Fran, Doug, Jan & Dave left Bonaire yesterday for the San Blas Islands in Panama. We decided to miss out Cartagena since it would have meant rushing everything else and we thought that an enjoyable few stops would be more fun than a glance at everything. Unfortunately, the stone missing from the ring which Jan bought there in 2001 will have to wait until the next trip round the world!
Bonaire felt very westernized after the countries we visited in S America. Most of the time was spent anchored off the small town on one of 20 or so buoys from which we could look down at the coral each morning 20 or 30 ft below. Many divers and some wind surfers regard Bonaire as a pilgrimage. We rented a car and toured the NW corner of the island, where a 100 year old ranch has been made into a national park. The rocky coast on the windward side and the flamingos in the salt lakes are magnificent.
San Blas will be a contrast. It is an autonomous state on the North East coast of Panama up to the Colombian border. Governed and inhabited by Kuna Indians who speak their own language and live in a traditional life-style. The dug-out canoe and the outboard dinghy are the only local transport in most of San Blas. They also have some wonderful reefs & keys, and copious fish & lobster.
We have kept busy around Harmonica:
The frig compressor decided to pack up with much of the food from Venezuela inside. That started working again when Dave cleared the locker to remove it. However, we took it out to have it checked, and Bonaire's frig shop spent 3 days unable to find a spare controller board. It does not seem to be cooling well but it has been working. Meanwhile, some American cruisers looked after our meat in one of their 3 refrigerators!
The plastic anemometer cups on the new wind instruments got broken in Venezuela, but Doug & Dave managed to fix them back on by melting a bronze ring nail into the plastic shaft. Then Dave spent a day up the mast installing them just to find that the display in the cockpit could not pick anything up. We gave up, but switched them on again 2 hours ago and now they are working fine. Maybe the little solar charger just needed some time in the sun.
The new water-maker is producing 30 gallons per hour of fresh water on demand. The wind generator is charging the batteries night & day (unlike the solar panels which don't work by moonlight).
Our floating bubble of technology is sailing beautifully - Sally the wind vane is steering, we have not trimmed the sails since leaving sight of Bonaire - and we are averaging 6 to 7 knots gently rolling down wind. This is close to the area where we had such a rough passage upwind in the Spring of 2001. Now the sun is shining & there are flying fish around.
Greetings from Harmonica