- Please play ball and email us your head shots
- Some key 2019-2029 Panama Posse dates
- Counter Posse ( North Bound ) gathering in Vista Mar
- Long term planning
- Deep link into GoodNautical
- Picture of the week
- Mosquitoes, Malaria and the Panama Canal
- Tamarindo, Costa Rica
- Thanks to all of our Official Panama Posse Sponsors, Partners and Ambassadors
- Replies & the Panama Posse Gestalt Theory
1) PLEASE “PLAY BALL” & email us your HEAD SHOTS
the following vessels out of 123 have not submitted their pictures –
LUNA, COMPROMISE, RAIREVA, TRUE BLUE, SCOUT, WIND SWEPT, BONZAI, STAND DOWN, NAMAHANA, ALIZANN, KOUMBA BANG, ENTERPRISE III, SALPARE, CONTEXT, DOUBLE DEUCE, LILIPAD, SALISH DRAGON, CYCLADES, SEDNA VI, JOY, KARVI, SEAQUEL, TAKMOANA, STRAY CAT, SOUTHERN CROSS III, PILIALOHA, ANKYRIOS, HERITAGE, EPIPHANY
Please send in your pictures – some marinas use your pictures to verify discounts
AND SPEAKING OF HEADS and BALLS
To the Mayans, the game was known as Pok a Tok, to the Aztec it was Tlachtli, while nowadays most people refer to it as Ulama.
In the most common theory of the game, the players struck the ball with their hips, although some versions allowed the use of forearms, rackets, bats, or hand-stones.
The ball was made of solid rubber and weighed as much as 9 lbs and sizes differed greatly over time or according to the version played.
The most interesting part, however, is the fact that if a particular game had a religious purpose,
the winning team were decapitated and offered as a sacrifice and this was considered a great honor.
So please give us YOUR HEAD SHOTS 2) Some key 2019-2029 Panama Posse dates
We meet at Marina Puerto de la Navidad, Barra de Navidad, Mexico
– for details go to https://panamaposse.com/start
PLEASE RSVP by replying to this email if you plan to be there !
Thu Dec 5th, 2019 @ 1 PM
Route planning & navigation
Fri Dec 6th, 2019 @ 1 PM
Communications, Weather, Safety (with special video guest VAN to talk about personal safety and risk from safe-esteem.com)
Fri Dec 6th, 2019 Evening @ 5 PM(ish)
– the official Panama Posse Kick off Party with an open bar courtesy of Marina Puerto de la Navidad
Sat Dec 7th, 2019 @ 1 PM
Satellite Charts / OpenCPN / Good Nautical ( please bring yoru laptops and external hardrives with 32 GIG’s avail )
Sat Dec 7th, 2019 Evening @ 6 PM(ish)
– the official Panama Posse pot luck BBQ Kick off Party with shooting of expired flares ( BRING YOUR OLD FLARES )
Sun Dec 8th, 2019 @ 1 PM
– Provisioning & What to see and do – Recap & Q&A
3) Counter Posse ( North Bound ) @ Monday’s 16:30 UTC Line
We are looking to organize an event at Vista Mar for the northbound (Counter Posse) group –
if you are northbound – around 18 vessels are – please let us know if mid end January works for a little gathering at Vista Mar…. we know a band …
We are also adding a northbound line call at 16:30 UTC on Mondays or immediately following the main call segments
And of course the May 30th, 2020 Vista Mar Panama Posse welcome party extravaganza !
4) Long term planning
Several vessels will be heading up the coast from Panama and parts in between towards Mexico.
Many are working on their Hurricane strategies and are looking for a safe place for next season.
There are of course several options to consider – please take all of this with a grain of salt.
www.panamaposse.com/weather/
Pacific Hurricane Strategies run the gamut with some general markers for you to ponder.
SOUTH ZONE
Panama on the Pacific side stay at Vista Mar Marina
(no hurricanes, yes lighting strikes)
Costa Rica stay at a marina Golfito Marina Village, Banana Bay Marina, Marina Pez Vela, Marina Papagayo
– several offer the options with a bond which helps with customs issues
(no hurricanes, yes lighting strikes)
Nicaragua – stay at Marina Puesta del Sol
(no hurricanes, yes lighting strikes)
El Salvador – stay on Bill & Jean’s Moorings
(no hurricanes, yes lighting strikes)
There are ample electrical storms, thunder and lightning and each season vessel suffer from lightning strikes in these places.
CENTRAL ZONE
Tehuntapec ,MX is the area where the hurricanes usually originate from
Mexico – Marina Chiapas a great place to haul out – ask for Memo !
and soon Marina Chahue – dredging is maybe underway
NORTH ZONE
All Mexican marinas above this line on the Pacific side are in the bona-fide Hurricane Zone
(expect for Ensenda) and vessels also occasionally suffer from lightning strikes.
Here are some visualizations of the historic hurricane tracks in the Pacific
and the the lighting strikes map
5) Here is the deep link into GoodNautical just choose the Mexican marina’s form the left side selector
http://www.goodnautical.com/gma/mexico-pacific?field_gma_value=MX-PAC
and clicking on the little icons gives you full details and info on each including contact info and comments
Good Nautical is our bonafide 501(c)3 non profit organization
and any budget left over goes towards development of new features and data entry.
6) PICTURE OF THE WEEK
Greg
SV SIRENA
7) MOSQUITOS, MALARIA and the PANAMA CANAL
In 1904 the US Army was tasked* with helping construct a canal (* there is a bit more to this…) to connect the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
The US was not the first country to attempt the feat. As early as the 1840s the British thought about digging a canal across the Isthmus of Panama, but were deterred by the hostility of the politics and geography. In 1881 the French, buoyed by the successful construction of the Suez Canal in Egypt, decided to take on the project. But they did not account for the deadly mosquitoes: 22,000 of the project’s workers died after contracting malaria and yellow fever. The loss of life caused construction costs to spiral, leading to the bankruptcy of the canal’s owners in 1889 after they had spent $287m on the project ($7 billion at today’s prices). The canal lay abandoned and incomplete.
The American government bought* (* there is a bit more to this…) the land in 1904 and quickly realized that it needed to protect its workforce from the diseases. To do so, it tried to kill as many of the disease-carrying mosquitoes in Panama as possible. Thousands of American troops were sent in with orders to destroy every habitat that could harbor the mosquitoes.
Swamps were drained. Pools and lakes of still water were tainted with oil or simply blown up with explosives. Buildings in the area were fumigated and high-risk areas were doused with insecticide. The scale of the operation was huge: around 700,000 gallons of oil and 124,000 gallons of insecticide were used during the construction of the canal each year. And it was success, at least in relative terms. The death toll among the workforce was 5,000 by the time the canal opened in 1914.
One of the cruisers from last season met with an infectious disease specialist in early Dec at the Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans so as to address vaccination needs related to travels. Bottom line – no Yellow Fever in the parts of Panama and CR that most plan to visit – coastal areas and San Blas. The guidance document provided for
Malaria risk is low throughout the year in all areas including the Canal Zone and Panama City. Risk is highest in Darien, Guna Yala, Panam and San Blas Provinces. No Risk – Cruises along the Panama canal will not necessitate anti-malarial medication. Adopt bite avoidance measures.
Transmission does not occur on the San Blas Islands, but it is necessary to transit areas with known transmission risk en route to the islands. Daytime insect precautions are essential for un-vaccinated travelers.”
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2020/preparing-international-travelers/yellow-fever-vaccine-and-malaria-prophylaxis-information-by-country/panama
TROPICAL STRENGTH BUG SPRAY
(note: each country’s requirement and relevant statistics has been diligently compiled
for review on the official Panama Posse website by Tally from SV RAVEN )
https://panamaposse.com/mexico
https://panamaposse.com/guatemala
https://panamaposse.com/el-salvador
https://panamaposse.com/honduras
https://panamaposse.com/nicaragua
https://panamaposse.com/costa-rica
https://panamaposse.com/panama
Neil, Tally, Jan & Otter
RAVEN
8) Tamarindo, Costa Rica
We finally unglued ourselves from the comforts of Playa El Coco to begin again our journey southward. We popped up to Marina Papagayo for some fuel. As we had already checked into the country there were no issues, but we wouldn’t have been allowed if we were not already cleared through immigration and customs.
The fuel pumps did their work quickly and as the sport fishing fleet are the main customers, the fuel was clean, no need for a baja filter. As we headed out of Bahia Culebra we saw hundreds of jumping Mabula Rays trying to catch flight in hopes of catching a mate, apparently. Yet again, the the breezes were allowing for pleasant sailing.
We pulled into Bahia Portrero for a quick overnight, with the crew of Shearwater over for dinner on board. The lights in the mooring field are bright, supposedly to prevent theft. We had no issues at all in our spot between the two groups of fishing boats and pangas. We we’re up in the morning to get a head start and pop around the corner to Playa Conchal. Due to the name we had dreams of some shell collecting but the shells had already been ground up to make the beautiful light color sand. A walk along the beach revealed a few souvenir vendors on the side of the gravel path. And the beach clubs for two hotels. Not open to the public, unfortunately. But we had planned to picnic anyway, and not long after we picked our lunch spot, a man with a cooler came by, offering ice cold beers and coco frios. It was a perfect lunch-hook stop-over. The afternoon graced us with more good sailing weather and we enjoyed snapping pictures of Shearwater flying full canvas.
We pulled into Tamarindo just as the sun was setting behind us. We picked a spot near the mooring field. We spent the next week taking full advantage of all Tamarindo has to offer with our buddies, Pati and Eric. We took the dink and anchored outside the lineup at Playa Grande and caught some fun party waves at the beach break near the river. We beached the dinghy and headed into town most days. We found the best landing at the jet ski launch. We did lock the two dinghies together but never had any issues. Each time we found our dinks just the way we had left them. We sampled the microbrews at Witches Rock Surf Camp. We found a street off the beaten path that had a coffee shop called Breaking Bread that Walter White would approve of, Nacho Libre tacos at Little Lucha, and the open air El Mercadito with lots of options including poke bowls and a bar in a sailboat. The roadside BBQ skewers near the beach were cheap and delicious. We had a great meal at the beautiful Bamboo Sushi Club.
We checked out the funky shops more for the air conditioning than anything else and came away with some cool shirts from the five dollar bin. Pati arranged an estuary tour and we saw a ton of birds and a few crocodiles. If you go at high tide you can see monkeys as well. The Papagayos were still howling and at one point we were slowly dragging along the rock bottom and had to reset at the edge of the mooring field and a little closer to the beach, but there was no fetch to speak of so it was still pretty comfortable even in the high winds.
Tamarindo is pretty busy with a lot of crispy gringos escaping the snow and soaking up some rays. But even with the crowds, the vibes are mellow and there are plenty of chilled out spots to find a lounge chair or hammock and an umbrella drink. We almost skipped it since we had been before, but from the water, Tamarindo is a real treat!
Tamarindo Swings for Crew
Pura Vida!
http://www.goodnautical.com/costa-rica/anchorage/tamarindo
Victoria, Rowan & Crew
TALIESIN ROSE (report from last season)
9) As always we want to thank all of our
Official Panama Posse Sponsors, Partners and Ambassadors
- Marina Puerto Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta – Mexico
- Marina Puerto de La Navidad – Barra de Navidad – Mexico
- Marina Ixtapa, Ixtapa – Mexico
- La Marina Acapulco, Acapulco – Mexico
- Marina Chiapas – Mexico
- Marina Bahia del Sol – El Salvador
- La Palma Moorings – Bahia del Sol, El Salvador
- Marina Puesta del Sol – Nicaragua
- Marina Papagayo – Costa Rica
- Marina Pez Vela – Costa Rica
- Banana Bay Marina – Costa Rica
- Golfito Marina Village – Costa Rica *
- Vista Mar Marina – Panama
- Shelter Bay Marina – Panama
- Red Frog Marina – Panama
- ULLMAN SAILS PUERTO VALLARTA
Official Panama Canal Agent
Official Panama Posse Ambassadors
- Jaime Figueroa Navarro – Panama
- Bill & Jean – El Salvador Rally, El Salvador
- Ralph Hewitt – Nicaragua
Panama Posse Partners
- Vicente’s Moorings – Acapulco – Mexico
- Luis Sanchez Tours – Chiapas – Mexico
- Discover Tours Chiapas – Mexico
- Park Avenue Villas – San Juan del Sur – Nicaragua
- Coconutz – Annual Papagayo Victory Party – Playa Cocos – Costa Rica
- Abernathy – Chandlery – Panama
- Advertising Partners – Las Vegas
10) Please reply to this email with any updates – your vessel location –
contenders for picture of the week – your favorite song for our list –
and we’ll include it in the next Fleet Update
The Panama Posse transfer of knowledge and learning process operates under the gestalt theory
We will not tell you what to do, when or how – we want you to to figure that out.
YOUR VESSEL YOUR CREW YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
Dietmar & Suzanne
SV Carinthia
11) opt-out from the Fleet Updates simply reply with “REMOVE“
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