Passage from Panama to the Bahamas (live)
Instead of the originally planned Pacific crossing, we’re heading back across the Atlantic to Europe. Our first leg will take us from Panama to the Bahamas in 8–10 days – at least, that’s the plan. Depending on the weather, we may make a stopover in Cartagena, Colombia, or Jamaica. At the moment, it looks like there will be little wind and few waves, and we are hoping for a pleasant crossing. We are in good spirits and looking forward to the challenge, as it’s been almost a year since our last crossing.
You can follow our progress live here. We will update our position twice a day and post a short blog entry about life on board once a day. We’d love for you to join us!
Panama - Bahamas Day1
Mon Apr 20 2025 21:07:00 GMT-0500 (Panama time)
Having announced for two days running that we’d be setting off the following day, our jetty neighbours are starting to lose faith in us. But today is the day, and so we cast off at 9.15 am. We have around 870 nautical miles ahead of us to the Bahamas. Immediately after passing the breakwater, we hoist the sails and tack our way through the anchored tankers and container ships. There is little wind and wave, but they are coming from exactly the direction we want to go. All in all, a pretty good start, even if we have to tack a lot. In the meantime, the wind picks up a bit and we reef the mainsail. For lunch we cook Caribbean rice and meat – an original creation where we use the meat from the previous day’s barbecue and half a cabbage, seasoned with plenty of Caribbean spices. Shortly afterwards, the wind drops again before dying down completely. So it’s time to start the engine. Just in time for sunset, however, the wind picks up again and we glide into the night at a leisurely 10 knots.
Speaking of cabbage, we have a total of 9.5 heads of cabbage on board and have been asked by several sailors whether they keep for that long and what we cook with them. Our cabbage has actually lasted forever, even without refrigeration. We hope we’ll still be able to make it through the Bahamas with our cabbage, as fruit and vegetables are extremely expensive there (as is pretty much everything).
Distance to the Bahamas: 850 nm
Meal: Caribbean rice and meat
Cabbage head count: 9/9.5