- Please play ball and email us your head shots
- Some key 2019-2029 Panama Posse dates
- Counter Posse ( North Bound ) gathering in Vista Mar
- Long term planning
- Deep link into GoodNautical
- Picture of the week
- Mosquitoes, Malaria and the Panama Canal
- Tamarindo, Costa Rica
- Thanks to all of our Official Panama Posse Sponsors, Partners and Ambassadors
- Replies & the Panama Posse Gestalt Theory
1) PLEASE “PLAY BALL” & email us your
HEAD SHOTS
the following vessels out of 123 have not submitted their
pictures –
LUNA, COMPROMISE, RAIREVA, TRUE BLUE, SCOUT, WIND SWEPT, BONZAI, STAND DOWN, NAMAHANA, ALIZANN, KOUMBA BANG, ENTERPRISE III, SALPARE, CONTEXT, DOUBLE DEUCE, LILIPAD, SALISH DRAGON, CYCLADES, SEDNA VI, JOY, KARVI, SEAQUEL, TAKMOANA, STRAY CAT, SOUTHERN CROSS III, PILIALOHA, ANKYRIOS, HERITAGE, EPIPHANY
Please send in your pictures – some marinas
use your pictures to verify discounts
AND SPEAKING OF HEADS and BALLS

To the Mayans, the game was known as Pok a Tok, to the Aztec it
was Tlachtli, while nowadays most people refer to it as
Ulama.
In the most common theory of the game, the players struck the ball with their hips, although some versions allowed the use of forearms, rackets, bats, or hand-stones.
The ball was made of solid rubber and weighed as much
as 9 lbs and sizes differed greatly over time or according to
the version played.

The most interesting part, however, is the fact that if
a particular game had a religious purpose,
the winning team were decapitated and offered as a
sacrifice and this was considered a great honor.

So please give us YOUR HEAD SHOTS 2) Some key 2019-2029
Panama Posse dates
We meet at Marina Puerto de la Navidad, Barra de Navidad,
Mexico

– for details go to https://panamaposse.com/start
PLEASE RSVP by replying to this email if you plan to be there !
Thu
Dec 5th, 2019 @ 1 PM
Route planning & navigation
Fri
Dec 6th, 2019
@ 1 PM
Communications, Weather, Safety (with special
video guest VAN to talk about personal safety and
risk from safe-esteem.com)
Fri
Dec 6th, 2019
Evening @ 5 PM(ish)
– the official Panama Posse Kick off Party with an
open bar courtesy of Marina Puerto de
la Navidad
Sat
Dec 7th, 2019
@
1 PM
Satellite Charts / OpenCPN / Good Nautical (
please bring yoru laptops and external hardrives with 32
GIG’s avail )
Sat
Dec 7th, 2019
Evening @
6 PM(ish)
– the official Panama
Posse pot luck BBQ Kick off Party
with shooting of expired
flares ( BRING YOUR OLD FLARES )
Sun
Dec
8th, 2019
@
1 PM
– Provisioning & What to see
and do – Recap & Q&A

3) Counter Posse ( North Bound ) @ Monday’s 16:30 UTC Line

We are looking to organize an event at Vista Mar for the
northbound (Counter Posse) group –
if you are northbound – around 18 vessels are – please
let us know if mid end January works for a little gathering at
Vista Mar…. we know a band …
We are also adding a northbound line call at 16:30 UTC on
Mondays or immediately following the main call segments
And of course the May 30th, 2020 Vista Mar Panama
Posse welcome party extravaganza !

4) Long term planning
Several vessels will be heading up the coast from Panama and
parts in between towards Mexico.
Many are working on their Hurricane strategies and are
looking for a safe place for next season.
There are of course several options to consider – please take all of this with a grain of salt.
www.panamaposse.com/weather/
Pacific Hurricane Strategies run the gamut with some general
markers for you to ponder.
SOUTH ZONE
Panama on the Pacific side stay at Vista Mar
Marina
(no hurricanes, yes lighting strikes)
Costa Rica stay at a marina Golfito
Marina Village, Banana Bay Marina, Marina
Pez Vela, Marina Papagayo
– several offer the options with a bond which helps
with customs issues
(no hurricanes, yes lighting strikes)
Nicaragua – stay at Marina Puesta del
Sol
(no hurricanes, yes lighting strikes)
El Salvador – stay on Bill &
Jean’s Moorings
(no hurricanes, yes lighting strikes)
There are ample electrical storms, thunder and lightning and
each season vessel suffer from lightning strikes in these
places.
CENTRAL ZONE
Tehuntapec ,MX is the area where the hurricanes usually originate from
Mexico – Marina Chiapas a great place to haul
out – ask for Memo !
and soon Marina Chahue – dredging is maybe underway
NORTH ZONE
All Mexican marinas above this line on the Pacific side are in
the bona-fide Hurricane Zone
(expect for Ensenda) and vessels also occasionally suffer from
lightning strikes.

Here are some visualizations of the historic hurricane
tracks in the Pacific

and the the lighting strikes map

5) Here is the deep link into GoodNautical just choose
the Mexican marina’s form the left side selector
http://www.goodnautical.com/gma/mexico-pacific?field_gma_value=MX-PAC


and clicking on the little icons gives you full
details and info on each including contact info and comments
Good Nautical is our bonafide 501(c)3 non profit
organization
and any budget left over goes towards development of new
features and data entry.

6) PICTURE OF THE WEEK

Greg

SV SIRENA

7) MOSQUITOS, MALARIA and the PANAMA CANAL

In 1904 the US Army was tasked* with helping construct a
canal (* there is a bit more to this…) to
connect the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean.
The US was not the first country to attempt the feat. As early
as the 1840s the British thought about digging a canal across
the Isthmus of Panama, but were deterred by the hostility of
the politics and geography. In 1881 the French,
buoyed by the successful construction of the Suez Canal in
Egypt, decided to take on the project. But they did not account
for the deadly mosquitoes: 22,000 of the project’s
workers died after contracting malaria and yellow fever. The
loss of life caused construction costs to spiral, leading to the
bankruptcy of the canal’s owners in 1889 after they had
spent $287m on the project ($7 billion at today’s prices). The
canal lay abandoned and incomplete.
The American government bought* (* there is a bit
more to this…) the land in 1904 and quickly realized
that it needed to protect its workforce from the diseases. To do
so, it tried to kill as many of the disease-carrying mosquitoes
in Panama as possible. Thousands of American troops were sent in
with orders to destroy every habitat that could harbor the
mosquitoes.
Swamps were drained. Pools and lakes of still water were tainted
with oil or simply blown up with explosives. Buildings in the
area were fumigated and high-risk areas were doused with
insecticide. The scale of the operation was huge: around 700,000
gallons of oil and 124,000 gallons of insecticide were used during
the construction of the canal each year. And it was success, at
least in relative terms. The death toll among the workforce was
5,000 by the time the canal opened in 1914.


One of the cruisers from last season met with an infectious
disease specialist in early Dec at the Ochsner Medical Center in
New Orleans so as to address vaccination needs related to
travels. Bottom line – no Yellow Fever in the parts of Panama
and CR that most plan to visit – coastal areas and San Blas. The
guidance document provided for
Malaria risk is low throughout the year in all areas
including the Canal Zone and Panama City. Risk is
highest in Darien, Guna Yala, Panam and San Blas Provinces.
No Risk – Cruises along the Panama canal will not
necessitate anti-malarial medication. Adopt bite avoidance
measures.
Transmission does not occur on the San Blas Islands, but it is
necessary to transit areas with known transmission risk en route
to the islands. Daytime insect precautions are essential for
un-vaccinated travelers.”
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2020/preparing-international-travelers/yellow-fever-vaccine-and-malaria-prophylaxis-information-by-country/panama

TROPICAL STRENGTH BUG SPRAY
(note: each country’s requirement and relevant
statistics has been diligently compiled
for review on the official Panama Posse website by Tally
from SV RAVEN )
https://panamaposse.com/mexico
https://panamaposse.com/guatemala
https://panamaposse.com/el-salvador
https://panamaposse.com/honduras
https://panamaposse.com/nicaragua
https://panamaposse.com/costa-rica
https://panamaposse.com/panama



Neil, Tally, Jan & Otter
RAVEN

8) Tamarindo, Costa Rica
We finally unglued ourselves from the comforts of Playa El Coco
to begin again our journey southward. We popped up to Marina
Papagayo for some fuel. As we had already checked into the
country there were no issues, but we wouldn’t have been allowed
if we were not already cleared through immigration and customs.
The fuel pumps did their work quickly and as the sport fishing
fleet are the main customers, the fuel was clean, no need for a
baja filter. As we headed out of Bahia Culebra we saw hundreds
of jumping Mabula Rays trying to catch flight in hopes of
catching a mate, apparently. Yet again, the the breezes were
allowing for pleasant sailing.
We pulled into Bahia Portrero for a quick overnight, with the
crew of Shearwater over for dinner on board. The lights in the
mooring field are bright, supposedly to prevent theft. We had no
issues at all in our spot between the two groups of fishing
boats and pangas. We we’re up in the morning to get a head start
and pop around the corner to Playa Conchal. Due to the name we
had dreams of some shell collecting but the shells had already
been ground up to make the beautiful light color sand. A walk
along the beach revealed a few souvenir vendors on the side of
the gravel path. And the beach clubs for two hotels. Not open to
the public, unfortunately. But we had planned to picnic anyway,
and not long after we picked our lunch spot, a man with a cooler
came by, offering ice cold beers and coco frios. It was a
perfect lunch-hook stop-over. The afternoon graced us with more
good sailing weather and we enjoyed snapping pictures of
Shearwater flying full canvas.
We pulled into Tamarindo just as the sun was setting
behind us. We picked a spot near the mooring field. We spent the
next week taking full advantage of all Tamarindo has to offer
with our buddies, Pati and Eric. We took the dink and anchored
outside the lineup at Playa Grande and caught some fun party
waves at the beach break near the river. We beached the dinghy
and headed into town most days. We found the best landing at the
jet ski launch. We did lock the two dinghies together but never
had any issues. Each time we found our dinks just the way we had
left them. We sampled the microbrews at Witches Rock Surf Camp.
We found a street off the beaten path that had a coffee shop
called Breaking Bread that Walter White would approve of, Nacho
Libre tacos at Little Lucha, and the open air El Mercadito with
lots of options including poke bowls and a bar in a sailboat.
The roadside BBQ skewers near the beach were cheap and
delicious. We had a great meal at the beautiful Bamboo Sushi
Club.
We checked out the funky shops more for the air conditioning
than anything else and came away with some cool shirts from the
five dollar bin. Pati arranged an estuary tour and we saw a ton
of birds and a few crocodiles. If you go at high tide you can
see monkeys as well. The Papagayos were still howling and at one
point we were slowly dragging along the rock bottom and had to
reset at the edge of the mooring field and a little closer to
the beach, but there was no fetch to speak of so it was still
pretty comfortable even in the high winds.
Tamarindo is pretty busy with a lot of crispy gringos escaping
the snow and soaking up some rays. But even with the crowds, the
vibes are mellow and there are plenty of chilled out spots to
find a lounge chair or hammock and an umbrella drink. We almost
skipped it since we had been before, but from the water,
Tamarindo is a real treat!
Tamarindo Swings for Crew

Pura Vida!

http://www.goodnautical.com/costa-rica/anchorage/tamarindo

Victoria, Rowan & Crew




TALIESIN ROSE (report from last season)
9) As always we want to thank all of our
Official Panama Posse Sponsors, Partners and Ambassadors
- Marina Puerto Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta – Mexico
- Marina Puerto de La Navidad – Barra de Navidad – Mexico
- Marina Ixtapa, Ixtapa – Mexico
- La Marina Acapulco, Acapulco – Mexico
- Marina Chiapas – Mexico
- Marina Bahia del Sol – El Salvador
- La Palma Moorings – Bahia del Sol, El Salvador
- Marina Puesta del Sol – Nicaragua
- Marina Papagayo – Costa Rica
- Marina Pez Vela – Costa Rica
- Banana Bay Marina – Costa Rica
- Golfito Marina Village – Costa Rica *
- Vista Mar Marina – Panama
- Shelter Bay Marina – Panama
- Red Frog Marina – Panama
- ULLMAN SAILS PUERTO VALLARTA
Official Panama Canal Agent
Official Panama Posse Ambassadors
- Jaime Figueroa Navarro – Panama
- Bill & Jean – El Salvador Rally, El Salvador
- Ralph Hewitt – Nicaragua
Panama Posse Partners
- Vicente’s Moorings – Acapulco – Mexico
- Luis Sanchez Tours – Chiapas – Mexico
- Discover Tours Chiapas – Mexico
- Park Avenue Villas – San Juan del Sur – Nicaragua
- Coconutz – Annual Papagayo Victory Party – Playa Cocos – Costa Rica
- Abernathy – Chandlery – Panama
- Advertising Partners – Las Vegas

10) Please reply to this email with any
updates – your vessel location –
contenders for picture of the week – your favorite song for
our list –
and we’ll include it in the next Fleet Update
The Panama Posse transfer of knowledge and learning process
operates under the gestalt
theory
We will not tell you what to do, when or how – we want you to to
figure that out.
YOUR VESSEL YOUR CREW YOUR RESPONSIBILITY


Dietmar & Suzanne
SV Carinthia

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