We have hauled ¡Pura Vida! out of the water several times to work on her bottom, but it has always been done by a boat yard with a sling crane. These beastly contraptions place two or three enormous straps under her hull and gently lift her out of the water. The crane then moves to […]
Posts in the Panamá category:
Pacification
We finally did it! We crossed the isthmus through the Panama Canal, affectionally called the big ditch, into the expansive Pacific Ocean. Despite having read a ton of blogs and guides, there were quite a few surprises in store for us. The crossing alone was quite the experience. It required extensive prep, and coordinating several […]
Something Is Burning
“Something is burning” are three of the most frightening words you can hear someone say on a cruising boat. Those are the exact words Kimberly yelled out a couple of minutes after we had started our engine. She then ran to the cockpit and shut the engine down while I reached for the fire extinguisher. […]
We Will NEVER Be a Dog Boat!
Five years ago, when we set sail from New Orleans, we made a vow to ourselves that ¡Pura Vida! would be dog free. We love them all, but made the difficult decision based on reading about the complications and expense of clearing into new countries, the need to ferry them ashore several times a day, […]
Back for Seconds at the Buffet
After over four years of wandering through the Caribbean and exploring dozens of islands and hundreds of anchorages, you would think we are used to the excitement of arriving at a new locale. The thrill, however, never wears off. Each place can be so dramatically different in culture, landscape, language, food, customs and immigration procedures, […]
Bungle in the Jungle
Before we knew it, we were hauling ¡Pura Vida! out of the water and it was time to leave Panama. Hauling out is never an easy or relaxing process, as you see your home and all its contents unceremoniously lifted from the sea and set to rest, unnaturally, on dirt. They call it “being on […]
Fleeing Zeus’ Wrath
We had spent five months of absolute bliss exploring the islands of the Guna Yala (San Blas), but it was time to move on. We were ready to leave for a couple of reasons. The main one was that we had exactly one month before our scheduled haulout of ¡Pura Vida! in early July and […]
Guna Yala – The Cruising Life
There is no way to write a single blog about the Guna Yala land and waters, and the Guna people, and do them justice. So we will break this up into three parts. This is the third part: the sea and the cruising life. The remoteness and simple lifestyle in the Guna Yala make it […]
Guna Yala – Remote and Isolated
There is no way to write a single blog about the Guna Yala land and waters, and the Guna (aka Kuna) people, and do them justice. So we will break this up into three parts. This is the second part: the land. Along the Caribbean coast of Panama lies an area called the Guna Yala, […]
The Guna: A Fascinating Culture
There is no way to write a single blog about the Guna Yala land and waters (also known as the San Blas), and the Guna people, and do them justice. So we will break this up into three parts starting with the most important: the people. A large portion of the Caribbean coastline of Panama […]