Bahia Honda

This place is really special. The locals paddle out to offer fresh produce to trade for batteries, clothes, and candy.\
These kids found out about the girls and visited us dressed up in their finest. (check out the helmsman) We took some pictures and printed them off for them. They were over the moon seeing themselves in print.

Bahia Honda

Bahia Honda
What a magical place, so lush, and calm at least until our last night.
Genevieve cut her finger pretty badly just as we were preparing to go to a pot luck supper raft up. I was in the shower, Michel and Josee were pulling up
the anchor. Chantal let out an remarkable scream louder than any howler monkey. Michel piped up with "Lynda" I need your help out here….don’t panic get the First Aid kit.
I scramble for the first aid kit and Genevieve is standing on the transom with blood gushing out of her paper towel covered finger…apparently, she did not want to mess up the boat. It’s a horrible feeling being in the middle of nowhere having to perform first aid on your kid. I had steristip sutures but the cut was so severely serrated and deep I couldn’t close the skin, the strips were useless. To complicate matters Genevieve was not all too cooperative in having me examine the wound. Thankfully Denis helped out- he is a chiropractor but had some surgical experience as well. He had a kick ass first aid kit with stuff that I never even knew existed. She got great care and a real head start at beating off infection. We made it to our pot luck just before after dark and met up with some new cruisers ( ) really nice down to earth folk who have lucked into a cruising position I never dreamed possible. For the last 10 years they have been on Salary to crew on 45 foot cat. The family uses the cat about 8 times a year for a week or so, then the cat is their home free for them to use.
They were a really great source of local information and we are grateful for their help in charting an exit for Genevieve.
We really had a nice dinner chatting with 3 other cruising couples ( we are the only ones not retired, having a schedule of some sorts, confided by the return to work program.)
I was a little envious that they had so much time and no schedule- however, having said this I am not sure that I could sell up and sail for endless years either. "Sea Whisper" had just returned from 4 year sailing adventure all the way to the Med and back.
I enjoyed their photos and really got excited about cruising Croatia, and Turkey.
The following morning we removed Genevieve’s bandage and were disheartened to find that she needed to go to the hospital as the bleeding had not stopped.
The hospital was 12 hour sail up a river however, as luck would have it the tides were cooperating. Against …….advise we shaved 10 miles off our journey by transiting the shoal areas in the entrance of the river on the lee side of and Island.
We were sailing and making great time as the current was with us. All hell broke loose as we approached the sand bar we needed to take the sails in to have better control of the boat. The gib jammed and we had a hell of a time trying to free it. It’s one of those scenarios that the "salty" old time sailors say they never trust those new fanged furling rigs. Michel was freaking out and we all tried our best to get that damn sail in. We unfurled it completely with the option of ripping it out of the loose fitting track for the luff tape. It’s a rather noisy adventure and I was beginning to wonder why we have such bad luck.
Michel solved the problem by loosening the halyard to take pressure off the top furler. It freed and we were able to furl up the sail completely.
(Later investigation showed that the bearings needed attention.

Puffer feast

These hermit crabs were really chowing down on this unfortunate puffer.
The crabs also liked pineapple tops that washed ashore.

Josee beats the heat

Josee found a great place to do homework during the heat of the day.

Scuba

The diving is better in Panama we saw some sharks today!

Coconuts

It is easy to see how plentiful the coconuts are along the shore lines.
Piles of them wash up at the beach and seem to grow without too much care.

Isla Seca

Everyone departed in the morning for Isla Seca except Nepanthe who decided to look for outboards in David. We put in our order a 15 hp Yamaha 4 or 2 stroke just get us an engine. Its frustrating and dangerous to have such a temperamental outboard. Wake boarding is out of the question until a new outboard arrives. We motored again for most of the day. Panama offers a unique landscape of low lying islands and pinnacles poking out of the ocean.
The Isla Seca group was even more beautiful than the last anchorage, however the holding a bit tough. The ocean floor was riddled with coral rock and sand that dropped dramatically down a shelf. We had to set anchor 4 times to get it right.
The last time was a bit suspect as we anchored in 40 feet of water and had to put out a lot of chain to give enough scope to grab. The problem being is that less than 50 feet back the water shoaled to less than 12 feet. We could of used a stern anchor but did not have one small enough.
The moon was full and low tide was at 9 pm so we watched and waited. The wind had us in the right direction for the time being. The winds here blow offshore at night and onshore during the morning. When we woke up we had less than a couple inches below the keel and had to pull up some chain to get us in deeper water.
The anchorage was tranquil and we all had our little spots for have some quiet time. We caught a couple of jack fish and barbecued them up for a really unique supper. The flesh is dark like stake but the taste is similar to tuna with a tougher texture. I thought kind of tasted like steak.
We enjoyed the afternoon snorkeling really an amazing place, the best so far. We were happy to see all sorts of angel fish, trigger fish, parrot fish and a sea snake. Josee is like a fish, free diving to depths to play with the puffer fish. We had fun spotting a yellow puffer fish. For some unknown reason some puffer fish go through a stage where they turn lemon yellow. This anchorage is home to a resort with several yurts perched up on the hill side. I was told it is abandoned or not running as the owners were killed in a car crash. A plane did land on a small airstrip on the Island earlier in the day. We did not see any lights or activity at the resort so I am gathering this was a caretaker of the resort who landed as there are no other homes on the Island. We loved exploring the beaches which were loaded with hermit crabs. We held hermit crab races and collected a lot of pretty shells on the beach.
I was feeling sick from some sort of illness that make me feel achy and fevery with nausea and chills. Apparently, Denis from Rapture was really sick that night too. His wife was suspecting malaria or dengue fever.
I don’t know if we are in Malarial areas yet. Gulfito certainly had potential. I am suspecting we caught the flu at the pot luck we had the night before aboard At Last..
We left the anchorage as winds were coming and we were not to happy about the holding here. As we left we said good bye to Mike who was knee deep in water cleaning the hull of his cat- apparently these type of anchorage’s are a cats meow.! He went aground and was using this set back well.
We left the Seca’s for Bahia Honda our Chart program "noble tecK" somehow missed the section we are transiting so we had to photo copy a drawing out of Mikes cruising guide to Panama. We should be fine as the weather is clear and winds are mild. As we approached Honda we could see a large black squall and a lot of smoke. A faint odor of burning wood passed through the air. I was wondering if there was a forest fire nearby. The smoke passed with the squall and we only got a little wet. As we approached the bay we were amazed at how the land transformed into lush green waterways that compare to the waters at home. Josee said the area reminded her of Bamfield. The lush rainforest covered islands are loaded with howler monkeys that really made a lot of racket when the rain hit. They also kicked up a fuss at sunset and 3 am.
I love this bay, we met up with some Canadians aboard SEA Whisper a Fraser 50 from Ladysmith of all Places. ( Lionel & Laurie)
We h ad a wonderful dinner of sushi from the tuna we caught earlier in the day. and treated Linda to a wonderful dinner complete with carrot cake.
Mike is still deathly ill and it was Linda’s first time having to do everything on the boat by herself. I should try this just to practice.