Atlantic Swansong
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Thu 11 Mar 2010 12:41
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Thursday March11 0700Local 1200UTC
09:31.3N 078:43.9W
Our time in Kuna Yala, the San Blas Islands was
memorable, but not for the beautiful uninhabited coconut palm treed islands and
gorgeous anchorages but for our experiences further south with the Kuna people
and their villages.
The last couple of days there the chart information
was much better. The paper chart I had now said GPS positions could be plotted
direectly onto it and the electronic charts showed most islands wher they should
be, though we still came across another, probably newly formed which was not
charted. Depths also are always suspect.
It was with a tinge of sadness that we (me on deck
and Trish taking a long lie) left the Cayo Chichime anchorage early
yesterday morning to head to Puerto Bello. There was only about 2-5 knots of
wind which was variable and we therefor motored. As the conditions were so
calm I engaged overdrive, which means steaming astern at upto 4 knots and then
engaging forward! This is a very harsh procedure and also alarms anyone else in
the anchorage, wandering what is happening! The benefits however are about 15%
increased boat speed for a given engine speed. So off we went at 8.7 knots
average at 2000 revs. The day was beautiful and we motored along happily
pottering around on deck and and enjoying the sun again. It was cloudy and
rainy for most of the time we were in San Blas, strating off course the moment
we arrived at Puerto Escoses.
We planned to anchor up in Puerto Bello for the
night before heading off early today to the canal. Puerto Bello was used by the
Spanish as a port of shipment for the gold and silver which they stole from
the indigenous South American people (and in many cases lined or adorned
the walls of their churches with their ill gotten gains). England was much
the same if not getting it directly then stealing it from the Spanish before or
while it was being shipped back home. The loot from the Pacific coast of South
America was taken to Panama city and shipped by mule train to Puerto Bello.
Puerto Bello therefor has seen much history of raids by Drake and other pirates
and bandits and at one time it is said that there was so much silver and gold
there that it had to be stacked in the streets unguarded.
In these days pirates like Drake were
knighted, because his robbing was in the name of the government, or the
crown as it was then. Not much has changed then .............
It seems to have gone down hill considerably since
then. We went ashore last night to have a meal and the place was so run down and
grubby, and there were not really any restaurants open, that we went back
to the boat and had a sundowner and made dinner. This was our first
sundowner since the night before we left Cartagena as we have been dieting for
the past 10 days or so. We have lived cheaply and healthily. Buying
fshellfish and fruit from the Kuna. We have had off course lobster and crab, but
also mango, avocado, limes, lemons, coconut, tiny but delicious bananas, and
oranges. We are now not much lighter but feel a lot better.
This morning has had a certain sense of
anticipation to it and I got up at 0600 to a mirror flat Puerto Bello
anchorage. It was such an exciting day that Trish got up at 0615! I
thought we had a stopw away when she emerged from our cabin at
that hour! We really feel that this is our farewell to the
Atlantic and a new and exciting, perhaps the most exciting, phase of the
adventure is about to begin, and until we face pirate alley and the
Somalians, the most significant percieved security risks will diminish - but
first the canal.
Now I have transited canals before - but not like
this one. When I switched on the plotter this morning and saw the scale of the
shipping already showing up on my AIS I have to say I took a deep breath. There
was a forrest of AIS signals on the plotter!
We are now starting to enter the traffic so I have
to go. We are looking forward to Angus, David and Avril joining us tomorrow
and three very bust days in Shelter bay hauling out the boat and getting
some work done.
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