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February 07, 2008
Lemmon Cays to Chicheme Cays, Islas de San Blas, Panama
With Justino finished with the stainless steel, the larder restocked with bread and bananas, and our skin pruned by the salt water snorkelling, we decided to pull up anchor and move to the Chichime Cays. This would be our jumping off point from the islands and our staging point for our sail westward along the Panamanian coast toward Colon.
The entrance was between two reefs, and the haziness in the sky was making it difficult to spot them. We found the narrow channel and drifted in slowly, found a spot to anchor and settled in for the night. The anchorage was not large, and afforded little room for swinging in the event that the winds changed like they did the night before. Our stern was sitting about 200 feet off from a little island connected to the smaller reef, and with 150 feet of anchor chain out, a gusty wind could find us in big trouble.
I had a very restless sleep, worrying endlessly about dragging, swinging and finding the reef in the middle of the night. A couple of times I awoke and poked my head up to make sure things were still good. The blinding darkness upset my senses and reviewing our situation served only to confuse, not confirm. The darkness was deeper than the inside of my eyelids.
We woke at 6 the next morning and hadn't moved a centimetre. Despite my anxious and restless sleep, I was in good spirits, singing "On the Road Again" (Willy Nelson), and "On the good ship, lolly-pop" (Judy Garland?).
Back out to the open sea for a 53 mile trip to Portobello on the coast.
Posted by dave at February 7, 2008 02:47 PM