Panama Bound

Reach in Albuquerque Cays

In the era of long-format videos, video clips, reels, stories & posts ~ it feels as if the blog medium has become old-fashioned if not obsolete.

There was certainly a time not too long ago, especially in the cruising community, that blogs were a primary means of research and information about sailing, boat maintenance, and destination requirements. Heck, we even remember a time before blogs when in our own research-phase where we anxiously awaited SSCA bulletins in the mail to read cruising reports, far from the real-time resources offered today.

When we first went cruising, we’d post short blogs almost weekly to share our own experiences, whether social, travel related, passage reports or boat projects. Eventually, we got a new boat and migrated to a more modern website, yet now post much less frequently. Frankly, it is hard to know if there is any value in doing so these days.

For us, our travel posts serve as a personal travel log and photo-album that makes for nice memories. Living and traveling on a boat for all of these years has possibly normalized the novelty of some of our experiences. The truth is that this is a hard lifestyle and not for everyone, yet we are also very conscious and grateful for how fortunate we are to be living it.

Regarding cruising grounds, things constantly change as we have seen over the last 16 years, so updated reporting can be relevant regarding destinations. We’ve never styled our blog to be a cruising guide, yet we can offer a bit more depth and personalized experiences in a blog. On-line and crowd-sourced guide information is available through apps like NoForeignland.

We also keep a separate boat blog for our major boat projects, even as every boater knows that maintenance is daily and constant. For some, these are the most interesting reports to see how others make decisions, approach or troubleshoot a problem, and tackle big jobs. For example, one of our more popular posts was on saildrive maintenance. Mark has done his fair share of fiberglassing projects and also enjoys watching others’ boat projects.

So, while the value to effort ratio might not be tipping the scales, I’ll try to keep up with a handful of posts each year and see how it goes…

 

 

Guanaja

Leaving Guatemala by boat is not easy. If you are heading south as we were, en route to Panamá, there are many days of easting facing you against the prevailing winds. Waiting for a cold front is your best bet to ride some north and westerly winds. We were able to pick up one in February to take for an overnight sail to Guanaja in Honduras’ Bay Islands to stage for the next leg.

We love visiting Guanaja. It is very harmonious, natural and a like step back in time in the Caribbean. The new Immigration agent Denilson was one of the friendliest we’ve encountered and it really makes a difference in sentiment to feel welcomed to their country.

 

Reach in El Bight, Guanaja



There are a surprising number of good restaurants around El Bight and we sampled all of them, including the street food in Bonacca. We have great memories of past times at Manati with more made on this trip. Even though it’s only open on Fri/Sat, the sense of community here is impressive and genuine, not to mention the great food!

 
 


One of the first things we did while the weather was still fair was go diving with Guanaja Dive Center who came to pick us up on Reach. The reefs here are in better shape than most. I also went snorkeling in the shallows to try to figure out where elusive critters live in the eel grass.

 
 

Winds were honking in the upper 20 kts and in the 30 kts offshore for the short two weeks we were anchored here. Eventually, another cold front reached down to turn the tide and we took a short window to sail to Providencia.

This stretch of waters is one of the more dangerous that we have to face through a major international fishing area. There is a fleet of boats from surrounding countries (Honduras, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Cayman) that fish the Mosquito coast with historical piracy incidents and several reports of chases of sailors in the area in recent years (one was reported one month after our passage).

We got in touch with the Colombian Coast Guard before departure to inform them of our transit. They advised us to stay east of 82˚ longitude in Colombian waters. We also learned from Denilson when checking out of Honduras that these boats stay out at sea for 8 months, but they are all required to check in with their catches by April.

He was getting busy clearing them into port as we were leaving. That meant that we would see less fishing boats out and that they would be in a hurry to get cleared in and cashed in their respective countries. On our passage we saw two fishing boats. They always seem to have erratic paths and we went out of our way to steer clear of them. Once we turned the “corner” to head south, we had a fantastic reach with winds on the beam.

Our track on NoForeignland

 
 

Entering Providencia at night

Our second night took us between the Gorda and Rosaland Banks in a shipping lane with a few larger cargo ships, which actually made us feel safer. We had a night entry into Providencia, Colombia.


Even though we generally don’t like to enter harbors at night, their entry channel was extremely well lit like a runway and we made it in to anchor fairly easily using radar to detect other anchored boats.

 

 

Providenica & Albuquerque Cays

Providencia experienced devastating hurricane Iota in 2020 that leveled much of the structures on the small island. When we arrived in 2024 there was a lot of evidence of new structures, even as the vegetation and mangroves were still quite barren, which they are currently re-planting. People told us that thousands of people from the mainland were deployed here to help rebuild, an admirable government response.

 
 

This island is a laid-back, absolutely lovely Caribbean island that, along with the more bustling San Andres and the remote Albuquerque Cays, is part of Colombia. Requiring an agent to check-in, we worked with Mr. Bush again and his son.

We enjoyed two weeks here exploring surrounding bays by dinghy and by land with a golf-cart/mule. It was too windy to dinghy out to some of the northern reefs that we explored on our previous visit.

As always, nature is the star with cool sea slugs and endemic birds and reptiles like the Providencia vireo and vivid blue rainbow lizard… not to mention the stunning views.


 
 


We had to experience the seafood platter in South West Bay again and it did not disappoint! We also joined Mr. Hawkins and his trainee Shanina on a hike to El Pico, which now requires a guide.

He speaks English, as do many islanders from here to the Bay Islands due to historical British influence, and was full of stories of himself, nature and the island. It was brutally hot and Mr. Hawkins made me a fan; however, by the end I was sick and suffered heat exhaustion, not fun. The dogs that followed us were pooped too. The views were worth it.

 
 


A significant calm spell was approaching and we thought this was a perfect opportunity to visit the Albuquerque Cays, a somewhat exposed anchorage in the middle of nowhere surrounded by reef and a few small cays.

 

Satellite view of Albuquerque Cays

Albuquerque Cays

 

The Colombian Army occupied a base on one of the cays to guard it from Nicaraguan intentions (apparently without access to a boat), while fisherman camped on the other, all very friendly. Another boat was anchored here who we saw back in the Rio Dulce, Alex & Karin on Mabul. Mabul had a shaft issue and they were taking refuge here until conditions were favorable to sail to Panamá without needing the engine. We had some memorable moments with them.

Thanks to Karin’s skilled engagement (as an international reporter), we learned some interesting stories about the islands and the people who pass through here, fitting for salty tales involving smuggling of many shades. Fishermen from San Andres told of how the island has changed with a population boom from the mainland bringing gang violence. Some of the Army people we met were under 20 yrs old and had never seen the ocean before!

 
 


Early on, we had a visit by the Colombian Coast Guard from San Andres to tell us that this is not an anchorage for pleasure boats. Mabul was exempted because their boat was disabled. They came onboard for a friendly, routine inspection with one officer speaking a bit of English.

Mark and I explained that there was no wind for the next several days to sail on to Panamá. It was exceptionally calm. They mentioned that we also have engines, but we told them we preferred to sail as a sailboat as much as possible. They checked with the Navy base in San Andres by radio and gave us permission to stay through the calm days. We were thankful for the permission and stayed there for a week enjoying the lovely scenery.

 
 

Talk about blue water! We were in the water constantly to take advantage of the calm seas. The reefs were interesting, but somewhat devoid of fish… the fishermen were good at their jobs. I found some sandy muck right off of the boat to explore the algae and rubble, where I got good at finding sailfin blennies and my first headshield slugs (now I understand their preferred environments).

 
 
 

Eventually, the wind picked up and we had another great reach and overnight sail down to Panamá. We chose to go to Shelter Bay Marina in Colón to check-in. Panamá’s procedures are confusing, constantly changing and this marina has officials on-site. We arrived by April and were looking forward to spending lots of time here outside of the hurricane zone (In retrospect, it looks like we picked a good year to escape hurricanes)!!

 

En route to Panamá

 
s/v Reach

Mark & Michele ~ Dolphin 460 sailing catamaran s/v Reach

https://svreach460.com
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Guatemala