CHANGES on the beach, dropped the anchor, and went below! The next day the harbor people came around and told him he couldn't keep his boat on the beach. They made him move to the commercial harbor, where his boat got covered in coal dust. He was so pissed. But he was one of those guys who was always either drunk or on drugs. "When he got to the Caribbean, there was a big stink because, according to the French guy, a West Indian who had come onto his boat drowned. Authorities later determined the two were having a dispute over a woman, and that the French guy hit the West Indian over the head, then threw him overboard. So you never know." The one thing the Weavers know is they like the South Pacific best. "We like to get off the beaten track. French Polynesia is nice, but Bora Bora, in our opinion, has been ruined. If you go to Maupiti, which is right next door, it's perfect, like it used to be. Mopelia is even better. If you look at the pass at Mopelia, you'd be terrified. But if you pick your time and put somebody up the mast, you can get in. "Generally speaking, we think the further west you go, the better it gets. We like New Guinea, Vanuatu, and the Solomons, the latter being home to my favorite island in the world. Fiji is still great, but I'm not so happy about Tonga. I'd been there in the 1980s, and was not pleased with what I saw when I returned 20 years later." Peter is fully aware of how quickly places can change. "I remember coming to sleepy St. Barth in the 1970s. We just dropped the hook in the middle of the harbor at Gustavia because there were
TIM WRIGHT
'Tamasha' off tropical Antigua. Peter declines offers to sail on Santa Barbara Wet Wednesday beer can races. "It's too cold!" he insists.
no other boats. I don't even recognize it now. Similarly, I remember coming in on the only boat in the Tobago Cays in 1975. There wasn't another boat." — latitude 05/03/2014 Cirque — Beneteau First 42s7 Louis Kruk The Caribbean Coast of Panama (San Leandro) Three Northern California friends and I left Shelter Bay Marina on the Caribbean side of steamy Panama on April 17 for a bit of local cruising. Thanks to nice northeasterly trades, we made the 20 miles to Portobello's lovely natural harbor by that afternoon. A sleepy town of 3,000, Portobello is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because it was the booming transportation center for getting silver from Panama to Spain — until its fortifications were destroyed in the mid-18th century during the War of Jenkins' Ear. Portobello is also home to the Black Jesus of Portobello. It's a mystery how the life-size figure of a black Christ appeared in the village in the 1600s, and legend has it the statute has "refused" to leave on several occasions. The Black Jesus is now venerated, as many Panamanians consider it to be responsible for numerous miracles. The big celebration is on October 21, during which time tens of thousands of devotees make a pilgrimage. Some walk 53 miles from Panama City, thousands walk the last 22 miles from Sabanitas, and many crawl the last mile on their hands and knees. Ouch! Portobello is home to Captain Jack's Restaurant, which bills itself as a "little bit of the First World in the Third World". I have to agree with that self-evaluation. An incredibly friendly and gracious host, Captain Jack, who is originally from New Jersey and who has cruised extensively, keeps his boat on the hook in the harbor. The Portobello fortifications provided for a wonderful afternoon of exploration. There were lots of cannons pointed at the boats in the harbor, but I was assured they weren't loaded. Our next stop was seven-mile-distant Isla Linton, home to three relatively domesticated spider monkeys. They charged up to us, stood tall on their hind legs, and one
extended a hand to shake. While two of the monkeys stood around and diverted our attention, the third got into the dinghy and began to rummage through our stuff. Spider and howler monkeys normally stay high in the jungle canopy and don't interact with humans. Our next stop, lovely Isla Grande, was only three miles away. It's a popular vacation spot with Panamanians, so it was lucky we got there the day after Easter, Since Eric Bauhaus' definitive Panama Cruising Guide recommended Pupi's Bar for its Rastafari decoration, constant slow reggae, and complete "arsenal of drinks" with lots of people, we went in search of it. The only hangout we could find was an establishment painted in the Jamaican color scheme of red, yellow, green and black. I guessed we'd found Pupi's, but there was no reggae music, no arsenal of drinks, and no people. Just one lonely man sitting at a table in the middle of a bundle of empty tables.