Caribbean

30
Aug
2024
Gallery – Hurricane season in Panama

Gallery – Hurricane season in Panama

Refreshed and energized, we return from Jamaica to the Turtle Cay Marina, where Mabul is patiently waiting for us. We actually want to replace the rudder bearing as quickly as possible and then sail to Cartagena in Colombia to spend the hurricane season there. After some back and forth, we decide not to sail to Colombia but to spend the hurricane season in Panama. Mabul will therefore remain in the Turtle Cay Marina for most of the time, so the rudder bearing can wait for the time being and its repair can be planned properly. This immediately takes off all the pressure and stress, and we can relax and enjoy the untouched nature here.
It’s already time for Karin to fly to Switzerland to work for the SRF for five months. Alex stays on board for another eight weeks and deals with lots of little things and some larger projects. Then it’s off to Germany and Switzerland for him too, for the first time in two years…

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09
Aug
2024
Gallery – Jamaica

Gallery – Jamaica

After Mabul is fixed, we make our way to San Blas. San Blas is over 200 nautical miles to the east, and we want to set off from here with an improved angle to Jamaica. The passage will be a tough ride upwind anyway. But we don’t want it to come to that. We continue to be dogged by bad luck and notice a loose rudder on the passage, the rudder bearing is completely worn out. As a result, we are unable to sail as far as Jamaica and Mabul has to be hauled out of the water again for repairs. While still in San Blas, we decide to park Mabul in the Turtle Cay Marina and fly to Jamaica for a (boat) vacation. It was a good decision. We enjoy two carefree and boat-free weeks on an incredibly green island in the best of company. We take a small rental car on a round trip through Jamaica, which takes us from Negril to Kingston and over the Blue Mountains to Portland and back.

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26
Jul
2024
Gallery – Bocas del Toro

Gallery – Bocas del Toro

Finally, a weather window opens up that allows us to safely leave the atoll of Cayos Albuquerque without an engine, and we set sail. On the way, we are accompanied by a few birds that are still asleep when we drop anchor at eleven at night. There are lots of boat jobs to do here in Bocas del Toro. The priority is clearly to replace the cutlass bearing and find the cause of the rapid wear and tear. Before we haul out in Almirante, we spend a week close to Bocas and get all the provisions on board Mabul. The long-awaited and well-traveled gennaker has also finally arrived. Many thanks again to Stephan from our sponsor VM Sails! We tow Mabul the last ten miles to the shipyard with our dinghy moored alongside. Once there, the true extent of the damage becomes apparent after a few days. Once again, Alex works like mad for a whole three weeks before Mabul is floating in the water again.

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12
Jul
2024
Guna Yala

Guna Yala

San Blas – The Mystical Paradise of the Guna

From Providencia, we’re cruising 270 nautical miles to San Blas, Panama. The archipelago consists of over 350 islands and islets and is governed by the indigenous Guna people, who call it Guna Yala. We clear into Panama on the main island, El Porvenir, and pay our contribution to the autonomous Guna authority. Porvenir is tiny, with little more than an airstrip and a few houses. While clearing in, one officer is mowing the grass while the other stamps our passports. Here, everyone does a bit of everything.

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21
Jun
2024
Charming cocaine island

Charming cocaine island

On the nautical chart, you’ll only see Providencia if you zoom in very closely; that’s how tiny and charming the cocaine island is. Although Providencia belongs to Colombia, it’s much closer to Nicaragua. Here, traditions are upheld, and mass tourism is nonexistent. In 2020, a hurricane nearly devastated the island’s infrastructure, yet the islanders didn’t complain; instead, they considered the hurricane a blessing.

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06
Jun
2024

Traffic jam at the Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is one of the most important bottlenecks for international shipping. Approximately five percent of world trade is now handled through the canal, and two thirds of all ships that pass through the canal come from or go to the USA. Thanks to the Panama Canal, international shipping routes have been shortened by weeks or even months. Merchant ships, cruise ships, sailing ships and warships no longer have to sail around Cape Horn, which is feared as a ship graveyard with its wild storms and untameable waves, but can cross the continent in a day. The canal is fed with fresh water from two reservoirs: Lake Gatún and Lake Alajuela. These also supply the two million Panamanians who live in the center of the country. The population and the ships compete for the water. For a long time, this was no cause for concern, as tropical Panama is one of the rainiest countries in the world and the reservoirs were always well filled. However, everything changed last year with the El Niño climate phenomenon.

Published in the magazine “Reportagen”, issue #77.

https://reportagen.com/reportage/stau-am-panamakanal

05
Jun
2024
Night ride through pirate territory

Night ride through pirate territory

After four and a half months at the shipyard in Guatemala, we leave. We are relieved and sad at the same time. Relieved that we can leave the heat, the endless boat problems, all the work and the shipyard behind us; sad because we are leaving our friends Riki and Martin and their daughters Naia and Kira, as well as single-handed sailor Thomas, behind and probably won’t see them again for a long time. Again and again we have to say goodbye, but then we actually are sailing from Guatemala to Providencia.

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