01March2006:
From Golfito, Costa Rica, we sailed to Isla Parida, Panama.The darkness of the night meant that the star and planet show was spectacular. My favorite time to be on passage watch. I was able to enjoy the stars in the quiet of sailing at 3 knots. There was little wind, so we figured it was the strong current that pulled us to Punta Burica. Once around Punta Burica, we head south toward Panama. No wind, no current, we turned on the iron jenny. An uneventful crossing of the border, we raise our Panamanian flag at sunrise. A new country lay before us to explore.
John receives the weather faxes on a daily basis, but even these cannot help us anticipate all the localized wind conditions. While cruisers, ahead of us, send us their passage notes and experiences, there are times when too much information is not necessarily a good thing. Some of it is merely, "more information", yet another's opinion and not substantial assistance. One needs the skill, to sort through the information and use one's best judgment on what will work for you, your boat and your conditions. Is this just being, "astute of the obvious", but then in this "Information Age" it is easy to be seduced that more is better and that isn't necessarily so.
Even though, we are without our fishing poles, we were loaned a "magic" pole that has already enabled us to catch fish underway; a yellow fin tuna, a barracuda and our old stand by, the bonito. Side comments aboard are, "Fish, again! How will the chef fix it this time?" I feel like I could write a fish cookbook. Later today, a cruiser will be teaching me how to make fish sausage. The fish is delicious and the grumbles are fewer than the praises.
We tucked into one of the many anchorages at Isla Parida. With s/v RDREAMz, Soy Libre and Clare de Lune, we set ourselves comfortably into Ensenada del Veradero for the next four days.
This beautiful, calm, warm and remote anchorage was our perfect image of life in paradise. We enjoyed the company of our buddy boats, our books, our indulgence in the full series of Star Wars (I-VI) and the warm waters.
For all the anxiousness that we endure to cruise to such remote places, this was a moment in our cruising memories that will go down as one of our best times, especially for the females cruising crew. We had an absolutely wonderful girlfriend's party in the warm waters, floating between the three boats (Clare de Lune had not yet arrived) on air mattresses, noodles (the Styrofoam type, not the wheat variety), and in Soy Libre's kayak. We floated, laughed and swam to the coral reefs and back again to tease the Captains, "our pool boys". The fun was only tempered by our negligence, that left one with a swollen and blistered lower lip, and several others with Coppertone butts. We all remarked afterwards that the hours of fun were worth all the ounces of aloe vera that we soothed on our skins afterwards.
The next day, we would continue the girlfriend's party aboard s/v Encanto where we spent the afternoon playing MahJong, eating popcorn, sucking ice, and munching on Nilla wafers and nutella. Can cruising get more fun? Later, the Captains would gather in the warm waters and play with the kids (Sami and Andrew) while Gaby administered pedicures to those willing (even to, two of the more adventuresome Captains). A quiet night, under a rising moon, left us with great appreciation for life and living well.