1) Save the Date

PANAMA POSSE 17-18 PARTY
Wednesday May 23, 2018 
Vista Mar Marina, Panama
8° 29.0029 N 79° 56.5525 W

+507 6400-3354
vistamarmarina.com





2) Welcome to the 2017 -2018 Panama Posse 
Klickitat (counter Posse) – Bill & Katy – Drake Bay, Costa Rica
Illusion Doug, Sara & Toby – Puerto Chiapas, Mexico
Distant Drummer – Suzy and Neil – Bahia Sol, El Salvador


73 vessels strong



3) MYLA – Panama
Myla and Respite have been having some fun here in Panama City. We went to see the Las Flores Locks and Museum yesterday. Local transportation is excellent here. The bus system is amazing! The museum was great, and John and I thought it was better than the Canal Museum in Old Town. Early this morning, Janet and Chris on Respite, and John on Myla climbed aboard a solid wood sailboat to be line handlers. This particular couple have been all over the world! Very seasoned travelers.
Tomorrow, we are getting new sensors and gauges so we don’t have any more issues with phantom overheating. One mechanic wanted to completely replace the engine. Glad we spoke with several and thankful for all the input from our posse pals. Couple of tips should you need parts and such: get a quote, and afterwards let them know you are a boat in transit, show them your cruising permit, and you supposedly shouldn’t have to pay sales tax. There’s also a fabulous cruisers’ community here and a PDF with great resources. Ill see if I can post it tomorrow. We transit on the 23rd and will keep the boat in Shelter Bay for about 6 months. From there, not sure!

Met with the general manager of Shelter Bay Marina today. We are very excited about the upcoming promotional pricing and support they are planning to provide members of the Panama Posse. Just waiting on the final details, but there’s going to be haul-out deals, short and longer term stay deals…and they have a pool, laundry, etc., etc., etc! We’re excited. Here’s his contact info:

JuanjoBoschetti
General Manager
Shelter Bay Marina
www.shelterbaymarina.com
+507-6813-5327

John & Julie





4) EASY – Panama
 Isla Las Secas N 07 59.658 W 082 01.888 20.3′ dropped in 33′ Beautiful water! Finally. Anchored with Halcyon

Bahia Honda (domingos) N 07 45.883 W 081 32.390 in 38′ Mix of motor and sailing.
Anyone heading to Honda, they really like Batteries any size. They really like batteries. Gas is another need.

Isla Del Cebaco N 07 29.400 W 081 13.503 42feet

Mike


5) RESPITE – Panama
We checked in in Panama City and it was very easy. From laplayita anchorage it was a stroll down the malecon to port captain and immigration, right next to each other above the duty free store. No cost and quick! Can’t believe I am saying that about a check in process. Our agent got us our cruising permit and he says we didn’t have all the paperwork immigration should have given us. So he took care of it. No wonder it was so easy! Visas are no longer required.

Chris & Janet



6) ANNAPURNA – Panama

From la Playita Marina, Panama.
We went on the taxi ride to get propane in Chilibre. It is mostly a scenic drive through rain forest.
Propane prices are low. Taxi fare is $20 each way. Best to gang together.

We got lunch from nice ladies selling traditional Panama food from the back of their truck as the Panagas plant. Pork steak, lentils, rice, fried banana. It was good!

Robert & Debbie

7) VOLANTE III – Costa Rica
Latitude: 10.56069
Longitude: -85.69476
GPS location Date/Time: 04/12/2018 11:11:58 CDT
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=10.56069,-85.69476&ll=10.56069,-85.69476&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Latitude: 10.40404
Longitude: -85.81140
GPS location Date/Time: 04/13/2018 07:10:11 CDT http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=10.40404,-85.81140&ll=10.40404,-85.81140&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1


Tony



8) LIQUID – Costa Rica

Liquid at Isla Cedros / Isla Jesuita anchorage Costa Rica.
09 50 573 N
84 53 097 W
10ft at MLWWe will be at Isla Cedros for a bit. 🙂




Latitude: 9.84287
Longitude: -84.88498
GPS location Date/Time: 04/12/2018 12:37:51 PDT http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=9.84287,-84.88498&ll=9.84287,-84.88498&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1


Marc & Laura




9) GADDABOUT – Costa Rica
Gaddy leaves her mark wherever she goes. #gadaboutlife #panamaposse

Arthur “Wags” & Paula
10) CINDERELLA – Costa Rica
Cinderella arrived in Sámara yesterday, next to our buds on Pineapple. We had a frustrating sail around Punta Giounes, we felt that weird current only as we approached that point and getting around was a windward battle. But we made it and entered Samara at first light. We used the waypoints on Navionics for the east side anchorage and had no issues.

Live music tonight at Frank’s! Franks’s is run by a super cool Canadian named Frank. He is super friendly to locals and boaters, the service and food is great. He apparently has the best wifi in town if you want a quiet place to sit upstairs. We’ve arranged a Panama Posse deal, drink specials between the hours of 3-6pm. Let’s call it, Hora de Feliz 🤙

Also, we were told by the locals to not walk the beach at night because that’s when the “cockroaches” come out. There is a $4-6 taxi from the town to our anchorage area since town is on the other end of the bay. We parked the dinghy out front of some resorts and tied her to a tree. The guys also watch the kayaks at night so seems like a well patrolled area.

We’ll be here for awhile, if you are passing through come find Cindy and say hello!

We are anchored here:
9 52.061 N
85 30.726W

Pavao, Pajo & Ava

11) PINEAPPLE – Costa Rica
Pineapple left Playa del Coco on Sunday and stopped at Guacamaya for 24 hours. After 20 anchorages in 5 countries over 6 months, it was the first one we had all to ourselves!

We had no problems. Anchored at 10°31.2’N 85°47.5’W in 23 feet at low tide. It appears our Navionics chart has the shoreline in the wrong place. We were anchored right in the middle, but the chart showed us in the northeast corner. The typical annoying wind chop from the afternoon thermal made for a bouncy evening, but the beautiful surroundings made up for it.

Today we went snorkeling around the rocks in the northeast corner. I’m no snorkeling expert, but I’d say it was good! I mean, the water was clear and we saw tons of fish! We did get a few stings or bites from something, but no lasting effects.

This afternoon we sailed to Bahia Potrero, where we are anchored off the breakwater at 10°26.4’N 85°47’W in 17 feet at low tide.

Update from Potrero: We landed our dinghy on the beach in the far southern corner of the bay. 10.44°N 85.79°W. Totally calm, easy landing, no surf, and there’s even a tree to lock the dinghy to 🙂

The town of Playa Potrero is a 1.5-mile walk up the beach. Walk to the Costa Rica Sailing Center and take the road up. There’s a bunch of restaurants; even a microbrewery! The town of Playa Flamingo is much closer and much smaller. There’s a great restaurant (but very trendy/gringo-y) called Surf Box. It’s best to walk on the beach as much as possible. The roads are no good for pedestrians.

Today we sailed Pineapple 55 miles from Bahia Potrero to Bahia Samara (Costa Rica). Left at 5:30am and arrived 3:30pm.

The entrance to Samara is… exciting. Especially with a swell running, which it is right now! (We had no idea, as the bays north of Cabo Velas were totally protected from the swell.)

We had no trouble getting in:
1- Offshore approach: 9°51’N 85°31.5’W
2- Turning point before reef: 9°51.9’N 85°31.1’W
3- Anchored at 9°52’N 85°30.7’W in 15 feet at low tide

This is a totally cool spot, with an island to the south, dramatic reefs to east and west, and a huge beach to the north. Five bars 3G mobile internet (no LTE). But it’s ROLLY. We set up the flop stopper immediately 🙂

We’ll take some pictures if the sun comes out tomorrow! Overcast today.

John & Michelle




12) DANIKA – Costa Rica
SV Danika is leaving Golfito bright and early in the morning and starting to head back up north so the boat can spend the summer in El Salvador. I guess we are now part of the CounterPosse. Hopefully we’ll run into some of you that are still heading south. We’ll be in Drake’s Bay tomorrow afternoon.

Next fall, we are heading back down again to cross to the South Pacific from Panama. That’s right- we are going to endure those papagayos again not once, but two more times when all is said and done. It’s a good thing rum is cheap in Central America. We‘re gonna need lots of it

Danika is anchored in Playa Biesanz in Quepos. 09 24.27N, 84 10.11W. Much more protected than the anchorage near the marina a couple of miles away. There are some reefs on all sides so it’s best to anchor during low tide when you can see them, There are a couple of party catamarans that stop by a couple of times a day with snorkeling tourists, but they only stay for an hour or so and move on. It makes for some fun people watching from both sides. Tomorrow, we head to Gulfo de Nicoya to check out places we didn’t see on our way south.
Hopefully, we’ll run into some of the Posse peeps that have just arrived in CR.

Jason & Jenn



13) COLMENA – Honduras
Colmena has arrived in Amapala, Isla del Tigre Honduras. I left Chiapas on Wednesday and after some calms and some incredibly strong headwinds I anchored behind Punta Amapala, El Salvador Saturday. Yesterday I had the most amazing sail through the Gulf of Fonseca, arriving here yesterday afternoon. The gulf of Fonseca is incredibly beautiful. It’s like the San Juans, except it’s in the tropics and there are no power-boaters ruining the view.

Kevin


14) BERTIE – Ecuador

Good Morning Posse!
Bertie still has 3 1/2 weeks to enjoy las Islas Galápagos, then we’ll be making our way to Panama for a haul out, re-provisioning and some island hopping. A couple of questions:

1) Looking for recommendations for best place to haul out, for our 23 ton wooden vessel. We would prefer a 75 ton travel lift b/c they are longer (for 55 ft of boat and bowsprit), but a 50 ton lift would do. Out ideal yard would be near enough to parts and supplies or at least have a good chandlery nearby.

2) And, since we will be coming from the Galápagos, we’ll also be needing to check in to the country. Ideal situation would be able to check in at or near where we will be hauling out.

Looking forward to any recommendations or experience that you can offer! Thanks!

svbertie@yahoo.com
Peter & Heidi




15) Picture of the Week 

by COLMENA – Kevin



16) Panama Posse Net *
Please tune into the  SSB net at 1300 UTC on 8297 Mhz usb .
Propagation has made it difficult to hear everyone everyday, but tune in to
see if you can share your latest adventures real time.…




Keep em coming and lock your dinghy’s !