Time for a new blog

Tregoning — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:31:00 +0200

There are still plenty of photos to post on this Panama Pacific Coast 2010 blog (I’ll try to get these done while we are in Golf...

Costa Rica at last!

Tregoning — Fri, 28 May 2010 21:21:00 +0200

After six marvelous weeks of hopping between islands and bays we have finally made our way to Golfito in Costa Rica.

Mangoes and coconuts

Tregoning — Tue, 25 May 2010 21:31:00 +0200

When unfamiliar with the local language, it can be easy to assume that most place names are derived from a person&rsquo...

Rocks, wind, and swell

Tregoning — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:31:00 +0200

Although our anchor stayed solidly in place at Las Secas, despite some fresh breezes, the water clarity was terrible at our...

Cruiser company again

Tregoning — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:31:00 +0200

After our fascinating and energetic morning snorkel at the northwest corner of Isla Brincanco on Friday (May 21^s...

Getting better all the time

Tregoning — Thu, 20 May 2010 21:31:00 +0200

(Note: the Google map does not show the whole Island of Brincanco, perhaps because there is a cloud in the satelli...

A flight abruptly ended

Tregoning — Mon, 17 May 2010 21:31:00 +0200

During the second night we were anchored at Granito de Oro there was a bit of rain and it was quite windy, up to 20 to 25 k...

Worth every penny

Tregoning — Sun, 16 May 2010 21:31:00 +0200

Being a national park it is not surprising that there are entrance- and anchoring-fees associated with Coiba and the surrou...

A little disappointed

Tregoning — Fri, 14 May 2010 21:31:00 +0200

On Friday morning (May 14^th) we left Ensenada Hermosa in search of better snorkeling conditions.<...

A former penal colony

Tregoning — Thu, 13 May 2010 21:31:00 +0200

It is not possible to overstate how pleasant it was at Bahía Honda where we were so well protected from the Paci...

Finding tranquility

Tregoning — Wed, 12 May 2010 21:31:00 +0200

During our first night at Isla Goberadora, we learned that when the wind picks up from a direction that opposes the channel...

Hopping westward

Tregoning — Sat, 08 May 2010 21:31:00 +0200

Even though we did not go ashore at Ensenada Naranjo, we were well aware of some of the fauna of the area.&...

Anchored near surfers

Tregoning — Fri, 07 May 2010 21:31:00 +0200

Ensenada (cove) Benao has one of Panama’s premier surfing beaches and when we arrived on Thursday morning (May 6&...

Lee shores and glassy seas

Tregoning — Thu, 06 May 2010 21:31:00 +0200

As many novice captains or confused boat passengers can testify, there is a huge vocabulary associated with sailing that in...

Breaking the anchor free

Tregoning — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:31:00 +0200

Finally, late on Saturday morning (May 1^st) after two weeks in the same place we broke the anchor fr...

An absence of deadlines

Tregoning — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:31:00 +0200

I am the sort of procrastinator who can get fun, easy things done in an organized relaxed fashion but for whom a deadline i...

Island hopping to Costa Rica

Tregoning — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 00:57:00 +0200

Sometimes getting internet access can be quite a challenge. With a pile of emails to which to respond, online searches to make, and with ...

Island mystery date

Tregoning — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:34:00 +0200

It had been a while since we went on a “mystery date” so while Randall was slogging away at filing our ...

Auto-pilot: to be or not to be?

Tregoning — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:47:00 +0200

The rest of our brief visit to Costa Rica and our return journey to Panamá City went astonishingly smoothly.&...

Banished to movies and air conditioning

Tregoning — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 22:49:00 +0200

Immigration requirements can be quite mystifying. It is not obvious to us what the benef...

Why sailing can still be great fun

Tregoning — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:58:00 +0200

Although we could have stayed quite happily exploring the neighboring anchorage at San José, we had to start hea...

It must be nice to own an island

Tregoning — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:55:00 +0200

Now that we had a functioning windlass and so could pull the anchor up at a reasonable speed, we had decided that it was go...

Reunited with Joss

Tregoning — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 03:04:00 +0100

The $15 pay-as-you-go cellphone that we had bought after some debate in Bocas back in June had been much more useful than w...

Where has everybody gone?

Tregoning — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:14:00 +0100

As I have mentioned before, one of the joys of this life-style is having the time to read a lot of books and, so far, we ha...

Peaceful waters

Tregoning — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:14:00 +0100

We enjoyed the location and company at Isla Chapera but the anchorage was very exposed to the east. &...

A good place to “survive”

Tregoning — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:54:00 +0100

- 08 35 12 N 079 01 10 W

Another species for dinner

Tregoning — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:44:00 +0100

Sometimes it is surprisingly hard to give people money. &...

Waiting for our part in Las Perlas

Tregoning — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:34:00 +0100

Tomorrow we are planning to go back to Las Perlas to relax and enjoy some snorkeling while we wait for the new computer for our auto-pilot to arriv...

Cutting loose – Part 2

Tregoning — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:52:00 +0100

Phew, this has been a windy week! Not long after we arrived in Panamá City we...

Cutting loose at Las Brisas

Tregoning — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:42:00 +0100

Having been interrupted from his restoration of the anchor windlass by the tsunami warning on Saturday morning, it was with...

Nature's Surprises

Tregoning — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:33:00 +0100

When there are only two washing machines to accommodate the laundry needs of at least 30 cruising boats and goodness knows ...

The end of our vacation

Tregoning — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:23:00 +0100

After an excellent couple of weeks enjoying the islands of Las Perlas and the rivers of the Darién, we returned ...

Hello and Goodbye

Tregoning — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:24:00 +0100

Although there seemed to be still more beaches, rivers, and reefs to explore near Isla Espiritu Santo, we wanted to make at...

Taking our leave of the Darién

Tregoning — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:21:00 +0100

Other than feeling rather out-of-place having arrived late to the Carnaval celebrations in La Palma and having to dodge the...

Arriving too late for Carnaval

Tregoning — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:17:00 +0100

We left the Río Congo at the end of the ebb tide late on Tuesday morning (Feb 16^th).

The fishing is good

Tregoning — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:14:00 +0100

We set off to visit the Darién early on Monday morning (Feb 15^th) with a certain sense of...

Enjoying "The Pearls" of Panama

Tregoning — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 01:13:00 +0100

The anchorage between Islas Espiritu Santo and del Rey is a very attractive site with a fairly constant south-bound current...

Trusting the anchorage

Tregoning — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:05:00 +0100

Our trip to Las Perlas was not thoroughly planned.&...

Of butterflies and upstream drifting

Tregoning — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:58:00 +0100

There was a bit of a temptation to never leave the San José anchorage. The sh...

Biting fish but murky water

Tregoning — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:54:00 +0100

Randall is from the Pacific coast of the USA and I am from an island in the...

Collecting supplies

Tregoning — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:51:00 +0100

Panamá City is a classic city of contrasts. The ruins of old Panamá...

Time to take a break from the City

Tregoning — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:59:00 +0100

Phew! Why did I think that I would have more time to work on the blog when my brother arrived??? Anyway, he arrived on Wednesda...

Enjoying watching the Canal traffic

Tregoning — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:02:00 +0100

Welcome to the Pacific Coast of Panama!

Our position at the northern end of the Babloa Yacht Club mooring field...

A fantastic Canal transit (the very long version)

Tregoning — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:47:00 +0100

Note: This is an expansion of the last posting on the blog titled “Panama Caribbean Coast 2009” (formerly known as Panama and C...