Las Perlas Islands -29 March 2024.

Happy Easter all – we all wish you a happy easter although your easter will have started earlier than ours. It was a lovely calm morning and there was little wind. As we could not have easter eggs we needed to have some eggs. We therefore made banana pancakes but this time with flour (to pacify Mark) which we had with lemon juice and/or maple syrup. They were delicious and a great Good Friday treat.

We had decided to go across to Isla Pedro Gonzales which had a village of some 500 people and they had a few shops etc. The guys wanted to explore the village and see some Las Perlas life. As the wind had risen and it was coming from the North – we thought we would try and fly the Blue Baron. This was a new sail which I had bought and which had been sent to Panama and we had yet to fly. It is a newer design than the Red Baron and is made in heavier fabric and has what is called an easy snuffer. This means that the sail is essentially in a fabric sock with a carbon fibre bottom of a hat through which the sail passes. The snuffer is attached to its own loop of a rope which you pull on and this raises the snuffer and as it goes up the sail comes out and it flies in the wind. When you want to bring it down you release the sheets and take the wind out of the sail – i.e.. depower it and pull down the snuffer and the sail disappears into the sock again.  At least that is the theory.

We therefore prepared ourselves and the sail and we raised it having raised the anchor and held ourselves in position. We then tried to fly the sail by pulling up the snuffer and it up but unfortunately one of the tack lines (lines which hold the sail down to the boat) came off and therefore it could not fly properly.  We therefore needed to snuff it again but this was not easy and with three guys on deck it was a bit of a struggle and poor Mark fell over and burnt his hands on the rope. We did get it down and then laid the sail on deck and tied it on. We had to tend to Mark’s fingers on his right hand and will return to the sail again when the conditions are right. The issue was that we needed the lines loose but so they could not come off the boat.

We out turbogrip on Mark’s fingers and then put up the Genoa on its own and headed over to Isla Pedro Gonzales. It was a pleasant sail on a sort of beam/broad reach which became a close reach as we got closer and were making between 5 and 6.5 kts. There was more flotsam and jetsam and you had to watch out for tree trunks and logs. We approached the island which had a number of small fishing boats coming from it and as we approached the bay to anchor, we saw a large breakwater which seemed to have a small marina behind it. It was not in our pilot books and we had no idea how big it was and how deep it was. We could see the village Pedro Gonzales which has about 500 people living in it and anchored behind a small island in about 3.5-4.0m of water and it was dead low water with the tide rising about 4m to the next high tide. One we were settled we all went for a cooling swim. It was refreshing and the water was clearer although not completely clear. We could this time see the bottom this time.

We had lunch and after lunch were entertained to a fishing demonstration by the Pelicans and today’s photo is of a Pelican diving into the water to catch a fish. They were flying around us and there were many about and also frigate birds. At about 3.00pm  we decided to go ashore and visit the village. We all got into the dinghy and by this time there was a bit of a swell and as we approached the beach there were some waves. We came in as best we could and Angus got off to steady us but missed his footing and fell in. We all had to get out, but the waves were coming from the back and coming into the boat. We managed to get out some drier than others and carried the boat up the beach and pulled out the plug in the bottom to let some water out. We tied it to a tree trunk.

We were on a beach leading to a walkway to the village but there were concrete huts on the beach and people eating outside. There was quite a lot of rubbish around and they had obviously been burning something at the back of the beach. The beach had a number of small boats with anchors in the water and lines from their stern ashore.  As we walked to the village along stepping over these lines, we could see what must have been Pelican imprints on the beach.

The village itself was a reasonable size and although they had concrete painted houses it was fairly primitive and a bit dirty. There was quite a lot of rubbish around and a lot of stray dogs and chickens although they were tied to bits of breeze block, I assume so they did not run away. There was a house which had a hatch and looked like a bar, so we had a beer and/or soft drink. Next to us was a man cutting a boy’s hair. I was dying for a haircut but as I watched the barber operate and the use of the clippers on this boy, I thought no. He was basically giving him a number one – i.e. a really short cut. A good escape I thought.

We wondered around the village which was still pretty dirty and rubbish strewn but we did come across what looked like a party or a wedding. We met a man called Alfred who spoke good English and who explained that there was to be a wedding of 5 couples tonight in one ceremony. We asked to see if we could buy some pineapples and coconuts but as it was good Friday and they were quite religious this was not possible.

We carried on round the village and most people seemed to be eating rice and chicken out of plastic food cartons – which may explain the rubbish. It was a nice location, but they did not seem to have much pride in their environment. We returned to the beach and the waves had got bigger and he wind stronger. This time we put the bows (front) to the waves and some got in. Mark stripped to his underpants and he Keith and I steadied the boat with water up to our chest and somehow, we got in and I got the engine going and off we went. This did not stop water coming over the front. We slowly came back to Stormbird and clambered on and we had to take quite a few wet clothes off.

Charlie and I cooked a chicken and vegetable curry and rice for supper which went down well. As I write this, we are rolling around a bit in the swell and the winds are force 5/6 and we are being buffeted about a bit. We will go to a more sheltered anchorage tomorrow. We have checked the anchor and we are well set. It had been an interesting and different day and a good Friday.

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