Day 8, Arrival in Panama!

1715Z 09APR19, Day 8, USVI to Panama Passage. We have arrived in Panama, Shelter Bay Marina!

We did our best to be sailors and not rely on the engine. We crawled along at 2-3kts for 50 or so of the last 75nm in light winds and opposing current. I guess it is a lesson in patience? Lifting our spirits was a fellow sailboat outside of the Panama traffic zone who was also going very slowly on a parallel course. We saw him on AIS and could see his lights for hours. Then he gave up and turned on his engine and was gone before morning. There is comfort to know that you aren't the only one being set back by current and struggling with light winds!

All's well that ends well. This morning after sunrise, we turned on the engine and brought in our sail. There were no signs of any shaking or vibration which was a huge relief. We did some maneuvering and felt like the rudder was still a bit hard to turn. As we are sure that we had something caught in the rudder back on the 2nd it still seemed important to dive the boat and see what we could see. We had planned to go to a spot to anchor, but the area along the coast on the way to Colon settled down to a small swell and the winds were light. We deemed it safe and decided to dive off the coast. Megan dove and found absolutely nothing out of order. What a huge relief! We delayed our arrival and were overly cautious, but we arrived in sunshine and everything looks good again. The saying that sailing is a series of high highs and low lows is quite true. 

Current Position: 09 22N 079 57W

24 hour progress: 76nm, 3.5kts avg SOG

Passage statistics:

1068 nautical miles

7 days, 22 hours

5.6 knots average speed over ground

7.6 hours of engine time

60 liters of fuel consumed (approximately)

285 liters of water consumed

1 swim in the Caribbean but close to shore (but only 1 person and not for "fun")

1 Dolphin sighting

0 Fish caught

2 Things broken - 1 x lazy jacks; 1 x head water drain pump sensor

Post was delayed for some lunch and some cold drinks...now on to a nap!

Final Cribbage Passage Tally: 

Jon-11, Megan-3 

Jon-1, Daxton-0