After many hot steamy days at moorings right in Panama City and at the approaching channel for the Big Canal, I wanted the crew to get a break before sailing onward towards Galapagos. Provisioning was done, shopping was done, we were done. A different and pleasent scene, and we still needed to do some small things to restore the Picton Castle from Canal transit. Taboga would be perfect.
Taboga is a small island, almost the exact same size as Pitcairn Island, with 2,000 people, about seven miles from Pacific approaches to the Panama Canal. One morning a few days ago, we fired up, cast off the moorings and hove up the anchor, and steamed away from Balboa. As long as we stayed out of the marked channel we would not require a pilot. This was easily done. Down along the long causeway that stretched to Flamenco Island (to protect ships in the channel from cross winds), we cut across and steamed through a field of about 56 big ships at anchor, ships from 500 to 1,000 feet long, all calm riding at anchor. By noon we were anchored at pretty Taboga.
Once at anchor, the swing rope was rigged to the fore-yard and swim call was the order shouted out. Then uder Dirk’s artful direction the big heavy Monomoy long boat was launched off the galley house top and set in the water, then hoisted into its swung out davits once again. At this point the free watch could head ashore for our short planned stay here.
Taboga has a Mediterranean feel and look to it. The village with tile covered roofs climbs the hillside. Clean narrow winding streets. Lots of stucco and iron railings. A few little bistros and seafood restaraunts scattered about were ample to serve the crew’s desires. A couple nice beaches to swim from were a delight as well. Small boats at anchor looked like fishing boats. For dinghies it seems as if someone took a small local dugout and made a plug to produce little fiberglass canoes for getting around.
At anchor was also Peter Bethune, a famous sea-envirnonmental activist, once with Sea Shepherd. He came over to the Picton Castle and offered the crew a talk on his activities and insights for an hour. All quite interesting. Taboga is a popular weekend get away for Panamanians, much like Martha’s Vineyard perhaps, but on a far more tranquil and low key style. We met some ex-pats that had moved there years ago and they loved it. And it turns out that Paul Gauguin spent some time here before heading on to Tahiti. It was nice to get to clean water for a cool swim and be able to walk barefoot ashore again, something you do not want to do on the mainland.
Now we are headed south, then SW towards the Galapagos Islands. Rainy and squally it looks like untill we get about the latitude of the Columbia/Ecuador border, or at about 2 degrees north Latitude. There the clouds fall away and the sun comes out again. Or so it seems for now.