Log book
- Location: Tooling around Islas Las Perlas (Isla Contadora, Isla Chapera, Isla La Mina, Isla Pedro Gonzalez, Isla Bayoneta)
- Date: Friday, April 11, 2014 to Friday, April 18, 2014
- Miles travelled: 37.6 miles
- Travel time: Too much
- Engine hours: 1254.0 – 1260.9 – 6.9 hours
- Fuel: 27.1 – 24.0 – 3.1 gallons
- Fuel economy: 12 mpg
- Tides and currents: Confusing as $%^&.
- Navigation notes: Eventually I’ll upload some waypoints for the passage between Isla Casaya and Isla La Mina.
- Weather: The forecast predicted light and variable winds.
Our first stop after rounding Punta Mala was Isla Chapera, just South of Isla Contadora. It was the perfect stop for a little R, R & R (rest, relaxation and regrouping) before our friend Stephanie came for a visit. After a few days of enjoying our surroundings and preparing Serenity for another body, we made our way to Isla Contadora. From there I was set to catch the ferry to big city in order to retrieve Steph and whisk her away to the islands.
Though only a few miles to the North, Contadora seemed a world away from Chapera. Million dollar homes with towering glass walls cling to the hills on every side of the island. Resorts and high end restaurants sit alongside decrepit hotels and playgrounds that have rusted and slumped in the absence of youthful enthusiasm. Tourists and hotel staff zip around in golf carts that rent for a ridiculous amount ($40 per hour, if I recall correctly). National beer sells for $3-$4 at most restaurants and a can of tuna is marked up nearly 200%, priced at $3.40 when it’s usually $1.80.
It became clear the instant we landed our dinghy that Isla Contadora is not meant for people like us. We marred the otherwise beautiful scene of perfectly manicured people. With my cargo shorts, torn shirt and off kilter backpack I trudged by bronzed women in cheeky thongs, hair perfectly tousled, giggling at the Abercrombie and Fitch models that flanked them. This is a place for people who are not concerned about spending money.
The ferry to Panama City was awesomely jarring. Several spinal vertebrae were likely crushed during the ride as the catamaran climbed up and slammed into 6-8 foot seas at 20 knots. So glad we decided not to slog through this part of the Gulf…yet. It was absolutely atrocious, but also kind of fun to conquer it at such a high speed. Within less than an hour and a half, the city came into full view and the waves started to subside. The captain, mesmerized by my fascination with the skyline, let me sit in his seat and pretend to press buttons. I explained to him that the Gulf was very much a mystery to me. “It’s still a mystery to me too” he explained, smiling. That does not bode well for us if a man who has spent 20 years of his life navigating the Gulf of Panama still considers it mysterious.
Steph and I had the same captain on the return trip though the seas were much more placid and we were treated to whale sightings and a rambunctious pod of dolphins playing in the wake of the catamaran. On Isla Contadora we hitched a ride on a golf cart with all of our gear, piled ourselves (laden with luggage and fresh produce) into the dinghy and upon getting settled on Serenity were sailing downwind back to Isla Chapera.
Stephanie got to experience every type of passage during the 5 days and 4 nights we spent in the islands. There was pleasant downwind sailing, there was becalmed bobbing, there was light upwind sailing, there was boisterous upwind sailing, there was calm no wind motoring and bash your brains out motoring. There were sleigh rides and there were snail rides and there were rides from hell. We really had no idea what exactly we were looking for or what we wanted to show Stephanie. Truth be told we knew next to nothing about the Perlas…so we were on a voyage of discovery more than anything.
In hindsight Chapera probably would have been a fine place to just kick it for a couple days, but there are over 200 islands in the Perlas and we wanted to do a bit of exploring. Our first intended destination was Isla Bayoneta followed by Isla Pedro Gonzalez.
During our passage to Isla Bayoneta we had a light wind on our nose and didn’t account for the current, which was refusing to let us make any headway towards Bayoneta so we changed strategies and went where the current and the wind allowed. We wound up anchored just south of Isla Ampon in the bay on the East side of Isla Casaya. It took us most of the day to sail the 9-10 miles between Chapera and Casaya due to the counter current and headwind, but at least we were well protected at anchor.
Having learned our lesson about the currents we got started much earlier the next day and motored to Isla Pedro Gonzalez with the current helping this time. This particular route had us transiting a very narrow passage between Isla Casaya and Isla La Mina. There are many seemingly hairy passages in the Perlas and our guidebook had no waypoints, just chartlets pointing out rocks and reefs littering the path like a minefield.
I just imagine the author patting us on the back and giving us the thumbs up sign – “You totally got this” and me responding…”Then why did we spend $65 on your book?” The tide was high and the current was assisting us. Even with the motor in idle we were making 3 knots. Jeff stood on the bow to keep watch for rocks and decipher the movement of the water while my eyes were glued to the depth sounder. We made it without any problems and once we were in the clear, I was down below making pan de platano (plantain bread) for breakfast.
We enjoyed the beach at Pedro Gonzalez and intended to stay for another day to take it easy until our plans were thwarted by an unforeseen (ie. unforecasted) Northern wind that created an unbearable chop. Serenity was hobby horsing, making dinner difficult and relaxation impossible. We hauled anchor at 9:30pm when it became clear that staying put would most definitely lead to a sleepless night for all parties and perhaps a seasick night for our dear friend. We hoped that the anchorage on the North side of Pedro Gonzalez could offer us greater protection. Unfortunately (I seem to be starting a lot of sentences with that word lately), the current, wind and waves were pushing against us…so the relatively short trip (less than 3nm) took us nearly two hours to complete. Yikes.
It appears the premier anchorage on Pedro Gonzalez that offers protection from the North is being turned into a marina. We couldn’t make sense of the newly constructed breakwater and the lights and the other anchored vessels at night so we gave it all a wide berth and tucked into the bay where we did find some relief. There was still chop, but not the big rollers we’d endured in the Eastern anchorage. It was calm enough to sleep and that’s all that mattered.
Welcome to paradise! Now hold on tight. Poor Stephanie was getting to experience the roughest parts of cruising.
The North wind was still blowing the next morning and the chop had increased. Daylight revealed that this anchorage had little to offer in the way of protection, exploration and relaxation. So…we decided to move to Isla Bayoneta, but the current was against us (again), prompting us to wait for it to subside. Jeff and I were both a bundle of raw nerves. Things haven’t really been working out how we plan…maybe we should just stop planning things. A breakfast of pancakes and tropical fruit eased our angst and after motoring out of the harbor we raised sails in a fresh NW wind that carried us all the way into the anchorage at Bayoneta. All in all a truly pleasant day of upwind sailing.
Bayoneta offered everything we were hoping for…a calm anchorage and beaches to explore. Too bad we didn’t make it on day one. What a whirlwind. Look out for the PHOTO EXPLOSION…coming soon.