Running fast and hard

March 24, 2007 - Saturday
We've been too busy to write much ever since Elinore, Andi's daughter, arrived in Golfito. We should mention the wonderful cruising community we met at Golfito. We had some fun parties and dinners. It does sorta pay off to stay in one place for a while and get to know people. It was great, in spite of the heat and humidity of Golfito.
Once Elinore was there, we set about clearing out with all the officials and then had an overnight 142 mile sail to Isla Coiba in Panama. We spent a night there and then did a 50 mile day trip to Ensenada (Bay) Naranjo. Again, we didn't hang around other than to have some great meals and to enjoy samples from the cases of duty free wine that we bought at the Panama border. The next night we did another 50 miles to arrive at Ensenada Benao, the last harbor before going around the dreaded Punta Mala. There we ate a tuna that we caught in the morning, ending our long fishing dry spell.
The weather forecasts for Punta Mala were all favorable, so at 0400 this morning we pulled up the anchor and started around. It wasn't bad at all. We were pushing a current that was slowing us down 1.5 knots or more, but at least the seas weren't their usual "washing machine" style. It was a little lumpy, but not bad.
So at the moment, we have passed Punta Mala and are on our way to the Perlas Islands. We are crossing the shipping lanes, but no ships are in sight visually or on our instruments. After a night in the Perlas, we will check into Balboa and start making arrangements for our canal transit. The word among the cruisers is that the Northbound transit can be arranged and started within a week, especially if we use an agent (which we probably will). Stay tuned. Oh yeah, don't forget to write.