San Blas Islands 5 March 2024.
The night before I had sat on the aft deck and watched the stars, which were very clear and there was a gentle breeze. The rest had gone to bed so it was nice to have a bit of me time and I could hear fish around me in the water every now and then. The green florescence had stopped which was a shame, but it was peaceful sitting in a chair looking toward the light of boats anchored in front of us. Annoyingly my shower pump had stopped working again and I thought I must fix it in the morning and could not figure out what was wrong.
I slept to start with but woke in the early hours and drifted off again dreaming of b shower pumps! When I woke I started to try and fix it and to cut a long story short because it is a bit boring I did manage to fix it some 3 hours later and after getting into quite a mess. I mention this as sailing round the world incudes quite a bit of maintenance and fixing things as well as seeing new places and enjoying oneself. It also means you get to know your boat and learn from these somewhat annoying chores. However I could not face the option of having no shower!!. Carolyn kindly cooked some scrambled eggs which went down well with I and David who had kindly helped me.
It was a lovely hot day but having fixed the pump and had breakfast I could then shave and have a good shower and clean the bathroom. Once finished it was very hot so we chilled out and I did some research on New Zealand and contacted some marinas. Whilst this is at the end of the year you have to plan and book well in advance. Others read, did washing and rested and then we decided to have a light lunch.
After lunch we decided to head off and explore more and we went to the reef side of the Island where we could see the full reef in front of us with breaking waves about 100 yards off. We anchored in one spot which we thought may be good to snorkel but it turned out to be weed and sand so we upped anchor and headed closer to the reef where we could see the reef exposing itself out of the water. Carolyn decided to paddle board and Joyce, David and I snorkelled going towards the reef. There was a small area which was shallow but had lots of coral and sponges and the most diverse and plentiful fish group I have seen so far. There were a diverse range of colours- yellow, white, silver, black, purple, red, blue and an array in between. The thing was that there was quite a current and you had to be careful not to swim into the coral or coral stacks. We returned to the dinghy and decided to motor to the most Northern and smallest of the Islands of this group. We could see it had a number of Guna huts on it. We pulled the dinghy up and went to explore. The Island had lots of palm trees on it and was surrounded by sand and there were lots of collections of conch shells on its shore. There was a whale bone structure which had been made a decorative feature and it must have been quite a size and perished nearby. There were a few Guna huts and elderly man and two young men greeted us (I assumed father and sons) and were friendly. David and Joyce had a coconut each and Carolyn and I a beer. We were able to look toward the Island with the restaurant where we had supper last night. You are not going to believe this but whilst there it started to rain -something we have not seen for some time!. It did not last long but it was due to the passing of a large back cloud.
We spent a pleasant hour there and then headed back round the Islands to where Stormbird was anchored. We decide to divert to Ibin’s Island to see whether any fruit or fresh vegetables had arrived but they had not. They said tomorrow but they have been saying that for two days!!.
We returned, showered (yes my pump did work) and dressed. We had a sundowner as the sun went down and a butternut squash and chicken curry with rice which was good. We discussed whether to move on and decided to see how the weather was on the morning. I have prepared a loaf of bread and will bake it before bed. As I write this it is pitch black except for the stars, the lights of the boats at anchor and all I can hear is the roar of the waves on the reef and the lapping of the water around the dinghy adjacent to the hull. It had been another busy day where you wonder where the time has gone. However it does not really matter as we do not need to be back in Panama for a number of days. The green florescence has appeared again to keep us company.
Good night all.
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 Tuomoto’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