Las Perlas
Serai
Jason and Emily Willis
Thu 29 Mar 2007 22:56
We finally left Balboa this morning after several infuriating days. It is
great to be away from the hustle and bustle of city living. Panama City has
to be the only place I have ever been where the taxi drivers do not have a
clue where they are going - they seem to know the city less than anyone
else. On many trips we have ended up guiding them back to the marina where
Serai was anchored. Another driver tried to rip us off on the fare, despite
my threats to call the police! We have bought all we need though, I think,
including some stuff we did not need - like a new gas BBQ! The ordeal to
obtain gas bottles for it pushed our patience beyond the limits, but we won
through in the end and have 8 bottles!
Las Perlas is a small group of islands, 38 miles away from Balboa. They are
famed for their pearls and the fishing. Armed with several new lures we
motored the entire 38 miles, due to a lack of wind, and caught the grand
total of zero fish! Amazing! I could have bought a boat load of fish for the
price of all the new gear!
Currently we are in a lovely little anchorage, next to our friends Geoff and
Merel on Sifar. The plan was to have a nice fish BBQ with all the fish we
were supposed to catch! Oh well..the best made plans and all that...
We will stay here a day or so and then explore another anchorage or two,
before departing for Galapagos. We are both chomping at the bit now to get
on with it. The problem is that there really is no wind out there, at all.
We listen in to the SSB Nets and most boats are reporting no wind at all.
The ITCZ is quite north, so hopefully heading south will bring in some wind.
We are carrying 95 gallons of fuel, so cannot just motor the entire way. We
burn around 0.75 gallons of diesel an hour! Galapagos is 950 miles away. Ems
tells me that this means we have to be cautious with our motoring, but I
would really like to do the trip in 10 days.
Last year, our friends Darren and Annie motored for 100 hours before they
had enough wind to sail. I hope we do not have the same situation, but
things are not looking good right now - if I thought there would be a
significant improvement, we could wait a while, but I am not convinced there
is a change in weather round the corner!
Anyway, enough of our conundrums; I'm sure many of you are facing the same
mental torments sailing around the BVI!
Till the next time!
Love
J and Ems xx