08:37.207N 79:02.137W

Sunday 24^th March 2013

Distance run: 40 nmiles

We left the anchorage at La Playita at 0900 on Saturday 16^th and had an excellent day sail to the Las Perlas archipelago, where we dropped the anchor in the lee of Contadora.  Here we have been waiting ever since for some wind to take us to Galapagos.  

Contadora is the only inhabited island in the archipelago, and is a weekend getaway for Panamanians, as evidenced by the number of light aeroplanes that land on the tiny airstrip and the sports fishing boats that pick up buoys in the anchorage at the weekends.  It has been a comfortable anchorage with some access to wifi communication and the desire to move around the islands has therefore been low.

We have been doing the usual boat jobs whilst here, and now have a sun screen for the back of the cockpit and to cover the windows on the sprayhood.  We have also replaced the Velcro on the front of the dinghy so that the cover stays put once more.  We were wary of tackling the leaking compass, but when the air bubble took up half the globe, we decided to bite the bullet and have a go.  The silicone seal in the underside had cracked, and we patched it with silicone sealant and a dinghy patch.   Then we refilled it as best we could, but a small air bubble, the size of a nickel remained.  Mysteriously, however, the air bubble slowly disappeared over the next two days and we can’t figure out where it went!  Any readers who can explain this, please email us!

Sheer & Beez Neez anchored off Contadora.                                                                       No wind, calm sea, flat anchorage. Hot, hot,hot.

Re-sticking the Velcro strip to the dinghy.                                                                             Stitching a new sunscreen for the cockpit.

Lunch ashore.

It seems that there may well be a fair wind on Wednesday, so tomorrow we plan to go ashore to take the rubbish and see if we can get any bread from the little shop before pulling up the anchor and moving to another island some eight nmiles south.  Another move south on Tuesday should put us in a good position to leave the archipelago on Wednesday for the thousand mile trip to Galapagos.