An All Day Sail

We moved outside of Kuna Yala yesterday and are now anchored in a steady roll off Isla Linton. This is a pretty little harbor surrounded by green hills on the mainland and the island. The island has monkeys - so we're excited about going ashore to see them. (Nina - Michael will get a picture if we see them). This morning we woke up and heard howler monkeys off the mainland. Cool.

Let's step back - we spent a few days in what looked like a boat parking lot in Chichime. The ARC (an around the world boat rally with 31 boats participating) had at least 20 boats at this anchorage (coming in after we were nicely settled). We came in and there were 12 boats - and at one point we counted 36 boats. We had boats just about on top of us - and being Europeans - they liked taking showers naked. And unfortunately - they were like the men who wear BH's - they shouldn't have been!

We snorkeled around Chichime and found one GIANT lobster. Of course, Michael wasn't prepared for "hunting" so we just got to look at it. Nearby was an equally GIANT barracuda - probably in a relationship to protect the lobster.

A boat we met in 2001, "The Road" (Royal Order of Ancient Druids) came into Chichime so it was fun to reconnect with Taffy and Shirley and their African Grey parrot "Rubbish"

After a few days in the crowded Chichime, Monday morning we started before the sun came up for a 45 mile trek to Isla Linton. There was an anchor drill aboard another boat at sunrise in Chichime (no surprise as it was packed). We got out cleanly with no issues and headed out. We were able to put up our sails soon after passing the reefs and we sailed the entire way. We hit speeds up to 7.2 knots - but had a steady 6 knot sail with reefed sails. The seas were about 6 feet but it wasn't terribly uncomfortable and it was great to sail the entire way since we hadn't been able to do that.

The really big news was that "Otis" our windvane steering device worked well! No longer do we have a thousand dollar hand hold for getting off and on the dinghy. It really worked and kept us on a pretty straight course for the whole trip. We also had luck with Tommy's lures. The good news was we caught three mackerel, the bad news: they were all really, really small.

We made our way past islands, reefs, banks and rocks and settled behind Isla Linton. Today we'll move into the harbor a little more to hopefully get out of the roll. Seas are supposed to pick up over the next few days and the roll where we are could get mighty uncomfortable.

We have lots to do to get the boat ready for us to leave it for two weeks soon. Michael wants to do a little re-wiring before we leave and we're working hard at emptying out the refrigerator and freezer. It's nice to be in a new place -but we already miss the beautiful San Blas.

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