Providencia, Columbia

OK we thought today was Saturday, and kept thinking tomorrow was Sunday, and we honestly have no idea or need for the numerical date. So we check the computer for affirmation. Nope, we created an extra day this week by now realizing tomorrow is the real Saturday. Hey though in our defense, we always knew this was still January and not yet February!
Today we walked out to the fort and cannons, around Morgan's Head on Santa Catalina, and up and down the edge of the small island. Saturday, we will be renting scooters, touring Providencia island, and going out for lunch at a roadside restaurant with a couple on a one year hiatus from Massachusetts (she is a meteorologist professor from Rutledge University who is an expert on arctic climate research and global warming impact studies) and their two barely teenager kids...fun, fun, fun. Sunday we will snorkel, swim, dinghy around the bay and look for Captain Morgan's famous treasure cave. Out there is a great reef with hundreds of fish--this is a preserve site so the fish are abundant.
Next Thursday or Friday the weather will allow us to go to Honduras and meet our other friends. In Honduras the diving is suppose to be clear 100 feet deep, warm, and some of the best in the world. We think we will be there for all of February through April. Utila is one of the islands, has a night life, and is a preferred spot for young people looking to dive. Roatan has Fantasy Island and great snorkeling; French Harbor is a must see spot as well. In mid to late April, we will be taking the boat out of the water for a survey before heading back to Panama in early May. Early May we will go to Bocas Del Toro, the European hippy hangout, put the boat up, and then head for Texas and Arizona. However, we are cruisers who have trouble keeping track of the day as well as the week so we may actually do something totally different than our current plans that are obviously written in shifting sand. Life is good and we are still having fun in the sun.

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Northbound to Roatan

It is midnight and we are trekking at 6-7 knots over 3-8 foot rolling seas. Earlier the seas were 7-14 feet and that gave us quite a crack the whip/toss and drop ride for about 10 hours. Since the moon has set, the stars are our only companion out here 150 miles off the shores of Costa Rica. With no interference from other lights, the stars are bright and clear. Orion's Belt is prominent in the sky as is many planets and satellites. It is still warm enough to be in shorts and barefooted and my watch has started. Our AIS, ship identification program, shows no traffic, our maps show depths of 3-4 thousands of feet, and we have seen only one other large ship out here since leaving San Blas this morning. There was a suspicious "other boat," not lit, and traveling in the shadow of the large boat earlier that we noticed. All is good.
P.S. Another companion turned up-phosphorous looking like fireflies, as densely packed and bright as the Milky Way. They dot the surface of the waves that break upon our hull. Like tiny dancing fairies, they shimmer and disappear from sight as we sail north through the moonless night.

San Blas Islands, last visit for this year…
We waved goodbye to the San Blas Islands on January 18th and must say they should be counted as one of the Wonders of the World. These island number in the hundreds, and the Indians that live out there are gentle, soft spoken, and mild mannered in most cases. They show entrepreneurial skills and a strong work ethic. We spent one week off an island and watched a house being raised in the tradition of barn building in the states. For two or three days the man of the hut worked hard chopping and cutting wood each afternoon. A launched arrived one morning with a work crew of men who hopped out and began to raise timbers for a roof, laced rope into a lattice on the roof braces, and then wove palm fronds into a roof. At the end of the day the building was half done. Every week, every anchorage had a launch make the trip to bring fresh vegetables, eggs, meat, fish, beer, and of course the hand made molas that these islands are famous for creating.
The anchorages are getting crowded now with people from the Arc Rally and from all over Europe who are getting ready to cross over into the Pacific and head further west. Most of the anchorages that had seen 3-5 boats are now 15-30 boat crowded. The flags are mostly Italian, French, and German, but other European countries are in there as well.

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Leaving Linton for the second time

Leaving Isla Linton

After three weeks anchored behind Isla Linton we are ready to leave. I got my rebuilt autopilot back a few days ago and everything is working great again. We have had a great time here seemingly busy doing something everyday. Thanks to Owen and Betty on Hiatus, we were able to make several trips into Colon without have to take the two and one half hour bus ride. We did take the bus a couple of times and it makes a long day. These really are the only mode of transportation for most Panamanians and the buses will haul anything. The last bus we rode had a full size mattress in the back with everyone's groceries piled in the last three seats. We are glad to be back to depending on the boat instead of the local busses.
We had a great New Years on our boat with a couple of other boats, Nim Tai, Hiatus, And Renegade came over for pizza and New Year's. We actually found ourselves awake and still partying at midnight. That was a first for us in a long time. We also enjoyed a few great meals at the local cruisers restaurant and the French Restaurant in the next bay. At the local restaurant you bring your dingy right up to the break water, stern tie off on a buoy, and nose tie to a line. From there you can either grab a swing tire or rope then pull yourself out of your dingy about 5 ft from where you sit to eat. They serve Great Columbian food. Hans, the owner is from Holland, and his wife, the cook, is from Columbia, his 18yr old daughter is studying Law in Cartagena, and his math whiz 11 yr old son helps with the bills and serving meals. It is a real family enterprise.
Our plan was to leave for Providencia, Columbia on Sunday with a very short weather window. Sunday we woke up and decided instead to go to San Blas and make sure the autopilot work first. The weather window was only two 1/2 days long with a very cold, cold front moving in behind it. Temperatures in the LOW 70's, winds to 30 knots, and a lots of rain didn't really sound like fun. So here we are, back in the San Blas Islands where it is 82 to 90 every day with snorkeling and 40ft visibility just waiting to be enjoyed. Providencia can wait.
Our trip down from Linton was great. We had steady 15 knots of wind with a little lumpy 5 to 7 ft seas. It actually was the calmest we have seen so far. We had a great 9 hr sail only using the engine to leave and enter the anchorage. That is why we own sailboats! We used less than a gallon of gas!

Later we will describe our La La life in Kuna Yala…

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