Change of Plans

A Royal Palm blasted by lightning at Shelter Bay Marina.  Yikes!!

When we arrived in Shelter Bay Marina in Panama our tentative plan was to thoroughly explore the Caribbean side of Panama including San Blas and Bocas del Torro - two favourite regions for cruisers.   We intended to leave Milly in Shelter Bay May-October when we would go back to Canada for the summer.

The first niggling doubt about the plan happened in Bonaire when we met the cruisers on a boat that had been hit twice by lightning on the Pacific side of Panama.  And they added that several of their friends boats had also been hit.  The wet season in Panama from May to December is known for huge amounts of rain - enough to sink a dinghy overnight if left in the water - and lightning.  

When we arrived at Shelter Bay we noted that the tall palms were decapitated by lightning.  In San Blas, each idyllic island had a handful of headless palms.  Our friends stories of fearfully sitting out thunderstorms added to our dilemma.  Being struck by lightning is every sailors nightmare.  Depending on the severity, damage ranges from trivial to catastrophic - it could hole the boat, start a fire, blow out all electronics and wiring.  Our insurance would cover the damage but the work involved and the length of time required for the fix in a nation where almost all decent boat items need to be shipped in from abroad made the prospect of a strike scary and unsettling. 

Other friends were going to cross the canal and head north to Mexico over a couple of months in the spring.  Now we were deliberating following suit: transiting the canal in April when we returned to Milly, and as swiftly as possible heading northwest the 1700 NM - same distance as crossing the Atlantic, Cabo Verde to Barbados - to Puerto Vallarta.  Heading north in the spring was reportedly easier than in the fall/winter because the north winds were lighter.  Puerto Vallarta had the added appeal that Tom was now living in a town nearby when he wasn’t training or competing.  He was competing in a World Laser Regatta taking place in PV at the end of May.  Em and Gid would be spending New Year’s 2022 with Gid’s parents in the same locale.  

BUT the hurricane season officially begins on May 15 in the Eastern Pacific.  Hurricanes typically travel up the coast and then veer west into the ocean.  April/May left us very little time to get to PV and absolutely no time to explore enroute.  We would have to forego checking Boca del Torro out on the Caribbean side completely.  We rationalized that we could spend a few seasons on the west coast and very slowly make our way south enjoying the places we had been unable to visit on our scurry north.

So the new plan:  Get some major work done on Milly before leaving Shelter Bay, transit the canal in early April, take a few days to explore and chill in Las Perlas archipelago, and then hippity-hop up the coast as fast as we could.  Hopefully, we would arrive in time to see some of Tom’s regatta and spend some time with Tom and Fer on Milly.  We’d put Milly to bed for the hurricane season - hurricanes seem to take a miss on the huge Bay of Banderas, just cruising by the mouth if they come that close. 

We have learned, however, that PV has the highest number of lightning strikes on the Mexican coast and friends’ boat was hit twice in many years of staying there.  No plan is perfect but this one seems almost so.