Santiago de Cuba with us.
Lucky break for us. He knows the ropes and we got to and from town via his connections
as well took in the local culture much easier because of his knowledge and good
Spanish. We reciprocated by giving him home made bread which I cooked
up and by happening to find two Calgary boys hanging around the docks who were
looking for passage aboard a sail boat. We connected Vern to them and
it worked out good. Vern did have on board two Hungarian, but was having
a lot of trouble with them not helping to sail or cook. Vern is 78 and
needs strong muscles to help him run the boat. He takes on crew always
to help him. He is still looking for a "first mate", female if possible,
to take over the position for the summer and into the fall, but any amount of
time will do. If you know of anyone you can reach Vern at cruisingskipper@pocketmail.com.
Vern is a good guy and Jack and I are considering sailing with him some
time in the future. He is Canadian and owns a sec ond boat at the Royal
Vancouver Yacht Club.
We hope to spend today and tomorrow in Montego Bay. We hope to leave the
15th for the five day Panama jump, weather permitting, which looks good. That
stills gives us 3 days to get through the Canal in time to catch our plane home.
Well, that's about it for now, we are just about at Montego Bay. Take
care and I'll talk to you soon.
Pat & Jack, Barry Grove
Greetings All!
We are back in Edmonton and getting back into the swing of things with many thoughts and flashbacks to the final leg of our transit to Panama...listening to some fabulous Latin music from Cuba brings back many images!
We arrived in Montego Bay at 2:30pm on Thursday, March 14. Coming into Montego Bay we were right on course for a big red marker on shore until we discovered that it was a KFC sign on shore. Welcome to civilization! I still think that the boys were hungry and this was their way of letting me know!
We arrived at the Montego Bay Yacht Club and tied up stern to. After talking to the Yacht Club people we discovered that we could not clear customs until tomorrow, but we were welcome to avail ourselves of the facilities, just don't leave the Club. First order of business was a long cold shower to wash away 2 days accumulation of salt and sweat. Then to the bar to dehydrate! Supper was a monstrous salad with bread, cheese ,cucumbers, chicken and eggs. All for 200J, which was just over $2US! The guys had steaks. Tony the veggie man caught up with me later that night to sell us fresh squeezed orange juice for $2US per bottle. heaven in a bottle!!! Then took my order for fresh veggis and fruit to be delivered the next day to Chyka.
We finally cleared Customs at 11:00am the next morning. "No body move, nobody get hurt" seems to be the motto in the Caribbean. We caught a taxi and went for a short excursion into the interior and to do some provisioning for the hop to Panama. We tried raw sugar cane and drank coconut milk from the coconut! We just about saw a murder when the taxi driver tried to extort $160US for a 3 hour trip! Too bad, but that left a bad taste in our mouth about Jamaica after the honesty and friendliness of Cuba. He created quite a scene on the docks but I think that the dock folk will be taking care of him! They don't like people making scenes on the dock.
Predicted winds from NOAA for the next few days were 15-20 knots from the N/NE with a sea state of 8-10 feet. Sounded good!
The next morning saw us making an early departure. Upon getting out into the open out of Montego Bay, we encountered increasing winds to a maximum of 38 knots - sea state was manageable but the auto helm could not handle these conditions so we hand steered until we were in the lee of Jamaica. We think that this was a "capeing effect" from the tip of Jamaica. Then we motorsailed, having the wind stop completely in the lee of Jamaica. On the other side of Jamaica we encountered open water and the Trade Winds that we had been expecting. As evening was approaching we saw a whale and a pod of dolphins came to play in our bow wake for about 1/2 hour a good omen!
Then our first night of the long passage. Winds increased to 20-15, occasionally to 30 knots. The sea state increase to 15 to 20 to 25 feet with breaking waves. We had ports open, but not for long! After taking green in through the ports we closed down the boat. And had a burial at sea - Henry's plant that had hit his bunk once too often so over the side it went!
Nights brought a new experience of "flying IFR" with only the wind instruments and the radar to give us information on our condition. We had to watch the auto helm carefully, it not being able to handle a big waves that spilled over into the cockpit every once in a while. I think Henry was seriously reconsidering his decision to not purchase the "following sea" chip for Auto! He also admitted that these were the most "boisterous" conditions that he had encountered so far! Which became evident when on tried to go forward to the head. One would occasionally be left hanging in space as the boat rolled out from under oneself while hanging on to the handrail to go forwards. By Day 2 we were on double Tylenol every 6 hours to deal with muscle pain from the constant banging about. We all had big bruises that are still healing! Ah yes, the realities of off shore passages!
Nights were spent double tethered in the cockpit while on watch, keeping an eye on Auto and watching for traffic, dodging rain cells and fishing. We did catch a 20 pound tuna. No one felt like cleaning and eating it under the conditions we were in. So we took the hook out of it's mouth, took a picture and threw it back. I think that was one happy, luck fish!
The days passed. I got tired of looking down in the troughs of 20-25 foot seas so I started to watch for flying fish. A few landed on deck, too small to eat but great fun for a diversion from the waves. The days and night passed and finally 4 1/2 days and 4 nights later we sighted landfall! The Panamanian coast! It looked so lush and tropical. Soon we were entering the busy harbour of Colon and looking for a tie up at the Panama Yacht Club.
Things were very busy at the Club but we finally managed to get a offer to tie up to a custom Baltic 75 tied up to the fuel dock. No sooner had we tied up than the paid skipper of the Baltic mentioned that he was attempting to decide to how to repair a crack in his aluminum mast. Pat quickly introduced herself as a Welding Engineer and went to work! Only problem was that the crack kept moving around due to my current state of "sea motion" even while being on land! Even after taking a Bonamine (sea sick pill) to go ashore! After deciding on a weld repair and mast reinforcement strategy, we scored a tour inside the Baltic. It had it's own sauna, immaculate brightwork, inside steering station, a galley that would rival anything found on shore and a spinnaker pole as tall as Chyka's mast! I quickly made sure that the skipper had my card for the next time he was looking for crew to transit the Baltic to the next playspot!
Upon talking to the ladies at the Club laundromat, we found out that the conditions we had encountered were considered "up there" and were of the type that most blue water veterans would wait out, until better conditions prevailed! Sometimes it's good not to know what you are into - you just put your head down and deal with it!
The following day, after being unable to find a boat transiting the Canal, we decide to get into Panama City by taxi. So we packed, cleaned up the boat, bought gifts of moolas and baskets from the local Kuna ladies and took out leave of Chyka. Moolas are a layered applique cloth artwork that was used as money by the Kuna Indians in the San Blas islands...hence the word "moola" coming to mean money. Chyka was put into the queue to transit the Canal - expected waiting time was one week. Henry was going to taken the boat as far as Lake Gatun and leave Chyka at a fresh water yacht club while he returned to Milwaukee for 3 weeks. Then upon his return, he would finish the transit and continue on to the Pacific and the Marquises.
We did not have time to wait to transit by water, having used up our time waiting for a weather window in Georgetown. But we had done the long jump and that was what we had come down to do! Boat and crew had made the difficult journey well found - the dolphins outside of Jamaica had indeed been a good omen!
The last day was spent touring the locks, Canal museum and sampling Panamanian cuisine. Then off to the Airport and home on Friday, March 22. Going up the off ramp at the airport the cab driver asked me, in Spanish, what airline we were one and without missing a beat I said "American". You know you've been away when Spanish starts coming easy! Hitting the airport in Miami was a case of reverse culture shock when I suddenly realized I could understand every word...then I realized that everyone was speaking English!
From initially landing at Georgetown almost on the Tropic of Cancer to 9 degrees north at Panama we traveled 1500 miles horizontally and 450 miles vertically, all of incredible blue water sailing! We have learned much...and yes we would do it again!
We hope to consolidate our 7 hours of video into a 2 hour presentation over the summer and will keep you all posted as to a viewing date.
All the Best, and we look forward to seeing everyone
this summer!
Pat & Jack Armitage, Barry Grove
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