February 17, 2021
We left Cartagena just before sunset, passing by the statue of Our Lady of el Carmen
By the time we passed Boca Chica it was already dark. Happy Captain sailing out of the bay once again with full sails up.
Just on the way out we got a radio call from a big cargo. He saw us on the AIS and called to ensure we were keeping our course to avoid a collision. It is so good to have those extra pieces of technology that make things so much easier and safer!!
Two nights sailing.
First night is always a bit unsettling and as soon as we got out of the protection we started to get more an more wind. It went up to 28knots with waves and current making a very messy sea. I was not up to do my watch like that. Cedric had stayed out most of night. In the early morning the weather continued to be unpleased waves, current not confortable but I had to take my turn so Cedric could have some proper rest.
Second night was all changed, wind was closer to the forecasted, no more wind against current, so we were just happily sailing away.
Around 8am in the morning we arrived to Cayo Holandes in the San Blas!!! Now I get it why people talked so well about this islands. They are beautiful.
Arrived in San Blas
It is an archipelago of 365 islands many of them uninhabited. It is one of the places with high tourism in Panama due to its blue, clear waters and white sandy beaches. However, due to the pandemic the islands are still officially closed. Tours have been suspended since March 2020 and no charters are authorised. Only few boats stop to take a break between Colombia and Panama.
When arrived to Cayo Holandes and anchored I quickly got ready for a splash in those magnificent waters. It took me less than 10min snorkeling from the back of the boat to find 8 stingrays and plenty more reef fish around. We heard a story later from a boat -that has been in the San Blas for ten years- that stingrays could jump all the way up to the dinghy. Imagine that, a ray on the dinghy, for us it will be a disaster
We stay close to protected waters and relax for two days until we got better wind to sail one more day to Panama. We got some local fish from the locals and of course some “molas”. They are a textile, hand made by the Kunas -the native people in San Blas-. I’ll promise I’ll get you a picture on my next post.
We left in the afternoon and got to the entrance of Shelter Bay Marina just passed 7:00am, visibility was not that great and sky was grey.
It is unfortunate we could not stop for a longer time in these islands. They look really beautiful.
Last stop on the Atlantic Ocean
Shelter bay marina here we are. We were so lucky to arrived just before the sky turned grey and started to rain.
To arrive in Panama they don’t ask for the COVID test before, the rule is you have to enter the marina get tided up and wait for the lab people who will come and do the test on the boat. We didn’t planned it but we did it again. We arrived on a National Holiday. In normal conditions it would have been “Carnaval Day” but because of the pandemic they canceled the carnival and put a full lockdown for the whole country. So I was thinking we were going to spend all day on the boat because until they received the results of a Negative test we were not allowed to disembark.
Plenty time to get the boat organised and start checking our “to do list”, we still have few things to get done before we are ready to cross the channel. Surprisingly, the lady from the lab arrived early afternoon for the test.
Only 3 hours later we had the results, “negative” and an hour later we were moved to our berth deeper inside the marina. Quite a manoeuvre because there was some wind. The guys from the marina were so impressed with the captain that they congratulated him. Later we found out that not all the manoeuvres go as smooth as ours. Few days before there was a boat that hit two other boats before it got attached on its berth.
The following day we got immigration stamp on the passport, check in the marina for Happy Days, everything in order. Time to start working on the last preparations for the Channel Crossing and the Pacific Ocean.
Happy Days 