Position: 3.990,-80.238  ,at 07:00 local, 13:00 BST
24hr run: 95.2 miles GPS,  112.6 miles log. ETA Galapagos at 5 knots:  05:21 local 24th May
Wind: South West 15-18 knots Sea: lumpy with no swell
Skye:  60% cloud cover no thunder clouds

Isla del Malpelo is some 80miles to the west, a small island in the middle of nowhere.  Sailed all day to windward.  Good boat speed and we are getting away from the thunderstorms of the doldrums that we could see all night in the distance.  We will tack after breakfast and start heading more for Galapagos.

Attempts to persuade Cattle Egret to return to Panama failed.  He is too comfortable on board.  Hoping he might fancy Columbia now that we are some 140 miles off.

Windpilot with its new rudder working really well.

David

Culture – you do need a plain yoghurt to start with.
Carton of Long life full cream milk
Sealed container

I warm the milk to start with, only because I use an ordinary container not a manufactured yoghurt maker. – So warm milk to finger temp.(when you dip your finger in it’s not hot but not cold either).
– Now whisk into the milk about one desert spoon of yoghurt.
– Pour into container, cover, leave somewhere warm.
That’s it, after a few hours you will have a pot of yoghurt.
If you flavour with fruit, just remember to keep some plain yoghurt for the next batch.

Position:5.565,-80.454 at 07:00 local, 13:00 BST
24hr run: 94 miles GPS, 92 miles log. ETA Galapagos at 5 knots: 19:35 local 23rd May
Wind: South 8knots Sea: smooth with SW swell 1.5m
Skye:  70% cloud cover no thunder clouds

Light winds mostly just enough to sail hence below 100 mile 24 hour run.  Enough to try the Pink spinnaker for a while!  Hot but we are past the thunder clouds associated with the ITCZ.  ITCZ moved north which was handy!

Our first night at sea we had a small woodland bird like a finch aboard.  We wondered if he would come to Galapagos and confuse the modern day Darwin’s but he took at first light.  All of yesterday and last night we had a Cattle Egret aboard.  He has been drinking water and looks fit so he should go today.  Boats often get birds staying for a while to recover.  They accept people at much closer distances than they would on land.  We have enough pictures of him for a whole gallery to himself!

David

Position.  6.979,-79.740 at 07:00 local 13:00 BST 16th May
ETA Galapagos at 5 knts 14:20 23rd May
Wind N 3 with thundery rain

Left Isla Las Perlas at 12:00 yesterday.  We did what we often did on holiday with Puilladobhrain – got up early and had an hour on the beach before we set off.  Mary picked shells and I roamed the extremities of the beach and palm fringes.  Been able to sail most of the time.  We have to get through the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) or doldrums before we get consistent winds.  This link should show where it is today.   http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/tafb/surface_latest.pdf If not then http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/forecasts/marine/high_seas/east_pacific_2.txt will give it’s position in text form.

One of the extraordinary sites in the Gulf of Panama is rays jumping out of the water and doing one or two summersaults before splashing back in.  Every five minutes I saw one yesterday, some were just a boat length away.

David

So now you know we’re off on probably the longest crossing, Panama to Marquesas with possible with stop over at Galapagos. So you won’t hear from me for a while, but I do have something to amuse you. We have taken pictures of various signs, do you know what they mean? [Read more →]

Position 8.401,-79.082

We have escaped Panama City.  Anchored off Pedro Gonzales, In the Las Perlas islands.

Plan to scrub the bottom and fit the windpilot ready for the Pacific starting probably starting tomorrow.

David

We have cleared out of Panama!

Normal to stop at Las Perlas islands after the paperwork and we will make our way there tomorrow. Bottom needs a scrub and we will fit the windpilot. Then off towards Galapagos. We have still to decide if the outrageous charges there are worth the “zoo” experience.

Over the last week or so we have put a lot on the blog site. They will publish slowly. Pictures in the gallery, links below.

Will issue daily updates as we sail over the next month or so. If the Pacific is normal then a daily position update with stories every two or three days will be about right. Remember a lot of electronics needs to work and the sunspots index high and the gear at the receiving end for these e-mails to work. So no e-mail almost certainly means elctronic issues no boat issues.

San Blas
Panama Caribbean Side
Panama Canal and Panama City
Making the Windpilot Rudder

Time came to move on from the San Blas Islands and the Kuna Indians, and off to Colon we set, leaving with just enough light to get out passed the reefs and sail though the night to Colon. Our usual watch pattern I’m on watch from eight in the evening till midnight or there about then David takes over, usually till seven or eight. When we arrive close to Colon in the morning we had a hundred and fifty ships on the AIS, [Read more →]

Trip from St Lucia to the San Blas Islands took eight days, we had to slow down toward the end so that we would not arrive in darkness. Weather was kind to us, we did sail a hundred miles out from the Columbian coast trying to avoid the notorious rough seas,(apparently in the top five of rough seas passages in the world) you never know whether it makes any difference or not though. And if you have read David’s daily updates for this trip you will know that we lost the windpilot rudder.

However let me tell you about the San Blas Islands Panama they are wonderful, amazing reef strewn string of islands, which we did not do justice to. [Read more →]

One of the wonderful thing about sailing is meeting new people, some you just enjoy their company while your share an anchorage and some you will keep in touch with.. Mal and Joan are two cruisers we will keep in touch with. We had fun and one sunny Sunday going for a walk with them, starting at nine, off we went up the road turn right, down the lane, then which way? [Read more →]