Our passage from Port Antonio, Jamaica to Colón, Panama was challenging. It was the longest one we have ever done and it was much more uncomfortable than we expected despite the favourable weather window. We were exposed to the open Atlantic so that meant that the waves were huge at times. The uncomfortable motion and resulting seasickness made for some miserable conditions as we pointed Starship’s bow towards Panama.

This blog contains more vidoes than my other blogs do. I hope the videos do an accurate job of telling our story of those four days at sea.

Our unfortunate experience with the Jamaican Coast Guard (that I am about to describe) did not change our feelings for all the wonderful people we met who call Jamaican their home.

For the first several hours, we needed to motor around the south eastern tip of Jamaica to line up with our wind direction. The waves were quite big so it was an uncomfortable start to the trip but we hoped that once we could turn and put up our sails, Starship would find her groove in the big seas. Long before we were able to do that we had a Jamaican coast guard boat come to us. Back in Port Antonio, we had followed the correct steps to check out of the country to obtain our zarpe (a zarpe is a clearing out document) so we knew we were well prepared should they want to see our paper documenation. We were not against them coming aboard to do any checks they felt necessary. Our concerns were about the manner in which they wanted to proceed in heavy seas. Their actions caused a very unsafe and scary situation for us.

Our experience with the coast guard was extremely stressful as you will see in the video. We were scared of damage to our boat and were very frustrated with the manner in which they were trying to board us. They also did not have VHF radio so all of our communication with them was done by yelling from boat to boat.

They wanted us to go closer to shore in hopes that conditions would be more favourable for them to board us. They were leading us to Manchioneal Harbour. From what our navionics showed us, there was no dock there. There was just a natural anchorage and we had no depth information. For the next hour we followed them as night fell. Jason and I both were very uncomfortable with the situation we were in. We never go into unknown anchorages at night without proper depth information. Our time in Jamaica showed us that the shores often shallow out very quickly and frequently we saw large debris under water. We came to the conclusion that we simply cannot do what they were telling us to do. Feeling helpless, I called the Jamaican police and tried to have them connect me to the main coast guard office. My hope was to be able to explain our circumstances so they could help resolve the situation. I was able to speak to the police but the number they kept giving me for the coast guard was out of service. We were so thankful that at that same moment (three hours into our ordeal with them) the guys yelled that we were free to go. They asked if we had an epirb on board and wished us well before they turned their boat around and sped off.

We were so relieved, but that was a very stressful beginning to our first night of the passage. At about 10:00 PM we put out the jib sail and motor sailed through the night. Seasickness was quick to find us the next morning. The waves also made going below extremely difficult without risking getting hurt.

Starship has a lovely dodger and bimini to shelter us from waves but on this sail, the odd wave would land on us from the side. Between the extreme humidity and waves, we were wet the entire passage. It was way too hot to consider putting rain gear on. Feeling absolutely miserable, I tried to curl up on the cockpit floor to rest. That was a bad decision. First a very big wave crashed into the cockpit falling right on me. Knowing I had no way to stay dry, I just stayed where I was. The next wave dislodged a big sugar cane we had tucked under the bimini. It landed on me. Tears streamed down my face as I felt a little, painful lump start to grow on my head.

There are not many photos or videos from days two and three as we put our efforts into managing our seasickness and resting as much as we could between watches. This meant we missed out on being able to enjoy our first dolphin visit but furtunately other dolphins came a couple days later when we felt better.

By day four, life onboard improved significantly. Thankfully our stomachs calmed so we could eat some proper food. With the waves calming down as well, it became much easier to move around down below.

It felt great to eat regular food again! Later that day we saw dolphins! 😍🐬

https://videopress.com/v/g4eWK8Mg?resizeToParent=1&cover=1&autoPlay=0&controls=1&loop=0&muted=0&persistVolume=1&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&sbc&sbpc&sblc&useAverageColor=1

We were all so thankful for the conditions on day four. Spirits were very high as the strong, consistent winds had us arriving in Panama a full day ahead of schedule. We had a slip (and close friends) awaiting our arrival at Shelter Bay Marina!

Sadly all we caught that day was a baby shark. Jason was smart to not put his hand anywhere near its razor sharp teeth. He cut the line very close to where the hook peirced just it’s upper lip. We did not want to leave the hook in but we knew it would rust away quickly and the shark would be fine.

Ideally, we wanted to arrive in daylight but we soon realized that was not going to happen. The closer and closer we got, the more we found ourselves surrounded by big freighters. The sky started to look a bit nasty as well. We prepared to be hit with a storm but were happy to have it give us just a dump of rain.

As night fell, we saw the lights of Panama come into view and our cell phones came back to life. The next several hours presented another challenge for us – navigating the channel leading to the fifth busiest shipping trade route in the world, the Panama Canal! We plan to transit through the Panama Canal sometime in the spring. Until then we look forward to island hopping on the Carribean side of Panama.

For the task at hand that night, I was very thankful to have Jason at the helm. He expertely communicated with the marine traffic coordinator as well as with some of the ship captains to keep us safe. He would admit thought that it was an intimidating experience. The radio communication was not always easy to understand and the channel markers blended with the lights on land making it difficult to navigate. Finally we found ourselves approaching the marina. Just before 9:00 PM, we tossed our lines to two friendly dock hands who were awaiting our arrival. As soon as I jumped off the boat, I dropped to my knees and happily kissed the dock.

We took some time to rest as we thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful amenities at Shelter Bay Marina. At a reasonable cost, this marina provides us with beautiful showers, friendly staff, immigration and cruising permit services, a big swimming pool, a handy convenience store, a free daily shuttle to and from the city… the list goes on an on. We are very comfortable here and are callling this marina home for longer than we had originally planned. We were also thrilled to connect with our friends on Beso del Viento who are also docked here!

Our stay in Shelter Bay Marina has also presented us with an incredible opportunity! An opportunity that will dramatically change the rest of the Big Trip for us. My next blog shares this exciting news! 🥂🍾

The blog below talks about why we have decided to add the above Coffee button. 😊

Random acts of kindness