00 36.65S   080 25.25W


Dear freinds,

Passage-making in a sailing boat is better than beating your head on a brick wall:  It is not only wonderful when you stop and finally wake in an anchorage from a long, undisturbed night with the lapping of ripples on the side of the hull; it can be fun on passage too.  For instance, eating fried squid appetizers and wondering why it is our normal routine to throw dead flying fish and squid off the deck each morning.  The obvious answer is that at first light, after little sleep, you are just not in the mood to brace yourself into the galley with feet & hips secured into one position while you prepare food from some innocent ocean creature which you happened to disturb during the night.  However it can be worthwhile - the squid was wonderful.

We liked Panama City well enough, but were ready to leave when we were finally equipped with 2 new raw water pumps, a spare fresh water pump, a new water pump on the outboard, the autopilot was repaired, and much else besides.  For the first time in our passagemaking, our own health had been suffering too.  Dave had a heavy chest cough, and Jan had an eye inflammation.  We dropped lines from the buoy at the Balboa Yacht Club and headed out to the Las Perlas Islands.  It was too late really, but as the sun set, a voice on the VHF radio introduced itself as the sailing boat "St. Jude" and suggested we could join them on an unmarked anchorage just under a cliff on the northern tip of the island group. We missed the cliff by less distance than planned as we dropped the mainsail and stared through the dark for the flashing light.  Next day was a lazy sail to the island of San Jose at the southern end, where we anchored for 3 nights, explored, and changed gear.

San Jose is a privately owned island about 10 km long, mostly covered in tropical rain forest, but criss-crossed by a network of good gravel roads as one of the owners also owns a road construction company.  We anchored off the biggest beach, about 2 miles of sand backed by low cliffs & dense trees, and hardly saw a sign of human life while were there.  There were lots of fish, and probably good oysters & lobster too but we left them.  The first day we walked.  Coconuts & a few tropical fruits, a small teak plantation, many parrots and many other birds, and small wild pigs.  We had heard a rumour of a new 5 star resort somewhere on the island, and after an hour walking, we were passed by a smart vehicle with tinted windows followed by a pick-up truck filled with neat suitcases.  Interest was peeked and after 11km Jan had given up in the heat, but Dave tottered into a planted garden, under an archway and down to a beach of fine yellow sand with a couple of plastic boats, a hut, and most importantly a water tap beside it.  Dave wandered round and, wearing his ragged shorts and soaked T-shirt, was welcomed by a friendly manager.  Anybody with $200 per night, a couple of weeks, and a desire to get away to a beautiful, remote resort should look at www.haciendadelmar.net.  On the walk back we each met a fellow riding on a well-used quad (4 wheeled motor bike) an old hat with the word "Colombia" across the front who talked about the island and the resort and then introduced himself as one of the owners.

The second day we rested, and on the third morning, after the thunder storm and squall of a tropical wave had passed by, we set off for Ecuador 600 miles south.  The radio brought daily weather maps, and the morning SSB radio net brought news of other cruisers and more weather reports, but there must be fewer reporting stations than in the Caribbean, and no forecasts were very good.  We made 135 miles our first day on flat seas and a following breeze, but before we reached Ecuador this was reduced to 75 by head winds and short seas.  "World Cruising Routes" suggests that you keep 100 miles off the Pacific Coast of Colombia because of piracy and small fishing boats with nets out.  We heeded the advice.  The first fishing boats we saw were off Ecuador and all seemed more professional and better lit than we remembered from Central America.  In one open boat, all 3 or 4 fishermen got up and waved as we went past as if they needed help, but as we sailed away we could see other boats around and felt sure that they just wanted to greet us.

As we approached Bahia De Caraques, the wind eased and we could point directly down the coast under sail without tacking.  There is a sand bar off the town which has to be crossed at high tide, so we hove to and waited for the sun to rise and for a pilot to arrive and steer us in. There was much chatter on the radio as we waited and watched the tide peak and start to drop before 2 boats appeared round the corner at 11 am, and our pilot transferred from one of these to Harmonica.  He looked about 20 years old, was polite, quiet, and spoke the same amount of English as we spoke Spanish.  He knew how to handle a boat.  He explained that it was Sunday and there had been a really good party on Saturday night!  Harmonica arrived happily without incident in the peaceful bay behind.

Bahia includes the Port of Puerto Amistad "Friendship Port".  There has been no commercial traffic since the river mouth silted up half a century ago, but it lives up to its name.  Most people have a smile, the town is clean, and one shop owner asked Dave on our first day where we had sailed, and then replied "You are welcome here. This is your home".  The town looks bigger than it really is because of several apartment buildings along the sea front.  This is due to a little real estate boom after one of Ecuador's many recent presidents owned a summer home here.  It is clean and well kept.  There are no super markets and the roads have more bicycles & pedestrians than cars (which are mostly taxis). The weather is cooler and less humid here, in fact very pleasant.  We doubt whether the whole of Ecuador will be quite as serene.

Dave, Janet & Harmonica

PS We just spent the day driving 90 km to the nearest city and back to allow immigration to stamp our passports.  We returned in time for Radio Canada to tell us that there is now a minority government in Ottawa.