We were as ready as we were ever going to be. There were nerves, of course there were, but there was also the excitement that always seems to settle in your stomach right before taking off on a new adventure.
Our crew was onboard, doing final checks in the engine and generator rooms. Feeling a bit overwhelmed and trying to keep the butterflies at bay, I looked around the galley, (again) checking to be sure that the beverage fridge was stocked and the snack baskets were stuffed full of goodies. (They were, and I knew this because I had just checked 15 minutes earlier.)
John and I were filled with nervous energy. We had been working so hard for the past two months, we prepared for this day, talked about this day, prayed about this day, and dreamed about this day, but now that this day was here, I found myself feeling a little melancholy about leaving Madeira Beach. There was still so much there that we had not explored and discovered. Our Marina was right across the street from a beautiful beach, and honestly? Our feet had never touched the sand, we were just too busy preparing for "this day".
The view from our bow at the marina in Madeira Beach, Florida
It was a typical gorgeous sunny Florida day, all weather maps indicated that the wind and the waves were just about perfect for a cruise to Key West, our first port. Saying bye to the friends we made during our short time in Florida caused a little lump to form in my throat. The imposter syndrome was a living, breathing thing in my head. Who were we to make this kind of voyage? What about the first-year learning curve? We weren’t experienced enough yet. We didn’t know all of the boat's systems yet. Heck, I had never even been on a blue water cruise in my life! What were we thinking?
Thankfully John is the steady to my umm…not steady. And because he knows me so well, he knew that I had a crazy internal dialogue going on in my head. He wrapped his arms around me and told me that everything would be okay. Yes, the boat was tough and could handle the open seas, and yes the engines had been tuned and should have no problems. So, swallowing back my nerves and pushing down the butterflies in my stomach, I gave John the nod and he gave the go-ahead to the crew, and we pushed off. And just like that, we were on our way. It was about 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4th.
You could feel the excitement onboard. The crew was busy bringing in fenders and stowing lines. The water looked great and after a bit, I was able to sit back and relax up on the bridge. The sunset that evening was beautiful, Maderia Beach was fading behind us, the waves were minimal and our boat was performing well. I relaxed a smidge more and even started enjoying myself. Then 8:00pm came. And everything changed.
All of the weather maps that we consulted were wrong. Out of nowhere, we were hit with wind and waves. Lots of both. The promised 2-4 foot swells turned into eight and nine-foot waves, roughly three seconds apart. Our boat was being tossed around, things were falling off the walls, and flying out of the kitchen cabinets and the fridge, you could barely walk without injuring yourself, and I did not feel that boat life was going to be my best life.
It took us 26 hours to get from Madeira Beach to Key West.
We were dealing with the 8 & 9-footers hitting us on the nose and the beam for 19 of those 26 hours. I spent the bulk of this time in bed, partially seasick, partially terrified, and completely second-guessing all of my life decisions that had brought me to this point.
Around dawn, in a not-so-pleasant way, I announced to John and the crew that we were selling this boat once we got to Key West (I added more adjectives and colorful language). My message was abundantly clear, I was done. And I was ready to get our boat broker on the phone the minute we were in the marina.
My entire boating career lasted less than 30 hours.
All of us were exhausted once we docked at A&B Marina. After showers and sandwiches, we all headed to our staterooms like zombies to try to sleep off the beating that we had taken during the crossing. Sleep came quick.
After a good rest, things looked better. John convinced me to give it another shot and try to see if I would have my sea legs for the next “leg” of our trip, Key West to Cozumel. I reluctantly agreed, went straight to Walgreens, and bought myself some Benadryl. My contingency plan was that if all else failed, I could just knock myself out and sleep through the crossing…Not the best of plans, I know, but you know what they say about desperate times and all…
Finally, calm water! Our view from the marina in Key West
To be extra cautious, we stayed in Key West for four days instead of the overnight that we had originally planned. I wanted a “perfect” weather window before this next crossing. Typing this now I am cringing a little because I understand how unreasonable it is to think that anything in boating is ever going to be “perfect”. I very quickly learned that much of cruising is about flexibility and making the best of the situation that you find yourself in. Boating humbles you. Being in the middle of the ocean, under the stars with no land and not another ship in sight humbles you. You realize how insignificant you are in the grand scheme of the world. It’s a feeling that is difficult to describe. Cruising is amazing, thrilling, exciting, peaceful, adventurous, fun and sometimes even relaxing, but it is never perfect. The rest of our cruise taught me that lesson, and once I accepted and embraced it, my entire outlook changed.
The cruise to Cozumel was pretty smooth. We got into some good-sized swells, but when the bar by which I measured was what we had already come through, this was kiddie stuff. The water in Cozumel was gorgeous. We hopped in for a quick snorkel while we were waiting for our agent to return with our passports. We stayed in port for two nights and pushed off after fueling up, headed to Roatan. Each port bringing us closer to our end goal.
Crystal clear water in Cozumel
We all started to fall into a routine. We took turns on watch, two people at a time. John and I usually had our watches in the evening, and then again at 1:00 in the morning. Long-range cruises are exhausting and really mess with your sleep cycles, but it was important to us that we worked alongside our crew to give them some time to rest.
Traveling at 8-10 knots, we were getting far better mileage than we anticipated from our girl, so we decided to make longer passages, but stay in each port longer as well. This would give us time to catch up on sleep for the first day in port and have extra time to explore and enjoy these places that we may never see again. This proved to be one of the smartest decisions that John and I made on this passage.
We all loved Roatan. We reserved a slip at Barefoot Cay Marina in Brick Bay and it was exactly what we needed to decompress and relax. They have a great pool, an excellent farm-to-table restaurant, delicious hand-crafted cocktails made with just the right amount of flair, and the friendliest team of employees. During the daytime, we discovered Roatan. We got filthy, but had a blast on an ATV tour, we went ziplining (good to say that I’ve done it, but I’m not sure that it’s an activity I’d like to repeat!) We spent time at a wildlife refuge and made friends with monkeys, toucans, parrots, and sloths. In the evenings we relaxed in the pool, it was the perfect unplanned but very much appreciated vacation. I hope that one day our travels bring us back, we would definitely stay at Barefoot Cay again, with or without our boat!
John ziplining from the final (and highest) line
Sweaty, stinky, and covered in dust but very happy after an ATV tour in Roatan
Our next port was San Andres Island, Columbia. There are things that we loved about each port, but San Andres was extra special. We docked at Nene’s Marina and we were directly in front of the fuel dock. Watching the antics of the boats coming in for fuel each morning and evening was coordinated chaos at its best. We rented side by sides to cruise around the island. Sampled coco-locos at a roadside stand and we ate the most delicious lobster at a floating restaurant, but the water was the best part. We launched our dinghy and we explored the area by water for hours each day. We snorkeled, explored a shipwreck, and got to swim with too many nurse sharks to count. I think we all left a bit of our hearts back in San Andres, it was just that magical. We will most definitely be back.
A roadside coco-loco stand, we made friends with the owners
Nene's Marina, San Andres Island
Our next stop was Shelter Bay Marina on Panama’s Pacific side. We were all excited to make the canal crossing, you could feel a renewed sense of energy in the crew. It was time to push off. The crossing from San Andres to Shelter Bay was going to be a long one… 45-something hours. By this time, I felt pretty confident in my sea legs, and I had learned to trust our boat.
This was key for me. Every day I became more familiar with her. All boats have “oddities” about them, especially a boat as old as our girl, but I was learning to not fear these little “quirks” about her, but rather embrace them as part of who she was. She was performing so well, it seemed like she actually felt stronger as the days went on. To our knowledge, this was the longest voyage she had ever undertaken, and she was handling it like the queen that she is.
A couple of things will always stand out in my mind about Shelter Bay. This was the first time that John was at the helm for the approach coming through the large bay, and this was the first time John was going to be docking us. That might not sound like such a big deal, but at nearly 70 feet and 50 tons, our girl can be pretty intimidating to maneuver in tight spaces.
John nailed it in one attempt. Looking back now, this was a turning point for both of us and went a long way toward helping build our confidence to cruise this boat with a crew of two (hence the name, “Me and Johnny V”) and a couple of boat dogs.
Shelter Bay was great. The Dockmaster became a quick friend, the on-site ship store was able to order some miscellaneous things that we needed, and they offered an on-site laundry drop-off that was a huge bonus. One of my must-haves was a full-size washer and dryer onboard, which we had, but trying to juggle laundry time with three other people on board made laundry time a little crazy, so we took full advantage of the laundry service. We visited the on-site farmers market every day and brought fresh fruit and vegetables from the sweetest local women. (John’s “No Bananas on Board” rule applied so he made me stand on the dock while eating my daily banana that I’d purchase.) We had time to explore both the Atlantic and Pacific sides of Panama. We tooled around Panama City, stayed at a cute hotel in Old Town, did a little shopping, and took in the sights, sounds, and smells of Chinatown. We took our crew to the Panama Canal Info Center on the Pacific side of the Locks, watched the exhibition, and went out onto the observation deck in time to watch a cruise liner go through the Miraflores Locks. If you are planning a trip to Panama, consider this tour we 10/10 recommend, it is well worth setting a day aside to visit the info center. (Plus, you will appreciate the icy cold air conditioning as a reprieve from the heat!)
Beautiful sunset at Shelter Bay Marina
We brought Operation to the marina and soon the Dockmaster, his staff and other cruisers joined in on the fun!
After a week-long wait, we finally got our call for the inspection of our boat. Our girl is 63.10 feet per our USCG documentation, but of course, during the canal inspection we measured 69 feet and some change (when you take the swim platform and the bow pulpit/anchor into consideration.) Any boat over 65 feet is required to hire a pilot to sit alongside our captain during the crossing. So, we hired a pilot and we were given a call time to be at the staging area at 3:30pm the next day.
After hanging out for a week with not much of an agenda, we were all excited to be back in motion. The flurry of activity that is a part of prepping for a cruise was in full swing. At the end of the day, we were provisioned, re-fueled, and in “ship shape” so to speak. We all went to bed fairly early that night, but I’m not sure that any of us slept well, like little kids, we were too excited to sleep.
At 2:00 the next afternoon, we fired up the engines (two 650 hp Detroit Diesel turbos) and let them warm up. We hired two line-handlers and they were already on board. We said goodbye to our new friends at Shelter Bay and we pushed off and headed out to the staging area in front of the canal. In the queue, there was a huge cargo ship, followed by a catamaran, and then us.
Our Pilot came on board and told us that the three of us would be going through together and that we would not make the crossing in one trip. Instead, we would go through the two Atlantic locks, then cruise to Gamboa Lake where we would hitch to a mooring ball for the night and then finish the crossing the next day. We were all a little disappointed at this news. Little did we know that actually, we got lucky, we would get to experience the canal in both the daylight and at night, which very few people get to do, plus we had the added advantage of breaking up the trip, so we all enjoyed ourselves.
At the first lock, we followed the cargo ship in and the catamaran tied to our port side. As we were preparing to exit the lock, the catamaran untied from us too quickly and got caught up in the force of the water kicked up by the cargo ship and started to spin sideways. Unfortunately, they went right into the wall of the lock and badly damaged their boat. It all happened so fast. Watching that accident heightened everyone’s anxiety levels, but we pressed on and tried to keep focused on our assigned jobs.
Going through the second lock at Miraflores
The next lock crossing went smoothly and then John took the helm and we cruised to the mooring field at Gamboa Lake. The navigational aids in the lake are pretty amazing. The lights will all line up in a straight vertical line when you are properly aligned in the channel. So for the next couple of hours, we all focused on lining up with the red and green lights until we made it to the mooring ball reserved for us.
The next morning we unhooked after a new Pilot came on board. We stayed at a steady 10 knots through the rest of the lake and made it to the Miraflores lock pretty quickly. It was a very surreal moment when John and I stood on the bow and listened to the announcer introduce “Me and Johnny V” to the crowds on the very same observation deck we stood on just a few days before. We waved to the crowd as they waved and cheered for us. How small we must have looked next to the cruise liners and cargo ships, but it didn’t matter, I knew in my heart that moment would forever be a core memory for us.
John and I taking pictures of the crowd on the observation deck at the Miraflores Locks. Such an amazing experience!
We stayed in Flamenco Marina on the Pacific side of Panama for a couple of days waiting for some weather to clear up, and once it did, we were happy to push off for the final leg of our journey. Most of the cruise was uneventful, notice I said most, not all.
The waters between Panama and Costa Rica are full of fishing nets and fishermen in skiffs that are usually too small to pick up on radar and are difficult to see until you are pretty close to them. While John and I were on watch we ran over a net and had to stop to see if it had fouled one of our propellers. All of us were on the back deck (you know, to “supervise” John as he got in the water to check the props), and just before he dove in, the largest, sea snake any of us have ever seen swam up and just hovered next to the boat, right off the swim platform. I told John that they were highly venomous, and I don’t think he believed me until I googled it and found a news article about a young fisherman in Australia who was bitten by one just a week prior, unfortunately, the young man did not survive. After looking at the pictures of the snake in the article, and comparing them to the one we just saw, we all realized how lucky it was that we spotted the snake in time.
When we were a few miles away from Golfito we ran into a super pod of dolphins. It was one of the most incredible moments of our lives. Hundreds of dolphins, on all sides of the boat, in our wake, jumping, spinning, and playing. They stayed with us until we entered the little bay. It was like they were bringing us home and welcoming “Me and Johnny V” into the beautiful waters of the Golfo Dulce. Another memory we will never forget.
We made it. We finally made it.
2,200 nautical miles. 36 days, and we were in our new home port. Was it easy? Absolutely not. Worth it? Most definitely, yes.
Me and Johnny V at her new home port at Marina Bahia Golfito
Beautifully written.