Homeward Bound

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Coco Banderos Islands, San Blas. Photo Shiera Brady

From the Skipper of SV Perigee

Short version:

We’ve made the decision, and are homeward bound . . .

Long Version:

Greetings from the Atlantic side of Panama, where we have been for since early February, having arrived here sailing in-company with the Ocean Cruising Club’s Suzie Too rally of about 60 boats of various shapes and sizes.

You may recall that the Suzie Too rally started in Curacao, then we went to Colombia via Aruba, visiting Santa Marta and Cartagena for Christmas and New Year.  We did a side trip up to Medellin.  An extremely interesting place, as it was, for a while back in the 80’s, the base of the world’s biggest drug cartel, run by Pablo Escobar, if you’re interested.  This town (and Colombia in general) is now on the road to recovery after what was a pretty brutal time, and the scars still run deep through their society.  So a very different place to visit, beyond the surprise of finding a super developed city stashed away in the Colombian highlands.

San Blas, Kuna Gala, Panama

After Colombia, we sailed to the remote San Blas islands off the Panamanian coast.  No, or very little, internet connectivity.  Challenging navigation, the water strewn with wrecks and reefs, the published charts in the most being of dubious value, if not directly misleading.  However delightful islands, soft white sand, coconut trees, clear clean waters protected by fringing reefs.  The locals eking out a very simple and mostly subsistence lifestyle.  Although, sadly, many of the youngsters (who get schooled away from home on the mainland) are exposed to the lures of the modern world, and it is becoming increasingly doubtful whether a traditional society will be able to survive beyond another generation or two.  But we found apparently happy friendly relaxed people, enjoying a very simple lifestyle.  The saddest thing was the amount of plastic waste that is washed up across the reefs and onto the otherwise pristine beaches.  Mountains and mountains of the stuff, and it continues to arrive as fast as it might be cleared away.  But there is no means or place to dispose of it, so it sits there just piling up on the windward shores.

After four weeks in the San Blas away from it all, the rally-schedule called for us to return to ‘civilisation’, and we made our way somewhat reluctantly to Shelter Bay Marina, on the Caribbean / Atlantic side of Panama, close to the entrance to the Canal complex.

 Our plans, at that time, were to continue with the rally, up to San Andrés and Providencia, skirt well offshore around Honduras towards the rally end-point at Belize.  Then heading up to the USA via the Yucatan Peninsula (El Cid), thence for the Azores via Bermuda, and onwards to Portugal.  Thereafter we had thought a few years in the Mediterranean, or the UK, or the Baltic.  We were not sure which, all equally likely.

Tim and Nancy on SV Larus during the canal transit

While we have been here in the Marina, doing routine repairs & maintenance, and along with a huge social load, we also took the opportunity to do some ‘line handling’.  Basically, this involves being crew-members on one of our friends’ boats [Tim and Nancy on SV Larus] as they transited the Panama Canal through to the Pacific.  It’s a two-day effort, as we did before in 2014 on DUO, when we continued through to the Gambiers in French Polynesia.

And very nice it was, to do the transit again, especially now being able to return to the home comforts of Perigee at the end of the experience.

A great time was had by all and, when the gates on the last lock to the Pacific opened, there was a huge upwelling of emotion.

Last lock to the Pacific

The smell and look of the Pacific, it is very different, and so very evocative of Oz.  The thought that we could be homeward bound - hmmm.  But sense and sensibility prevailed, and we held to “The Plan”.  Although our scheduled departure from the Marina has been delayed somewhat, due to waiting for some registered mail – some plastic from the bank.  Mailed in December, having arrived in Panama after 2 months enroute and which now, almost 4 weeks later, is still lost in limbo somewhere in the Panamanian post office system.

Anyway, due to that delay, the rest of our rally colleagues have already departed to San Andrés.  Not to worry, as the second wave of the rally is now arriving, along with other cruisers we have met along the way, so we have a new group of friends to play with.  As fate would have it, the “Pacific Puddle Jump 2018-19” roadshow visited the marina to do their seminar-presentation last Friday, March 1st.

So, even though not of immediate interest, we thought, “Well, we’re here and while we’re waiting, why not hop along to that, as maybe we’ll glean some tidbits for when we complete our own Atlantic Loop in 3 years or so”.  Well, in listening and learning about the weather patterns and ocean currents of the South Pacific, and the French Polynesia in particular, we simultaneously came to the sudden and quite unexpected realisation that where we want to be at the moment, and for the next few years, is in the South Pacific, closer to home, and away from all the potential troubles brewing up here in Venezuela and the US.  The pull on the heart-strings was so strong, it could not be denied.  So there was no question about it, or in fact any decision to be made – the way from here is obvious.  We’re heading home, or homeward bound more accurately, as we expect to spend 3-5 years wafting here and there along the way.

This actually is very close to the original plan, way back when, which was simply to buy a boat and sail her home, and spend 3 seasons exploring the S.Pacific along the way.  This plan was hatched when we were both still employed in Switzerland, although the writing was writ large on the wall.  Being in Europe at the time, we had thought that we would buy in the Med, and spend two years doing the shake-down there whilst finding our sea legs.  But, as it happened, PERIGEE was waiting for us in the US.  And hence this is why we’ve been cruising up and down between the Caribbean and the US East coast, getting Perigee (and ourselves) sorted for the Pacific crossing.

Perigee in the San Blas photo courtesy of L'Orient [Super Maramu 2000 RL]

It’s funny how things sometimes happen.  But for the extended delay in the arrival of our mail, we would have been merrily sailing along with our friends in the Suzie Too rally following our noses to San Andrés.  We would have not even have known about the PPJ seminar, let alone attend, and not had that Eureka moment.

As exciting as it is, it is also a bit daunting - many things that have been put on the back-burner until the US or the Med now need to be attended to.  Such as, we need to do yet another round of deeper maintenance, lay in more supplies & spares, and newly to kick off the enrolment for the transit of the Canal, and start the process for a long-stay visa in French Polynesia.  And a host of other things in preparation for a prolonged stay in areas where the supply-line can stretch a bit thin at times.


Anyway, that’s the latest breaking news from PERIGEE.



Hoping this finds you in good health and spirits.  We always enjoy news from family and friends so please leave a comment or send us an email.

From the Atlantic / Caribbean

David & Leanne
SV Perigee

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