08 29.575 N  79 01.871 W

We made the short sail  (40 nm) with great sailing conditions on Friday and anchored here off a nice sand beach with no other boats other than our Vancouver friends on Kilkea.

Been busy cleaning up Sea Mist inside and out after our stay near Panama City which was the dirtiest environment in which we have anchored in our 5 years. The boat was filthy inside and our with airborne and water pollutants.  BUT….on the other hand, we had a VERY successful stay in Panama to do the things that needed to be done by way of extensive provisioning to carry us til arrival in New Zealand in November as well as other work projects on the boat that needed to be handled before our Pacific Odyssey began.

Now awaiting favourable winds/weather to carry us the 900 nm to Galapagos and to take us across the Intertropical Convergence Zone as we cross the equator in an area regularly plagued with the doldrums (no wind) and very serious thunder/lightning storms/squalls. Presently the wind would be against us as it is out of the Southwest; we need to see it out of the North/Northeast for the first 200–300 nm and then,  hopefully, out of the Southeast for the last 600 nm. We  intend to remain here in Las Perlas until we see something favorable develop in the next week or so. Otherwise it will be engine power all the way and that distance is at the maximum range for the fuel that we can carry.

All is well on-board. Sea temperature is 29.6 C (83.5 F) and the daytime highs for air temp is running about 85 – 88 F (31 – 33 C). We will just enjoy the swimming and relaxing while we wait.

Next update will be when we depart Las Perlas.