Pacific Ocean ......here we come

Pearl of Persia
Andrew Lock
Wed 6 Mar 2013 19:27
06: 11.3N 80:38.3W. Being in the Pacific Ocean seems a long way from home.
The northern coast of Panama and the Caribbean is only 100 miles away,
across the Panamanian jungles of the Darien Isthmus, but it seems another
world. We have passed a psychological barrier. The wild Darien separates the
two continents and the two oceans and at no other place in the world can you
watch the sun rise over the Pacific Ocean and set over the Atlantic. Even
the roads seem to give up. The Pan American highway runs all the way from
Alaska to the Darien, then a gap of a few hundred miles and then it
continues to the southern tip of Chile. A week anchored by Isla Flamenco
near the entrance to the canal allowed us to reprovision and try and sort
out some technical problems. Whilst waiting for parts, we sailed down to the
Islas Perlas....the Pearl Islands, around 40 miles away, where pearls have
been collected since before the Spanish conquistadores. We found quiet
anchorages and lovely secluded bays, where we spent a few days relaxing and
enjoying. After final preparations back in Panama, we weighed anchor and
left before dawn, just as the first hints of light were in the sky.
Carefully we picked our way through the dozens of tankers, cargo ships and
freighters waiting to transit the canal. Fro the first 20 hours we had a
wonderful wind to blow us South. A chance to fly our Cruising Chute
(Spinnaker) which we don't often get to do. This is a special sail designed
to fly right up front of the boat when the winds are light and from the back
of the boat. I love it as its big colourful and like a kite. However the
winds have now died and we are 180 miles away in a flat, deserted ocean. We
are pointing to Galapagos