April 15
- May 20, 1998
PANAMA TO SAN DIEGO
The Long Beat Up The Coast
Finally, after a two week delay, we made a smooth transit of the Panama
Canal. But it was a wild beginning as we were blown downwind to the first
lock by very strong tradewinds and would have been unable to stop the big
60’ long Thursday’s Child with just our 9.9 horsepower outboard.
Fortunately, we tied up beside another sailboat and were able to use its
engine to control her with the inboard engine of the other boat. Moving
in and out of the locks was no problem. We spent the night anchored in
Lake Gatun, then sailed across the lake the next day, and motored through
the Gaillard Cut to the locks on the Pacific side.
With good reaching winds, we sailed out from the Canal and up the coast,
hoping that we had enough gas to motor in the typically light air conditions
of the Pacific coast. We tacked up the coast to Costa Rica and were met
with torrential rains and lightning strikes all around the boat – very
scary. But the weather cleared in Northern Costa Rica, and without a stop
we headed for Mexico, gambling that our gas would hold out. It didn’t!
Despite a great boost from a "Papagayo" a strong offshore wind that often
blows in that area, we ran out of gas off southern Mexico. But luck was
with us. Much to our amazement, we saw a small Mexican panga fishing boat
motoring near us 70 miles off the coast, and waved and yelled to them in
our broken Spanish that we were out of gas. They sold us 10 gallons which
was enough to motor until the wind filled in. Our timing was just right,
as we were able to sail across the often stormy Gulf Of Tehuanepec in light
airs.
It became obvious that this was going to be a long, slow passage, tacking
upwind or motoring at about 4 knots with our outboard. And it was impossible
to motor into swells which pitched the boat up and down lifting the outboard
prop out of the water. Often our day’s run was under 100 miles. Installing
an inboard engine soon became number one priority on the job list.
Life on board for the three of us became very routine with 3 hour watches
during the day and 2 hours at night. The guy on watch basically sailed
the boat with occasional help from the next "on call" crew, who’s job was
to cook and wash up. Meals become a big deal and were often elaborate affairs
with huge piles of food. Bob’s basic meat/potato and spam and pancakes
cuisine earned him the title of "Bob’s Big Boy Diner".
We made three gas stops in Mexico – Puerto Escondido, Puerto Vallarta,
and Turtle Bay in Baja. They were welcome breaks to enjoy the pleasures
ashore: shower, restaurants, beaches and mixing with the local people.
Scott, who brought two surf boards along, found Puerto Escondido lived
up to it’s reputation for big surf. It was hard to leave Turtle Bay after
partying with the locals on the beach who were "celebrating" National Teachers
Day with one of the teachers who had the day off. We had lots of beer and
lots of laughs as we exchanged lessons in English and Spanish, which got
cruder as the day worn on.
We finally arrived in San Diego, went through the easy customs formality,
and found a berth for THURSDAY’S CHILD in Mission Bay, where a major
refit will be done by Bob Dixon who lives in San Diego.
The highlight of the trip for me was the many sightings and actual visits
on board of marine life. Many times dolphins played around the boat and
rode the bow wave and got close enough to touch. Sea turtles floated by,
one time with a bird standing on its back! We sighted many whale spouts
with a few of the big guys surfacing near the boat - thankfully no collisions.
Sea and land birds abounded with some bold enough to land on board. Gannets
landed on the spreaders and on deck; a cattle egret perched on the masthead
for hours moving his head in sync with the windex wind direction pointer;
and several small land birds landed on board often hundreds of miles out
to sea.
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But the climax came on our final sail from San Diego harbor
to Mission Bay, when a young seal climbed
up the rudder and onto the aft deck and sunned himself for hours before
jumping off as we entered the channel. |
THURSDAY’S CHILD came through very well with no problems other than
some electronics that shut down. It took tons of sail repair cloth to keep
the raggedy old mainsail together but it got us there. We now have an intimate
knowledge of the boat and know what changes to make to improve her. Stay
tuned for that report. |
