So we left the Swimming Pool. The wind picked up to 25 knots and was gusting 30+. We could have moved into the lee of one of the nearby islands, but we were all ready to move. And with the wind at that level, the best spearfishing was off-limits as the swell was massive.
Familiar Places
We had a brisk sail to the West Hollandes, where we anchored in one of my favorite spots. We were well-sheltered from the wind for the first night (and had enough to keep cool), but within a day the wind had switched and we were back in the wind-tunnel. Not entirely a bad thing, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the depth we had to anchor in – it was a little deep for my comfort. Despite that, we held just fine in the wind-tunnel.
The swell and current were too strong to let us get outside the reef for the best spearfishing and freediving. We even tried leaving the dinghy inside, and just kicking out to the outer reef – no dice. The current was ripping, the waves were crashing, and the wind was whipping. It was worth a shot…
We stayed inside the reef and dove the wall directly next to our boat, which we did just off the mothership – no dinghy required. There wasn’t much home, but it was nice diving. On the inhabited island we visited the local Kunas, picked up a love letter for delivery to Chichime (really), and had some laundry done. Then Lisa and I took hammocks and books to one of the other islands and read, where we met a hippy-Kuna who needed some varnish. Not a bad day.
Supplies
The next day, the veggie boat came by – and we bought the important stuff: eggs, fruit, and beer.
We had fallen into a routine: wake up, drink coffee/eat breakfast, then immediately plan the day’s meals. Cooking was all we talked about, and we kept talking about options until we all got really excited about one. Then we cooked it.
Luke and Lisa baked almost daily, and when we ran out of flour it was a genuine travesty. So much of a travesty, that we bothered one of our anchor-buddies for some more flour. We knew a couple of the boats in the anchorage – but not well enough to really be “friends.” We chose a big Leopard catamaran because we knew they were Italians, and Italians always have pasta and flour. Always. We chose correctly and went home with enough flour to bake another pizza. Winning.
With flour, there was pizza, bread, pancakes, and crepes. We ate and drank like kings (and a queen), in a really beautiful place. But even with that, both Luke and I were getting anxious to start moving again. While San Blas is really beautiful, really nice to sail in, and truly a paradise – it lacks the epic spearfishing and the occasionally nightlife we’d prefer. For chartering, just hanging out, or running backpackers – San Blas is a really epic spot. But I’m not doing that right now. Right now, I’m sailing around looking for cool spots with big, dumb fish. And it’s highly-likely that I’ll be back in San Blas for Hurricane Season, I’m not convinced there’s a better spot for that on this side of the world. So we started talking about where-to-next…
Chichime Again
Lisa had a job coming up and her options for getting to said job were quickly diminishing. The job was in Chichime, we were about 9 miles away and there was 25 knots of cross-wind. Her last option was a kayuka (local Kuna dugout), which would have been a very, very wet/rough ride in those conditions. I caved and we decided to sail back to Chichime. From anchor up to anchor down it was an hour and a half. We made great time. There we hung with Gary, Geoffrey, and saw some friends. Rachel and Ariel from One World came over from Yansaladup. Lisa, Luke and I brought hammocks, books, and beer to the Chichime – where we posted up for a couple of hours. We also met the saltiest guy I’ve met yet, appropriately named Capi Chulo. So salty that he even had the peg-leg limp. True story.
And then we were bored again.
And we had no water.
And we were out of almost every food item.
No beer. No rum. Again.
So we sailed out of Chichime – toward Soledad Miria, where they have something resembling a dock that we could nose S/V NOMAD up to and refill on water. While we were at it, I sent Luke to buy some rum, some beer, and some Coca Cola. The necessities. Luke’s Spanish (though improving) is something between non-existent and horrible, so I was genuinely curious how he’d make-out on his shopping adventure. He made it back, which was the important part.
When we were finally done filling our water tanks, we cast off lines and motored away from Soledad Miria. We had two choices: a 20 minute sail to Gunboat Island to spend the night or a longer sail to Porvenir to resupply and think about whether we were heading to Colombia. We chose Porvenir.
Having learned a bit about this anchorage previously, I anchored much closer to the supplies. We did most of the resupplying that night, before the sun went down. A productive day. The problems started the next morning though…
Familiar Places
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