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With the exception of our sea trial and test sail from a week prior, our maiden voyage with Paraquina was a 20 mile N-Eastward beat up the coast to Portobello. What seemed like a rough day was just a typical afternoon in the trade winds down here. 20 knot winds and 6 foot swells pounded into us the entire leg but Paraquina stood strong under reefed main and jib. We stayed in Portobello for a few days and the small town of 3-4000 really introduced us to the lifestyle down here out of the big cities. With loud music and lively people everywhere it was the busiest little town that I have ever visited. Even the public buses (colourfully painted and decorated inside and out like a mix of Pimp-my-ride meets reasonably good graffiti meets Disney and comic book characters) blasted Latin-Carib dance music all day long which although fun at first can make for a long ride.
Portobello seems like other towns down here but it’s not; it has a long written history as the strongest Spanish port from the 16th to 18th centuries. There was a time when 1/3 of the world’s gold passed through the Customs House here. It’s also the place where Sir Frances Drake stole tones of Spanish gold and the where he was eventually fed to the sharks. It is said that there are 10-20 billion dollars worth of gold sunk off of the coast here in numerous wrecks from numerous battles. Nowadays there are remains from 3 separate forts protecting the bay. We visited each and were impressed by workmanship (and huge canons!).
-Portobello to Isla Linton, although only 10 miles, was another tough slog to windward with 20+ kts and 8-10 ft swells on the bow all morning. We reached the popular anchorage and took the dinghy ashore to find fuel! We filled up our outboard gas and Diesel and also set a new record for cheap cold beers: 3 for $1 at a little bar on the main (paved) road through town.
The next big sail was 50 miles to windward from Isla Grande to the San Blas Islands or Kuna Yala as the local Indians call it. We sailed on Saturday from sunrise to sunset with the wind-vane doing most of the driving. The highlight of the day was when a few dolphins found us and swam along side the boat for a minute; I managed one great photo of them.
-San Blas / Kuna Yala. We just made it hear and first impressions are stunning. This is a beautiful stretch of 100 miles containing over 350 islands. Our tentative plan is to visit many different islands groups within this archipelago over the next few weeks and then head North. We happened to arrive at the one anchorage that contains the only island within about 100 miles with internet access. They have a tv and satellite that are new this season. Although many cruisers are than less thrilled with the idea, it meant that we got to watch the Superbowl on a 100 metre long island in a straw hut.
Many more stories and photo’s to come of this place, so much to see here.
Jamie
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