Coiba Park

Isla Rancheria - Coiba

Am I ever glad we took a side trip here. We almost gave it a miss because of the expensive park fees involved at Coiba. We anchored away from the ranger station to avoid the 160 dollar park fees.
The islets have an amazing amount of wildlife and the waters are clear. Turtles visited us at anchor with curious glances. The islands have be designated as a Smithsonian Institute" research area and it’s not hard to tell why.
Coiba is the main island with the best anchorage’s and the charter boats anchor there.
It was once a penal community where prisoners roamed the island.
It was the island it self that was guarded.
The Prisoners were moved in the late 80’s and it is reported that 5 escaped the transfer. There was a murder of a cruiser in 1989 apparently by one of the escaped convicts. Cruisers were told to avoid Coiba up until recently where it is now deemed to be "safe".
We explored the reefs just off of Ranchierita and were amazed to find hundreds of colorful fish, coral and a couple of reef sharks.
We dingyed over to the park ranger side and explored the white sand beaches where I came across a turtle nesting area. The ground caved in around me as I mistakenly walked over the sand tunnels. I was thankful nesting season was over.
We left the Island for Bahia Honda to meet up with Denis and Linda on Rapture.
On our way our main sail jammed in the mast. Apparently, folded inside we could not free it properly to sail. There seems to be no rest for us on this trip.
The rudder is getting worse and now the main. I’ve had enough and I can’t see myself cruising for much longer. I am glad to be heading home.
I hope Dockwise works for us.

Bahia Honda Isla Gomez
We are going backwards now we motored all day and returned to a familiar anchorage and first favorite stop The crickets were louder than I remembered and a couple landed on our gib sail. I was worried that they would find there way inside the roller furler and make it a home and we would be tormented by their noise for until they freeze to death back in BC.
We left somewhere around 5 am to make a straight shot to Gulfito. It is dark and there are 2 thunderstorms ahead on each side of us.
We hope that they dissipate before sunrise- The last thing we need on this trip is to get struck by lightening -AGAIN!
We are blessed as they pass over and get higher as the sun rises. A sigh of relief and peace as we make a wide open transit to the gulf. The ocean is deep here and last time we crossed we saw whales.
We put out the rods and caught a lot of jack fish. We were catching them at a pretty steady rate up until a park ranger hailed us down from Coiba. They informed us that fishing is not allowed in the area because it was a park. Damn, no wonder the fishing was so good. Josee hooked something big which snapped the line. Actually, this happened twice today. Apparently our angling inexperience is the problem.