March 5, 2025 | The Panama Canal is almost within sight. The lights of Colón are clearly visible to the crew of Falken now, the cargo vessels anchored in the deep water are no longer just smudges of light, and traffic has dramatically increased since departing the San Blas islands 12 hours ago. The engineering feat of the Panama Canal is almost within sight! When the crew join the boat I like to ask why they chose this leg in particular. For leg 4, experiencing the canal crossing was the overwhelming majority of answers; however, after 5 blissful days cruising the San Blas islands, I think they’ll go home with many highlights! They were like the desert islands you see in many cartoons, only with even clearer turquoise waters and very welcoming locals—providing opportunities for the purchase of coconut bread and the traditional molas. I’m yet to master the pronunciation of any of the islands, but I can verify they are all beautiful.
Our last day was spent at an idyllic anchorage in West Holandes Cays, snorkelling the very much alive reefs and executing halyard swings from the boat—probably not quite the normal 59N trip but we’re all enjoying playing cruisers! After a rather dismal forecast of little wind, we got lucky and found ourselves on a comfortable close reach averaging 8 knots. Wonderful sailing... not so great for my anticipation of a slow sail to coincide with a daylight arrival to the busy shipping lanes! Unfortunately, or fortunately, the wind died off a couple of hours ago and we’ve been ticking along under engine for the final few hours. Despite the peaceful sailing disappearing, the stars have stayed and everyone’s enjoyed viewing the Southern Cross and shooting stars.
Hard to believe we’re only just over halfway of this trip and the Pacific marks our end point. This will be my third time through the canal but each time it’s impressive to see what is essentially a boat escalator! Our crew have been incredible, a lovely culture is on board and all have been reading up on the canal. Dave’s promised a 400-slide PowerPoint show on the subject, which should keep us busy whilst waiting for our transit date!
- Mary Vaughan-Jones, FALKEN Skipper
FALKENCrew
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Ketch us if you Kan
Falken is soon to carry on our preferred route of South, back to (hopefully) warmer climates. We’re all excited to set off and see more of this wild landscape as we head down to Victoria. A thermal trough over Vancouver combined with an offshore high pressure creating funneling NW’ly winds means it is due to be pretty fruity on the 9th. This passage is just under 600 miles, relatively short for Falken, but I’m sure we’ll be kept entertained with dramatic scenery, wildlife and weather!
Final Blog
Falken and her crew arrived safely into port last night around 8pm boat time, 10pm Prince Rupert time. Some spicy weather was anticipated, but luckily the 35kt gusts and 2.5 meter waves were no match for this expert crew. We had an exceptionally smooth docking, despite it being Alex's first time parking this year (!). We all agreed that this was a very special group of people—I for one am so impressed with how everyone stayed so positive, helpful, and appreciative of humor despite an arguably challenging passage. We'll all return home significantly saltier than we were when we left, a mark of a passage properly sailed.
Lessons and a Gift
The biggest lesson is the helm. The lesson here is that even if you don't think you can do it over and over again with no sleep, cold and damp, it has to be done and so it can be done. Flying fish are cool, dolphins are really really cool, but the coolest of them all are the whales. And most of all Alex: "Find your center Carla. Always know where your center is so you can come back to it". He means the helm but it applies to life as well.