Off the beaten track in Panama

Two boobies catch a ride with us

Upon arriving in Bahia Honda we discovered a lost world.  A perfectly protected bay, surrounded by lush mangroves, jungle, palm trees and many birds.  The anchorage was flat calm and we were excited to meet ‘Domingo’s’ clan that we'd heard about from our friends.  Domingo himself had passed away about a month ago, but his descendants are still carrying on the tradition of warmly welcoming cruising boats to the bay.  The two families near the anchorage are both eager to trade with any passerby as the are no roads to this bay and it costs $100 to catch a boat ride to the nearest town.  As such, the yachting community is very important to the locals as it is their primary access to commercial goods. 

Deep in the jungle, winding through the mangroves at high tide

Having heard what might be valuable ‘trading’ items from several cruisers that were ahead of us on this route we had stocked up on a few items.  Clothing, raincoats, batteries, school supplies, backpacks, flour, pasta and other food items that may not be locally grown were in high demand.  On our first evening, Kennedy, his wife Olivia and their youngest son paddled out to our boat with a load full of fruits. 

Fresh, organic fruit traded for raincoat, backpack and school supplies

We exchanged goods knowing full well that we’d have everything easily provided in a few weeks – so we could get by without a few things in the short term if needed.  The family used our internet for an hour or so as we chatted (thanks to google translate, poor English and poor Spanish on all our parts) late into the evening and we were invited to dinner the next day. 

Dan enjoying the calm before the thunderstorm in beautiful Bahia Honda

The day of the dinner, there was a terrific thunderstorm right as we were supposed to be taking the dingy to shore.  We waited for the worst to pass and met Kennedy on the beach in front of his house.  Built of stone blocks, the home was open air and furnished with hand crafted furniture made by Kennedy.  We were served fresh caught fish, coconut rice and fried plantains.  Olivia showed us how she prepared the plaintains and told us the coconut rice was made with her hand pressed coconut oil.  They had water from the local creek, propane for the stove and enough solar power to keep one light running/phones charging after dark.

At dinner with Kennedy & Olivia

Even though our language barrier was big, we managed to discuss politics – ‘which president has been the best/worst’, life with kids (their son takes a kayak every morning 30 minutes to the local school) and discussed life off-grid (solar panels, water supply, etc.)   It was a delightful evening and a welcome respite from sitting on the boat in the rain. 

We said our goodbyes to Bahia Honda and the friendly locals. We made our way toward Punta Mala (Bad Point) – named because there are often steep waves, strange currents and in this season ever present squally weather. 

Lightning lights the skies as we depart to Punta Mala

We changed our strategy for transiting about 3 times and finally decided to leave at midnight so that we could get to the point at slack before flood tide.  Our timing ending up being off because we didn’t know that we’d have a current with us for the first 40 miles and we showed up 2 hours before slack.  But, it didn’t really seem to matter as the speed in the first part of the trip helped us avoid two thunderstorms cells.  When we finally rounded the point we had following seas and no wind.  It was no problem.  We passed the point so early we just continued another 40 miles into the Bay of Panama to wait outside the marina until high tide the next morning at which time we could enter the Marina.  More on that next week!

Exploring the mangroves in the bay of Honda