We’re moored in the lee of Isla Contadora , part of the Las Perlas archipelago.
Sandy is sitting near the transom with a handline pulling out fish… about a dozen
so far, but only 2 big enough to keep. She is in her element. It’s pitch dark, 8:15
and no sign of dinner any time soon!
But it’s my own fault. We motored in at around 4pm after an hour’s run
from Pacheca where we anchored last night. It was a good run made better by the
fact that we saw a couple of whales about 100 meters off the back of the boat.
Once here we immediately started doing odd jobs around the boat. Just 200 yards
away is the shoreline and a beach that has some very expensive looking homes…
probably a dozen or so, but as we came in I noticed another beach that looked
isolated and deserted.
Even though we were both feeling tired, I felt a dinghy ride back to the other
beach would be a nice break from the boat. It was the kind of beach that would
make an ideal setting for a movie… Swiss Family Robinson, Castaway, Robinson
Crusoe… white sand, cliffs, a small cave and dense forest.
We pulled the dinghy up on the sand and strolled along the beach. At
the edge of the forest a tree had dropped a whole lot of its fruit, small, pale
green and round, about the size of a large marble. Sandy scratched one open
and it had a large seed, but the flesh smelt like guava. Sandy thought it was more
of an apple smell. It’s a pity we don’t know what they are because they smelt like
they’d taste good.
On the rocks we found shellfish a lot like the periwinkles we collected as kids
but with a harder shell. I made the mistake of telling her we used to break them open
with a stone and use them as bait. Of course she collected half a dozen to try.
As we got near our dinghy we saw 2 local guys with a net around the
rocks, so went over to see what they were doing. One could speak English and
told us they were catching small fish to use as bait for red snapper. I asked
about the ‘periwinkles’ for bait and he said they’re good for grouper as long as
his forearm. That was all Sandy needed. The periwinkle collection doubled and we
headed back to the boat just as it was getting dark. I do hope the periwinkles
run out soon.
We left the anchorage near Panama City later than we’d planned. I did one last
diesel run to take on another 40 gallons, and it takes forever. There is no rushing
the locals and Sunday was half pace day. Sandy used the time to get the boat lashed
down and was getting the navigation instruments set up when she ran into a problem
with the AIS. We were already running late to get to Las Perlas before dark, and
messing about with the AIS cost us another hour. Eventually we decided to get going
and work on it later.
There was no wind to speak of and we motor sailed all the way. It felt so good to be on
the move again and as we got closer to the islands we were welcomed by a large pod
of dolphins, 30 or more.
It was getting dark and we knew we weren’t going to make Isla Contadora, so headed
for the first island with a half decent anchorage. It was pitch dark by the time we got
there and it’s our policy never to go into an anchorage we don’t know after dark.
We’ve seen way too many rocks and reefs that aren’t shown accurately on the chart
plotter. But the pilot guide gave exact coordinates for the anchorage and with our big
spotlight and careful attention to our depth sounder we figured we could anchor,
even if a bit further out than would be ideal.
Pacheca is described as uninhabited and has a flashing 7 second light
on a rocky headland on the northern end of the anchorage. Once we found the
light the rest should be straight forward.
Well the light showed up out of the dark just where it should, but it
wasn’t a 7 second light. It was more like a rapidly flickering strobe light.
There were also lights around buildings, on an island that was supposed
to be uninhabited.
We passed to the south of the light, turned 90 degrees and started
inching our way in. We had 18 meters under the keel so figured as the
bottom rose we could turn into the wind at 4 meters and drop the anchor.
It all went ok, except that as we got closer the light appeared to be
coming from some kind of small barge type vessel, or it could be the land just
behind it. At 4 meters we headed to wind and I went forward to get the anchor
down while Sandy took the helm. By having the anchor just touching the water I
can see when we are no longer making way and drop the anchor.
Sandy reverses slowly as I let out chain, or if there is enough wind we
don’t use reverse until we are ready to set the anchor and test the hold.
This time we stopped and I let the anchor go. There was a fair wind so
I started letting out more chain. Suddenly I realized that the chain was
disappearing under the boat and we were turning stern to windward. Instead of
falling back away from the light and deeper into the anchorage area, we were
adjacent to the light and Sandy called out our rapidly falling depth sounder. As
I rushed back to the cockpit it fell to zero, which means we were inches from
the bottom.
We gunned the engine to get us south of the light again and I went forward to
get the anchor back up.
We were both running on pure adrenalin.
What I hadn’t been able to see in the dark was that we had a strong
current sweeping us in the opposite direction to the wind.
We went around again, picked a spot further offshore with double the
depth and got the anchor down and set immediately.
In the light of day, with the tide out we could see the rocks we came
so close to touching. Our decision to never enter an anchorage we don’t know
after dark, even if it looks straight forward, is well and truly reinforced.
We’re hoping to meet up with a few other boats here that are setting
off for the Marquesas this week. But so far no success. Tomorrow we’ll go to
Isla Pedro Gonzales which is a natural jumping off point for the South Pacific.
It looks like it will be a difficult passage to the Galapagos Islands. There
isn’t much wind and it’s on the nose. West and south of Galapagos we should pick
up the trade winds and hopefully have a good run.
This will probably be the last post until the Marquesas, around a month
from here.
Until next time…