Las Perlas - 30 March 2024

After my blog last night, we were sitting in the cockpit as it was rather windy and too rolly to sit at the back. There were gusts of up to 27/28 kts which is force 7 territory,  but we held solid although the waves were moving us around a bit. We were then entertained to three lots of  fireworks which we assumed were as a result of the weddings that were taking place. We looked at the weather and there were quite strong winds until about 9.30pm/10.00pm and then it would gradually calm down and then get stronger again tomorrow. It had gradually declined by the time I went to bed.

It was a lovely morning and a lot calmer when we woke and we had a chilled breakfast where we had to eat up the watermelon we had before it went off. There was lots of birdlife and fishing by the birds going  on, particularly the Pelicans. The water was not flat and there was a bit of a swell. We then prepared the boat and upped anchor and we were leaving for the Isla San Jose which is a private island but has supposedly a lovely large bay which is sheltered from the North winds.

Isla San Jose is the second largest island in the Las Perlas archipelago. The anchorage which we were headed to was the Ensenada Playa Grande which is a large bay with lots of sandy beaches. On its East side there is a cave called the Punta Popa de Bargo where you can enter by dinghy. Apparently, the owner of the island has a hut over it and he can lower a line down into the cave to catch fish!.

We headed out of the bay we had been anchored in and decided to put up the genoa only due to the wind angle. We sailed along about 5-6 kts heading towards the bottom of Ilse de Rey. It was a nice quiet sail and we could see lots of birds fishing and diving into the water – most of whom were boobies which had brown plumage and white chests. We could not see their feet as they were up against their bodies. There was no one else about. We sailed along for a while and then eventually turned toward the Isla San Jose and the promontory we needed to go round to anchor. As we approached the wind increased in strength and we could see it was building with the wave height as well. We came round  into this huge bay which was surrounded by various sandy beaches. We came passed a small island and then saw the cave you could go in and the hut above in the cliff where we assumed the owner fished, just as the pilot book said. .

We edged into the bay and toward the anchorage where I had put a waypoint. I had looked up the state of the tide and it was not yet low tide and we had about an hour to go. It was going down about 0.70cm to low tide. It was going up nearly 4m at high tide. As we draw 2.5m I want at least 1m clearance. Therefore 2.5 +1 =3.5 and taking account 0.7 reduction to low tide we should anchor in not less than 4.2m – say 4.5m to give a bit of leeway. We continued to move forward and the depth came to abut 8m, so we had plenty of space. However, before too long we saw a rock appear out of the water and reversed quickly so we anchored in about 8m of water. We knew the tide was going up about 4m so at high tide we would be in about 12m of water – we therefore needed about 48m of anchor chain to put out (as you should put out 4x the depth in chain).  

We settled and found our position and then had a swim. It was a bit cooler here but there were patches of warner water then cold. We could see a long rolling swell entering the bay and we could hear the waves crashing on the shore. After our refreshing swim we had lunch and then chilled. I had a welcome siesta and Keith made a banana cake to use up the old bananas and he also made a loaf of bread. Others swam and rested.

Later we had a cup of tea and while we were doing this Charles had gone snorkelling and went toward the rocks. Although the visibility was cloudy, he could see large fish near the rocks and suggested it would be good to fish there. Mark and I therefore decided to take the dinghy and to try to catch some fish. We rowed over and we cast the line near the spot Charles suggested. Before long Mark had caught a small brown Rasse. We then cast again and before long he had a larger fish on the rod and this was a nice Red Snapper. We carried on and caught another small Rasse. We thought we had enough and so we rowed back. It had been quite tricky to keep the dinghy in position without being swept into the rocks.

The rest of the crew were impressed and Mark scaled, gutted and prepared the fish for supper. We had a sundowner and then a delicious supper of really fresh fish, potatoes and broccoli.

It had been a great day We had a lovely sail and then the bay we are anchored in  is probably the most attractive of the Las Perlas so far. There is only one other boat here and that is a motorboat on the other side of the bay which has a Red Ensign. We considered cleaning the hull today and decided on tomorrow. However there is a lot of algae in this water so hopefully it does not go back on again before the Galapagos.

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 Panama 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