RrrrrrrrrrX: What’s in Kemah’s medical kit

Kemah has a super-awesome vet in Austin. She really understood our needs to gather supplies for worst-case-scenarios while out at sea or in remote anchorages. She worked with us to put together a basic – and comprehensive – medical kit for our salty dog focusing on antibiotics, anti-itch, anti-anxiety and re-hydration.

We have been very fortunate that K hasn’t used much from his kit, but we’re sure glad he’s had the following items, you know, just in case:

  • Heartguard – This is a must for any dog owner on land or at sea. We use this every month to protect him from mosquito-bourn heartworms. This can be difficult to obtain without an annual test for heartworms. But, since our vet is super-great, she’s made sure we’re stocked up.
  • Alprazolam – aka “Xanax”, an anti-anxiety. It’s proved useful for tropical thunderstorms, as needed.
02-MATHISON0009

he can be a bit of a weenie sometimes

  • Cephalexin – Antibiotics we’ve used to help with some skin problems caused from a food allergy (we think)
  • Tramadol – Pain relief
  • Hydroxyzine – Antihistamine
  • Clotrimazole – Antifungal cream
  • Cerenia tablets – nausea meds for dogs
  • Metronidazol – Antibiotic specifically for bacterial infections
  • Prednisone – Anti-immflamatory
  • Normosol-R– big bag of saline multiple electrolyte injection + needles and drips for the bag
  • Vet bond – basically superglue for any clean cuts
  • Oatmeal shampoo – We use this every week to 10 days, as needed to clean and condition his salty-dog skin and hair.
  • Canned pumpkin – OK, so this might seem weird to have in a “medical kit” but it’s great for bulking up dog’s stools when they have diarrhea. Plus, it’s sweet, so they always want to eat it. Get some.

You might notice that missing from this list is a pest-control med. Well, that’s because Kemah does not go to shore much and because of his short-bordering-on-non-existent coat (it’s more like a windbreaker) he has never had a problem with fleas and ticks so we don’t have a need for products like Frontline. If your salty dog (or cat) does have a tendency to get pulgas or other pests, I’d recommend you bring a stash with you as it can be hard to find in the islands.

We’ve been very lucky that Kemah has not had any major health problems on board. We had read that saltwater gives dogs diarrhea – and it does – but, luckily, we haven’t had a ton of problems with that. On his first saltwater shore leave in Florida, Kemah quickly learned that saltwater tastes bad – like “blech!” shake-your-doggie-face bad! He will inevitably ingest some saltwater while swimming and his stools will be looser because of it. But, we haven’t had any major problems with that (he just goes on the bow after swimming before coming inside). Easy peesy.

Also, regarding saltwater swimming: we were concerned about the effect seawater would have on his skin given his love of daily swims. So, in the beginning, we religiously washed him off (with shampoo and fresh water) after each dip. But, after talking to other cruisers with salty dogs, and experimenting with our own (cue FrankenKemah) we’ve found that he’s fine if we don’t bathe him after a swim. We still do, however, like to rinse him with fresh water after swimming – but it’s merely my selfish strategy to keep salt-spray off our nice new cushion covers.

Finally, K did have quite a battle on board with some sort of allergy that was presenting like a skin infection. He got all scabby and then his hair started to fall out in patches 🙁

2-IMG_0001

our sick little leopard

After consulting with our vet, it became clear he was having an allergic reaction to something in his environment or in his food. We treated with antibiotics for weeks and the symptoms would go away . . . only to come back again. After several months or trial and error AND moving several countries, we think we’ve finally kicked his rash with his new home-made dog food. Such.a.prince.

Interested in how K adjusted to his new life aboard? Click here to read about his this old dog learned some new tricks!

Or, click here to jump back to the Kemah’s Korner homepage.

What’s in Kemah’s Kloset? dog “stuff” we brought aboard for safety & comfort

What’s in Kemah’s Kloset? ooooo-ooooh, wouldn’t you like to know!

OK, twist my arm. We’ll tell you.

A short list of Kemah’s favorite things can be seen here.

A couple of easy things we got out of the way were stuff he would “wear” aboard.

Fortunately, there are a ton of great companies who make life jackets for dogs. Kemah’s is from Ruffwear.

31-IMG_0458

See that handle on top? SUPER helpful for tethering him into the cockpit.

He generally only wears it when we are underway – always in high seas and rough weather and at night. Basically, if we’ve got our harnesses on and are tethered in, K has his life jacket on and is tethered in (through the handle on top of his jacket).

He also has gotten great use out of his jacket when swimming in fresh water, like in the Rio Dulce, Guatemala. Because he’s a fairly dense dog – and was used to swimming in super-bouyant salt water – we found he really benefited from wearing his life jacket in those sweet waters.

Regarding the performance of the jacket, I’m mixed. There were actually no jackets in Austin K could try on (REI has a policy against dogs in the store .  . .). So, I measured him according to Ruffwear’s specs. Kemah measured right on the cusp of a medium and a large (he’s got a deep, barrel chest and a big fat neck, but he’s not that long – apparently fitting a dog life jacket is like going jean shopping for women: hard!). Figuring too big would be better than too small, I mail-ordered a large. And, it fits, although truthfully, I think his jacket is a bit big for him: when he’s laying down in it, he can pull his arms in like a turtle in a shell and if we were to pull him up from the water by the handle, he could possibly wiggle out – no bueno. Tightening up the jacket or exchanging it for a smaller size is on the “to-do” list.

A couple other things we brought aboard that we don’t recommend include:

  1. A doggie rash guard/swim shirt – I know what you’re thinking: “shocker, your dog didn’t need clothes”. It’s true. I bought our dog a child-sized dry-wicking shirt from Target before we left. Why? Because he likes to sun bathe – like a lot. Like Magda from “There’s Something About Mary” a lot. And, because he likes to sunbathe, he’s had tons of skin damage. While we could care less about his piggy-belly covered in liver spots, we didn’t want the (12) growths and tumors he has removed over the years to develop into something more serious – all because he likes the Vitamin D a little too much. Once, a well-meaning vet recommended we put suncreen on him to protect him from the sun. But, we’re ready to confess: the sunscreen and the swim shirt get the same amount of use from our dog (none). If K dies like a raisin in the sun, I think that’ll suit him just fine.
  2.  Shoes. Yep, this is the point where you are definitely convinced I’m a crazy dog person. But, seriously, Kemah has shoes. And, they are actually awesome – but not for this purpose. He first got shoes after he burnt his pads hiking on some sweet Texas boulders on one of Texas’ fine 100-degrees-for-100-days summer days. We figured we’d bring the shoes along for K on the boat: to provide grip on deck and also to protect him from hazards in the water (like urchins). But, like us, his bare feet provide more traction on deck than shoes and he just doesn’t do a lot of wading around in urchin-infested water (turns out).
07-IMG00083-20110608-1509

K showing off his Texas-hot-concrete protection shoes

This ain’t all! Click here to get a full list of what’s in Kemah’s medical kit

Or, click here to jump back to the Kemah’s Korner homepage.

Where to? Adventures in Officialdom with your four-legged traveling friend

so cute

get out from under all that mess!

Make no mistake about it: having a dog on board will limit the places you can visit, both on the water and overland.

Finding out if we could bring Kemah with us to certain countries was another piece of our adventuring puzzle.

There are over 20 independent nations in the Caribbean each with their own rules and regs regarding what is required to import animals.

OK, so that’s complicated, right? Yup, but that’s not all.

Shall we add another piece to this puzzle? Let’s!

Most of the info regarding importing animals relates to importing a pet via airplane (as in not via sailboat). If you’re lucky, the country you’re trying to visit is developed and has a lot of boaters entering well-established ports with clearly laid-out procedures in the language you speak.

Right? nice try

And, finally, because you’re travelling on a boat, it’s important to make sure all the countries along your route allow pets (or at least their regs are reasonable ie. they might quarantine your animal rather than killing it) in case you have to duck in because of weather or maintenance issues, right?

Sigh. this is getting hard.

But wait! Never fear, Me! (and you!)

As long as I have excel on my side, there’s no research project I can’t organize! Huzzah!

Yep, you guessed it, I took the research from the good folks over at Pet Relocation (great, non-sailboat specific info) as well as the info from the amazing sailing website Noonsite and made a handy-dandy spreadsheet of all the requirements of countries we were likely to visit. (Sheesh! I can hardly believe I did that – thanks a lot, past-Me!)

Even though you’d think those amazing sources would give me a better picture of what each country required, a lot of the info is less-than perfect. Here’s a great example from Panama of the “clarity” of the “rules”: “Dogs need health and anti-rabies certificates and are not allowed to land. All other animals need health certificates. In practice, the procedure is quite relaxed.”

Super-duper clear, right y’all? Ugg.

In pouring over the research, I came to the following generalizations:

  • The more developed a country, the more clear their policies
  • The less developed a country, the more they require
  • If the country had former UK roots (Jamaica, etc), the more strict they were likely to be

Further, given the myriad req’s and regs, I boiled down what would cover most countries to these needs:

And, finally, just to help me visualize where we could and couldn’t go (or at least where it’d be more challenging), I literally took pen to a map of the Eastern Caribbean and X’d out a bunch to the point where it basically ruled out a free-and-easy cruise down that-a-way*.

*There were other factors in choosing not to cruise this chain, but this was a big one. And, in practice, I bet we totally could have rolled into an anchorage, sought sanctuary before moving on (if K was not allowed), or just not let him off the boat.

Because . . . in practice we’ve had experiences with all sorts of import rules not being enforced or being super unclear.

I’ve found that as we’re island hopping, we normally meet cruisers who just came from that area and we ask them if they or someone they know can give us the most up-to-date info that port’s captain is practicing.

So, onward we go, armed with a health cert, comprehensive vet records and a big ol’ smile, we’ve been just fine. (so far, so good!)

Speaking of all the “stuff” we carry aboard for Kemah. Click here to read more about What’s in Kemah’s Kloset.

Or, click here to jump back to the Kemah’s Korner homepage.

King of the Kastle? Boat shopping with a big dog in mind

18-IMG_0776Sure, it might sound crazy to consider your dog’s needs when shopping for a boat. But, I see your crazy and raise you a “lazy”, as in lazy like a fox!

I knew Kemah’d want to go from the salon to the cockpit and down into the water and back again mutiple.times.a.day AND I knew I didn’t want to be responsible for carrying him up and down a steep companion way or hoisting him from a swim-scoop or the dinghy six feet up to the topsides of a beautiful sloop.

So, take that you crazy-callers!

I’m so crazy I thought ahead to all of the work I did not want to be doing in a boat that didn’t suit our – all of our – needs.

Plus, I had reasonable concerns about K’s safety: if he ever fell overboard, could he get back in by himself?

And, finally, if you think this is all about the dog, think again: K was just another great excuse for me to get a catamaran with beautiful swim-steps carved into the hulls and a salon and cockpit that are basically on the same level. No steep stairs for us, no sir!

Which leads us to the next big topic for consideration with a dog aboard . . . Where to? Adventures in Officialdom with your four-legged traveling friend. Click here to make the jump.

Or, click here to jump back to the Kemah’s Korner homepage.

Rrrrrets Go! Making the decision to move him aboard

When we embarked on the “3 month sabbatical*” in 2010, Kemah lived in our old house with a friend. He was comfortable there, in an environment and with a person he knew. But, we were all eager to be reunited when we came back.

*our “3 month sabbatical” turned into 6, which turned into selling our house and shopping for our new home: a boat.

Reunited & it feels so good

Upon return from 6 months in Central America in 2011: reunited & it feels so good

Even before returning home, we had decided to live on a boat.

The decision to have a dog – our dog – living aboard with us was a no-brainer: Kemah was coming aboard.

We did seriously consider the possibility that our desire for him to be a boat-dog may not be a good fit for him; in that event, re-homing him was something we knew we had to, but were reluctant to, consider. Luckily, he seems to really enjoy life aboard – lucky for all of us!

Given we couldn’t predict exactly how he’d take to life aboard, we knew all we could reasonably control was how well we prepared. So, we jumped (four) feet first.

While it may seem crazy, Kemah was a huge part of our decision making when setting up our new life aboard: he was considered when it came to what kind of boat we’d buy and where we could go; while prepping a medical kit for ourselves, we prepped one for him, too. The same went with packing safety gear, and so on.

Read more about our journey bringing our pooch aboard. Click here to jump to the next section: King of the Kastle? Boat shopping with a dog in mind

Or, click here to jump back to the Kemah’s Korner homepage.

Kemah’s Tale: Background on our boat dog

1-IMG_0642

Let’s dive right in!

Here’s some vital stats about Mr. K:

  • Kemah is named after the seaside town of Kemah, Texas which was settled by the Karankawa Indians “back in the day” (super-accurate historical period). Apparently, “Kemah” is the Karankawa Indian word for “wind in the face” – pretty accurate for our pup who loved to stick his head out the window of a car and now loves the salty-breeze of the cockpit. Of course, we knew none of this when we named Kemah. We had just been in Kemah, TX a few weeks before we met this pup and joked that’s where he was conceived. ‘Cause that’s how biology works.
  • We know nothing of Kemah’s “pedigree” as he Kemah was a stray puppy wandering around the streets of Austin with his mama and siblings when a friend of Damon’s scooped him up. He was the only puppy that could be caught; I think he saw a vision of couch-surfing in his future.

1-img160

  • Damon and I had just started dating and I was shocked when he said “I got a dog today” – without an exhaustive list of pros/cons, breed research, a budget and long-term plans for dog-ownership. He just got a dog. Just like that.
  • Me, having never met an animal I didn’t like, settled right into the velvet coffin of our little family.
1-scan0000 (107)

Listen up gents, dog-loving-girl+boy-with-puppy = love.

Fast forwarding a decade, Kemah is now in his autumn years at is 10 and 1/2. He has grown into a tall-ish, 70ish pound pitbull mix. And, he lives with us on our boat S/V Mother Jones.

our little family

our little family on board

Wondering how we made the decision to move K aboard? Click here to find out.

Or, click here to jump back to the Kemah’s Korner homepage.

Kemah’s Korner: a dog’s life aboard

Rrrrr-ello!

And, welcome to Kemah’s Korner!

A lot of folks have questions about what it’s like to have a dog on board. Well, all you curious cats, here are some answers to the questions we hear most, straight from Mr. Kemah to you (through a human filter – that’s us!).

Kemah's-Corner

Professor Kemah is ready to answer all of your tough questions

Click on any of the links below to learn more about the following:

Can’t get enough of Mr. Kemah & his big, lazy adventures? We understand. You can check out pics from some more of his land-based shenanigans by clicking here.

If you have further questions, feel free to ask ’em in the comments or get in touch in whatever way works best for you. Kemah is standing by.409177_3084832883951_232944725_n Also, in case you’re interested in seeing more dogs on boats and hearing about their adventures, you can head on over to the Monkey’s Fist. Simply click on the graphic below to read others bloggers on this topic.

The Monkey's Fist

Kemah, the other white meat

I have spent the entire day dealing with the dog. Rather, I’ve spent the entire day dealing with the specifics of having a dog aboard a sailboat in one country (Guatemala) and trying to move with him (legally) to another country (Belize).

Kemah, the dog, has spent his day doing this:

photo

note: one throw pillow under each arm

He didn’t even say “thanks”. The nerve.

But, I don’t begrudge him at all for his cushion-warming. In fact, I’d love to join him and most days I do. But, not today. Today, I’m afraid we had to stick to the roles predetermined by our opposable thumbs (or lack thereof) until he learns how to, in fact, do this:

409177_3084832883951_232944725_n

perhaps this is why our pet import permit to Belize was lost in translation

Ya see, in the last year and a half, we’ve cruised half a dozen countries with the dog (The Bahamas, Jamaica, Columbia, Panama, Honduras and Guatemala). I’m used to my little routine: getting on Noonsite, checking the regs, then maybe doing a quick search of Cruisers Forum and/or the Cruisers Yahoo Group to see if any sailors have posted anything recently regarding check-in procedures (as they are wont to change).

Fortunately, we’ve had no issues and, generally, the import process for dogs held up to what was previously stated on the web. Furthermore, usually, no one cared at all: most didn’t ask-we volunteered K’s info; The Bahamas cared so little about what went on their forms the official listed K’s breed as “rescue dog” (okay . . .); and in Jamaica, which is the only country we’ve visited where K wasn’t allowed off the boat, the officials showed us a little island away from the anchorage where they “knew others have taken their dogs” *wink wink*.

But, it seems we are going to have no such luck importing our dog to Belize with lax regulations. I will spare you the play-by-play of the web of info I navigated, but perhaps this gem of a tangent will give you some idea of the clarity of info published by the Belizean authorities on the topic: “Obtaining a permit for these pets from BAHA is the same as is described above for obtaining a permit for ham or turkey“. umm, okay? (apparently, Belizeans love their Christmas hams . . .)

Anywho, long story short and in the spirit of paying it forward . . . here what we did to get an understanding of what will hopefully work for us (confused yet?):

  • We called the Placencia office of the Belize Agriculture Health Authority (BAHA) at (011) 501-824-4872. We spoke to a very nice official and were told that we need fill out this application to import animals and email it back to them via bahasps@btl.net or animalhealth.baha@gmail.com (we emailed both).
  • The permit process takes 3 business days to be completed (we are submitting the app from Fronteras, Rio Dulce, Guatemala and taking 3+ days to get to the coastal town of Livingston, Guatemala. So, we figured we’re getting a head start and can just follow up in Livingston before entering Belizean waters). The permit is $25 (without the additional fees for faxing in the permit app, which we are not doing because we are choosing not to track down a time machine to find a working fax machine and are instead just emailing the forms).
  • We also need a Health Certificate, dated within 7 days of expected arrival, signed by a vet (from the country you are arriving from) affirming K to be in good health with an up-to-date rabies vaccination (he has the 3-year kind and they said that’s fine). We were quoted anywhere between $30-150 for this service from several vets in the area. Only one of them indicated they would need to examine Kemah before sending us the paperwork (via the bus from Guatemala City – why? who knows). We were told by one vet the high fee was due to arranging the import permit with Belize (I am doing that on my own) and for securing a “Guatemalan export permit” for K (um, that’s never been mentioned before and Belize doesn’t need it, so, no thanks). Because we have our old Health Cert from the States with all of K’s records and info on it, we simply emailed it to the  “don’t need to see him, send me info, I’ll sign off on it for $30” vet who is located in Guatemala City and will send the papers on the bus to us tomorrow. We’re paying a middle man at another marina for the service. What could go wrong?

By the by, we have read (on the totally reliable source that is the internet) that failure to secure an import permit or have a health cert could result in a $100 fine in Belize. This penalty is not exactly nothing, but not a horrible (we’re confiscating/quarantining/euthanizing your pet) scenario either. And, before we convinced the $30 vet not to charge us the extra $120 for “preparing” K’s papers, we seriously considered saving $20 by just showing up in Belize “unprepared” and paying the $100 fine.

So, that’s that. Cross your fingers, toes and opposable thumbs that everything will work out swimmingly. And, I’ll be sure to let you know what happens upon entry to Belize.

Until then, K and I are gonna keep the cushions warm.

***Update: We cleared into Belize on Monday, April 22. We never received a Import Permit  from BAHA, and both cruisers and locals encouraged us to bypass the BAHA office, which will make an appointment to search your boat for agriculture & animals if you report having any – and they will charge you for the transport of their officers to/from your boat. The nay-sayers figured “BAHA costs money, takes time, and no one enforces anything for BAHA for boaters” (unlike port captains, who may request your boating permits). So, in short, no one ever asked about the dog, and we didn’t tell. And, while I remain *convinced* this will bite us in the end, D was the captain who checked us in and continues to espouse the philosophy of the islands: “don’t worry, be happy”. Umm, okay.***

Quick update from Guatemala

Hey y’all,

I know it’s been a while. Our last month has been super crazy (more on that later) so we decided to take a break from “the world” (I know, I know, you already think we do that but this time we *meant* it :).

Now, we’re checking back in and it feels good. We’re lucky enough to take a break from the boat and have been on the road travelling overland exploring:

  • the super-serene mountain villages of Lake Atitlan,
  • and, the colonial city of Antigua (a UNESCO World Heritage site).

This weekend, we’re headed to

  • the limestone pools of Semuc Champey,
  • and, the land of the Ewoks ancient ruins of Tikal.

It’s a super-quick trip that is reminding us how much we like travelling with our house (hostelling is work, y’all!).

But, “what about Kemah?” you say. Right. He is living large on S/V Mother Jones with the awesome-rad folks of Over Yonderlust who were amazing enough to use our dog-sitting needs as a big, fat excuse to come back to Central America.

While we’re away (and not posting long-winded, stream of consciousness ramblings here), you can always keep up with the latest, day-to-day brain farts gems from the S/V Mother Jones crew on our facebook page.

See y’all back on the water!

love,

D, L (& Mr. K from the boat)

Passage notes: Bocas to Portobelo

The last two weeks can pretty much be summed up in one word: RAIN.

Yes, December is the Rainy Season. Yes, Panama is a rainforest.  But it’s the Caribbean, right? Shouldn’t we get some sunshine on these deserted beaches and magical rivers we (planned to) visit? “No”, is apparently the answer.

We left Bocas a couple of weeks ago with the intention of stopping in some super-cool spots, which also happen to be fair-weather anchorages. Well, guess what? We’ve had NO fair weather. Everyone said we were getting a late start to this passage: “November is unpredictable; you really should’ve gone in October”. Thanks, thanks a lot. I know folks mean well, but unless you have a time machine handy, maybe not so helpful to suggest we should’ve already done something. Just sayin’

But they were right; we missed all the cool stuff we wanted to see along the way: the “secret beach”, Tobobe and the Rio Chagres. And, while we did stop at Escudo de Veraguas, it was so rainy and windy that we didn’t even get to enjoy it properly. Blarg.

So, in the interest of reporting to the cruisers (and all you folks at home) what indeed happened, here’s what we ended up doing instead:

Stopping in Bluefields for two nights. Bluefields was fine. It was fine last year. It’s a super-protected and calm anchorage which meant a nice, calm night’s sleep. But, it’s also one of those places where locals pull up in their Cayucos and hang on your lifelines and stare into your cockpit/cabin/dinghy for upwards of an hour.

While I don’t mind at all when folks come to sell or trade with us or even if they want to engage in some conversation, there’s something about someone silently looking into your windows for what feels like for-e-ver that I dislike very much.

I mean, I understand that in a place like Bluefields, which is very remote, visiting yachts can seem as foreign as spaceships and therefore certainly attract curiosity but boats have been coming to Bluefields for years, so you think folks might get used to it, right?

It seems that perhaps the good folks who call Bluefields home have come to start expecting something from the cruisers . . and, this is when I’ll get on my soapbox . . . if you are someone who likes to support an increase the quality of life for those in remote places, please do not give out hand-outs (especially to children). It doesn’t help anyone. You might feel good in the moment, but it’s not at all good in the long run. Trust me. Or, at least trust them. Off the soapbox . . .

Lucky for us in the case of the lifeline hanger-on’rs, we have a secret weapon: “el perro bravo” (a dangerous dog). Don’t get me wrong, we don’t sic Kemah on anyone, but I don’t mind that it’s not particularly welcoming to have a big dog barking at you when you’re not particularly welcome.

So, back to Blue Fields, the highlight of the stop-over was being invited over to a (new) friend’s boat for lobster dinner. Acuncion and Ivan of S/V Paloma were amazing hosts. We had loads of lobster, caramelized onion & garlic mashed potatoes (I made these!) and then capper of all cappers: flan. Yum! To top everything off, our dinner was hosted aboard a Lagoon 40 and that boat is sa-weet. Funny, though, while they have a TON more space aboard, they really don’t have much more room(s) than the Gemini and I bet their maintenance costs are much more – see, we’re fine without that fancy boat 😉

After Bluefields, we headed out for Escudo de Veraguas, a beautiful island only a day-sail away – past the two other amazing stops we meant to see (the “secret beach” and Tobobe).

Escudo was an easy day sail from Bluefields. We had been looking forward to Escudo since our stop-over here a couple of years ago. It’s a beautiful island surrounded by reefs and, after a couple of days on the boat, we were ready to get anchored and explore.

IMG_8279

Escudo’s hidden coves

 

D, photoshopped into paradise aka Escudo, in 2011

D, photoshopped into paradise aka Escudo, in 2011

But . . . the weather continued to be uncooperative. Even upon approach the “anchorage” seemed to be uncomfortably rolly but we snaked our way closer to the beach and quickly radio’d back to our buddies on Adamastor that they had the depth to follow us.

While they snuck up on the beach, we continued to radio them of a dangerous rock just off our starboard bow – but wait – what!?! The rock was moving – huh!?! James thought it was, perhaps, a whale, but as it got closer and closer we realized it was a HUGE rootball attached to a downed palm. It must have been the heavy rains that broke it lose. And, AFTER we used the boathook to poke it away from drifting between our hulls, we all a good laugh about the “dangerous moving rock” in the Escudo anchorage.

We spent a few days at Escudo waiting for the weather to change and even took advantage of short break in the clouds to dinghy-‘splore the coastline and walk along the big, wide beach. While there were a few highlights in the form of tucked-away coves and a cool, fresh river washing out to sea, unfortunately, the impression that was left with us from our beach walk was the horrid amounts of plastic flotsam and jetsam littering the shore. Makes ya kinda wonder what all the crap was made for if it’s just gonna end up on some otherwise-beautiful beach. Seriously, earthlings (including us, of course) we have *got* to get it together.

Despite our depressing walk along the beach and the lack of snorkeling we did manage to have one particularly entertaining – although it was alarming at first – experience at Escudo:

It was dark-thirty. Damon and I were on Adamastor enjoying a movie night with Jess and James. All of the sudden, Jess popped up, snatched our attention away from the film and called it to the flash of white light that just came through the porthole across the screen. In slow motion, we all seemed to come to the same silent conclusion: “Right, of course, we’re in the middle of nowhere, on our boats. We should definitely be concerned about those lights – which definitely aren’t headlights shining into our living rooms from a passing car. WHO IS OUT THERE!?!”

Suddenly, we were all up from the settee, out in the cockpit and trying to discern the figures and make of boat approaching us quickly from the sea. Of course, with their lights shining  in our eyes, it took us a minute to make out the five men, in fatigues, with machine guns slung over their shoulders headed towards Mother Jones – where Kemah was holding down the fort.  Relief washed over us all. It’s funny that the sight of those big men with their big guns was a welcome sight: it meant they were random pirates coming for us, they were *government* pirates, at worst.

We signaled them to come to Adamastor, where over the next hour they checked Adamastor’s paperwork and did a cursory inspection of the vessel. When it came time for our turn of the government check, the men opted not to move over to the Kemah-stronghold of Mother Jones, instead asking us to take our dinghy, get our paperwork and bring it to them, which we happily complied.  God bless that terrifyingly ridiculous dog.

While El Jefe worked on our paperwork, I offered the group some refreshments which they accepted tenderly while explaining clearly they did not expect, and could not accept, any gifts – amazing!

All-in-all, their impromptu visit turned out to be quite pleasant as we ran through the rigamaroll exchanging Spanglish with each other. We were also happy to have them anchored next to us for the next two nights – although we were very happy to be sleeping in our cozy berths rather than under a tarp in a panga like these commandos.

IMG_0103

Making friends at Escudo

But, our luck with the friendly pirates was not to rub off on the weather. We had enough of the rain, enough of a rolling anchorage and so it was time to head off to Portobelo on our first overnighter since this.

The afternoon we left was fine. We had a little excitement as a few swallows came aboard for a rest – which is totally fine unless Mr. K sees them. Then, it’s pandemonium whilst he scrambles about giving it his all to give them their namesake.

1-kemah swallow

Once night fell, the easy afternoon turned.

“Once bitten, twice shy” was I as I listened to a familiar sound of the halyard clanking, felt the familiar motion of pitching into the seas ahead and watched the running lights cast its eerie red glow on the deck and dark waves. Ugg. We shot towards Portobelo at the quick pace of eight knots in high seas. It seemed all-too-familiar.

I was uneasy. I white-knuckled my shift. When D got up for his we had a come-to-Jesus. Turns out I wasn’t the only one “remembering”.

“Why do we do this?” was the question de nuit; both of us remembering the last time we asked each other *that* question on *that* passage.  It was sobering. And good. We were on the same page: we love cruising; and, we have a healthy respect for the ocean; we have fear; and, we have the where-with-all to acknowledge it, make corrections and keep moving forward. So, we reefed.

Just like that, it seemed the sea exhaled. Mother Jones settled into a comfortable lob and we settled into ourselves again.

*******

The rest of the night and into the morning we gently pushed forward. We had the engine on ever-so-slightly just to help us maintain course against the current and winds pushing us towards the coast. (To other sailors out there heading this way this time of year in Easterlies, I’d strongly recommend you head north at least 15 or so miles off Escudo and then tack back towards your Colon or Portobelo destination)

Like other missed destinations, I was disappointed to have to pass on visiting the infamous Rio Chagres.  But I knew it was the smart move: two years earlier we had stood at Fuerte San Lorenzo and witnessed a yacht washed aground (and then picked clean) from an unscheduled discharge of the Rio Chagres dam by the Canal authority. As a matter of fact, the Canal Authority apparently does sound an alarm to give anyone on the river – including Panamanians fishing in Cayucos or working on the shores of the Chagres – a WHOLE 15 MINUTES prior to opening the damn so folks can safely remove themselves from the path of MILLIONS OF GALLONS OF WATER FILLED WITH DEBRIS. Ummm, thanks?

washed ashore during rainy season dam openings

S/V washed ashore during a dam opening during the rainy season

But, due to us having at least one good idea a week (ambitious aren’t we?), we opted to keep moving towards Portobelo. Soon past the Rio, we were smack-dab in the middle of the Canal zone dodging the huge tankers waiting for transit or resting at anchor just after.

Even still, I can’t get over how HUGE these ships are, how much cargo they transport and, sadly, how much of it is probably disposable crap we – yes, I’m including me in the “we” here – consume all over the globe. And, how I’d be willing to bet a (literal) ton of it ends up on beaches just like the one we left less than 24 hours ago.

Or, maybe instead of one million pen caps and lighters, those ships are full of life-saving medications, fresh water, food and shelter destined for our planet’s sick, thirsty, hungry and homeless. Aww, a gal with a bleeding heart can dream, right?

Moving on to more selfish thoughts, we spent the last leg of our overnighter wet and squinting in the white-out rain happy none-the-less in part because: 1) if we *had* to be in white-out rain, we were glad to be in white-out rain PAST the tanker minefield; and 2) we were dreaming of our first stop in Portobelo: Captain Jack’s, our soon-to-be-latest stop on our Cheeseburger in Paradise tour.

IMG_0104

Portobelo in a break in the rain. Cheeseburger dead ahead