08.35.029 N and 79.01.091 W

The morning after our canal transit celebrations we headed off towards some near by islands called ‘Las Perlas’. We wanted to show Wyatt and Steve a bit of the best bits of the sailing life, so had planned some islands hopping for a few days. 

It took us about 6 hours  (mostly motoring – as there wasn’t much wind) to get over to Las Pearlas. There was an amazing abundance of life on the way. Including a fin whale (right next to the boat – we dropped Wyatt in) dolphins, manta rays and some smaller brown rays. We also caught 2 tuna – both Bonitos – which aren’t great eating unfortunately. 

We started off by Contradora where we did some exploring and arranged for a ferry to take Wyatt back to Panama city in a couple of days. We then headed over to the island where they film the TV series ‘Survivor’. We managed to squeeze in some paddleboarding, spearfishing and island exploring before relaxing with some drinks in the evening. 

The next day we said our farewells to Wyatt and then anchored off a crazy bird island. After a steep walk up a strange looking driveway/track we bumped into a very large wild pig. This caused all three of us to get the biggest, meanest looking sticks we could find and make crazy noises. When we had felt that we had sufficiently scared the wild beast away (which merrily trotted away into the bushes) we came around the corner to find thousands of birds roosting on the island. Frigates, pelicans and shags were everywhere -making one hell of a racket. We watched the commotion with great interest before carrying along the path. After an hour or so we descended a steep track hoping to do a loop around the island. At this point we walked into a crazy bird farm/zoo mansion. There were peacocks, ducks, swans, macaws, pigeons - all sorts in all kinds of cages. There were a few grounds keeper looking guys who blankly looked at us while Steve encouraged us deeper into the mansion grounds. Nick and I have been watching a lot of Narocs recently (a TV show all about crazy drug lords) and both of us were getting pretty twitchy imagining that we were soon to be kidnapped by some crazy bird fanatic cocaine dealer..... 

Anyway after checking out the helipad and the tennis courts we found an alterative exit and carried on around the island and back to el dingo (Dinghy) who was waiting patiently for us on the beach. 

Another few nights of island exploring followed. The water was pretty murky there so spearfishing was a bit tricky – but Nick did manage to shoot us dinner one night. 

So we had a good sail back to Panama city with a fair bit of life in the form of dolphins and jumping rays to accompany us. We got back in time to give Steve a couple of days exploring in the city before catching his flight home. 

We are now anchored off La Playitia in Panama city starting the crazy process of provisioning for the next 8 months!!! Wish us luck!