We had no more than stripped our clothes off to take a swim when Becky’s cell phone rang. She had laid the phone on a towel near the stern hatch so she could hear it ring. She did not want to miss her uncle’s call. By the time she got to the phone, Uncle Pika had hung up. Becky began to dial the phone number when I said, “Gees girl, you are not going to talk to your uncle while standing here in your birthday suit, are you?” She giggled and said, “If I tell him, he will be to tongue tied to bore me with his long winded speeches.” I rolled my eyes and started to walk away from her. She said, “If you roll your eyes at me again, I will spank your butt. I am the captain of this vessel. Please remember that.” I looked her in the eyes and said, “What goes around comes around.” She giggled and said, “I believe that somewhere in the wedding vows we spoke to each other, there is a clause about not spanking the captain of a sailing vessel.” I said, “I am certain there is a clause in there somewhere that addresses the issue of the crew walking a plank, or being shot in a duel from a whale’s back. However, I remember nothing about a husband not being able to spank his lovely wife when she so desperately needs it.” Becky stomped her foot on the deck and said, “When this phone call is over, we will finish this conversation.” She winked at me as she dialed the number.
When her uncle answered the phone, she explained that we were getting close the Panama Canal and asked if she could call the guide to help us cross the Canal. Uncle Pika said he would send the phone number as a text message in a few minutes. As he talked, Becky took the phone from her ear and giggled. Then I heard her say, “Uncle Pika, I really must go. I am standing here naked on the deck of the Pacifica-Two and my husband is waiting to spank me. I will call you back when we arrive in Veracruz, Panama.” I watched her listen to the phone and then hang up. She giggled and said, “I will have to remember that trick. That was the shortest conversation I have ever had with my uncle.”
I rolled my eyes again and she advanced on me. I quickly headed down to the swim platform and dove into the water. As I turned around and started swimming back towards the Pacifica-Two, I realized the wind was moving the vessel faster than I expected. I swam hard, but Becky quickly threw one of the tethered swim rings out to me. As soon as I had a good hold on it she laughed and said, “Now what was it you were about to say about spanking the captain of this vessel?” She pulled out her knife and placed the blade on the rope. I yelled, “I am sorry, Captain. I will respect and honor you from this day forward.” She laughed again and began pulling me back towards the swim platform. When I managed to climb up, she pulled me up and I sat on the edge of the platform for a moment and then rolled over on my belly. She quickly sat down on me and began gave me a great backrub. I rolled over on my back and looked up into her eyes. She leaned down, kissed me and then moved her body close to mine. I felt her warmth as she moved her hips and allowed me to enter her. She giggled and said, “I will teach you to mess with your captain.” The girl did not speak another word for ten minutes or so. She was much too busy to talk.
Becky had made contact with the gentleman from Veracruz and he was quite willing to help us move the Pacifica-Two through the locks. Becky had explained the design of the vessel to him and he said there was no problem. He explained that we would bring his partner so there would be four of us to man the ropes. With four people holding lines, we could easily keep the vessel off the walls of the canal and away from other vessels. He said he would call the Authority and get things scheduled. Becky told him we would be at the docks in Veracruz in seventy-two hours.
All we had to do now was to arrive in Veracruz on schedule. We set the spinnaker and made good speed for the next two days in favorable winds. As we moved into the Gulf of Panama, we began to see the water depths decrease. As we moved closer to the beach where our guide had told us to anchor, we could see some huge vessels moving towards the entrance of the Panama Canal. Once our GPS said we were in the correct location, we dropped anchor in water only sixty-five feet deep. We had no idea how long we would wait before our guide contacted us, so we decided to catch a fish for lunch.
We could see fish swimming under us on the fish finder screen, but seemed unable to catch one. Becky giggled and headed to the cabin. When she returned, she had some peanut butter on a napkin. She rubbed some of the peanut butter on the artificial worm she was using and dropped the baited hook back into the water. She tried to judge how far down to lower the bait, but she quickly found out that the exact depth did not matter. Her reel began to sing as the drag tried to keep the pull of the fish under control, but she seemed to be losing the battle. She raised the tip of the pole higher in the air and kept working the fighting fish. Soon she seemed to be gaining ground. As she reeled the fish closer to the vessel, she laughed and said, “Father was right. When nothing else will entice a fish, a little peanut butter will always piss them off and make them attack the bait.” I laughed and said, “Your father was a very wise man.”
As we began filleting the three-foot fish, Becky’s phone rang. After Becky spoke a couple of words, she said, “That will work perfectly. We need a few things from your food market so we have ample food and beverages onboard for our guests.” When Becky hung up her cell phone, she said, “Our guides will pick us up in an hour and take us to their home. They want to cook for us tonight. He also said that they would join us here on the Pacifica-Two, tomorrow morning, and guide us to the place where we will wait our turn to enter the canal. The Port Authority will measure our vessel and check us over to insure we can motor at a minimum speed of four knots. When it is time for us to move through the canal, an advisor will come aboard and guide us to our destination. We will need to feed our guides and the advisor, so we will need to make a store run later this afternoon and restock the Pacifica-Two. Our guides will help us purchase food and beverages that will please our advisor. It appears that it is important to keep our advisor happy and well fed while he helps us with our crossing. Our guides will help us handle the four lines that keep us centered up in the canal as we pass through the locks.”
While Becky cooked us a small portion of the fish, I carefully cleaned the remaining fillets and put them into Ziploc bags. Once I had all the fish stowed in the cold box, we sat down to eat. Becky giggled and said, “I guess I will have to put my cloths on if we are going to have company.” I looked at the white bikini she was wearing and said, “I guess you might. I think our male guests would become overly excited over how beautiful you look today.” She smiled and said, “I will wear my good blue jeans and my man’s white shirt. I might even put on panties and a bra if I decide I must.” I told her that what she wore under the blue jeans and shirt was her business.
When we saw the guides heading out to pick us up in their large catamaran, we dropped the second anchor and made certain our vessel would stay where we left it. When our guides tied up to the Pacifica-Two, we invited them aboard. They seemed stunned by our vessel. One of them said, “We have escorted hundreds of vessels through the canal, but have never seen anything like this.” As we explained the sailing and dive/steering planes to them, they began to understand our concerns over damage. Then one of them said, “Piece of cake. No problem”. Once we had shown our guides the cabin and explained some of the equipment we had on board, we discussed being able to motor through the locks. The guides explained that once we were out into Gatun Lake, we could use the sails until we reached the second set of locks.
I set up the solar panel on deck and plugged it in so it could charge the batteries while we were gone, knowing that if the batteries were fully charged, we might not have to run the generators tomorrow. We would also need to hang our nylon tarp to keep the sun off our visitors during the heat of the day, or the rain if Mother Nature did not see fit to shine down upon us.
Once we loaded into the guide’s boat, they quickly whisked us towards shore. When we arrived at the boat dock, our guides walked along beside us and showed us around the beachfront property. There were some incredible homes there. When we a
rrived at the guide’s home, we were excited. He lived along the beach and had a very nice place. After he showed us around his home, he loaded us into a car and drove us to a store. He helped us pick good quality fruits and some food to cook during our trip through the canal. We also filled one of our coolers with beverages. Our guide said we could add some ice in the morning from his freezer. As I paid for our purchases, I was a little surprised by the high prices, but these people were just trying to make a living. I guessed that tourists paid a higher price than the locals did. We packed our purchases in our backpacks and headed back to the guides home. He had a small beach guesthouse near his main home, so we dropped off our backpacks and duffle bags there. We realized that we would be very comfortable here and could finish allowing our sea legs to adjust to walking on dry land.
Our guests treated us to an elaborate meal, cooked outdoors on their huge barbecue grills. The meal consisted of five or six types of fish, lobster and crab. There were twenty or so people present and we all swapped stories about the sea. Most everyone spoke English and Spanish and we were able to communicate quite nicely. Becky and I wanted to hear all we could about the people who lived here in Panama and about the Panama Canal. Many of the people here worked in one way or another for the Port Authority. I was surprised how well they spoke English. It seemed that only Becky and I struggled with a second language.
When the party wound down, Becky and I settled into the guesthouse for the night. Our guides told us they would fix us breakfast and then we would take their catamaran out to the Pacifica-Two. The Son of one of the guides planned to return their boat back home once we were aboard the Pacifica-Two.
Becky and I slept well in the guesthouse. The sound of the crashing waves on the beach seemed to lull us to sleep. When we woke, we packed up our duffle bags and backpacks and headed to the main house for breakfast. The cooler had a handle on each end and was easy to carry if Becky and I each took a handle. When we stepped into the kitchen, our guides wife and Daughter warmly greeted us. As they sat breakfast on the table, the two guides came in and sat down with us. As we ate and drank coffee, we discussed more about the details of navigating the Panama Canal. There were many details to take care of before we could cross over to the Atlantic Ocean.
When we arrived in the holding area and our advisor came by to measure our vessel, we discussed the planes sticking out from the hull of the Pacifica-Two with him. He added notes to his paperwork to show that we needed special handling. He explained that the line handlers that would guide us would be careful not to damage us. I saw Becky shake his hand and palm him some money. He smiled and said, “I will move you into the lineup immediately and have you out to Colon yet today.”
As our advisory worked with the pilot boat, we were placed in the center of a three boat raft. We were very thankful we hired our guides to help us work lines and keep us informed about what was required of us. The advisor seemed to know exactly who to talk to in order to keep our raft moving along. We even motored across Lake Gatun without any difficulty, while I cooked food on the deck. The fish Becky and I had caught, along with food and fruit our guides helped us purchase worked out well. Our advisor seemed content throughout the trip. We offered him a cold beer, but he declined our offer, instead he drank tea.
It was getting daylight when the pilot boat released us and our advisor left us. Becky had paid the man and palmed him some extra money as he left the vessel. He had helped us tremendously, helping us get through the locks without damaging our vessel. The money Becky gave him was worth every penny.
When we arrived at the marina, we used the dinghy to take our guides to the marina. They were going to spend the night with some friends and then guide another vessel back to the Pacific side of the canal. Becky paid them in cash and added an additional one-hundred dollars each, more than the agreed amount. When she counted out the cash into each man’s hands, she saw a smile. The men wrote down their cell phone number on a business card and asked Becky to call a few days ahead when we wished to return to the Pacific side.
Becky paid in advance so we could anchor the Pacifica-Two for twenty-four hours at the marina, and then we moved to the assigned place and dropped both anchors. As we cooked our breakfast, I put the solar panel out on the deck and began charging the batteries. We would need the motors to move out of the marina in the morning and I did not want to use the generators. The solar panels provided a free source of electricity and diesel fuel was expensive at all the marinas in the area.
As we sat and ate our breakfast on the deck, Becky said, “Husband, I have come to a decision over the last two days.” I chuckled and said, “Can you at least wait until we get to some exotic island. I would hate to be left here in Panama.” Becky choked on her orange juice. She managed to get to the edge of the deck before blowing it from her mouth and nose. I handed her a napkin and took the glass from her while she cleared her nose of the juice. When she sat back down, I said, “Sorry for that, Captain. But I hate this godforsaken place and hope you don’t intend to leave me here if the marriage is over.” She stood up and walked over to where I sat. She kneeled down in front of me and said, “Don’t even kid about such things. I love you with all my heart and intend to remain married to you until I die of old age or dissolve in the stomach of a Great White Shark.” I laughed and said, “Thanks for that.” She kissed me and returned to her chair to finish her breakfast.
When she had taken a few bites of oatmeal, she said, “What I was going to ask you, before I began blowing juice everywhere, was if you would consider taking the long way home. I never want to travel through this canal again. Both of us have been extremely stressed over this canal passage and I don’t want to do it again.” I did not answer her question; instead, I went down into the cabin and returned with the atlas. When I opened the page so I could see all of the America’s, I realized the trip around South America was a very long ways. I used my finger to determine the approximate miles around continent and said, “It is 18,450 miles, approximately, from here to our home in San Francisco.” I quickly did the math and said, “That is six months.” Becky giggled and said, “The problem with that is?” I thought about her question and said, “Actually, nothing is wrong with that. I have no reason to go back to San Francisco, other than to hug a boy named Charlie or to restock this boat for our next adventure.”
As I started towards the cabin to return the atlas, I turned back around and stood staring at my wife. She stood up and wrapped her arms around my neck. She did not say anything, just waited for me to finish my sentence. I kissed her and asked, “Does Charlie like airplanes, does he like to fly?” Becky got a big grin on her face and said, “He does. He has flown with his mother on vacation a couple of times.” I said, “We could fly him to the Falkland Islands just south of Argentina and then he could sail home with us to San Francisco. By then, we will be positively certain our vessel is seaworthy and safe for Charlie to join us.” Becky slowly slid into my arms and said, “If you keep talking like this, we will never get any sleep today. I am very tired, but your love for Charlie might spark a fire between my legs.” I giggled and said, “I will try not to over excite you, but I would love to have Charlie join us, if you feel comfortable with him aboard.”
Becky began cleaning up the dishes from breakfast and carrying them to the cabin. I picked up the deck chairs and took them down. After I checked the straps holding the sails to the masts, I climbed down into the cabin to join Becky. I put the screens over the hatch doors and began getting ready for bed. The cabin was cool and comfortable, so it did not take long for both of us to get comfortable. As we stilled, we could hear the sounds of the jungle all around us. I had never heard the sounds of monkeys in the wild before, but their voices were easy to recognize. The sounds of frogs and crickets joined with the monkeys’ to serenade us to asleep.
Becky woke me around two in the afternoon. She said, “Wake up sleepy head. I am starving and I know that the restaurant has incredible T-Bone steaks and baked potato
es. I saw the waitress serving a customer this morning.” I quickly got up and brushed my teeth. As I dressed, Becky put on her Capri pants and a short sleeve shirt. She looked beautiful. I feared I would have to fight off the sailors in the restaurant before the day was over. As we paddled our dinghy towards the restaurant, Becky said, “I hope you were serious about inviting Charlie to join us somewhere on our way home.” I looked at Becky and said, “I was quite serious. I would love to help him catch fish off the swim platform.”
While Becky and I ate our incredible steak dinner, we discussed the next leg of the adventure, which was Jamaica. The trip was a little over six hundred miles so we planned for six full days. We decided we had plenty of food, but would need rain or to fill our water containers here at the marina. Becky searched the weather channels on her Blackberry and said, “The water problem may be solved later today. By the time we sail out into the Caribbean Sea, we will hit rain. It looks like we will get wet around noon or so tomorrow, if we set sail in the next hour or so, as we planned.” I looked at Becky and said, “Shall we get back to our home and set sail? I would like to be out of the shipping lanes before dark.” Becky said, “Let’s get to it.”
SS Pacifica Page 38
