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08:37.3N 79:02.1W
World ARC - Day 33 -
10th Feb – Into the Blue, Well, the murky green.
The First Leg - Panama
to Las
Perlas
The first leg of the
Pacific Ocean for us was the 40 miles to Las Perlas Islands in the
Gulf of Panama.With our repaired
Anchor Windlass and clean bottom, we upped anchor at 07.00, an
hour
after first light.The wind was a gusty 10
to 20 knots from the North, with Steve stowing the anchor on the
bow,
and Lynda at the helm, threading our way between the other boats
in
the anchorage at La Playita for the last time, and heading out
towards the South East, inside the Canal buoys and South East of
the
enormous Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS), heading towards the huge
gaggle (or is it a fleet of different ships?) of 60 or more ships
anchored in the bay surrounding the Pacific entrance of the Panama
Canal.At night from our
anchorage, they looked like a city on the horizon, all lit up,
various shapes and sizes all having different lights, cranes and
towers on their decks adding to the appearance of towers and high
rises. During the day, they were an ominous looming hazard of
smoky,
oily rusty steel boxes, all hanging onto anchor chains, some with
water gushing out of various holes, many different flags,
languages
and names. Now as we picked a course to head through the middle of
them, we were carefully looking out for anchor chains being
lifted,
or smoke coming from the tubes sticking out of their funnels,
betraying imminent departure and possible problems for us.. It
took
the best part of an hour, but eventually we were through and into
the
wide expanse of Pacific Ocean beyond. We were bound for Las Perlas
Islands, Contadora island.We had a group of the
last of the ARC boats talking on the VHF behind us, also joining
us.
Waterman, Ain't Fancy, Toujour Belle, and Time Bandit, so we were
relaying wind and conditions as we went.
Pacific sea lifeWe saw
flocks of
Pelicans streaming in over the surface of the sea, each following
the
other in long diagonal formations, looking like prehistoric
Pterodactyls floating and sometimes flapping over the surface of
the
ocean, with their large beaks and angular bent wings.Frigate birds
elegantly
wheeling overhead, sometimes dropping down and picking fish from
the
surface, never landing, always gliding and soaring.
Boobies, like big
seagulls, but somehow friendlier and with rounder heads, flapping
round the boat.No flying fish? we had
seen so many in the Atlantic and the Caribbean, picking them off the
decks every morning where they had landed, that to suddenly have
none
bursting out form around Nina was a difference that was noticeable.
Perhaps that's the influence of the CanalThen suddenly, on the
starboard beam, about 20 to 30 meters away, a blow and puff and
spray
and a fin. Not a huge fin, but it was attached to a long black back
that curved and crested and continued to come out of the water,
ending in a large black horizontal tail, that barely lifted out of
the water, then was gone. There were a few of them, not big whales,
(we think Pilot whales) all coming up for a few seconds to breath,
then they were gone again, leaving us cheering and hugging and
dancing on the deck. We dived for the camera, but they didn't
reappear.
The wind picked up, and
we had 30 knots of breeze, but with three reefs in main and gib,
Nina
picked up her skirts and we had a great sail across, passing lots of
motor boats and gin palaces, all speeding the opposite way towards
the mainland.
Las PerlasWe came into the North
of the Islands at midday, entering the narrow shallow strip between
Isla Pacheca and Contadora. Steve was going to pass between the
islands, having studied the charts and planning a course over the
20m
shallows, but there were a couple of areas which did not match the
charts, and a few places that were only 10m deep which should have
been 20m, so we made our way out again through the far side, and
around the outside of the island, to finally see the rest of the
fleet anchored to the south of Contadora island.Other ARC boats were
streaming in to the anchorage. Not in the book, the beach had now
been buoyed off, so all the boats were anchored in 15 to 20 meters,
Some even reported dragging on the rock and sand bottom. We hit the
sand on our first attempt, 65m of chain was paid out, and we got the
dinghy out to join everyone ashore for the traditional 'sundowners',
the crews from other boats helping to drag the dinghies up the beach
as each arrived.
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