The excitement was building as we were about to see our friends again, but there were numerous chores to be done before their arrival, the most important, the interview for our American visa.
Shelter Bay marina is miles from anywhere and not the happiest of places, so an escape to the Panama City via the famous Panama Canal Railway was a high spot. We arrived far too early but found a fabulous place to have lunch and the rare opportunity for Debbie to have a pedicure. The locomotive is a reproduction of the original, dated back to 1855, and we saw the land based view of our journey through the canal, three years before. The canal wouldn’t have been constructed without the railway. The Californian Gold rush in the early 1800s encouraged the railway to be built so that these early pioneers could cross the Isthmus of Panama (joins the North and South American continents) to move and trade gold from Peru. Ideas of a canal go back to 1534 and in 1880, a sea level Panama canal was officially started by French engineers. Disease, difficult geographic and climatic conditions plus financial ruin in 1889 brought the construction to a halt. In 1894, another French construction company resumed work on the construction of the canal but bankruptcy forced the company to sell out to the US government. At this time the Canal Zone was in Columbia but within the province of Panama who negotiated a treaty with the US giving the US absolute sovereignty over the zone in exchange for acceptance of a new Panamanian government. In 1903, after Panama had declared independence from Colombia, the US started the construction of the canal across the Isthmus. Ten years later, the canal had been built and Yellow Fever had been eradicated and Malaria was controlled in the area. The canal was fully functioning by August the 15th, 1914. There are three locks on the Atlantic side of the canal, called the Gatun locks. They raise vessels 26 metres and then enter the Gatun Lake, a flooded rainforest and sunken Gatun Town. On the Pacific side are the Pedro Miguel and double Miraflores Locks, which lower the vessels into the tidal Pacific. The success of the canal has increased traffic through the locks and there is now a huge expansion with the construction of a third set of much larger locks to allow larger vessels to transit between the Atlantic and the Pacific.
So going back to our trip to Panama City for our visas…..we travelled in style and then booked into a beautiful hotel for the night, having supper with the owners of S/Y Appleseeds in a Peruvian restaurant. Early the following morning we hailed a cab to the American Embassy and completed our visa process. Several hours later, we were back on Amelie counting down the hours until Ju, Clive, Wendy and Peter arrived.
The squeal of delight when we saw their taxi arrive in the marina must have been heard back in Panama City and despite the travelling they had done, a celebratory drink and light supper was consumed……Clive requesting Stephen’s famous dirty Vodka Martini and Debbie being told, only the one!!!! It was as if we had only seen them yesterday, a good sign of friendship and we each had so much to tell one another even though we had three weeks to go.
Our blog has been handed over to our four friends to give their account of the time spent on Amelie, so we will do the history bit and try to descibe what fun we had aboard. Laughter radiated from early morning until the early hours of the morning. Alcohol and fabulous food was consumed, mainly cooked by Wendy, Clive and Stephen. Different dietary ideas were shared, some of which will be used on Amelie. Stephen now likes Couscous and ate Lentils; didn’t get indigestion with Wendy’s incredible pastry (best pastry cook, we’ve ever come across); he enjoyed Tapas except for Debbie’s Satay sauce which looked like baby pooh and Amelie is most definetly a gin boat, the amount we consumed! The Amelie Cookbook has expanded, maybe one day, we will publish it.
Clive helped with our never ending list of jobs including getting the generator going again! He also took a shopping list back to the UK for his return in a few weeks to crew Bubbles to Canada. Ju was a brilliant housekeeper, always washing up and you had to make yourself scarce when she vacuumed as she would suck you up. Wendy was hot in the kitchen and repairing clothes that had been damaged in the sun. She kindly made us several beach bags which are treasured and used regularly. Peter was always getting breakfast sorted, making drinks, topping them up ( so you’re the reason Debbie had so many hangovers). Everyone mucked in, sharing light duties and relaxing. Amelie looked well cared for and not a cross word was spoken in the three weeks.
We initiated a five o’clock session with a talking stick so everyone could speak their mind about the day and discuss if any misdeeds had been committed! You’ve got to turn off that shower tap! This was a huge success, lots of hilarity and it nipped any potential issues in the bud. Amelie was completely stress free and pure fun for three weeks.
We had wondered whether having four guests for three weeks would exhaust us in additional chores, what transpired was we had four friends who understood life on a boat and with all the sharing we actually did less work than normal.
Our friends having arrived on Saturday evening were geared up for our canal transit which started on the Tuesday. Rafted as we were to Atmos, a beautiful 65 tonne Colin Archer 60 footer, we expected to be towed through the locks under their power. In the event they had a rope wrapped around their prop and little ol’ 25 tonne Amelie picked up the role as power house. Once in the Gatun Lake, Maurice and Ksae were able to free their prop of the offending rope and the second day, down into the Pacific, Atmos assumed her natural role. There was great excitement as well as Champagne when we crossed under the Bridge of Americas and Amelie was once more in the Pacific.
We were to spend as little time as necessary in Panama City prefering instead to explore the beautiful and unspoilt Archipelago of Las Perlas with our friends. Full Moon parties with BBQs on the beach, Paddle boarding, drifting up rainforest rivers, sailing the Tinker Tramp, watching the antics of the Pelicans and Frigates and Terns, six chefs in the galley cooking Tapas and lots of swimming and snorkelling. We arrived at a general consensus that in some ocean, at sometime in the future would need to share this group again.
The Perlas Islands got their name from a Spanish raid for pearls and capture of the skilled royal pearl divers in 1515. Mary Tudor of England possessed a 31 carat pearl from these islands. Cautious navigation is necessary around the islands but absolutely worth the extra care as the islands, birdlife, migration behaviour, bays and beaches are exquisite.
It was a sad time when our friends left us but the mood was lightened by the airport departure procedure. Amelie was to stay in Las Perlas and there is an airport on Isla Contrador with a daily service to Panama City. It must have one of the shortest runways anywhere in the world and traffic control consisted of a guy in jeans standing in the middle of the runway with a handheld radio. Ju and Clive’s departure was delayed by a dog jumping on the ‘plane and Peter and Wendy’s flight was delayed by a series of small private ‘planes one of whom decided to buzz the airport shortly after takeoff.
Ju, Clive, Wendy and Peter…….Amelie salutes you as a perfect crew and we thank you for giving us such a great passage throught the canal and most importantly we treasure your friendship. You are always welcome on Amelie…….as long as you bring us Toblerone and Grenadian chocolate.