South America 2008

Our boat trip from Panama to Cartagena was interesting, a lot of fun, boring, and uncomfortable. It was a great experience and Roar and I met a bunch of fun people. Both of us talked about how we had “Sailing through the Caribbean” on our list of things to do in life and now that we can check that off, neither of us is eager to do it again.

We met Captain Dennis and his partner and friend, Angel, in Portobelo, Panama, which is on the Atlantic side south of the canal. It used to be the main port for the Spaniards five hundred years ago but now it is a sleepy town populated with the descendants of former slaves with some old buildings and ruins of forts.

We met a couple of the other passengers and spent the night on the boat, a 65 foot trimaran. The following day we took Angel as a guide to the customs office in Colon. We needed to get our bikes stamped out of the country and Colon was the only place to do it. Everybody we talked to and the guidebooks said that Colon was a dangerous, seedy, port town. We heard “shithole” and watch your back, too. Angel is Colombian, speaks fluent Spanish, and knew the town so I was thankful to have him as a guide.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have an extra helmet and as soon as we hit the main highway some cops on bikes signalled us to pull over. I asked Angel seated behind me if we should pull over and he said “I guess so.” It’s a good thing we did because it turns out that the police captain spotted us speeding down the highway with a helmetless Angel and he sent his guys out to stop us.

We were escorted to the police station and Angel was able to talk our way out of it after about thirty minutes. The other cops kept wandering over to us and our bikes to ask questions. It was kind of fun.

After we were let go one of the cops agreed to escort us to customs (he also had to get the helmet back that they loaned to Angel). We bypassed waiting traffic by lane splitting down the two lane highway. It’s much easier when you’ve got a cop leading the way. It was a good thing Angel and the cop came because everything at customs had changed and we had to go from one place to another. Roar and I could have done it ourselves but it would have taken a lot more time and, given the city’s reputation, I didn’t want to wander off into any sketchy areas with our valuable bikes. As it turned out, we only saw very minimal bad areas. It was kind of disappointing after the hype but I think that we just didn’t need to go through the really bad parts.

Later that day we manhandled the bikes onto a launch and took the bikes out to the boat. Loading was no problem with some help and two hoists. We tied the bikes down to some lines and we were set.

You have to be very flexible when you take a trip like this. The timelines are always changing due to a number of factors. The captain wants to fill up his boat to make money and passengers encounter problems in trying to get to the boat. Also, weather plays a role in deciding how fast and where we can go.

We finally left late Wednesday morning (we arrived on a Monday). Upon hitting the open sea we hit 6 to 8 foot swells which is kind of rocky. Despite the seasickness pills I took I still got sick. I didn’t throw up but the most comfortable position I found was lying down with my eyes closed and then I was pretty much worthless. For about the first 24 hours after a start I would feel sick and be worthless. After that my body adjusted and I was ok.

We stopped at several of the San Blas islands, which are inhabited by the Kuna people, the only indigenous people in the Western Hemisphere who retained most of their autonomy to the present day.

I did a lot of snorkeling and borrowed Dennis’s speargun to hunt for fish. I saw tons of fish, mostly small ones but a few big ones, some stingrays and one shark. The shark looked about 8 feet long (so he was probably five or six), was completely black, and lay on the ocean floor beneath a ball of coral. I assumed that he was a bottom feeder but it still scared me to see something that large under the water with me. I left him alone because I thought that he would take off with the spear and the gun if I shot him. Later, I thought that I should have shot him right through the brain for a quick kill but, alas, I didn’t have the balls to do it at the time.

I ended up spearing three small fish over a couple of days. The big guys always stayed just a little bit out of reach and I think that they were on to me. I realized how much I enjoyed spearfishing. I am an amateur and the real guys dive way deeper than I can go (20-30 meters) but it is a challenging activity that I might test my limits with again.

The bad thing about the snorkeling is that I used some very stiff fins that rubbed my ankles raw. I enjoyed it so much I ignored the pain before finally switching to some softer ones. By then it was too late. My ankles swoll up and I could barely walk during the last couple of days. There wasn’t too much I could do besides disinfect them with hydrogen peroxide. By the time we got to Cartagena the swelling and pain got worse and worse. Off the boat, I iced my ankles several times a day with limited effect. Infection had set in and I went to the hospital. They prescribed me some antibiotics and anti- inflammatory drugs. Normally, I don’t like taking these kinds of drugs but I had never seen my feet look so bad. I had strangers staring down at my feet constantly. So far, the drugs are doing the trick and my ankles are a lot better.

Back to the boat trip…..the parts of the trip that fulfilled expectations was cruising up to some islands, anchoring, and just hanging out. Those times were fun and I really enjoyed those experiences. Dealing with dirty kitchens and a boat with constant problems wasn’t so nice. Captain Dennis and his friend Angel were interesting characters. They reminded me off my next door neighbors when I lived in my condo in Huntington Beach. A little rough around the edges, things on the boat didn’t always go so smoothly. As Angel said, “Punk owned and operated.” When you forgot about schedules and didn’t mind some discomfort and inconveniences it was a fun voyage…which I probably won’t ever do again but hey I look back and think what a crazy little adventure that was…..

Me on a deserted isle

Punk owned and operated….Roar, Captain Dennis, and Angel