Some other experiences from Volcan in the Chiriqui highlands:

Our Journey to Chiriquí Grande, Panamá

Monday, November 13,2000

CS Den Haag 6.45am	We left the Taco Scheltemastraat 28 at 6:30 a.m. in a drizzle by Taxi to the The Hague Central Station with 4 suitcases (one more than planned) weighing about 90 kg. Of course, we arrived early for our train, which left at 7:06 a.m. to Amersfoort.
Sandra waiting for the train in Osnabrück	Entering the train we met with a Spanish speaking couple that happened to be from Mexico, which we learned speaking to them at the Station in Amersfoort. They were on a tour to Prague. The train to Osnabrück left with 20 minutes delay and therefore we missed our connection to Hamburg. The conductor telephoned to Osnabrück and informed us that there was another train one hour later. This happened to work out just perfect for us because we had to transfer our 90 kg luggage from platform 13 to platform 3. Osnabrück /Hamburg took 2 hours with one stop in Bremen. The moment we entered Germany the sun broke trough and it was a beautiful autumn day. We had a light lunch on the train. A taxi took us to the ship.
HORNCLIFF in Hamburg	There she was, the HORNCLIFF, a 15 thousand ton, 153 meters long, container and multi-purpose carrier with her own cranes. There was total was confusion on the quay. Containers, crates, straddle-carriers and cranes were moving in all directions.
Cabin HORNCLIFF	The crew invited us on board in fluent Russian, which led to the confusion of whom would carry the luggage on board. Finally we understood that 2 Stewarts after having changed into a clean white shirt would help us with the luggage and took us to our cabin (#3). It was beautifully arranged with fresh flowers, a basket of fruits and 2 bottles of German Champagne. The unpacking of our luggage was done and we walked around the ship to learn our way. It is allowed to walk in all the areas of the ship. Only during loading and unloading we were strongly advised not to walk on the deck. The dining room schedule is: breakfast from 7:30 to 8:30 am lunch from 11:30 to 12:30 and dinner from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. And of course Tea at 3:30 to 4:30 pm. A German couple accompanies us at our table every day.
Leaving Hamburg	The crew invited us on board in fluent Russian, which led to the confusion of whom would carry the luggage on board. Finally we understood that 2 Stewarts after having changed into a clean white shirt would help us with the luggage and took us to our cabin (#3). It was beautifully arranged with fresh flowers, a basket of fruits and 2 bottles of German Champagne. The unpacking of our luggage was done and we walked around the ship to learn our way. It is allowed to walk in all the areas of the ship. Only during loading and unloading we were strongly advised not to walk on the deck. The dining room schedule is: breakfast from 7:30 to 8:30 am lunch from 11:30 to 12:30 and dinner from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. And of course Tea at 3:30 to 4:30 pm. A German couple accompanies us at our table every day.

We took over the bridge.

White Cliffs of Dover.

Sandra´s first navigation lesson.

15th November 52.19.200 3.09.400 209 speed 19.7 knots 8.45

Entering the locks of Le Havre.

The 15th the French pilot came aboard just before dinner. It took a long time to get birthed because we had to pass a lock (Ecluses François) to reach our birth. And in the lock was a very big container ship of the Korean EVERGREEN line. 60.000 tons and operated by 14 people only. Apparently the captain has a seat on the bridge on rails, on which he can move from left to right.

Le Havre looks beautiful from the sea, despite the big amount of industry. There is a church tower that looks quite ordinary during daytime but during the night it is lighted from the inside and it has colored glass windows from top to bottom that give it a fairy tale image during the night. Before dinner we tried the sauna for a second time, but this time it was apparently used before us and was quite hot.

November 16. (49.28.024 0.11.33 287 speed 0 knots)

Still at birth in Le Havre. The crane driver, who had to put the containers on board was probably just learning, it took forever to get a container in place, but around 12 noon the ship was ready but we couldn´t leave till 13.30, because the lock was occupied. In the mean time we played table tennis as our daily exercise and had a light lunch. At 1.30 am everybody is on top to see how we were going through the locks.

We went at last for the ocean with the pilot boat following us.

It was beautiful, lots of sun clouds and wind. About 1 hour out of Le Havre the French pilot left the ship. How? I let the pictures speak for themselves:

Pilot racing forward to come alongside.

To see how the pilot boat came along side and pick up the pilot click the pictue on the left and go clicking

Bye Bye EUROPE

At last underway, next land we will see in about two and a halve days will be the Azores Islands. Tonight at seven we have to be in the lounge adjacent to the dining room for a meeting with the captain. Who is a Russian and only speaks English and no German what so ever. So we are the only passengers who can communicate with him. He looks a little like Gorbachov.

November 17th (48.29.029 6.57.281 231 speed 16,6 knots 8.35am)

Just one comment on our coordinates, the last 3 digits you see moving when you look at the screen of the GPS (Global Positioning System), that accurate it is, it moves while you are watching. Yesterday night the captain presented us to his crew and explained the rules of the ship all washed down with a nice Champaign. The rules: very few, only the engine room is off limits when not accompanied by a member of the crew. There is a gym on the garage deck and where you can play football with the crew. The captain is the goalkeeper and the goal is the car ramp turned vertical. A pity I didn´t know there was such a big garage, I could have parked my Saab there easily and we could have taken all our stuff. We have complete freedom to visit any place on the ship. Last night there was a gale warning and so we noticed, it was a rather rough night with a lot of movement and strange noises. Sometimes the ship sounds like a woman being given birth. For the moment, no seasickness what so ever, probably because of the big amounts of ginger we take regularly. This morning on the bridge we saw some fishes (brown on top and white at the bottom 80cm long) jumping out of the water near the front of the ship. We also saw a rather strange white object moving rather fast through the sky near the sun. First we thought it was Venus, but it moved parallel to the horizon and was far too big for a plane. Lets see how the table tennis goes for to day. Table tennis is quite something when everything moves but the ball. During lunch the Dutchman reappeared. He wasn´t there for breakfast. An elderly gentleman of 76, who was a planter in Indonesia from ´48 till ´58 and who loves sailing and model building. He appeared as white as a sheet. SEASICK. He really looked horrible. So I got him some ginger. He changed for the better within 30 min and even got some color on his cheeks. He asked me if he could take the jar with the ginger to his cabin promising that he wouldn´t eat it all. So now we are down one jar. This afternoon while Sandra was having a long siesta I sat alone on the bridge. It is still very windy and the sky and sea are totally gray or silver. Very peaceful despite the wind, waves and swell. Standing on top of the bridge, the highest place on board, really gives you the feeling you are standing on top of a globe, with the horizon all around you. To realize how much water there is you really have to cross an ocean. Standing there, I realized we are doing something you only read in a book.

18th November 43.48.150 15.13.140 231 speed 17,9 knots 8.40AM

Sandra´s left elbow started to hurt terribly since yesterday. We don´t know the reason. She has it at 95 degrees and cannot move in either direction without tears flowing out of her eyes. She took a lot of Paracetanol, but that only gives some temporarily relieve. So I called Hans this morning. He took it very serious and told me that it could be two things. Or a sudden movement that broke of some small piece of cartilage, that is painful but can be treated with painkillers and rest. He gave me the generic name but I forgot but the captain has it on a piece of paper. Or it could be arthritis, but then she should have a fever and should get to a hospital as soon as possible. That´s nice literally in the middle of the ocean. With the captain and the1st and 2nd officer we plundered the ship´s medical stock for Apranax, a spray and Nurofen. At last S and I decided for the spray and the Apranax. S is resting in bed and doesn´t have a fever. Today is a rather calm day. It is very misty and there are no other ships in the neighborhood, has far as can been seen on the radar. Spoke a while with the 3rd officer. We have 845 tons of fuel on board and are consuming more or less 1500 kg per hour that means 25 kg per minute. At 120 RPM the engine is producing about 8.500 Kw. Yesterday night at 10 PM our clock (ship´s clock) was set back one hour. Now Sandra is lying in bed and there is fog outside and the captain apparently has everything under control, showing his legs in shorts. It is 19 degrees. Some comments on the other passengers. At our table we have a couple of about 60 years from Hamburg. He was once a chief engineer on a freighter. They have one daughter. Rosita talks a lot, meaning too much. Johnny smiles a lot, but doesn´t say much. They are good people with their sense of humor... They do this trip for second time. They only speak German and Rosita chats a lot towards Sandra. I am becoming quite proficient translating. Then there is another couple of about 60 at the next table. She speaks perfectly English and he drinks about a gallon of Vodka a day smoking his lunges out. Cannot say he is drunk, just a plain alcoholic. She is very nice and with a sense of humor. I cannot talk to him because he smells too much of alcohol and tobacco. Yak!! Then we have our yanyos, 2 little man of about 55 who travel together and sit together in the Sauna when we want to use it. We are not sure if they are yanyos, they don´t look it, but we call them like that. Poor slobs. The Dutchman is just a nice elderly gentleman who goes quietly his way. All were or came aboard in Hamburg. Then in Le Havre another German of about 48 joined us. He is a nice person and his eyes watered when he spoke of his sick mother who is somewhere in a nursing home for elderly people near Fryeburg. He speaks good English. He has been all over Panama and has a little piece of land in Costa Rica at the Panamanian border. Today I went to the gym at the car-deck. Assisted by the 1st officer I did all kind of exercises with the contraptions made by the chief engineer. It is quite something to exercise between lashed cars in a moving hull, but felt quite refreshed afterwards.

Cilinder heads main engine.

This afternoon we had an excursion to the engine room. At 4 o´clock sharp the chief engineer came to pick us up from our afternoon tea to visit his domain. It is quite a place with an incredible amount of noise. Took a lot of pictures. Beside the main engine we have 3 auxiliary engines of 1250kW for life on board and especially the cooling compressors. The complete hold can be cooled if they are not carrying containers. Also the REEFERS consume a lot of electricity. Fresh water is made from seawater. But what most impressed me is the high-pressure air installation to start the main engine. That must give a hell of a bang to start that thing.

Main shuft.

Rudder drive.

Also the main screw shaft is quite a sight (picture). The screw weighs 7 tons and has a diameter of 6 m. has fixed blades; speed is completely controlled by the engine, that normally runs at 97% of its capacity. The chief engineers was very happy the show us around. He gives the impression that he feels rather lonely deep down there between his machines and pipes. I made him happy when I asked him if I could be there when he starts the main engine during our next port stay.

Sandra didn´t come to the engine room because of her arm. The arm is doing a little better. After our already traditional gin and tonic the captain challenged me to play Ping Pong, lost 22 20. Next time I´ll beat without gin and tonic.

November 19th 38.59.270 23.04.280 231 19.8 knots 8.35 am

View from Porthole Island San Miguel of the azores.	Today it is again little warmer than yesterday, nearing the 20´s. Also there is some more sun. This morning we saw a lot of whales passing the ship at port. They really blow fountains of spray. We are supposed to pass the Azores at about 2.30pm o´clock (remember we moved our clock 1 hour backward yesterday). The whole morning very clear skies and we could see the horizon very sharp all around. At 1 pm the Island of San Miguel showed upon the radar screen at a distance of about 20 Nautical miles. The moment it showed up the skie closed up with clouds that turned into fog and than rain. So at about 2 o´clock everybody left the bridge rather disappointed, especially the captain was very frustrated, because he specially followed a course, so we would have a beautiful sight of the island. Normally, without passengers they pass San Miguel far to the north. When Sandra and I arrived at our cabin 1 minute later, we couldn´t believe our eyes what we saw through our porthole.
San Miguel.	San Miguel in all her splendor crystal clear at about 2 miles distant. Very green mountains with very white villages under a blue and white sky. Captain called us, to invite us back on the bridge. Everybody took a lot of pictures.
San Miguel.	The food on board is simple but quite good. Breakfast: fruits, cereals, bread (the German brown and normal white), yogurt, milk and eggs and sausages on request. And of course there is tea and coffee. At lunch and dinner there is always a salad and a soup. The main course is always fish or meat with different vegetables and potatoes. There is some possibility to choose. Desert: ananás, ananás, ananás, ananás, kiwi, ananás ananás etc. Today Sandra asked one of the boys, who serves us, if he liked ananas. He laughed and said that he tried it once and never again. Tomorrow we will visit the kitchen and the pantry and I am going to look how many ananas there is still in store. But the food is good and healthy, and every time we see one of the 2 cooks we put our 2 thumbs up and say: COOK FOOD GOOD. And he a gives us a tremendous smile. Our Russian is getting fluent. Forgot teatime. At 3 30 pm we have tea with something sweet (Cake, ice-cream) and bread with marmalade. We couldn´t see the falling stars a couple of days ago because of the clouds, but tonight we saw a few. What a sky, incredible. There is no moon.

I just liked this cloud.

November 20th 34.21.18 31.16.12 236 speed 19,1 knots 8.45 am 1936 miles to next port

November 21st 30.05.039 38.42.057 236 speed 18,8 knots 8.44 am 1480 to go to next port.

A lonely ship.

We saw a ship at 29.55.500 and 39.00.3800 . This was the only ship during the whole crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean is a very lonely place the be.

November 22nd 25.37.017 46.09.200 236 speed 19,2 knots 8.42am

Yes we didn´t write anything since Sunday, because the sun is out in a all her splendor and the captain´s Email is down because his computer has a kind of virus, that only can be fixed in Point de Pitre where we will arrive Friday at noon. The major event regarding the ship is the fact that we changed course south of San Miguel from 232 to 236 degrees. It is a long straight run, over a totally flat sea with a lot of whales and flying fish. But the sea looks different every single day. These flying fish are incredible how they fly as fast or faster than the ship and when they loose speed in the air they just accelerate by putting only their tails in the water and give themselves a mighty push. The routine of the last days is more or less as follows; breakfast, laying in the sun, and the gym. Lunch, siesta, sitting at the bow counting flying fish and whales. Teatime, sit on the bridge, a gin tonic and dinner. After dinner we sit on the roof of the bridge in 2 plastic garden chairs and study the stars, planets, falling stars in our private planetarium. If we have any doubt about a star we go one floor down (the bridge it self), were the officer on watch has a book that describes the movements of all the heavenly bodies. We even saw one of the space stations move by. This morning we got up at six to see that Venus had disappeared and that Saturn and Jupiter had taken her place. The more you watch the more you see and it is just like in a fairy tale, sitting up there the two of us with the whole universe for ourselves. During this 3 day run we saw one vessel close by and one at the horizon for a couple of minutes, for the rest we have been totally alone on this part of the ocean, we share with a big number of big slowly moving spraying black whales, who always cross our path from port to starboard. The whales go from the south to the north. We are still waiting for the dolphins; some passengers say they have seen them already.

JONNIE, SERGIO, SANDRA Y ALEXANDER.	Monday afternoon we were invited to visit the kitchen. The cooks (Alexander (from the Ukraine) and Sergio (from Latvia)) received us with Madeira wine and a big chocolate cake. They only speak Russian so the head steward ERIC, who has a vocabulary of 25 words of German and English translated our questions.
ERIC and ME.	Eric asked us all the time if we had any question and the rest of the passenger didn´t ask anything so Sandra and I invented all kind questions which were answered with a lot of enthusiasm. See pictures, some we printed on the captain´s color printer and are now hanging in the ship´s galley.
Captain playing table tennis	We are getting to know the captain better and better. We have long conversations with him about family, politics, children etc. etc. We think he looks a little like Gorbachov and he thinks he looks a little like Gene Hackman. I also play a lot of table tennis with him and part of his crew. Every other day they play table tennis.
Chief engineer	And they really know how to play and the other days they play a fanatic game of basketball down in the garage. See pictures. It is just great. We don´t understand a thing of Russian but people are the same any where in this world so we understand each other perfectly, if you understand what I mean. Nobody is very happy with the new system in the former Soviet Union, it just doesn´t function and nobody feels secure, specially the elderly people. But this is not the place to write about it.

November 23rd 21.20.035 53.03.003 236 19,1 knots 8.25 am 545 miles to go till next port, Point de Pitre

Up in the mast.

Here is a little riddle. Yesterday night, Sandra and I went to look at the sunset at the bow of the ship. I climbed into the mast and Sandra stayed at the deck. I told her to make a signal the moment she didn´t see the sun any more. From that moment I took the time and it took 7 seconds before the sun completely disappeared for me. Question: How tall was the mast? (Disregard movement of ship and you know circumference of the earth.) Being up there is rather spectacular; it gives me a kind of Titanic thrill.

Had a long conversation with Vladimir (33 years), our 1st officer from Riga, Letland or Latvia as they call it. He is content about the disappearance of the USSR, in contrary to our captain (46 years). Because there is a lot more freedom now. Now he can work for a foreign company and visit any country he wants. But feels very sorry for his father who has a state pension that is worth hardly anything anymore. Not even enough to buy his cigarettes. For him the two biggest problems of his country are. One. The animosity that exists between the locals and the Russians still living there. Because when Latvia became independent the government didn´t give the already various generations of Russians living there the Latvian nationality. There for there are now two kinds of citizens, this fact creates a lot of tension. In contrary to the neighboring country, Lithuania. There all people were given the Lithuanian nationality the moment they became independent, so this problem doesn´t exist there. The other big problem, according Vladimir, is the enormous debt his country has with Russia. When they became independent, Russia presented them with a bill for, all by the Russia built factories and infra structure. This enormous mill stone is dragging Latvia into destitution. Vladimir´s grandmother is living near Moscow and to visit her is nearly impossible because of the ridiculous requirements the Russians ask to get a Visa. Today started sunny, but turned cloudy around midday. We hope it is not going to rain because tonight we have a barbeque with the Captain. Saw the weather map of the complete Northern Atlantic. Depressing for everybody living north of 20 degrees longitude. Counted 7 gales between the American East and Europe´s West coast. All first, second and third officers of all navies (war and merchant) in the world have the same watches. First: 4-8 am and pm. Second: 0-4 am and pm, Third: 8 12 am and pm. Sandra´s arm isn´t improving a lot. I am going to run in the garage. Yesterday we had a safety drill. Meaning we now know how to put on a life jacket after 10 days at sea and had a look in the space shuttle like lifeboat.

Barbecue

At night a beautiful barbecue party was organized for the passengers and the crew.

November 24th 17.00.800 59.48.900 236 speed 19,1 knots 8.15am ETA POINT DE PITRE 13.41pm

At last we arrived in the Caribbean and we noticed, specially the poor captain. When we arrived at about 2 o´clock at the pilot station of Point de Pitre of Guadeloupe, the captain tried to call the Port authorities for a Pilot. The only reaction from the radio was. Whaaaaat?, Whyyy, Huuuuuuh , oooh yeeeees ,waaaaaiiiitt. SO apparently everybody was having a siesta at the shore. Here we were with 15.000 tons of dead weight in a very narrow waterway, marked by buoys, just before we had to turn sharply to starboard and no Pilot. It took about 30 minutes before we saw at last a very small boat with big letters PILOT coming out of the port. Once with the pilot on board we were birthed within 30 minutes. See pictures to have an idea how P de P looks from the sea. Nothing spectacular.

We were informed by the captain that we would sail again at 9 o´clock at night or at 9 o´clock the next morning, depending on discharging and loading, so everybody had to be on board again at 8 o´clock ship´s time, meaning at 7 o´clock local time. Which of course was a source of a lot of confusion. But at last all 8 passengers in a mini bus to the centre of the city, where everybody went his way. Sandra and me first bought Steel band music. An elbow protector for Sandra´s elbow. Which is improving slooooooowly. Some batik shawls with flaming colours, which she is actually showing off right now. If you haven´t visited Point de Pitre, don´t feel sorry you haven´t. It is poor, dirty, with a lot of scary looking black people and a constant traffic jam in the narrow streets full with French cars, because we are actually in France. The cars even have the European number plates.

Apparently we didn´t see the right places. There must be some beautiful resorts. After having walked around for quite a while we sat down for a cappuccino and some real crepes and wrote some postcards. At 8 o´clock at night we were back on the ship. The only really beautiful thing I saw on the island were big numbers of white birds sitting and hanging in very big green trees. The trees looked as if they were full with big white fruits. Forgot the name of the birds. After dinner we had the ship´s bar for ourselves, everybody had gone to bed, so Sandra tried all the CD´s and danced for about an hour. I just sat had my whisky and watched. I had the feeling that Sandra has returned to her world. Of course we didn´t sail at night.

November 25th 16.13.832 61.32 572 149 speed 0 knots 8.00am

Leaving Point de Pitre, I didn´t see anything leaving port because I was down in the engine room. I wanted to see how that big engine was started. Nothing special, the Captain started the engine from the bridge by turning a very small handle. Then you hear a lot of noise of compressed air being blown into one of the cylinders and the engine starts. It is as simple as that. But the spectacular thing is that it runs (accelerating or de-accelerating) as smoothly as a normal car engine. The poor guys down in the engine room don´t even have a compass, they only know how fast and in what direction the engine is running. From the bridge the view is far nicer. With a deep blue sea with a lot of white foam patches, because of the stiff wind, which always blows from the same direction. Various white sails of all kinds of yachts and islands all around. Straight to Cartagena (44 hours), where we will arrive at 6 o´clock in the morning and we will leave at 4 o´clock in the afternoon for Turbo . 2 days Turbo and we will arrive the 29th early in the morning in Chiriquí Grande. We´ll see, it always takes a little more than the wishful thinking of our Captain. I think he is going to miss us. Tonight I have to play football with him in the near empty garage. All cars were discharged in Guadeloupe.

You get the idea?

Full speed to Cartagena, because the ship´s agent from Turbo warned the captain that all the bananas are ready, so they have to be cooled as soon as possible. Today was a lazy day by the pool. It is getting hotter by the hour. But the pool gives a lot of relieve.

November 26th 13.28.963 69.09.400 251 speed 21,5 knots 8.40am

Garage where we played football.

I played football in the now empty garage, all cars that were in the garage were discharged in Point de Pitre. Point the Pitre is called like that, because in earlier times there lived a Dutch fisherman all alone called PIETER. There for it was called PIETER´s POINT. Back to the football.

There I was with my 52 years in one team of Russian sailors from 18 till 32 years of age. The only other oldie was the Captain (46) in the other team. The chief engineer had welded from some pipes some sort of ice hockey goals and he and the captain cut a perfectly good net to pieces, to serve as nets in the goals. I ran my ass off for 45 minutes continuously in a heat off about 38 to 40 degrees. The casing of the engine room stands in the centre of the garage. I am not 17 anymore, but I cannot complain about my condition. The gym near Albert Heyn and not smoking is making quite a difference. I got out of the battle with an enormous egg on my right shin. It hurts like hell, but I am very proud of it. Probably lost 10 kilos of liquid during the game. From now on I´ll behave as an old man till we arrive at Chiriquí Grande. Another day spent at the pool. Spent a lot of time sitting in the front mast watching some strange seagulls soaring around and diving for fish. Also saw a lot of flying fish. Just before dinner the first officer Valerie, explained Sandra how to use a Sextant.

And the electrical engineer asked me if I could install my Anti Virus program in his computer. So the evening after dinner was dedicated to computering. The Captain came along and asked me if I had windows 98 with the games like FreeCell and Solitary. He likes to play those games, but the company took those games out of his computer. He has them again in a secret directory. It´s becoming one big family, at least the crew and us. The other Germans don´t speak any English and are rather heavy, to put it mildly.

November 27th 10.24.317 75.32.038 220 speed 0 knots 7.30am

Port of Cartagena.

We arrived at 6 o´clock at the pilot station in Cartagena and were berthed around 7 o´clock. Cartagena is a city of about 2 million people (it is the second city of Colombia 30 million). It is Colombia´s major port at the Atlantic. The port is very modern, see pictures.

The captain asked me to act as a go between, between the ship´s agent and the passengers, because of the language. The agent organized transport to the city. So we were dumped in 3 derelict taxis. Who first tried to pull our leg going to places where we didn´t want to go, but that was over very quickly the moment I got a little angry and they realized that my Castellano is very very clear. So at last we arrived at the old City Centre. I have taken about 40 pictures in 3 hours. It looks a lot like Seville, beautiful but less well maintained. It is also rather dangerous. Everybody was advised not to wear any jewellery or expensive watches. Because the homeless kids of about 12 to 20 years, who live in the streets and don´t have any problem to cut somebody´s finger or hand off to get what they want. Don´t think this is a joke; in Rio the police kills them. We walked a lot and saw a lot. A lot of colours and the different styles from Spain are recognizable; it was like walking in Spain. Pictures will speak for themselves.

The Spaniards knew how to build in strategic places.

At 12 o´clock back at the ship, where we found a very frustrated Captain, who told us that we wouldn´t leave before 4 or 5 o´clock this afternoon, because the loading and discharging was going very slowly. We couldn´t care less, we had our lunch, watching some shabby looking pelicans wrestling with such big fish, that we asked ourselves, who was going to eat whom. I wrote this just after our siesta and we are still loading. I am going to look how the captain is. By the way, we called Diana (one of Sandra´s sisters), to tell her that we will arrive Wednesday instead of Friday. Sandra´s parents are coming to Chiriquí Grande to pick us up. We think that we will ask the captain to invite them for lunch on board. We just left the Bay of Cartagena; again the pictures will speak for themselves.

The Spaniards knew how to find a strategic place.

Never saw so much very expensive equipment in a port. Probably a lot of drug money. As is part of the banana business in Turbo. Bananas, to launder drug money. Bananas, bananas, that is the only thing now. The ship is pre-cooling the holds, to receive the bananas in about 9 hours time. Captain told us, his experiences with stowaways. Once from Columbia to Antwerp they found a pallet in the hold rather askew, so they decided to rebuild the pallet. It looked like a pile of carton boxes. The moment they started to take the pallet apart, a guy, dressed in a divers suite, jumped out and ran away. But got caught. They were 2 days out of Antwerp. He has sat in that pallet for 2 weeks on top of a bag with 30 kilos of cocaine and a couple of bottles of water and some food. He didn´t speak a word, but once in Antwerp he had within 4 hours the most famous Belgian Lawyer taking care of him. The captain told us that the worst stowaways are those without any papers, because nobody knows what to do with them and nobody wants to take responsibility. Some stories are just sad but a little funny, like the Russian who thought that for a lot of money he was on his way to the US, but ended up in Lima. He paid a lot of money to a stew adore in Panama, who, after having received his money put him on a HORNLINE vessel to Lima and Santiago. Just after the Panamanian Pilot left the ship, he was caught. But he was an electro technical mechanic, who repaired all the electrical systems on board, which hadn´t functioned for years. After dinner we watched the stars again from the roof of the bridge, sitting in our garden chairs. It was a balmy kind of night. Some very small fishing boats were floating around. Afterwards we stayed a while on the bridge, where al of the sudden a very hectic conversation in local Spanish came in over the distress frequency. Which is absolutely forbidden to use for local quarrels. The 2nd officer asked us to translate what it was all about, because it really sounded frantic. It went more or less like this. Hay, where are you going?, Why didn´t you help me, Are you being chased?, Why didn´t you help me, tomorrow I´ll find somebody else, Don´t worry everything will be alright. How much do you have with you?, About 75 kilos, tomorrow I´ll find somebody else, over and out!! Here after dead silence on the radio. The three of us don´t believe they were discussing 75 kilos of bananas or fish. There after we went to sleep.

November 28th 7,57,723 76.46.825 anchored 4.35am

At about 3 o´clock we woke up, because the speed of the ship or engine changed. When I looked out of our porthole, it was clear we had arrived in the bay of Turbo. A kind of eerie foggy light in a light mist with a very few distant orange lights and the horizon was alternatively jungle or mangroves all lighted every now and then by silent lightning above very big clouds. The ship was moving very slowly. Before I could say to Sandra to go up to the bridge, she already had jumped into her shorts. At the bridge we found the Captain up and about together with his 3rd. officer and a sailor at the rudder. The sight is very hard to describe, especially when you realize you are deep down into the jungle. See map, islands called as Deadman Island, Big Lion river, Bone Island etc. Specially the light and the silent lightning in the foggy drizzle at a temperature of about 27 degrees, with the dark jungle lurking all around.

The Honolulu.

In front of us a big vessel, which all of the sudden barked at us over the radio; This is the Honolulu, Please steer clear of us! So, our captain answered a short: Of course and changed course about halve a degree and we stayed clear by about halve a mile. On the radar screens the surrounding looked very confusing, especially of the low hanging clouds, which also appeared on the screens. About 3.45am the pilot with 5 guards came on board. In the mean time we could see at about 5 miles distance 6 other banana ship for anchor. These last miles we crawled to our anchoring place, besides the other ships. I wanted to see how the anchor was let down so I went forward. The captain pleaded to be careful and to stay out of the way. Sandra stayed on the bridge. Up front there was one seaman, totally covered by a yellow rain poncho, a helmet and the poncho pulled over his head. I thought it isn´t raining that much, but stayed well away from the winch of the anchor chain. The moment the order came to drop the anchor, the sailor pulled a enormous lever and the 5 ton anchor plus about 40 meter of enormous chain dropped to the bottom with an explosive kind of noise and an enormous cloud of dark brown rust, strangely lighted by the spotlights on the bow and everything smelled as if a dentist burned your teeth while drilling. Sandra told me afterwards that she jumped because of the sudden noise being on the bridge, 100 m away insight. The moment the anchor was down I went back and met the Pilot leaving the ship and halve the Colombian army entering the ship. All doors to the superstructure are closed now. A heavily armed soldier guards the only door that can be opened. Even when we leave, divers will check the bottom of the ship to see if some smart ass didn´t weld a box of drugs to the bottom.

Loading palletized boxes with bananas.	Loading of bananas started immediately. Enormous barges with sliding roofs appeared along sight, full with palletised boxes with bananas. They are hoisted 3 at the time into the pre-cooled holds. Where the boxes are de-palletised and stored into the hold, filling every imaginable corner of the ship.
Loading de-palletized boxes into the hold	This will go-on till about 5 o´clock when we will leave for Chiriquí Grande. We expect to arrive there at about midday Wednesday the 29th.
Loading palletized boxes with bananas.	The loading went much faster than foreseen, so we raised the anchor around 1.30pm to sail to the entrance of the bay where we dropped and waited for the Colombians guards to leave the ship and have her bottom checked by two divers, to see if there were drugs stuck to the bottom. We sailed direction Chiriquí Grande at about 4 pm, where we expected to arrive the next day around 11am.
Sandra trying to raise the flag.	The Captain gave sandra the honor to raise the flag of Panama. But that sounds easier than it really is, specially during rather windy conditions
Some help.	So, some profesionel help was required.
Now she ready to raise the flag.	Now she is ready to raise the flag
Some help.	Ready for our next Port of Call, Chiriqui Grande in the Porvince of Baocas del Toro of the Republic of Panama, our final destination.
All the oficers, except the First Oficer, who was on watch.	As it was our last day aboard, we decided to invite the Captain and his officers for a drink in the ship´s bar. Which was heartedly accepted. All the officers, with the exception of the first officer, who was on watch, appeared in their best uniform. Which made Sandra run to our cabin and change into a better dress. Sandra, Captain, Electrical Engineer, Chief Engineer, 3rd Officer, 2nd Officer

After a respectable amount of drinks and a lot of laughs the Captain and the chief engineer invited us to come to the Captain´s cabin after dinner to watch a couple of videos the Captain had made about live on board of the HORNCLIFF. We had a great night and know now a lot more how sailors spend their Christmas, sailing the oceans. The owners of those ships are only interested that their ships sail.

November 29th 9.23.760 81.20.181 257 speed 18,5 knots 7.40am ETA Chiriqui Grande 10.33

The Panamanian Pilot is aboard.

We arrived at Chiriquí Grande in splendid sunshine. Which is a miracle, because it rains there about 340 days a year. Sandra had the honor to raise the Panamanian flag. Which wasn´t as easy as it appears to be. After some helping hand from a sailor the flag hang proudly from the highest point of the ship.

After raising the flag Chiriquí Grande came quickly insight.

NOVEMBER 29th 8.57.048 82.06.714 birthed at Chiriquí Grande

Don Emilio y Emilio.

On the peer Sandra´s father (Don Emilio) and brother (Emilio), were waiting for us. While they were climbing on board, I was invited by the Captain to a meeting with the ship´s agent to discuss the unloading of our container. The agent wasn´t helpful at all and only wanted to unload our container at 11 o´clock at night. Which meant that Sandra and I had to stay in Chiriquí Grande that night, because we had to be present for the custom clearance of our car and container. We couldn´t stay on board because the ship was to leave at 2 o´clock that night. And Sandra´s father and brother would have to come back the following day to pick us up again. So while this confusion reigned, we showed the 2 Emilio´s the complete ship and the captain organized a great lunch for them. As it was clear that this was going to take quite a while Don Emilio and Emilio spent the remainder of the afternoon taking a siesta in our cabin, while Sandra and I finely organized the unloading of the container at about 4 o´clock in the afternoon.

Very worried on-lookers

Which was really lucky for us, because the only custom guy with sufficient power to clear our stuff was celebrating his birthday that day and his only interest was to get home as soon as possible. So at 4 o´clock, the container was hoisted from its very high location directly on the quay in a very precarious way. See faces on next picture, only the professionals had faith.

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A relaxed Captain and Chief Engineer

During the whole trip our container was somewhere deep in the forward hold, but during our last night on the ship the Captain had placed our containers with all our belongings on the highest place on the ship.

The highest location on the ship

The moment the container was save and sound on the quay I drove my oil leaking SAAB, under strict surveyance from the customs, out it. Then the container was hoisted on a chassis and driven together with the SAAB to a custom area. After having spent $60 on 3 bottles of CHIVAS for the key persons, the container was cleared (costs $75,00) and the SAAB got permission to drive with a custom guard to the custom depot in DAVID. So at last, after saying good-bye with a heavy heart from the captain and his crew, we left Chiriquí Grande with a packed car of Sandra´s father and the SAAB, in which a dirty fat Indian woman, serving as the custom guard, accompanied me. This lady asked me if I had any problem that she ate something. Of course I hadn´t any, but I should have. She unwrapped aluminum foil from a plastic tray containing some slob of rice and banana´s covered with fish heads. Contently she started to suck out the fish heads and licking her fingers. She threw the sucked out fish heads out of the window. In the mean time she was talking and talking. So I didn´t pay much attention going up the very steep road out of Chiriquí Grande into the, with heavy jungle covered, mountains. So after about 20 minutes I had to stop because the engine was overheating and I got a boiling radiator. Leaking oil, a boiling radiator, this fat dirty slob in my car and being dead tired after a rather hectic and emotional day, nearly got the better part of me. But at last we arrived without major problems in David. Where we left the SAAB at the custom depot plus the Lady, who was as happy as could be, because she loves Julio Iglesias. Thanks to him, I got her talking reduced to a minimum by putting one of his CD´s on. In David we had dinner at Emilio´s house, where we heard that Giselle had to be operated at an abscess in her throat. Which made Sandra really nervous. So we decided to fly to Panama the next day. After dinner we drove to Vulcan (about an hour), where we arrived dead tired at about 10 o´clock. After greeting Sandra´s mother we all went straight to bed. The next morning we went back to David where we got a temporarily import permit for the SAAB and left the SAAB at Diana´s house to take the 4 o´clock plane to Panama. Sandra spent the night in the hospital with her daughter and I had dinner with Diana (she lives in David, but works in Panama City) and slept in a hotel. The next day I went with our lawyer Hector to organize my papers. Which was done in one day. How? That will be another story. Giselle is okay, so we went back to Vulcan that afternoon. Saturday I bought our first 39 calves in a pouring rain with Alejandro (Alejandro is a vetenarian and is married to Laura, one of Sandra´s younger sisters) and Don Emilio, with whom I had lunch. Sunday and Monday Sandra and I unpacked 80% of our stuff that had arrived from Chiriquí Grande that Friday in Vulcan, when we were in Panama City. Everything was dumped under the house of Sandra´s parents. We moved our stuff to the house of Aunt Fina (Don Emilio´s sister), which we may use till we have our own house built. Which we expect to have ready around June next year.

Volcán

Monday night we slept in our own bed for the first time since January this year. That night watching the fire, where we burned the packing material of the moving company I had a feeling that I have arrived at last at a place where I will find peace after having ran all over the world for more than 4 years now.

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Some other experiences from Volcan in the Chiriqui highlands: