10:59.5N 80:33.5W

Five Islands
John & Sue
Sun 24 Mar 2013 15:12
We are a bit over 24 hrs into our crossing from Panama to San Andres, the main island in an island group owned by Columbia but sitting off Nicaragua. We spent the last few days in Panama getting the gearbox rebuilt and fitted to the port engine (we finally rounded Guido up to install it). Pierric, a Frenchman living in Puerto Lindo, (where we were anchored), became our local Taxi driver, taking us into Sabenetes for fuel and a last minute shop. Lovely man. We booked out of Panama on Friday via Immigration & the Port Captain in Portobelo. We thought we may have an issue of our Zarpe but the Port Captain fixed it for us & it didn't "cost" any extra. We were more than happy with the $22 it cost us. We had a final dinner at Han's Restaurant, the Casa X. It was sad to leave these people. We pulled anchor at 0730am on Saturday morning (after scrubbing the garden of seaweed, slim and resident crabs off it) and motored for the first hour or so. We were able to sail for most of the day yesterday which was a plus. We crossed 2 major shipping channels as we made our way off shore. Last night was a slow night with very light wind and the Genoa only. We are certainly not breaking any speed records, but the seas are calm with a slight swell, we have seen 4 dolphins, birds, a Man of War jellyfish and 2 turtles (who were enjoying each other) so all in all life is good, although no success with the fishing so far. We are a bit under halfway to San Andres so are motor sailing today to keep our average speed up so we arrive during the day tomorrow.