We arrived at Contadora Island mid afternoon after a glorious sail - watching the Bridge of the Americas disappear behind us as we headed south to the Las Perlas Islands … 40 miles from Panama, in the Gulf of Panama there are 71 islands with many uninhabited. They are glorious! Proper islands with big trees, pink blossom, white sandy beaches and fabulous bird life. Swimming off a beach with pelicans cruising over us is an amazing experience.
We had 3 lovely very relaxed days, being intrepid explorers, and 1 fairly frantic day getting ourselves ready for the next leg of our journey … it was ever thus!
We are at anchor from here almost all the way to Australia. No marinas and limited access to chandleries, supermarkets etc. This means that we are in our tender (small boat on a crane at the back of Mistral) or swimming to go anywhere or do anything. Provisioning is challenging - carrying drinks and fresh food down the beach, into the tender and then launching the tender in between waves. There are big tides here (4m plus) - Shirley and David have managed to dunk themselves several times each as they learn to hop into the tender in between waves!
I’ve had a bit of a moment worrying about barnacles on the bottom of the boat. We will be met by divers in Galapagos who will be assuring themselves we are barnacle free. Even though we had the boat out of the water just over a week ago to be anti-fouled and totally cleaned, it’s surprising what grows in a week. I spent half a day, diving down underneath the boat with a screw driver and scrubbing brush … definitely no such thing as a free ride.
We’ve been social - drinks with our neighbours Renegade and LoneStar anchored off Mogo Island on our second night and a beach bbq with the fleet along with prize giving on our 3rd night.
Sadly, we said goodbye to Laura … an adventure to the end, we took the tender to the beach, a golf cart to a private runway and waved her off in a tiny charter plane that took her and one of the Amanzi crew back to Panama. It’s been a blast! I will miss her.
Today we set off on the next leg of our journey. We think it will be a 6 day trip to the Galápagos Islands. Chris has been busy briefing and training Shirley & David … we’re ready to roll!
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