Panama
Our cruising Guide (Zydler) states that Panama is about twice the size of the Netherlands and slightly smaller than Lake Superior with most of the 3 million citizens living in Panama City, Colon and David. This place has been the crossroads of cultures, and we expect to meet people of Latino, Asian, Afro-Antilleans descendants, as well as a few of the remaining indigenous Indians. The isthmus lies between 7 degrees N and 10 degrees N, south of the path of hurricanes. In addition, we expect to broaden our cruising community to include meeting more cruisers who transit the canal from Atlantic on their way to explore the Pacific.
As the cruising guide by Tom and Nancy Zydler states, "Few people realize that Panama has set aside more land as National Parks and protected forests than Costa Rica." It will be a pleasure to explore the numerous anchorages, coastline and in-land areas, that have not been tempered by eco-tourism and time-share development.
The Zydler's cruising guide is worth purchasing, to anyone cruising this way. Full of charts and anchorage information, it also has a concise history of Panama.
Their short history of Panama begins with the following: "Scientist estimates that the land bridging the Americas on the Isthmus of Panama emerged about three million years ago. From excavations anthropologist surmise that humans, probably the descendants of the first migrants from Asia who entered North America across Bering strait, lived here eleven thousand years ago. Later, several nations who cultivated corn and beans left distinct traces of their sophisticated cultures, first on the southern side of the Cordillera Central and later on the northern and eastern slopes." The rest of the cultural history reads like you'd imagine; pirates and conquerors, demise of the natives, waves of revolution, colonist intervention, jungle disease, death, silent heroes, scientific and medical breakthroughs and more. And then, there was the building of the canal….
"The creation of the Panama Canal was far more than a vast, unprecedented feat of engineering. It was a profoundly important historic event and a sweeping human drama not unlike that of war. Apart from wars, it represented the largest, most costly single effort ever before mounted anywhere on earth. It held the world's attention over a span of forty years. It affected the lives of tens of thousands of people at every level of society and of virtually every race and nationality. Great reputations were made and destroyed. For numbers of men and women it was the adventure of a lifetime.
Because of it one nation, France, was rocked to its foundations. Another, Colombia, lost its most prized possession, the Isthmus of Panama. Nicaragua, on the verge of becoming a world crossroads, was left to wait for some future chance. The Republic of Panama was born. The United States was embarked on a role of global involvement.
In the history of finance capitalism, in the history of medicine, it was an event of signal consequence. It marked a score of advances in engineering, government planning, and labor relations. It was a response to Sedan, a response to the idea of sea power. It was both the crowning constructive effort, "The Great Enterprise," of the Victorian Era and the first grandiose and assertive show of American power at the dawn of the new century. And yet the passage of the first ship through the canal in the summer of 1914-the first voyage through the American landmass-marked the resolution of a dream as old as the voyages of Columbus."
--David McCullough, October 1976
Preface: The Path Between the SeasWe highly recommend reading David McCullough's book, The Path Between the Seas. His historical account, weaves the tale the building of the Canal, but as well, it is a time capsule at the turn of the century connecting events that will chart the future for us all. Names that we don't necessarily associate with the building of the Canal play their hand in its development (e.g. Reed, Pulitzer, Eiffel). The canal was conceived over 300 years ago and finished its construction in 1914, in the shadow of World War I. Obviously, we are anxious to tour the canal and if we could, be line handlers or passengers crossing, from Panama City to Colon.
As of today, there are no plans to bring s/v Encanto through the canal. Instead, we plan to spend four months discovering the remote anchorages of the numerous islands of Panama as well as touring the isthmus.