Exploring my Welsh Roots

The infamous pirate Henry Morgan used Providencia as a base for raiding the Spanish empire, and rumours suggest that much treasure remains hidden on the island.  The 4500 inhabitants are primarily English-speaking (many descendants of Morgan himself) and their pride in this swashbuckling Welshman is reflected in the names of the landmarks, Morgan’s Head,  the slightly ruder Morgan’s Crack and Morgan’s Fort.   

 

Upon arrival we radioed in to ‘Mr. Bush’ who is the local agent , and within ½ hour we had 6 local officials on board who checked the boat and our documents in a friendly way and cleared us (again) into Colombia.   

Providencia is a small jewel of an island out in the middle of the Carribean Sea.  The protected harbor is surrounded by lovely green hills, the people are incredibly kind and friendly (if you havn’t any money with you you can always ‘come back and pay tomorrow’), the tourists blend in with the locals (rather than vice versa as is prevalent in most Caribbean islands), it is sunny and warm with a fresh sea breeze and fresh mangoes hang from almost every tree.   

 

Our first day was spent on a short hike from the old town center up to Morgan’s Fort and then down to a secluded beach.  We planned to walk further around to the prominent round rock known as Morgan’s head but Emma and Macsen were too busy digging for Morgan’s treasure in the sand to want to waste time walking further.  Unfortunately, their efforts only uncovered a few angry crabs.  

Black Land crabs that live in the hills of the island make their annual migration to the sea in the spring of each year.  This means thousands and thousands of large black crabs pouring down the hills to wash their eggs off in the sea and then returning to their homes on the hills.  Columbian military personnel are brought in during the migration to close the roads to protect the expecting mummies and the their newborn young ‘uns that eventually follow them back up the hills.   We huddled into the back of a pick-up truck early one evening to drive out to the crab crossing grounds.  Various locals told us wonderful stories of floods of crabs seen earlier in the week.  We saw just a few but it was still an exciting experience to be rolling along with our flashlights out trying to catch a peek. 

Mart offered to take care of the monkeys on the beach for a morning while Kees, Seb and I went for a dive.  What a treat!  The reef was lovely and we saw a couple of reef sharks and a wonderful array of fish and coral.   

Snorkeling possibilities are almost endless on Providencia and at least once a day the Spikkle was called into action to take the four of us out searching for new underwater wonders.  The waters all around the island were incredibly clear and abundantly full of colourful life forms.  On Providecia, Emma started swimming again for real.  Seb and I started out on a drift dive with the dinghy and before long she was in the water with her mask (and no water wings) for the first time and from then on it was hard to get her out.  Macsen also decided he was ready to venture into the water and donned his fins, floaties, mask and snorkel and after a little adjustment to underwater breathing he was soon squealing with excitement every time he saw a new or more beautifully colored fish.  What a joy to share this experience with them! 

 

Although we planned to stay on Providencia for a short three days we had trouble tearing ourselves away and this, coupled with some poor wind conditions,  kept us on the island for almost two blissful weeks, including Seb’s birthday.  Kees and Marta came for dinner and the monkeys made a birthday cake decorated artistically with all of the M&Ms that didn’t go directly into their mouths.  Emma and Macsen presented him with a hammock purchased in Costa Rica and I was finally able to give him his most recent heart’s desire, a machete.  I have long been against having such a thing on board but Seb claims that it is absolutely necessary for opening coconuts.  I secretly think that he has images of himself leading his little family through the rugged jungle and manfully clearing a path through the dense impenetrable undergrowth…

Bocas del Toro to Providencia, Columbia

Jay, Natasha, Sol and Luna’s boat The Messenger is a pure sailboat and does not have a motor.  We agreed to leave the Red Frog marina with them and sail a short way out into the bay.  They were moving their boat over to an anchorage close to Bocas del Toro town and we were headed off to Isla Providencia.   The wind was light as we tacked out of the harbor trying our best (an really almost succeeding) in keeping up with them.  We had a wonderful sail and realized that, without their challenge to a race, we would have motored quickly out of the bay and missed out on a lovely experience.  A gentle reminder that sailing can sometimes just be for the sake of sailing and not always just a means of getting from A to B.  

Isla Providencia, Colombia is located, oddly enough,  about 250 nautical miles NNE of Panama and 130 nautical miles East of Nicaragua.  We expected this to be a nasty trip headed into the trade winds in the Caribbean Sea and we were, unfortunately, not mistaken.  It took us about 12 hours longer than planned,  involved long tacks into the wind or no wind at all,  and included short uncomfortable choppy seas.  A boring and frustrating trip saved only by the fact that it was relatively short.  We arrived with the big Pjotter in the dark and, judging from the chart and pilot that the entry was straightforward, we  slowly moved into the channel towards the anchorage.  It became very quickly apparent, however, that the GPS was off by approximately 200m.  It was a calm night but rather dark so we chose not to risk the reefs and rocks and anchored a little outside of the town to wait until morning light to attempt the shallower water of the bay closer in to town.  

Landlubbers in Costa Rica

The final bus dropped us off at the Cashew Hill Jungle Cottages.  Our cottage was situated, as the name suggests, on a hill and thus had a wonderful view of the ocean yet was situated in the middle of the jungle.  A tiny swimming pool delighted the monkeys and helped them cool off in the 35 Celsius heat.  And two hammocks (which Seb and I absurdly tried to reserve for ourselves) on our porch provided hours of giggling fun.  At night the jungle around us was positively singing with a variety of insect, amphibian and mammal life.  The insects were rather intimidatingly large and irritatingly abundant at times but all in all it was a charming spot. 

Our two day stay in Puerto Viejo saw us breakfasting twice at a little café call Bread & Chocolate followed by a visit to the Jaguar Animal Rescue Center.  This is a center to rehabilitate mistreated, injured and/or confiscated animals, which are then reintroduced to their natural habitat in protected areas.  Even under these sad circumstances we were thrilled to see the howler monkeys and the tiniest baby 2-toed sloth.  There was also a rather unsettling collection of local snakes and our guide explained in great detail just how venomous (and common) many of them were. 

A 7-hour drive took us the 350kms into the center of the country (just one hour South of San Jose) to San Gerardo del Dota and the Dantica Lodge.  The lodge consisted of a handful of lovely cottages perched on the steep walls of the valley with breathtaking views.  It was chilly at night and we snuggled under big feather comforters for the first time in a long time.  The birdlife was extraordinary.  Even our terribly unschooled eyes were popping out of our heads and our ears enjoyed an incredible variety of songs.  On two occasions we went on walks with Carlos, the local guide.  The first occasion was a quest to see the resplendent quetzal, named for the Aztec word quetzalli that means "precious,' or "beautiful.' Carlos lead us on a chase to rival the most exciting treasure hunt.  With him calling the quetzal call and we running fast and low from one side of the wood to the other until finally we saw a lovely pair (looking most resplendent).  They kindly posed for several pictures and we left them feeling rather thrilled.    

On the following day Carlos took us on an 18 kilometer hike from the top of the valley, through three very different ecosystems, to the bottom.  I am extremely proud to say that Emma walked the entire way and while Macsen was carried in his backpack much of the way, he also walked about three kilometers.  Seb and I collapsed in the grass with a beer after this intensive hike but Emma and Macsen still had enough energy to bounce about most energetically on the trampoline for at least half an hour.  Whew, kids!

Costa Rica is a wonderful country with so much incredible variety and loveliness to offer that we hope to visit again.  Our visit was much too short and all too soon we were back at Cashew Hill waiting for our bus, bridge, bus, boat, boat combo to take us back to Bastimentos and our Pjotter.    

There was another party in full swing at the Red Frog Marina when we arrived.  A large motor yacht in the marina was bidding goodbye to their captain, and their (Icelandic) chef had cooked an incredible meal to share with all of the guests of the marina.  Woohooo.  Once again, Emma bonded solidly with Sol and Luna.    

On our final day in Bastimentos we took a long walk along the beach and through the woods.  Fortunately, it was a little rainy and we managed to see two tiny spotted red frogs.  These are red poison dart frogs and can only be found on the Isla Bastimentos.   We also practiced the bird calls that Carlos tried to teach us and we imagined at least that there was a positive response.  

Bastimentos, Panama

The Red Frog Marina in Bastimentos (close to Bocas del Toro), Panama welcomed us in a special way.  As soon as we tied up at the dock we were invited to a birthday party.  Sol, the daughter of Jay and Natasha from S/Y Messenger was turning six years old.  We were feeling rather exhausted from our  journey but fortunately we decided to attend.  The party was complete with birthday games (Emma and I both won our round of musical chairs), birthday cake, party favours and a piñata.  Wow! Over the course of the next few days Emma became fast friends with Sol and her four year old sister Luna and the three of them were quite inseparable.  Jay is a professional chef and we were lucky enough to be invited to lunch on their boat and treated to the most amazing coconut rice, tostones (deep fried plantains), and wonderfully tender lamb. Mmmmmm, yummy.    

Kees and Marta babysat for us one evening and while they were entertaining the kids Seb and I walked up to the youth hostel for a night out.  Even though we spend 24 hours a day together it was still a special treat to get to spend an evening out together and we enjoyed ourselves fully.  Fortunately, so did the big Pjotters and the monkeys.  

After enjoying the marina for three days (including several visits per day to the resident sloth in the tree next to the marina) and some unsuccessful searches for red frogs, we headed off for a short inland trip to Costa Rica.  A very fast boat took us to Bocas del Toro and from there we took another very fast boat  boat, a bus to the Costa Rican border, walked over a very rickety train bridge and boarded another bus to finally land safely in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica.  

Emma’s New Idol, Discovering the Underwater World and a Sad Farewell

There is cruisers net in the Kuna Yala islands and one morning we heard that there was a party being organized for Laura Dekker, the Dutch single-handed sailor who is attempting to become the youngest solo circumnavigator.  She had just turned 15!  The party was to be held, appropriately, in the Holandse Cays so along with the R Sea Kat and the big Pjotter we hauled up our anchors and sailed to this blissful little group of islands with white sand beaches, turquoise water and palm trees.  

There was quite a media circus around Laura just prior to her departure from the Netherlands with one camp claiming it was irresponsible to allow her to go, one camp claiming that she couldn’t stay out of school and another supporting her endeavors.   We had remained relatively neutral on the subject until we spent time with her.  This girl really knows her stuff.  She is very self confident (in a pleasant understated way) , she knows her boat and she has equipped it extremely well.  Emma was rather in awe of her and relished any attention from Laura.  The only difficulty was that she couldn’t understand why she needed to sail alone.  “Isn’t she lonely? Wouldn’t she have more fun if she had her family or friends with her?”  

The next few days were spent enjoying meals together with Laura, Mike, Deana, Kees and Marta (we even introduced Mike and Deana to pannenkoeken), walking on the beach, dinghy explorations and snorkeling and diving under the expert tutelage of Mike.  Seb and I discovered a new world in these days and learned to really delight in all things underwater.   Mike had us drift diving in the currents between the islands and free diving through some amazing reefs.  I even swam with a rather large group of 1 meter long barracudas and came quite close to a pair of sand sharks.  Emma would usually bob along with us wearing her fins, thoroughly enjoying her new mermaid status but not yet comfortable with her snorkel and mask.   Macsen watched from the dinghy and ‘fished’ or sent his boats out over the side.  

On March 23^rd we hauled up our anchors and headed back to check out in El Porvenir.  Two Pjotters and the R Sea Kat enjoyed a lovely spinnaker sail for the 18 nautical mile journey.  It was a lovely sight, quite a competitive race and a fitting end to our time together.  

After check out in El Porvenir, Deana and Mike, with characteristic kindness, invited us to their boat for a last meal together to fill our bellies before our 2,5 day sail to Bocas del Toro on the mainland of Panama.  Deana had cheffed up a delicious corn chowder and the most scrumptious conch fritters that I have ever eaten (and I have sampled several of these tasty treats in the last few months).   After dinner and a tearful farewell, we hoisted anchor with the big Pjotters and headed off into the night.  Mike and Deana will head on through the Panama canal.  They have become special friends and we will miss them.  

Molas and Vanuncio

The Kuna Indians are famous for their bright molas, a colourful textile art form made with the techniques of appliqué and reverse appliqué.  Mola panels are used to make the blouses of the Kuna women's national dress.  The quality of the molas vary greatly based upon number of layers, size of stitches and design.  Every day that we anchored at least one mola seller (mostly women) would come alongside in their canoe hoping to sell their work.  

There are also famous mola makers who dedicate their lives to making molas and are well known within the community.  Vanuncio was one of those artists and he came alongside one sunny afternoon (let’s face it,  it was always sunny there) to show us his life’s work.  I’d purchased a couple of ‘unsigned’  molas but had heard about Vanuncio from another cruiser and was anxious to see his work.  Deana, Marta and Mike came over and we spent the better part of two hours first admiring and then negotiating with him.  He drove a hard bargain and we departed ways feeling a little frustrated with the process but as the happy owners of a couple of absolutely beautiful signed Vanuncio molas.   

On the Hip

Our propeller was sill vibrating in a most unsettling manner when we moved the boat to Nalunega so we decided to move the boat under sail to shallower waters of the Lemmon Cays rather than risking motoring until we could diagnose the issue.  The trip to Lemmon Cays was a short 10 nautical mile hop and relatively uneventful until we started to enter the narrow reef-lined channel into the bay.  Kees and Mart had kindly agreed to tow us ‘on the hip’ (alongside) through the channel until we could drop anchor.  

The winds were relatively high and our maneuverability was limited by our lack of motor and our proximity to a rather daunting reef.  Under these circumstances,  Kees brought the big Pjotter alongside  with great skill as though it were a calm day on the IJsselmeer.  Unfortunately, as we tied up one of the fenders was too high and as the boats met there was an awful scraping sound. Ugh! Once we were safely anchored we investigated the damage and discovered a large and deep scrape in the immaculate hull of the big Pjotter.  Seb and I felt absolutely terrible to have been the cause of such a rent and Kees and Mart were incredibly kind in downplaying the damage.  Thank you! 

Once again Kees, Mike and Seb set about analyzing the propeller, took it off again (underwater of course), realigned it slightly and since then it has worked like a charm.   Difficult to express the relief and gratitude that we felt once again.