Las Perlas -1 April 2024

I was woken early by some clattering in the galley. Charles and Mark got up early to go fishing off the rocks and a similar area to the last time. The rest of us got up and had breakfast. It was cloudier today and cooler. When Mark and Charles came  back and had caught three small brown fish. They had caught a nice parrot fish but they decided to return it.

There was then a trip to the beach as we had not been ashore and Mark wanted to descale the fish he caught. Five of us to set off to the beach and Keith valiantly stayed back and said he would make some bread. As we approached the beach we could see there was a bit of a swell and although we got on to the beach the waves came behind us and quite a bit of water came into the boat until we could get it up on to the beach out of the swell. We took the bung out and the water gradually drained out.

The beach was long with trees hanging over it and with lovely sand. We walked along the beach and there was lots of trunks and wood bits. However rather sadly there was lots of detritus-old shoes, toothbrushes, rope, plastic containers, etc. This is very sad and is typical of many parts of the world and we need to try and stop this as it is destroying many beautiful environments like this. We all need to do our bit to stop this and not increase such sea pollution.

We went back to Stormbird and prepared the boat for departure.  We had been in this nice anchorage on Isla San Jose on our own for a few days. We needed to make some water as we were running low. We also wanted to fly the Blue Baron again and so we prepared the lines again. We upped anchor and then tried to fly the Blue Baron but unfortunately some of the lines were crossed so we had to pull it down again and we then tried again but for some reason it came twisted. As the wind increased I decided to not try again until we got some lighter wind.

We put the genoa up and headed out to sea as I wanted to make sure we had clear water until we started to make water so as not to clog the filters. Once I felt it was good we started the generator and started to make water. This took a  few hours as although it make about 250 Lts an hour each tank is 805 lts. It did not matter as we sailed along gently about 5-6 kts without any time constraint. People read books or water the boobie birds come to visit us as a yacht seemed to be a novelty to them. There was no one else about and no boats in sight. We had lunch whilst sailing and the clouds disappeared and the sun came out and it was a lovely day with a calm sea.

The first tank eventually filled and we went on to the second but by this time I decided to head more toward our anchorage destination tonight. This meant heading toward Isle de Ray which is the largest island in the Las Perlas islands. .I had planned to go to Rio Cacique – which has steep cliffs on the western side and a large pleasant beach on the north side. There is a river -the Rio Cacique – which our pilot book suggest is fully of great wildlife. It suggested that we go by dinghy at the right point of tide so you can switch off the engine and can glide down river on the tide watching the wildlife and gliding through the mangroves.

We sailed on and approached the bottom of Isle de Ray and we took the sail down and motored into the bay. We met a number of fishing boats and we could see a village off to the west. We carried on into the bay and there was no one here. We anchored and sat down to review our new home. There was some steep cliffs with trees on the west, the long beach to the north and in the corner we assumed the Rio Cacique entrance which was confirmed as the tide rose and we could see water and waves over the sandbar. There were little islands and rocks on the eastern side. The pelicans and boobies gave us a fishing demonstration and I decided to try with the rod but had no luck.

Mark prepared the fish and we had a pasta with tomato sauce and fish and broccoli which was delicious and this was followed by chocolate brownies. It had been a good day, in that we made water and we had moved on to a new anchorage. We have still to tame the Blue Baron but we will get there. It had been an enjoyable Easter Monday and those Easter Mondays in the UK really did seem miles away!

Opportunity for any Readers/Sailors.

In late May 2024 we shall be in the Marquesas in French Polynesia, and we will then move through to the Tuamotu’s before getting to Tahiti about the end of July 2024. There may be some space on Stormbird during this period should any sailor/reader be interested in joining for this period or part of it in what must be one of the most distant and beautiful places in the world. If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we head off to the Galapagos and beyond.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com  I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk