April 16, 2003

By Grzegorz | April 16, 2003

Photos of the Day: Siesta in Panama

April 16 – Panama & Environs

Today’s Photo of the Day totally cracked us up. We don’t mean
to be disrespectful, but the lovely little girl reminds us of
something that a hippier-than-thou young mother might have brought
along as a fashion accessory during a Saturday afternoon outing
at Peoples’ Park in Berkeley in the late ’60s.

Fortunately, the reality is much better.
The little cutie is a member of the Wounaan tribe in Panama.
While her tribe lives only 20 miles from Colon on the Caribbean
side of the Canal, the tribe is almost identical in culture and
customs to the other Wounaan and Embera tribes that are found
in the largely uninhabited Darien province of Panama.

Darien, you’ll recall, is where the jungle is so thick that it
is normally impossible to get from Panama to Colombia. In any
event, the photo was taken by Ed and Daisy Marill of the Marathon,
Florida-based CSY 44 Siesta.

As we’ve said a number of times before in Latitude, we
believe that Panama is perhaps the most underrated adventure
cruising ground in the world. For a small country, it’s got tremendous
variety. Check out these other photos.

Here is Siesta and several other
yachts anchored off East Hollandes Cay in the fabled San Blas
Islands on the Caribbean side of Panama. The Marills note that
it’s not uncommon for circumnavigators to say that the San Blas
Islands are what they thought the South Pacific was going to
be like.

All Photos Courtesy of Siesta

A third shot is of Ricardo, a Kuna indian,
with Daisy and Siesta crewman Hank Delevati, serving lobster
dinner as the sun goes down off a beautiful sandy beach. Lobster
is common in the San Blas Islands. In fact, the locals fly about
500 pounds a day out to Miami.

The fourth shot is of Portobelo, about 20 miles east of the Canal
on the Caribbean side, and one of the most historic sites in
the Caribbean. As you well know, Portobelo was discovered by
Columbus in 1502 on his fourth trip to the West Indies, and later
was the principal Spanish port in the Caribbean for around 200
years. Gold and other treasure from Perú were delivered
to Panama City by ship, then by land across the ithsmus to the
Caribbean, to await shipment to Spain from Portobelo via Havana.
Large quantities of gold and silver were stored in fortresses
and warehouses in Portobelo, and it is said that sometimes they
were so full that silver ingots were piled up high on the street.
Sir Francis Drake died off Portobelo and was buried at sea near,
what else, Isla Drake. Later Jimmy Buffet included Portobelo
in some of his songs about the Caribbean.

The last photo is of Ed and Daisy.
The moral of the story is don’t give Panama a short shrift.

Well Then, We’ll Have Our Own Clipper/Kenwood
Cup

April 16 – Hawaii

Scuttlebutt reports that the TransPac 52 Class is currently
planning its own Hawaiian Island Series after the conclusion
of the Pacific Cup next summer. It’s possible there could be
TransPac 52s on the starting line for the 2004 Pacific Cup, followed
up by an exciting Race Week in the tropics. It seems mainlanders
miss the excitement of racing in the strong tradewinds of Hawaii.

More on the Stolen Tayana 58 Cutter

April 16 – In The Virgins

“I saw your recent ‘Lectronic item on the Tayana 58 cutter
Isabella that was stolen in the Virgin Islands,”
writes Ray Catlette, who describes himself as ‘former rail meat
from Benicia’.

“I was the captain who delivered her to the Virgins, and
employed several Bay Area people to help. Anyway, here’s more
information: Isabella is a Tayana 58 RS (raised salon)
cutter with a dark blue hull with white cabin tops, weathered
teak decks, a tan dodger/bimini, mast furling mainsail, and staysail/jib
on roller furlers with tan sun guards. She looks a lot like an
Oyster, and has been mistaken for one many times. She’s missing
from a mooring at Caneel Bay, St. John, US Virgins.

“I’ve worked on Isabella three times before. First,
as crew to deliver her from Chesapeake to West Palm Beach in
December of 2000. Then as captain on an owner-assisted delivery
to Puerto Rico from December 2000 to February of 2001. Finally,
I did an owner-assisted delivery from the Chesapeake to Ft. Lauderdale.
This year we arranged to deliver the boat to the Virgins, where
I would ‘house sit’ her, using her as a base to continue running
deliveries, and attempt to run some day charters in Virgins.

“Isabella was left on a National Park Service Mooring
in Caneel Bay, and seen as recently as March 25. When I returned
on April 7, she was gone! A National Park Service Ranger told
me she’s the third boat to be reported stolen there since December.
There was one in December, one in February, and now Isabella.
None has been recovered. If anybody knows anything, please report
it.”

Not Sure If You Want A Liferaft For Your
Cruising Boat?

April 16 – Caribbean

Check out pages 62 and 63 of the April issue of Yachting World
magazine. They have a sequence of a Catalina 42 Never Say
Never sinking under sail near Kick ’em Jenny north of Grenada
in the Caribbean. She started taking on water for no reason and
sank shortly thereafter.

Photos Courtesy Stewart Whiting
via Yachting World

The other sequence is of the Catana 44
Bad Bad that hit a whale about 10 miles off St. Lucia,
also in the Eastern Caribbean, holing the starboard hull and
breaking one of the rudders. Although the singlehander abandoned
the cat, she was later found partially still afloat several days
later.

Photos Courtesy John Franklin
& Sheena Jolley via Yachting
World

If you’re thinking that only boat models with names that start
with the letters ‘ca’ tend to sink, think again and make sure
your liferaft is in good working order because there are lots
of other letters in the alphabet!

They’re Back Again,
In Glorious Color

April 16 – Profligate

Our Color Coverage Of The Dartmouth Coeds On Spring Break
On Banderas Bay continues.

Say hello to Geniveive Sonsino, both sitting and standing on
the bow of Profligate. (Normally one shouldn’t be sitting
or standing on the bow of a fast moving boat without a PFD, but
this shot was taken by professionals on a closed course.)

Photos Latitude/Richard

And also say hello to Stephanie Wayne,
behind the wheel.
Being from Berkeley, we have no idea where Dartmouth is. But
judging from the smiles on the girls’ faces, we have to assume
that it was much warmer in P.V.

YOTREPS

April 16 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace

Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? The YOTREPS daily yacht
tracking page has moved to www.bitwrangler.com/psn.

Weather Updates

April 16 – Pacific
Ocean

San Francisco Bay Weather

To see what the winds are like on the Bay
and just outside the Gate right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind.

The National Weather Service site for San
Francisco Bay is at www.wrh.noaa.gov/Monterey.

California Coast Weather

Looking for current as well as recent wind
and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena
and the Mexican border? Here’s the place – which has further
links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/Southwest.shtml.

Pacific Winds and Pressure

The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology
page posts a daily map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric
pressure and winds.

Pacific Sea State

Check out the Pacific Ocean sea states
at: http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.

For views of sea states anywhere in the world,
see http://www.oceanweather.com/data.

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