Never disrespect the weather gods

March 25, 2007 Sunday
We left you yesterday, feeling good at having passed the dreaded Punta Mala. We weren't able to sail to the Perlas Islands as the wind shifted and put them directly upwind, so we turned for Isla Otoque. We had originally selected that destination as it was easy to get into after dark. The wind got lighter and all afternoon we enjoyed smooth seas and light winds. We must have gotten a little overconfident. At sundown, we decided to have a little celebration for Andi's birthday. We got out a bottle of Foxen Syrah that we had been hoarding for several years, a special Spanish chorizo, and other treats and laid them out on the cockpit table. After several glasses of wine, Andi got reckless enough to propose a defiant toast to Punta Mala. Within 5 minutes, the wind came up into the 20 knot range (plus) and the seas started to get lumpy. There she was in her party dress, mopping up spilled wine. The party was cut short by the need to tend to the sails. Soon the seas had assumed the classic Gulf of Panama washing machine configuration. Saeta would rise over one wave and as she came down the back side she stuffed her nose into the next wave along and then did that several more times at which point her speed was down from 5 knots to 3.5 knots. The 5 knots was already slow because we were pushing a terrible current going the other way. But 3.5 knots is seriously slow. At that rate, it was going to take us forever to get to the anchorage - and it did! It took until 11PM until we were anchored and that evening period was the worst conditions we have experienced since leaving California. Fortunately nobody got seasick - in fact, Andi and Elinore sat at the table down below playing cards for quite a while. But the seas were short and steep. Miserable, with the boat pounding and pitching. Not dangerous, just unpleasant. I don't mind getting a little beat up if I am going fast and I don't mind going slow if conditions are pleasant, but getting beat up and going slow was too much!
We found our way into the anchorage at Isla Otoque using the miracles of modern navigation. Our radar could see all the surrounding islands and the semicircle of our chosen anchorage. That exactly matched up with our electronic charts, so we drove the little red boat on the chart down the dashed red line, right into the anchorage and dropped the hook in the shelter of the island.
This morning, we awakened to a lovely anchorage in calm conditions. We decided that we would enter Balboa on Monday morning, giving us an extra day to rest up and decompress. The ladies decided that they would rather celebrate the big birthday in the fleshpots of Isla Taboga which is so close to Balboa that the anchored ships reach all the way out to the island. So we motored over to Isla Taboga, which didn't have nearly as nice fleshpots as the guide books tried to lead us to believe. However, we had a nice filet of Corvina lunch. Now we are back on the boat and the ladies are playing cards again, much to the consternation of one of them who is not showing her usual winning form.
Panama is much cooler than Costa Rica - I wouldn't have expected that since it is closer to the Equator. But the Humboldt Current that comes all the way up South America from Antarctica discharges into the Bay of Panama, bringing much cooler water. We can still swim in it - it is maybe 75 degrees, but that is a far cry from the 94 degree water of Golfito. We slept under sheets last night. I'm wearing clothes again. I think I like Panama.