Photos: A Peek inside the 7th Wonder of the Modern World

Two big boys make their passage through the mighty Panama Canal

 PANAMA CITY: Traversing the canal in a tiny sailboat is a big deal. It's kinda intimidating when you realize they cram small boats next to those mammoths pictured in the photo above. Being the wimpy cruiser that I am, I was thrilled when our friends Howard and Lynn said "Me First!" to go through the canal, and enlisted our help line handling for them. "After YOU!" I cried happily, as we eagerly signed up to help them through. We would be taking feverish notes.

Howard waves goodbye to the Pacific Ocean as the lock closes behind him.
He won't see it again for a very long time. 

             This photo shows the "line handling" that is required to traverse boats through the canal. As the locks fill and empty (it shocked me how quickly they do so!) we must stay alert and loosen or tighten the lines as we rise or fall with the water.  It's quite surgy and a bit intimidating. The boat is constantly being pulled from side to side during the process. They often get out of control and smash up against the wall -- hence the tires they require us to hang over the side.

When the 100 year old doors slam shut it kinda feels like you're trapped
inside some sort of a gigantic water torture dungeon. 

We were told that this behemoth tanker would be sharing the lock with us. OK. No problem...

We watched as he powered towards us...

Chris watches with anticipation

...closer...(gulp)...

                              ...uh...OK...CLOSER...?!?!?...how close do these guys get?
        (Note the teeny tiny line which holds him every-so-securely to the dock, or so we hope...)

"OH, FOR THE LOVE OF...?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

Howard has the only appropriate emotion for a human to have at this juncture...(LOL)...

"But seriously...what in the hell was I thinking?" (LOL)

Chris handled the stern line

Gabrielle and Pam handled the bow lines with great expertise

And lil' ol' me managed to handle the starboard stern line without screwing it up!

         

     We made it through all 6 locks without a hitch. This delivery crew was of the rare "mostly female" variety. In this photo, Howard encourages us to show off our a$$ets. Looks like the Wimpy Cruiser (me) was the only one who refused to come to the table in that area... :-)

The complete Swift Current delivery crew, including William, our pilot

   After helping to secure Swift Current on the dock at the Shelter Bay Marina on the Atlantic side, we drove back across the isthmus to Panama City.


       Next up: it's Espiritu's turn. Pacific Ocean -- do you have any last words?

"The US Marines are invading Panama City!"

   
   If you are a youngster, you may not know that the United States military invaded Panama City only 20 years ago, in 1989.

        Yep. THIS Panama City. MY Panama City.  Thousands of Panamanian citizens were killed.

   For those of you old enough to remember, President H.W. Bush announced that we were invading Panama to oust President Noriega. His rationale was that Noriega was a drug trafficker and he mistreated his citizens.

 So 5 days before Christmas (!) the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force invaded and bombed Panama City. And not just the outskirts, or some military base outside of town.

 There were Christmas decorations up all over the city, including countless nativity scenes, lovingly placed. Christmas music was most certainly playing as the soldiers attacked and the bombs dropped.

This map shows the main targets of the U.S. Military during the invasion. Panama City is at the bottom of the map. 

This photo was taken yesterday from Espiritu. The land just beyond the trees was bombed by Apache helicopters. Ancon hill, in the distance, was bombed as well.  This is a highly populated area.

An American Apache helicopter

An American tank claims victory over a Panama City laundromat

    In the years leading up to 1989, President Noriega was a known drug trafficker, and many say he was on the CIA payroll for his cooperation in such matters. So, what changed in 1989?

  Not coincidentally, 10 days after the Christmas invasion the US was poised to begin returning control of the  Panama Canal to the Panamanian government. (The US had maintained control since it was built in 1914).

 Many claim that the US and other governments worried that Noriega would limit access to the Canal once he had full control, and that this was the real reason we invaded and removed the President from power.

            Chris and I climbed Ancon Hill (which was bombed), and took this photo of old town and El Chorillo, both of which were invaded and bombed during the invasion, causing destruction and death of civilians. This area was nearly destroyed, and has not recovered. 20 years later, it is very poor and a dangerous, drug-infested neighborhood.

The streets of Panama City during Operation Just Cause

 
     Interestingly, after the invasion of the city from several fronts, Noriega was finally found, taking refuge in the Vatican Embassy.   Thus began the next phase of the invasion, called "Operation Nifty Package." (No, I'm not making that up.)

  During this phase the military surrounded the Embassy and tried to get Noriega to come out. Of interest, they began blaring rock music 24 hours a day to move things along.

  Legend has it that they played The Clash's version of "I Fought The Law" on a loop at full volume.

The Clash onstage, breaking stuff

    Anyway, eventually Noriega came out holding a  Holy Bible (he WAS in the Vatican Embassy, after all) and was promptly thrown to the ground by several large Marines and taken away.

  But the damage was done.

  Anyway, Noriega went away, another guy took his place and the turnover of the canal from the US to Panamanian hands went off without a hitch 10 days later.

 You might note a slight anti-war tone to this post.  But the weird thing is, I'm not really anti-war. I understand that there are times when it is necessary. What bothers me is when political leaders mislead the public about the real reasons we send our best and brightest into harms way.

 For instance, in this case, if President Bush had come on TV and explained that the Panama Canal is of absolute vital importance not only to the US, but to the world -- and that Noriega was threatening to withold it's use from us -- well, I probably would have agreed that yes, this is pretty important.

 But it does sadden and worry me that the world views us as aggressors and a country to be feared.

                I took this photo of a video game ad in a Panama City Mall. Note the American flag at the right edge of the image. So, this guy with the knives, arrows, guns and whatever-the-hell kind of scary hatchet thing in his left hand is an invading American soldier? An American "Assassin", as the game implies?

          It makes me sad that this type of video game (selling in Panama, don't forget) just perpetuates that image.  Anyway...the mystery continues.

    OK, anyway, I guess I should thank President Bush for making our upcoming crossing of the Panama Canal possible. This will hopefully happen in the next few days. Until then, keep calm and carry on!

Photos: Shakedown in the Las Perlas

We humans are naturally drawn to open country -- to the open sea and sky. 

   It's where everything comes clear. 

The view from our beach towel on Isla Chapera in the Las Perlas Islands 

     I think the word "adventure" is overused. For me, it's when everything goes wrong -- THAT is when the adventure truly starts.  After months of work on the dock in Panama City repairing Espiritu after her lightning strike, Chris and I finally untied the dock lines and set her free.  We set sail for the Las Perlas Islands, 30 miles away. Happily, the old girl took to the water without a care in the world -- as if nothing had ever happened.

  They say the ocean has healing powers, as well as the wind and the sun. I should say so! A few glitches remained with the SSB, VHF and auto pilot, and we almost hit another floating tree (welcome to Central America during the rainy season) but we were so happy to be back on the water where we belong. :-)

Our first stop: Isla Contadora

        We grabbed a map and eagerly went ashore to explore Contadora's winding pathways.
                    Chris: "I know there's a beautiful beach here somewhere..."

And just like THAT, we were in the jungle! 

We were shocked when a deer bounced across our path. A deer on a tropical island? 

Chris strolls along one of Contadora's clean, cared for roads

          This "For Sale" sign is completely covered with newly-grown foliage.  If you want to sell your property in Central America, you've gotta prune the vines around your sign a couple of times a week!

           People do live on Contadora. I'm always amazed when people feel the need to build a
          pool when you've got crystal-clear 84 degree water on the beach just outside the door!

Wow -- that must have been quite the storm!

One of Contadora's inviting beaches

                                         

This roadside wildflower seems to be exploding with joy, like a Chinese fireworks display

              Village tiendas in Latin America often call themselves the charmingly oxymoronic
                         "Mini  supermarket." There are three itty-bitty ones on Contadora.
                                     This one is "smally" but we wouldn't call it "Blandy." :-)

Vines, vines, vines everywhere!

 

You know you're in the tropics when wild pineapples are your flotsam and jetsam

A Panamanian couple next to us on this beach played Jack Johnson on their stereo -- how perfect is that?

They say that silence is the language of God

The Travelocity gnome was here?

There are lots of dive shops on Contadora

Bear Grylls of "Man vs. Wild" dove here

Check mate!

                   After a couple of lovely days and nights at Contadora, a storm came in which
                  made the anchorage untenable, so we pulled and motored over to the gorgeous
                             anchorage between Mago Mago and Chapera Islands.

OK, after 11 months of hard work and sacrifice heading south, we've finally arrived. :-) 

                   We swam and snorkeled the reefs full of parrotfish, angelfish, barracudas,
               rays and even a sea snake or two.

50 foot visibility greeted us when we snorkeled the reefs of the Perlas

    Several adult and youngster humpbacks swam, breached, flapped, fed and played all around the anchorage during our stay. One came right up next to the anchored Espiritu (within 5 feet), popped up as if to say "Hey, mate!" and then ambled on.

   As we snorkeled and swam, we were stunned to find that we could hear the nearby humpback whales singing. We looked at each other in disbelieving awe.

 The Greeks spoke of different types of time. There is Chronos time, or chronological time. And then there is Kairos time, which literally translates as "in between time" -- where time seems to slow down along with our pulse and lowering blood pressure.

   This is what we experienced here at Chapera.

  Our friends Larry and Sandy aboard I Yam What I Yam soon arrived in the anchorage. Together we jumped in the dinghy with plans to circumnavigate Mago Mago, with stops for snorkeling along the way.

 The seas were flat calm as usual as we putted along in the dinghy.

Suddenly, out of nowhere two 15 foot breaking pipeline-type waves suddenly appeared and rocketed over the reef shown above. They just missed us.  Later, back at anchor, the tides came and went like rushing rivers, nearly dislodging our anchors. We thought all of this was strange but didn't think anything of it.

 We found out two days later that a 7.5 earthquake had struck just offshore of neighboring Costa Rica, and there was a tsunami warning issued.

 Well. If those waves had hit us noone would have died, but we would have been violently tossed into the sea -- AGAIN -- by our dinghy. LOL...

 Anyway, we heard there were no fatalities due to the quake, and no major tsunami resulted.

 After several idyllic days here in the Las Perlas, we settled in for our last evening aboard Espiritu before we would head home to Panama City at first light.

 After dinner, we turned on the politically-incorrect but hilarious farce "Tropic Thunder."

      Almost immediately, a pretty violent lightning storm blew in, so we watched "Tropic Thunder" while REAL tropic thunder pounded around us.

        We should have figured that turning on "Tropic Thunder" might have been a bad omen. Just two nights ago, I Yam What I Yam turned on "Hackers" and -- I kid you not -- it fried their hard drive.

  You can't make this stuff up, people!

  Anyway, things continued to decopensate in the anchorage, as the storm tried to toss Espiritu onto the dark beach, which now in the black of night and in the midst of the lightning, thunder, rain, wind and waves, suddenly didn't look as inviting as it had merely hours before.

 So we pulled anchor in the middle of the cacophany and headed to sea. This is something that non-sailors can never understand. But if you're at anchor in a bad storm, sometimes at sea is the safest place to be.

 So we headed home to Panama City, and arrived at our mooring at the Balboa Yacht Club the next morning.

Moorings at the Panama City Balboa Yacht Club

We're poised at the mouth of the Bridge of the Americas and the Panama Canal. Next up: onward and finally through the canal to the Atlantic Ocean! 

  Onward...