En Route to Costa Rica

Blue Sky's Voyage
George & Michael
Thu 21 Jan 2010 22:11
Hello Friends                    "8:04.8N 82:26.8W"
 
We have some news to share with you since the last blog.
 
Firstly we're sad to report that Matt decided he really needed to see his family and has returned home to the UK. Another 3 months across to Tahiti would have been a bit too long as he's only been home for a few days in 2009. We hope to meet next in New Zealand where Matt has family.
 
The remaining three of us decided not to wait in Panama. The anchorage at the Pacific end of the Canal was a bit dodgy - OK in the night but then the traffic starts up at 0300 with pilot boats zooming out to drop pilots on the ships going through the canal. That and the fact that a lot of cement and other dust was blowing off the Amador peninsula so everything was filthy AND the water wasn't clean enough to swim in.
 
So we decided to check out of Panama and head to Costa Rica for a short adventure before the big crossing. We're going the slow way: we spent a few days in Las Perlas and then had a great overnight sail to Isla Santa Catalina, about half way to Costa Rica, catching 5 tuna in a short time in the Gulf of Panama. After a couple of nights dozing there, we're headed very slowly towards Golfito at the southern end of Costa Rica: we hope to arrive tomorrow morning.
 
here's 2 of the tuna from the Gulf of Panama - the diamond marking on the one on the right is just from the grating at the back of the deck
 
 
We did notice that the ships heading to and from the Canal were dodging us in unusually good time, so we think our active AIS is doing good work already.
 
We reactivated our findacrew profile to find that 4th man needed for our Pacific crossing and after many applications and much careful discussion on board, we can report that the lucky next crew is Simon from Stockholm. The next blog will report !
 
We hope the weather is improving wherever you're reading this: we did see a small cloud here yesterday afternoon - just in the distance.
 
That's all for now - all we need is a little wind to help us on our way.
 
Since drafting this blog, I must add to the report that we nearly caught a large mahi-mahi, but in his excitement the skipper tried to haul it in with bare fingers. As the fish neared Blue Sky it realised that it was in serious trouble and fought hard, causing Michael to briefly let go the line allowing the fish to escape - drat! Only minor monofilament burn and bruised pride to show for it.
 
But next we caught something that was difficult to bring in. This time all gloved up, Alex and Michael landed this brute - a Crevally Jack - apparently a sport and fighting fish ! Trouble is, the fish books never give you any good recipes for this type of thing. So if anyone has time to google a Crevally Jack recipe, or advice on cooking and just email us the plain text, that would be great.
 
 
best wishes
 
George, Michael and Alex
 
PS. just caught another tuna... 30 miles to go to Costa Rica