Las Perlas Islands -26 March 2024.

We woke early and Mark went off to the fish tackle shop to buy some more gear so we can hopefully catch some more fish. The workmen came at about 8.00am to sort out the heads and had three new valves which they had ordered. The ones fitted in Grenada were the wrong type and were plastic whereas these new ones were brass and the valves inside I think made of brass. They fitted the new valve in Mark’s heads quite easily and it seemed to work well and did not back up. I then persuaded them to replace the new valves on the other two heads, so they were all done. This did not take long, and I felt comfortable and glad that they had all been done and it made the delay worthwhile and hopefully we will not have further problems.  

We tried to have an egg and bacon breakfast, but Mark had brought out some plastic egg boxes which had been recommended in books that I had read rather than the usual cardboard holders. The idea being it stops cardboard being on board and the eggs in their boxes would be easy to turn every few days. However, we found in these plastic boxes that the eggs had stated to go mouldy so many of the eggs were off. We think this was because air could not circulate. We did find some ok, but this was not good as we had a lot of eggs in these containers. Charles has drilled some holes in them now so the air can circulate and hopefully we will not have the same issue again.  

I went up to the office to see if I could speak to the manager, but he was not there. I wanted to talk to him about the toilet and shower facilities which were woeful for such a large marina. As he was not there and I spoke to my agent who totally agreed with me and I thought I should make the point as if no one does, nothing will happen. Two toilets and one shower for a large marina is pathetic especially when you could not lock one door as it was broken and the seat on one toilet was not fixed properly.  I therefore had to message the manager and I set all this out and he just replied saying “received”.  The agent later contacted me and he said he had been called and apparently it has been referred to the general manger.

We left the marina at about 9.30am and were on our way to the Las Perlas Islands and Isla Contadora some 40 miles away. There was little wind, but we were not in a rush and started sailing in about 6-7 kts and yet we were still going about 3-4 kts. However, the wind was coming from the direction we wanted to sail in – typical! We therefore headed a little bit perpendicular to our route meandering between the anchored tankers and then tacked the other way back toward the Panama coast. The wind picked up a little and we were close hauled i.e. sailing as close as we could to the wind direction and on wind vane – 45 degrees. We not only put out the genoa and main but also the staysail, so we had as much canvas as possible. As we came closer to the coast the wind began to bend closer to our destination direction i.e. away from the land (as I had hoped). Our speed had picked up a bit with the increased wind and I was calculating whether we could continue sailing and still get to our anchorage before the sun came down. As time went on with the wind bending in our favour and strengthening this meant that I thought we could continue sailing and get to our destination in time. It was also lovey sailing as there were no waves or swell. We were doing about 6kts in a flat calm sea which was  fantastic and if this is what the Pacific is like then great.

We were also entertained by the bird life and seeing the large pelicans flying close to the water and often gliding effortlessly for long periods was magical. They are magnificent creatures. We then had squadrons of cormorants flying in formation and lots of other sea birds.   

Suddenly there was some noise from a fishing rod as Mark had earlier put out two rods. He hauled one on and there was a lovely silver and yellow fish which would help with supper tonight. It would serve 4 not 6 and as Mark had got some fish out the freezer this morning this can be added to it. The fish was caught with a new lure that Mark had bought this morning and so his trip there was worthwhile. This was not only our first fish in the Pacific bit also for some time.

Many sailors en route to the Galapagos make a stop at the Las Perlas Islands. They got their name from the Spanish who robbed a large amount of pearls and enslaved a large amount of skilled pearl divers. The 31 carat “peregrina” pearl of Queen Mary Tudor of England came from these Islands.  

We carried on sailing and began to see the Northern Islands of the Las Perlas which were rocky but had lots of trees on them. We also noticed lots of birdlife and birds diving into the water and there must be lots of fish here. We continued sailing until we were near Isla Contadora’s west side and then we  took the sails down and motored around to its south side where the Bauhaus book suggested was a good anchorage. There were a number of boats at anchor or on mooring buoys. We anchored as the sun was beginning to set and had a drink on the rear deck thinking what a lovely day it had been and how good it was to be out of the marina.

Isla Contadora is the most developed Island in the Las Perlas and it has an airport (daily flights to Panama), desalination plant, power plant roads and some shops and restaurants.  

We had delicious supper of Mark’s fresh fish and the thawed fish with mango and tomato salsa, rice and beans fusion style washed down with some white wine. It had been a great day and we look forward to going ashore and exploring tomorrow.

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