Pacific Panama: Apr/May 2025

Pangas moored in the tidewaters behind the small village of Pixvae

                  We had been communicating with Omar, an employee in the Port Captain’s office at Puerto Armuelles, on What’s App so extensively that we felt he was a good friend before we even met. Our check in process turned out to be an interesting immersive cultural experience in itself. To begin, we were scheduled to arrive during Holy Week. We learned that Holy Week in mostly Catholic Costa Rica and Panama is a big deal and government offices and businesses close for part or all of the week. It is a major time of family gatherings and celebrating. We had to race to check out of Costa Rica on Wednesday, which involved stops at several offices and a bank.  Omar graciously arranged to check us into Panama on Thursday and arranged for all needed officials to be present when we arrived at 5pm on Holy Thursday.  We were happy to pay the reasonable overtime to get properly checked in so we could start our Panama cruise and the officials seemed quite pleased to receive it.

                  Omar arranged to have a panga come out to our boat to pick us up since it would be high tide and not enough beach to safely land a dinghy in the surf. Clinging to our important documents, we had a rollicking landing and remained mostly dry only because the two young men operating the boat were willing to jump in up to their necks to get the boat beached.  Omar was standing at the beach waiting for us with a warm smile and genuine welcome. On our short walk along dusty streets to his office, we passed storefronts closed for the holidays and the park filled with local families enjoying the pleasant evening. We cleared through immigration, customs, agriculture and the port captain all in a single building that was modest at best—small rooms with an old, dented metal desk, a lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, very old office equipment, dusty floors. All the officials, but especially Omar, were kind and clearly proud to serve us, prepared with all the necessary paperwork, present in clean official shirts.  Omar walked with us to a nearby ATM (fees had to be paid in cash) and explained that the Puerto Armuelles used to be a booming Chaquita banana export city, but in 2003 the company left due to labor disputes.  Since then, the population has dropped significantly, the economy has struggled, and the huge dock near our anchorage used in the port’s heyday is now dilapidated and in disrepair--a telling symbol of the struggle.

Puerto Armuelles' pier where bananas used to be loaded for export.

                  The islands dotting the Pacific coast of Panama were beautiful and a welcome reprieve, for there coastlines offered anchorages that were sheltered from the ocean swell we had lived with for much of the prior month.  We made stops at Isla Parida, Isla Cavada, and Isla Cebaco which other than a few locals enjoying day excursions on the weekends, were quiet islands with little development.  We arrived at Islas Secas on my birthday (4/21) and enjoyed the best snorkeling since the Sea of Cortez—lots of fish life and healthy coral heads. We also endured our most intense thunderstorm of the entire season with brief strong winds, heavy rain, and some lightening. It was a preview of what the looming rainy season would bring and the reason why we were making good time toward the Panama Canal, our final step before putting the boat up for the season in May.  Isla Cebaco had some swell in the anchorage, so we set out a Fortress stern anchor to hold our bow into the waves. We woke to realize we weren’t as clever as we thought--the stern line we used to secure the anchor had chaffed through and despite a valiant effort by Brett to find it using our friends Hooka scuba system, the water was too murky to see a thing and the anchor was lost.  

                  We had a few exciting stops along the mainland coast as well.  Bahia Honda is a favorite cruiser destination and two friendly families living in this very remote bay welcome cruising boats to anchor in front of their homes.  They have limited resources but do cultivate a family farm.  As soon as we arrived, they offered us fresh mangoes, avocados, beets, plantains, and pineapple in exchange for some basic supplies.  We were able to offer a backpack, shoes, notebooks and pencils, some canned food, and batteries.  By the time we arrived in Bahia Honda, we were running low on fresh produce, so the trade was a win-win.  We were pleased to get a glimpse of these family’s way of life.

A South Pacific storm was bringing in some bigger swell preventing us from stopping at Playa Benao, a beach town where we had expected to reprovision.  The waves were just too big to safely land on shore, so we instead anchored at the more protected western end of the bay in Bahia Guanico.  Well, that spot was not as protected as advertised and by morning we had large waves placing increasing strain on our anchor chain and snubber, so we made haste to get out of there before things got any worse.  Punta Mala (Bad Point!) was a passage where the currents and waves can be strong, so rounding the point must be timed with low slack tide. Being chased out of our anchorage meant we were leaving for this passage about 5 hours early so we had to while away some time before reaching Punta Mala. We did this by sailing in big double reefed zigzags very slowly making our way to the point.  Our buddy boat friends thought our next band should be named the Double Reefed ZigZags!

We rounded Punta Mala under sail around 11pm and encountered manageable counter currents and minor standing waves.  In the darkness we could begin to see the lights of the container ships converging upon the canal entrance.   To reach Las Perlas Islands we would have to play frogger and cross both lanes of the shipping channel coming in and out of the canal. We were grateful for our prior experience in British Columbia dodging traffic in shipping lanes which gave us more confidence than some of our fellow cruisers who were doing this for the first time.  

We let our guard down once across the shipping lanes, but only briefly, for lightening was starting to blossom on the radar in front of us. We were following the cell as we both moved northeast, but our friends on Felicita and Lost Pearl who were about an hour ahead of us endured a scary ride through intense and close lightening.  We were very relieved to hear that they safely made it.

Once in the Las Perlas, we enjoyed a couple of nice spots—the first on Isla San Jose at a small resort with mooring balls, a restaurant and a pool and the second at the beautiful Isla Pedro Gonzalez anchorage.  Isla San Jose was home to many scarlet and blue macaws!

The conditions were perfect to get a few boat projects done and enjoy shared dinners with our buddy boating friends on Felicita and Lost Pearl. We were all ultimately heading to the Playita anchorage in Panama City to prepare to go through the canal, so we started calling ourselves the Playita Posse.   

The Playita Posse!

We wished we could stay longer but needed groceries and it was time to prepare for the Panama Canal transit.  Our final sail of the season was one of beauty and contrast-- leaving remote and rugged Pacific Panama behind us, now sailing towards the growing skyline of Panama City’s urban bustle.