February 2025

We had been steeling ourselves for the passage from Cuba to Panama for quite some time as we knew when we made the decision to go to Cuba that there was no easy way to get from there to Panama at this time of year. The NE/E trade winds that blow across the Caribbean from Christmas onwards pile the swell up in the western Caribbean Sea, and unless we took a more circuitous route, we simply had to grit our teeth and get on with it. On top of the swell, the winds tend more easterly later in the season making for a beam reach which is not a particularly comfortable point of sail compared to downwind sailing. 

Cayo Largo, our departure point from Cuba

The best we could do was to break the 800 nm passage into shorter sections so we could at least have a rest along the way. The first stretch was from Cayo Largo, Cuba, to Georgetown, Cayman Islands. Only 145nm and thank goodness for that. It was fairly rough for about the first 8 hours. So much so that we were both sick for the first time since we took delivery of Paseafique 12 years ago.  Phil in particular was in a bad way mainly because he had a slight cold and an infection in his eustachian tubes, making him much more susceptible to sea sickness. We had antibiotics on board so he got started on those. 

Our good friends Adrian and Marianna on board Anthem, were sailing in company with us and they kindly kept watch for us during the daylight hours so we could both rest. They could alert us by radio if there were any vessels in our path. We were so grateful to have them close by. By the evening the sea state had settled somewhat and we managed to keep watch between the two of us. We were very relieved to be tied up to a mooring buoy on Grand Cayman the next morning. 

My sea sickness was a portent of a nasty dose of gastro from which I had thankfully recovered in time to join the crew of two other boats, Anthem and Kwilena, on a day trip by car around the island. I can hear some readers conjuring up images of a luxurious paradise and there are parts of Grand Cayman that would fit those images -the exclusive gated communities, the beach side suburbs of the east and north, and the crystal clear water. Other parts of it though were not so appealing -the massive barren duty-free shopping area that serves the cruise ships, the scruffy towns and villages that reminded us of Jamaica, and chickens wondering the streets, sometimes going into the shops. 

Blow hole on the coast of Grand Cayman Island

Rum Point, Grand Cayman Island

There is always time for coffee with a friend: Marianna and me on Grand Cayman Island

The second section was a longer 372nm to an island called Providencia that lies off the coast of Nicaragua but belongs to Colombia. Again, the first part of this passage was rough and we took a lot of water over the boat. Although Phil had finished the course of antibiotics, he clearly still had an ear problem and felt most unwell on this passage also. 

We were very happy to meet up with more good friends, Jack and Jan on board US Anthem in Providencia. They had been trying to catch up to us and Aussie Anthem since we were in Jamaica but a series of problems, not the least of which was a broken rudder, detained them. They made it to Jamaica where they were able to temporarily fix the rudder and then they went straight to Providencia to finally catch up with us. We first met them in Indonesia in 2015 and had been bumping into each other since then. Opportunities to sail together and share anchorages were starting to run out though, as they would not be going onto the Pacific with us. So it was especially great to see them in the Providencia anchorage. 

I was glad to see Jan for another reason too. She is a retired nurse and it was good to be able to confer about Phil’s ears and sea sickness. It so happened that Jan had a very nifty digital otoscope so she could at least have a look in the external canal of Phil’s ears. There were lots of ooos and ahhs as she was able to see quite a bit of junk in his ears, and fortunately what she could see of his ear drums looked ok -at least there was not any infection. So I got the job of syringing Phil’s ears with a lot of success clearing out what appeared to be sea lice! Before we left Cuba, Phil had helped Marianna clean the bottom of Aussie Anthem which had a small forest growing on it and there were lots of sea lice that got disturbed when the forest was being scraped off. Phil certainly felt better after that but he still had congestion in his eustachian tubes which gradually cleared over the next week or so. 

Providencia – lush and green

Providencia is a beautiful island but as it’s part of Columbia, an agent is required to check in at a cost of US$90. We also wanted to stop at the next island, San Andres, but when we discovered we would have to pay again to check in there also, we decided to leave Providencia and spend our money checking into San Andres, which was only 60nm away and where we thought there would be more to do. How wrong we were! 

San Andres would have to have been one of the worst places we have visited -crowded, dirty and with extremely noisy traffic. As it has beaches, it’s a popular holiday place for Colombians so there are lots of shops selling the usual junky tourist souvenirs.

The beaches on San Andres are rather nice, but very windy. We did manage to do a very pleasant boardwalk through the mangroves on San Andres.

As soon as the weather looked good, we left for the final 226 nm push to Shelter Bay Marina in Panama-the most comfortable section of the trip from Cuba.