OCC SUZIE TOO RALLY – PANAMA CITY, 25-28 FEBRUARY 2019

We’re stopping at Shelter Bay for a few days so grab to opportunity to take the Marina shopping bus into Colon where we would meet up with our good friends Ralph and Monica s/v Mora.

Colon is really not safe to walk anywhere so Terry, Carole and I caught a taxi just to ride the 2 blocks to catch the express bus into Panama City where we met up with Ralph and Monica. In the city, Ralph was our designated tour guide complete with sparkly star so we couldn’t lose sight of him!

After a quick 50cent metro ride we exited at the Eglise De Carmen metro stop right by our Hotel, the Hyatt, complete with rooftop swimming pool overlooking the magnificent Eglise De Carmen.

After a quick dumping of cases in our room we took an Uber taxi to the Miraflores lock and Visitors Centre on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal. This is an absolute must if you visit Panama City!

Miraflores is one the three locks forming the Panama Canal. Entry to the Centre and the two tier observation building cost $15 and worth every cent. From the Observation top floor we could follow an entire transit operation through this lock, the process took around 30 minutes. The Centre also has a restaurant, gift shop and cinema showing the film “Panama Canal in 3D a Land Divided, a World United”. We had little knowledge of the history of the Canal and it’s construction so it’s well worth viewing if you do visit.

There are twelve locks in total, a two step flight at Miraflores, with a single flight at Pedro Miguel, lifting ships up to Lake Gatun, then a triple flight lowering the vessels to the Atlantic side. There are two parallel flights of locks at each of the three locks, ships and tankers pass in one direction at a time, thereby using both lanes of the locks. The lock chambers are vast, 110ft wide by 1,050ft long, with a useable length of 1,000ft. The lift of the Miraflores lock is 54ft, it varies due to the extreme tides on the Pacific side, whereas tidal differences are small on the Atlantic side. If you’d like to see the Miraflores lock in action, there’s a webcam!

The lock walls are from 45 to 55ft thick at the bases, tapering to 8ft at the top. Each lock chamber requires an incredible 26,700,000 US gallons of water to fill it from the lowered to raised position,and the same amount of water must be drained from the chamber to lower it again. The gates separating the chambers range from 47 to 82ft high and are 7ft thick! Miraflores has the tallest gates.

There is now a third lock finished in May 2016, allowing transit of the new larger Panamax ships, with a far greater cargo capacity than the other two locks were able to handle.

Electronic locomotives or “mules” run along the lock walls and are used for side to side of the lock and for braking control in the lock. With the larger tankers two mules are on each side of the bow and two at the stern on each side of the lock, this ensures precise control of the tanker! Each mule has a powerful winch controlled by the very experienced driver, he pays out or takes in the heavy cable attached to the tanker in the lock, there can be as little as two ft of clearance on each side of a ship!

Smaller vessels, tour boats, private yachts/catamarans transit through the Canal too, and the mooring lines to the lock walls are manually handled by line handlers on each boat. It can be a tight squeeze, we watched small vessels racked side by side within the lock whilst just a few feet behind them the mules controlled a vast tanker!

The Canal operates day and night, some 40 vessels pass through each day, ships travelling west to east, from the Pacific to the Atlantic pass through in the morning, the direction changes over in the afternoon from east to west.

It’s a fascinating experience and again we urge you to add to your Bucket list!

There’s also an excellent ice cream shop!

Though we are in a city, along the quayside there are several ships chandlers, an opportunity to see if it had anything we might need!

Close by were many fish stalls, you can’t beat freshly caught fish and chips washed down with Panama beer.

And of course we frequented a few bars, including a rooftop bar with spectacular views over the old part of the city.

All too soon it was time to head back to Shelter Bay, the five of us certainly explored as much of Panama City as we could, two days of amazing sights, local food, big mojitos and worn out feet!

OCC SUZIE TOO RALLY. SHELTER BAY, PANAMA 23 FEBRUARY 2019

On the 23rd February we made the short 28NM motor and main sail journey to Shelter Bay, Panama, set at the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. What a sight when we reached the entrance, we’ve never seen so many tankers anchored in the bay area together with heavily laden tankers coming and going through the Canal. We carefully negotiated our way around and between these giants, then a sharp starboard turn and we were through a gap between 2 breakwaters and into the Marina itself, quite a relief!

We would stay here till the 13th March. What bliss it will be to have a proper shower. The Marina is well equipped with a hotel, restaurant, laundry, and even a half decent swimming pool! Many of our group are here so that evening after a lovely meal we held a music evening, many cruisers can play an instrument, fortunately I hadn’t brought my bagpipes so they weren’t deafened!

The Marina was created in 1999 when the United States handed over the Panama Canal to Panama and used to be the docks of Fort Sherman. Since that time, the jungle has been gradually reclaiming the old US Army base. It was so worth getting up at dawn to pick our way through the jungle trails and discovering the old buildings, festooned now with vines and creepers, from the top of a semi derelict battery we could look over the jungle canopy and hear and see howler monkeys, golden oriels flying around, with an occasional glimpse of a toucan.

The other wild life here was the resident crocodile…… needless to say we didn’t swim the Marina or even do jobs in the dinghy around Sisu!!!

Several times a week we could catch the shopping bus to the Rey supermarket near Colon, first comes first served and it was a squash to get everyone plus shopping bags into the minibus!

Being on the anchor gives you space and freedom, but…. it is nice to be in a Marina for a short while for the showers and ability to simply walk off your boat. We do find that after a while though, Marina life can get claustrophobic, you’re certainly living close to each other, to beat this Terry, Carole and I took a trip to the city of Panama with Ralph and Monica s/v Mora, that’s in our next blog!

OCC SUZIE TOO RALLY , LEMON CAYS TO PORT LINTON, 18 -22 FEBRUARY 2019

After a lovely sail in perfect conditions we had Port Linton anchorage to negotiate. We carefully studied our bible, The Panama Cruising Guide by Eric Bauhaus and made copious notes of the waypoints, and points to consider in readiness for our entry into Port Linton with it’s tricky entrance of shallow shoals & tiny outcrops of wooden pilings right in the middle of the anchorage next to the Marina. We were ready, what could possibly go wrong? Our friends Ken & Grace s/v Pisces had already gone ahead. Ok, we saw the pilings and thought we could slot between them, nope. To the amusement of cruisers at the nearby Marina dock (why is there always an audience when you’re lashing things up….) we gently motored ahead at 1.2 knots…… and ran aground right in the middle of the pilings…. With much hand waving from our audience, we quietly cursing under our breaths reversed and motored round the damn pilings, avoiding the shoals and dropped anchor in the little bay area by the marina, disaster! It was so rolly! We hauled anchor and dropped it by Ken’s boat, sheltered from the swell at the far end of the bay. What a start….

However, once we got straight, had a swim, dropped the dinghy over the side and went ashore to the food shack by the marina for beers and food, harmony was once again restored aboard Sisu!

The following day we checked in at Portobelo, meaning beautiful port. It’s a historic port in the Northern part of the Isthmus of Panama. Established in 1597 during the time of the Spanish empire, Portobelo served as one of the two ports through which Spanish treasure was shipped from the mines of Peru back to Spain. In the late 19th century during the construction of the Panama Canal. In 1980 UNESCO designated Portobelo with its ruins of colonial fortifications as a world heritage site. We’ll be here for about a week so there’ll be time to explore.

First though we have to check in with Customs & Immigration, a different experience each destination! We’re at Linton Marina and have to travel to Portobelo for checking in, together with Ken & Grace we catch the bus, not any ol’ bus, these are brightly painted USA school buses, at night they are lit up with red glowing striplights! We ride on well maintained roads, past pastoral scenery, gently rolling fields, grassy hillocks, cows, horses, could be like home except we see the odd spider monkey in the trees.

At Portobelo, there’s a sense of well living, painted murals on many walls, a couple of Chinese supermarkets, bakeries, a pharmacy, and pretty cafes.

Art studio with such a variety of art media

Portobelo is famous for its Iglesia de San Felipe, the Roman Catholic church. Inside is Nazareno, a wooden statue of a black Jesus Christ. He’s life size, reputed to have been washed up on the town’s shore. He’s venerated particularly on October 21st, the Festival of the Black Christ.

After a coffee and cinnamon bun, (very civilised!) we visit the Immigration Office to check in. We need our passports photocopying so walk back up the street to the pharmacy where the copier is situated, back to the Office have our photos and electronic thumbprints taken. This procedure can be lengthy, officious and downright brusque in some places, clearing in here was a pleasure.

After an excellent pizza at the local Pizzeria sat by the water’s edge we catch the bus back to the Marina.

It’s time for catching up on internet messages and emails, it’s not often we get good wifi so a day was spent on line we met up with friends in the evening, back in the real world rather than virtual!

There are covered tunnels of mangroves all around the edges of the bay, one such is nicknamed The Tunnel of Love! A group of us dinghied through the “love tunnel”, well worth it for the superb French, yes, French restaurant at the nearby Panamarina! After a long lunch and some rum we all dinghied back for a rest!!

Well fed, well cultured and ready to go, the following day we would be off to Shelter Bay, Panama!

OCC SUZIE TOO RALLY – LEMON CAYS, SAN BLAS ISLANDS 16 FEBRUARY 2019

Once again, it’s a short distance to our next Island, a mere 6nm, with no wind the journey took just 1 1/2 hours motoring. We caught a fish! a 1ft Jack Bar, this makes our tally of caught fish since 2016 to umm….4… We’re rubbish at fishing!

Good to see our Canadian friends Ken & Grace Good, s/v Pisces and catch up on news. It’s a red hot day so once anchored securely we waste little time in jumping in for a swim and snorkel.

Later on in the day, a panga arrives, run by one of the local Kuna people, it’s loaded with fresh veg and fruit. These veggie pangas travel around many of the nearby Islands selling to the Islanders as well as the cruisers anchored in the bays. There are no shops here! We stock up on bananas, onions, tomatoes, ham and even wine. What’s available to buy depends on whether the panga has reached you first…or last. This time we were lucky!

Terry’s sister Carole (right) and Grace (left).

We arrange to meet up for dinner, eating at the Island’s the red tin roofed bar. Over drinks we enjoyed a delicious hearty meal of fried Grouper, chips and salad. Grouper is lovely, a white very firm meat. A lovely evening of good company with our Rally friends, beers and laughter. Tomorrow we head for Port Linton.

OCC SUSIE TOO RALLY – SAN BLAS ISLANDS, ACUAKARGANA & WAISALADUP – 14 – 15 FEBRUARY 2019

A short 5nm away from Banedup are the two tiny islands of Acuakargana and Waisaladup, looking more like the cartoon islands where sailors get washed up upon, however these two islands have bar on each! our friends Ralph & Monica, s/v Mora arrived the day before and we anchored nearby. We’ll stay in the little bay for a couple of days.

As soon as we’re happy the anchor’s solid, we get our snorkel gear and jump in. What a sight! Large clumps of fish swoop around us plus Eagle rays. In the hour we snorkeled we saw 5 or more rays. The water’s incredibly warm, we can clearly see columns of warmer thermal currents mixing with cooler currents, it’s rather magical as we snorkel through the swirling pillars of warm and cooler water. Monica tells us there are reef sharks here too so we’re hopeful we’ll see some.

Before we know it, it’s beer o’clock, big decision, which island for beer?! A two minute dinghy ride to Acuakargana and we are all at the makeshift bar run by the local Kuna people for sundowners!

On the 15th February we hear of the incredibly sad news that one of our Rally friends, Tim Brewer, husband of Rhonda, has suddenly passed away. Tim and Rhonda were on a nearby Island with their catamaran Q4, with other Rally members. We are shell shocked. Tim and Rhonda were very popular, their catamaran being the venue for many parties and domino games. Our thoughts lie with Rhonda and the day was a quiet one for us.

We have visitors too, but definitely not welcome callers. We’d had reports Portuguese Man O’ War jelly fish were in the area, and as we looked over the side, to our dismay there were 2 or 3 of the damn things floating close by. We couldn’t risk entering the water, their tentacles around around 30 feet long and can trail for more than 100 feet!!! Their sting is excruciatingly painful, we really don’t fancy that experience so dinghy over to the other Island where hand made Molas are being sold and explored, which took all of 10 minutes. To be honest Tim’s loss was at the forefront of our minds, a sad day where we reflected on Tim’s family and remembered the good times we shared with them both on the Rally.

We decide to up anchor early the following day to the Holandes Cays.

OCC SUZIE TOO RALLY PANAMA, SAN BLAS ISLANDS, BANEDUP 11 – 13 FEBRUARY 2019

Once again the distance between the islands was short. Carefully adhering to the Bauhaus pilot book waypoints, we had a very bouncy 90 minute motor sail to Banedup. As we neared this equally beautiful island, we could see large, solid coral heads looming up dangerously close to our hull. These will rip a hole in the hull, plus making anchoring a tricky procedure. Sure enough, Terry and I messed up the first attempt at dropping anchor between these coral heads as avoiding damaging them is always our priority. It doesn’t help that Sisu is a contrary lady and is not at all happy to reverse in a straight line, so she doesn’t! We were trying to anchor in a space between Pisces and a large, expensive catamaran, no pressure there then…… Harsh words were exchanged between Terry, on the anchor windlass and me on the wheel. Poor Carole had to witness our unholy matrimonial spat…. I think it took us 3 goes, by which time I was in tears and Terry stressed to hell. It didn’t help that we just managed to skim past the catamaran with inches to spare as Sisu danced her way backwards, totally ignoring my frantic wheel spinning and the anchor mechanism wouldn’t go up nor down due to a later discovered faulty spring! These spats happen between most cruisers who sail together…… I shout “I’m not bloody doing this anymore!”. Terry shouts back “Well, bloody well leave then!” There follows more swearing and bluffed threats to pack bags etc…. Maybe that’s why there’s many solo sailors!! We always make up and peace reigns once more, till the next time!

That evening we plus Ralph and Monica of s/v Mora enjoyed sundowners with Ken and Grace s/v Pisces, both parties were very diplomatic, feigning total ignorance regarding our earlier shouting match, that’s how it works when you’re sailing, next time it could be their turn!

Snorkeling here was divine, with rays and even reef sharks quietly gliding under us.

Ken and Grace s/v Pisces decided to move on. (nothing to do with us!) As Ken began to haul his anchor, it suddenly jammed. He moved Pisces backwards and forwards to loosen the trapped chain. No joy. Terry snorkelled down the length of chain to find it had become firmly wedged under a dead coral head. Fortunately Monica has scuba gear onboard. Quickly donning the gear, she dives down and after much persuasion, succeeds in freeing the chain! That deserved a beer!

The following day, Terry, Carole and I dinghy over to nearby BBQ Island. So named, because, well, BBQs are held there! You have to pay, its a popular tourist island with regular packed full lancha trips, that’s definitely not our scene, so we dropped the dinghy’s anchor and snorkelled in the aqua blue waters surrounding the island.

The waters were so turquoise here that we upped anchor and moved!

Sadly, even in Paradise, pollution is present, we were dismayed to find so much plastic and rubbish washed up on these white beaches, even the San Blas doesn’t escape. We keep all our rubbish to an absolute minimum and store in in our stern locker till we find a place to dispose of our waste properly.

Reluctantly, once again we were moving on. In these crystal clear waters we took the opportunity to make fresh water, fill our water tank and packed up for the long passage of….. 5.8nm!

OCC SUZIE TOO RALLY – PANAMA, SAN BLAS ISLANDS, ESNADUP ISLAND 8 – 10 FEBRUARY 2019

A very pleasant 5nm headsail through and past a few islands, navigation made so much easier using the Bauhaus charts. Some of our cruising friends are already here, s/v Quicksilver, s/v Honey Ryder & s/v Schloss Ort. Esnadup is an uninhabited long palm tree lined island with excellent holding and protected from the forecast 25/30 knots winds due.

An idyllic and popular island for cruisers, we met new friends, Jackie & David, s/v Jackster, enjoying sundowners with them the evening of our arrival, this really is living the life!

Three men in a dinghy! Terry, Steiner and Mike working on Mike’s outboard. Did it work afterwards? Yes! Were celebratory beers had? Yes!

Plenty of boats here mean good business for the nearby Guna people and each day we were visited by smiling faces with big welcomes selling Molas. The word Mola originally meant bird plumage, and is the Kuna word for clothing, specifically a blouse. In recent times Mola has come to mean the beautiful embroidered panels that make up the back and front of the Kuna ladies blouse. Today they are highly collected folk art too.

They are hand made, a laborious art using two or three pieces of different coloured cloth on top of each other and sewn together. Then the top layers are cut into, forming a design, usually from a design in the makers head! The base layer remains intact to support the stitching of the other layers. I’m no seamstress, and it’s a stunning dark art, involving reverse applique, positive applique and slits showing different colours from cloth that has been inserted between the layers. The designs tend to be geometric or feature bird, animal, fish or plant life, even scenes from daily life. I prefer the bright animal and bird designs. The cost of Molas vary from $20 to $30 a piece, not much for the sheer amount of work involved, anything from three to five weeks or longer for fine pieces. Whenever we see a Kuna woman, she is often making a Mola.

Carole and I hoped we would be able to buy some Molas, we weren’t disappointed! Lanchas arrived with girls bearing large bags of Molas. We welcomed them aboard and soon Sisu’s cockpit was draped in vivid, elaborate Molas, how to choose?!

We wish we could’ve bought them all, but our cash was limited, Carole and I had to restrain ourselves! We made our choices, it was so difficult! When we returned home, in the Isle of Man, the Molas Terry & I bought were framed and hung up in our dining room, a beautiful reminder of the San Blas Islands.

We’ve got a forest on our rudder! One of our regular every three weeks or so maintenance jobs is to inspect Sisu’s hull and scrape weed. It’s no hardship doing in these warm and calm conditions, ensuring a good workout!

Despite changeable weather, sun, showers, it really is glorious here. Whilst Terry worked on our VHF problem, Carole and I borrowed paddleboards off one of our cruising friends, Carole had her first paddle boarding experience. Falling off the board as you’re learning is fun in warm seas!

We paddled over to Esnadup island, lovely not to have noseeums attacking us as we walked around the tiny island.

After a couple of days it was time to once again move on, there are a lot of San Blas islands to explore, we’ll never get round them in the time we have, but we’ll do our best to tick off a few.

Ourselves, Mora and Pisces planned to leave for Banedup at 0900hrs on the 11th February. Just as we were packing the vegetable boat arrived. As most of the islands are uninhabited in the San Blas, the shop comes to us! The lancha was well stocked with bread, veg, fruit, beer, wine, meat, cheese, fruit juices, eggs, and UHT milk, amongst other items.
We committed a real faux pas! A neighbouring boat asked did I want to go with him over to the lancha which was presently serving a catamaran. As we were planning to leave and this offer would save time, I jumped in and we shot over to the catamaran and got served next. Oh boy, did this upset one of the boats! There are cruisers who live aboard full time and many simply move around the San Blas Islands. We were bad dogs!!! Suddenly the hailing channel, VHF 72, crackled with a very indignant live aboard cruiser calling Sisu who then proceeded to tell us off for jumping the queue and that it was very bad form! Everyone within range could hear! Terry answered the call and politely explained that it was our first time in the San Blas and we were not aware of that she made the rules in a land where she was also a visitor. The complainant wasn’t prepared to back down. Terry asked the person to go to channel 74, rather than use the hailing channel which all could hear, plus it blocked others from hailing each other. Mind you, everyone was listening to this debacle! Terry once again was very polite but the caller was having none of it. We allowed her a final huff and signed off. Goodness knows how many heard, but we received a few “well said’s”, this is not the attention we wish to seek, but it livened up a day in paradise for nearby anchored cruisers!
The lancha went round each boat in the anchorage, there didn’t appear to be any order and the route taken by the driver of the lancha was pretty random, finally it reached Mora and Pisces. By 11.30hrs we were all restocked and hauled anchor!

OCC SUZIE TOO RALLY – PANAMA, SAN BLAS ISLANDS, NARGANA 3 – 6 FEBRUARY 2019

The beauty of these islands is the closeness to one another and Nargana is just 22nm from our previous island of Aridup. Leaving at 0930hrs we enjoyed a lovely sail, even attempted fishing! We had two fish on the line, but lost them, but we did technically catch fish! Again, we’re close to the Panama coastline of mountains and jungle, we wonder what lives in there.

Nargana is only 5.5 hectares, completely overbuilt, and we can walk around it in less than 10 minutes, crammed in this space is a hospital and school. The other nearest populated island, Corazon de Jesus is connected to Nargana by a concrete bridge. We feel here that both islands are quite westernised. There is very little sign of the beautiful traditional Guna dress.

We’re anchored with Pisces, Mora and Alena in the busy anchorage, it’s full of fishing boats, shops and well worn huts are jammed haphazardly next to each other, propping each other up.

Ashore, there’s not quite the same open friendliness as we’ve experienced before, a reserved politeness, we are strangers here after all. We walked over the concrete bridge linking the two islands, the lancha ferrying people to mainland Panama was full and ready to go. You may notice the flag on the lancha. This is the flag of the Guna Yala community, a reversed swastika based design, is actually an ancestral symbol in Kuna culture, adopted after the 1925 rebellion against Panamanian repression.

We read that Nargana has a bank, good news as we’re running out of cash, unsurprisingly cash is king in these islands. On paying a call to the local bank, we discovered it doesn’t have an ATM, or change currencies, not ware we allowed to draw cash out. It’s definitely a local bank for local people!

Whilst onboard, a Kuna Saila came past in his dugout and stopped. He asked that we pay the fee for staying at Nargana. To pay a fee is expected at these islands. However…… this time the fee was $20 for Sisu and $20 per person aboard! Fortunately the Saila could not see my sister in law, Carole as I kept her out of sight, otherwise we’d have been charged $80! Terry refused to pay the fee, explaining that we couldn’t get any money from the bank and haggled the Saila down to $20. When we went ashore later, we spoke to a member of the island’s congress about the fee. He became very annoyed. In fact the “Saila” is in fact a well known local bandit! One of our cruising friends paid the $60 asked, fortunately the member of congress said he would get some of their fee returned. This island is vastly different to the gentle islands previously visited.

We’re having problems with our VHF aerial. Terry climbed up the mast to check, however as it’s a sealed unit he couldn’t see the problem. Ralph, s/v Mora, has kindly offered us his spare. We will add this new boat part to our list for replacing at Shelter Bay, Panama.

One morning, Ralph & Monica,s/v Mora & Ken & Grace, s/v Pisces took our dinghies exploring up the Rio Dablo. The river proved fascinating, lots of birdlife amongst the mangroves and it was a well used route for locals to collect water.

As the river is freshwater, we did as the locals do, bringing with us shampoo and soap for a good ol’ scrub in the river!

We decided it was time to move on, so after a provision up of eggs, fruit and veg, all carefully washed in case of cockroach eggs, guests you really don’t want onboard!

There’s always laundry to do! No washing machine on board, laundry is washed in a bucket, even bedding!

We met up for a meal and decided on a sailing plan. The weather gods aren’t in our favour. The forecast isn’t good for the following few days, NE 30 knot winds at worst, we’d be exposed wherever we sailed. A couple of our friends moved on. We initially decided to stay put, we could go ashore, buy food & fuel. The water in the harbour where we’re anchored isn’t clean enough to make drinking water but we can make water for laundry. We could explore another river. Plans change like the weather, after further discussion, a few of us decide to set sail the following morning for Esnadup!

Sailing plan pow wow.

OCC SUZIE TOO RALLY – PANAMA, SAN BLAS ISLANDS, MONO & ARIDUP, 31 JANUARY – 2 FEBRUARY 2019

The short sail from Usutupu to Isla Mono took us inside islands on a very bumpy, lumpy swell, we hobby horsed our way over reefs, sticking to the waypoints set out in Eric Bauhaus’s pilot book on the San Blas. Some islands were no more than heaps of sand with palm trees, however the underwater shoals can reach out for a distance from an islands edge. Carole eyeballed the depth and I gave directions from waypoints on my ipad route, swapping jobs to keep our eyes fresh. A sharp lookout is essential during rapid changes in our depth from 20mtres to 2 mtres!

Carole eyeballing the reefs!

Isla Mono is is actually a couple of small islands about 500 yards to the Panamanian coast.

We found enough depth to anchor and later that evening joined our friends on Ute & Leo’s boat s/v Schloss Ort. Going ashore proved impossible, the noseeums won!

The following day proved dull, rain!

After a quick swim it was house, or rather boatwork time. Cleaning up, cutting up plastic rubbish to reduced it’s size, washing out cans, then storing them till we can dispose of them safely. There are no wheely bins out here! Terry dinghied over to Mono to burn non toxic rubbish, small amounts are allowed. Carole decided to go too, to deep condition her hair. The noseeums attacked the intruders to their island!! Terry and Carole returned covered in bites and scratching furiously. Our rally friends abandoned plans to burn their rubbish!

On the 2nd February a small number of us decided to up anchor and sail to nearby Aridup. A lovely crossing, the anchorage was busy but just enough room for us to squeeze in. These islands are uninhabited, being tiny, however three lads came by from a neighbouring island selling lobsters, that was tea sorted!

Terry also bought whale teeth for me and Carole! A whale had been washed up and the Guna took the teeth to sell once the carcass had rotted away.

This anchorage was incredibly rolly, so out came Terry’s flopper stopper! This consists of 2 stainless steel sheets hinged in the middle, and secured by four “handles”. The whole contraption hangs off the boom and drops below the water by the hull. It then rises and sinks, opening and closing, thus breaking the momentum of the swell roll which makes life unpleasant on board. As there really much to do or see here, we decided to pack up and sail to Nargana the following day.