A New Anchorage Rating System

If you’d asked me a week ago what the worst part of anchoring out was, I would probably have said “wake”. Or swell, I suppose - basically anything that sends your boat rolling from side to side.

Normally, we sit to the current. Barring any current, we sit to the wind. Sometimes this combination means we sit sideways to some kind of wave action, and we grit our teeth and bear it for the couple of hours until the tide turns and we’re all smooth again.

A regular roll is one thing. A sporadic one is something else again.

At anchor outside of La Playita, the marina where we spent a couple of nights right after our transit, means you’re subject to WILD wakes at irregular times. There’s a tourist ferry company based inside the marina that makes runs to Taboga Island. They ramp up to maximum wake speed as soon as they clear the marina breakwater and tear through the anchorage, sending even catamarans into a crazy gyration. Inhabitants on any monohull better hold on. Those aren’t the only wakes we feel, though - as pilot boats race to get to or from their Panama Canal charges, the wake propagates all the way from the approaches to the anchorage. And then it reverberates back from the edges.

*Screenshot of the La Playita anchorage in relation to the Canal approaches*

It’s not exactly peaceful.

It’s convenient for access to Panama City, but not amazing as an anchorage.

Hence our escape out to Las Perlas. There’s some swell running through the spot we initially chose, in between Isla Chapera and MogoMogo (of Survivor fame), but it was relatively minor, and the beauty more than made up for it. Still, we were pretty excited to find a spot that was flat calm. No swell. A flat night’s sleep? Bring it on!

*At anchor between Chapera and MogoMogo*

Ask me now what the worst part of anchoring out might be?

I’m going with bugs. No-see-ums especially.

Normally those things clock in on a limited work schedule. An hour before sunset to an hour after. They’re especially vicious on a beach.

Someone forgot to tell the ones at whatever island we were at about the union hours. These guys started their munching at 4 and kept going all night long. We took action which didn’t seem to do much, though from the corpse count littering the aft deck I’m sure I’m wrong. I can’t imagine how bad it would have been if we’d given up.

*Hung the light OUTSIDE the screen. Oh my.*

We now have a new anchorage rating system - the “S” system. Contrary to most, the more of these the worse the anchorage.

Smoke
Spray
Screens
Slap
Scratch
Sheets

These go in order of application.

It’s not unusual to have to deploy our smoke coils (speaking of which, we need to buy more of those!), though it’s been a while. Watch where you put your foot in the cockpit while it’s lit and we’re generally fine.

Next up is spray, more often used when we’re heading on a walk or anticipating the chomping critters. We aren’t super fond of applying this in the evening after showers, mostly because then we’re sleeping in a film of whatever is in that stuff.

When the bugs are more, er, persistent, we pull out the bug screens. Most of the ones we have on board are more geared towards mosquitoes, and they’re from camping supply stores. Meant to be strung up. They’re boxy and kind of get draped over the hatches. There is one we snagged from Mischief’s onboard kit that’s a finer weave and has weighted edges - this one gets tucked over the companionway. The latest addition to our anti-bug arsenal looks like it belongs on a wedding runway. It’s marketed as a canopy for a king size bed, designed to be hung from on high. There’s an overlapping flap to provide ingress and egress. It’s white and flowy and is about 12 feet long. Despite being the subject of much eye rolling and ridicule when first unpackaged, we both agree that it’s a good piece of gear. But a bit of a pain to set up and take down. Like all the screens. Hence their position as #3 on the list.

Then you get to the slap action, when previous measures aren’t enough.

Then there’s the scratch. Self-explanatory.

The sheets? Probably only important in hot climates where generally we’re sleeping with as little as possible, a fan trained on our bodies. But when the bugs are relentless you’re choosing between sweating to death or being eaten alive. Great options.

That anchorage we tried? Was a solid 6-S. 10/10 do NOT recommend.

I’ll take a roll any day.