FLEET UPDATE 2018-04-26
1) IGY Golfito Marina Village – Costa Rica
Special Rates for all Panama Posse vessels or anchor out
VHF 17 +506 2775-3000 +506 8360-5464igy-golfitomarina.com maikol@golfitomv.comacaballero@igymarinas.com
08ยฐ 38.2442 N 083ยฐ 10.22 W
2) CARINTHIA – Costa Rica
Several stunning anchorages in the upper Golfo Dulce
a pristine deep fjord cruising ground which we will return to again !
Punta Rincon – Anchorage @ 08ยฐ 41.764 N 083ยฐ 28.702 W –ย 24.00 ft – calm and 360 degree protection
( enter from center as the port side with the mangroves is very shallowย < 5 feet at low tide )
Bahia Rincon – N – In front of a lovely resort (please get us the contact info) Anchorage @ 8ยฐ 43.2163 N 83ยฐ 28.7257 W @ 24 feet
Monkey Bay – Stunning – Suzanne’s Favorite all year and we found it ourselves !
Saw Capuchin Monkeys on the Beach – Spider Monkeys in the tree topsย and heard amazing
amounts of Howler Monkeys with squadrons of Macaws flying by – absolute lovely lush and green backdrop !
Anchorage @ 08ยฐ 43.421 N 083ยฐ 28.009 W –ย 12.00 ft (at low tide )
Pargo’s Cove – Anchorage @ 8ยฐ 44.014 N 83ยฐ 23.713 W in 10 feet at Low Tide – favor the center and don’t go in too deep.
Still nicely tucked away – reefs on both side and lovely islets – and a flat inner sandy bay which we could careen our vessel on.
OSA Wildlife Sanctuary – Animal Refuge – 2 hour tours $25 pp each day at 9 AM with Carol
Anchorage @ 8ยฐ 40.653 N 83ยฐ 19.5401 W @ 15 feet
Playa Cativo (5 star Eco Resort w/ pool wifi bar organic farm to table menu)
Anchorage @ 8ยฐ 40.2939 N 83ยฐ 18.4411 W – 15 feet
Call ahead for Lunch or Dinner reservations –ย
GM – Allen Mairena +506 8302-1195 / +506 2200-3131
www.playacativo.com
There are at least 3+ more anchorages but we did not visit those (yet).
Keep in mind that the Fjord drops of quickly with each of these anchorages so you are anchoring on a shelf near shore.
(Agape and Dad’s Dream are up there so we’ hope to get a confirmation of these conditions)
Suzanne & Dietmar
4) VOLANTE III – Costa Rica
Volante III is probably one of a few boats with no wind stories. My biggest problem has been trying to find wind to sail, I guess I plan it a little to well. LOL The wind tools are generally very good and I study them daily. Yes, I have had surprises but they are rare. Actually, one on this trip and it had to do with sea state and not wind. After a while you see a pattern and can plan your departure for the next window based on that pattern. Nicaragua in unique in that even if you have very little wind, you can get some impressive wind gusts. Staying close to the beach is well recommended. Make sure your crew stays focused on their job while near shore so they don’t almost hit a reef. Yep, there is a story to be told.
PICTURE OF THE WEEK
Nice sunset in Golfito CR while have dinner with Alli and Rodger from Betty MC.
The boat in the picture is the Panama Posse boat Betty MC
Tony
5) WELCOME to the Panama Posse
YOYO – Playa Tambor, Costa Rica #79
Tassio Jose
UNTANGLEDย – Bahia del Sol, El Salavador #80
Philippe & Carolyn
(we need your pictures)
6) HALCYON – Panama
Well Halcyon is tucked away under her boat cover in Vista Mar marina for the season.
It seems like a nice place for her to hang out this summer, though the wave action does
require attentive line arranging and extra chafe protection.
If you are going to be in the marina, I have 2 contacts for you. First, if you need any canvas work done, Javier (+507-6840-3727 also on WhatsApp) is your guy. He is not a sail maker, but has an industrial machine and did some repairs and modifications to our boat cover. He is dependable and very sweet. He doesnโt speak English, but was great at understanding my broken Spanish and repeating back to me what he understood so we were on the same page. He did the work in 2 days and the cost was reasonable. Second, Candido is a diver (+507-6381-5913). He usually charges $100 per boat, but I negotiated him down to $60 per boat because I said there would be several to clean so he can do them on the same day. He is coming to clean the bottom and check zincs every other month while we are gone. If you are interested in doing the same, let me know. Or you can reach out to him directly. He doesnโt speak English, but also was good with my broken Spanish. Enjoy the cruising and we will see at least some of you at the start of next season!
John & Becca
7) EASY – Panama
Anchored down wind last night about 11:30 pm. N 08 25.260 W 079 58.177 in 34′ 12′ foot tide here.
Made way to marina this morning. Easy is in a slip for 6 months
Well hello again. Now from in the Marina at Vista Mar. this morning on the SSB Net made contacts with nobody.
I’ll keep trying but don’t usually have good propagation in marinas.
Mike
8) MYLA – Panama
After having our transit date set three weeks in advance, and with six hours until our alarm clocks were going off to begin our transit, we just got the call that the canal schedulers are cancelling us due to them not being able to schedule an advisor. Our son took off time from work, our pal who is a judge rescheduled his life to be here, my sister-in-law flew down and now it is all a bust. We are now anticipating a Tuesday transit, so looking for line handlers. Planned this for months, and the canal authority just blew us off. Sharing so you all can be better prepared for this $&@%.
To make it even more interesting, our adviser came this morning, but we were close to getting bumped another day. Turns out the Canal schedulers had our adviser go to the Colon side rather than Panama City, so he had already worked numerous hours. Thus, he could only take us through to Gatun Lake. He was unable to get another adviser to take us the rest of the way. Not unusual to end up having to stay a night on the lake, but if they were even marginally efficient, it wouldn’t have been an issue. We’ve been hearing that for the past few months, the canal has had some problems getting enough advisers, and that’s why there are problems with the scheduling. Best advice, be flexible.
We made it through the canal! While the canal authority’s scheduling was beyond challenging, it wasn’t able to completely dampen the excitement of passing the last lock and being in the Caribbean. Advice … be flexible and have no expectations. Having crew with schedules added considerable stress. Interview others regarding agents. Ours kept saying there was nothing she could do and it was all the canal authorities’ fault. Not sure whether agents have as much pull as we might hope or whether some just have more, or some just care more. We had two great advisors, Ricardo being exceptional. We also had a professional line handler, also named Ricardo. That made the passage so much better. No expectations or schedules and tequila waiting for you at the finish line!
Evidence the morning after the canal transit.
(Note from Totem” Julie nails this with “be flexible and have no expectations.” Well, low expectations anyway, for control over your transit timing. The canal authorities serve commercial ships first… we are lucky beneficiaries on the side. Our advisor (Erick/Centenario) presented multiple opportunities to get through the canal sooner: I suspect he simply worked harder for it (sorry Julie) although the fact we came through during peak vs. slower time may have created more opportunities for gaps we could slide into (I know quite a few boats getting earlier dates thanks to pressure from their agents during our stay in Shelter Bay). A good advisor makes all the difference, glad you scored with yours (we did too, and I feel lucky)!)”
John & Julie
9) SEAGLASS – Panama
S/V RESPITE (Chris Wenderoth , Janet Wenderoth ) is in Shelter Bay Marina Panama tonight after 2 day Panama canal crossing. Line handling helpers from the Panama Posse were Larry Jenks, Rob Patterson and Chris July. We had great advisors from the canal authority on board and had a smooth and memorable crossing.
New Panama Posse Deal. Chandlery in Coronado 10 kilometers from Vista Mar Marina has just offered the Panama Posse a 20% Discount off retail for all your Marine Supplies. Just mention your a member for discount. If they don’t stock in the store what you need they most likely have it at their two locations in Panama City and can order it in within a week with a delivery every Wednesday.
Chris & Amanda
10) MANU KAI – Mexico
Manu Kai left Marina Chiapas yesterday Tuesday 24 headed to Costa Rica.
Hope to catch up with some of the posse.
Thor,Tanya & crew
11)ย CHANTEY – Mexico
Electronic charts for Central America…my Open CPN base chart for Acapulco South is rubbish and my Satellite overlays copied from another cruiser are running out as we leave Mexico. I have been searching but can,t find a good source of electronic charts for Chiapas to Panama. I don,t mind paying, but I am using a Rasberry Pi on a headless system and so I think I need charts that I can download onto my laptop and copy across. The chart world charts don’t seem to let you do this.
Can anyone recommend a good source of electronic charts to use with Pi/OpenCPN or advise me if I can connect my Pi to the Internet somehow through my laptop to use Chartworld? Or..????
(note: You missed the free OpenCPN seminars in Barra de Navidad back in November – however the whole shabang of sat charts is in one BIG 2.7 GB zip file for โจPanama Posse participants – thanks to the hard work of Marc on SV Liquid – โจfollow this link – read up and download them all from https://panamaposse.com/open-cpn )
Ivan & Jane
12) SSB Panama Posse Net Reminder
1300 UTC ( 7 am local time ) on 8297 Mhz usb and introduce yourselves to net controlย
ย
13) The first Panama Posse season will come to a close in June.
The final Panama Posse arrival celebration is scheduled for Wed May 23rd at the Vista Mar Marina in Panama.
Please gather your thoughts send out submission of pictures for inclusion in these Fleet Updates ( simply reply to this email )
Plan to set aside some time to fill out our upcoming survey.
Keep ’em coming –