Meet Phoebe and Oli, – Phoebe is my niece and Oli is Phoebe's boyfriend who normally lives in the Lake District, UK, neither of them has ocean sailing experience but both were up for giving it a go. Phoebe finished school last year and plans to be with us to Tahiti and Oli packed in his current job to take up the opportunity to sail with us until the end of February. They landed in Sint Maarten and within 24 hours they had a whistle-stop tour of the local area and we were off sailing west.
The weather was stunning, smooth seas and a gentle breeze facilitated an awesome start for our new crew. They quickly grasped the necessary skills to become functional watchkeepers, and settled quickly into boat life, sailing, managing power, making water, cooking, cards, yoga, reading and of course fishing!.
It took the newcomers a while to get their balance, Phoebe declaring that hanging the washing out was truly terrifying!. Within a week they were both dancing around the deck like seasoned sailors. (Although we are still working on Olis elephant stomping but its getting better!)
Our first real test was when John launched the drone, not realizing where he had programmed the home base to be !– they both had to bounce into action to get Zara( our parasailer) down rather quickly.
Due to the light winds, we were able to fly Zara for four stunning days straight, (day and night), sealing our belief that this was an awesome purchase. Day two we caught a small Wahoo – enough for some lovely fish and chips but then nothing for days. It was the day we took the parasailer down, with flat water and no wind that John spotted frantic splashing in the water. Engine on, we headed for it, and then wham bang the fishing line real ran out, Oli got a great workout hauling a massive yellow tuna, an awesome first catch. It was Olis and Phoebes cooking day so very fresh fish and chips followed for dinner & sushimi for lunch - beautiful. Infact we got seven dinners and more lunches from the haul- very tasty.
After eight beautiful sunsets and welcome dawns, the sun rose silhouetting the San Blas islands. It was a privilege to see these islands again, providing a huge reminder of how simple living can thrive in the modern day.
The Guna Indians in their dug out canoes lived on tiny islands with next to nothing and we witnessed how some of the small islands almost got washed away as storms came through and the wind battered their fragile homes. Oli and Phoebe quickly got to grips with navigating these interesting waters and certainly got variety, sailing all points of sail, dodging reefs in torrential rain and then experiencing the joy of good weather days, gently sailing between the islands.
Expeditions a shore for the newcomers was marked by them both dunking their phones in seawater, fortunately, todays phones seem to recover well after a few days in rice. They also rescued a floating coconut which provided several days of entertainment finding a way to open it.
The San Blas were a fabulous backdrop for Johns's Birthday, some lovely presents and when John and I were out exploring in the dinghy Phoebe knocked up a very tasty birthday cake.
John and I could have spent months exploring these islands – just a wonderful place, with stunning blue water. However, we had booked a transit of the Panama Canal and the wind was brilliant for a fast sail to Colon, so off we went and had a more robust sail along the beautiful Panamanian coast.
We had planned to go into Shelter Bay for a few days to prepare for a canal transit. This brought back great memories for me from the ARC some four years ago. The excitement welled as you approach Panama and see the huge ships all mulling around waiting for transits. This time I still found it thrilling and Shelter Bay gave us a lovely welcome. Phoebe and Oli blagging a free shirt from reception!
The highlight of Shelter Bay was our Jungle tour, an excellent few hours early on Sunday morning learning about nature, the fascinating history of Panama, along with seeing the US army base buildings now all abandoned.
Tomorrow – the Panama canal.
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