Adios Costa Rica, Hello Panama!
Don’t get me wrong, Golfito was lovely; the view was stupendous, the food was good, and the friendly neighborhood turtle that we fed bananas to was quite entertaining, but I was thrilled to be heading on. Panama! “We’re going to the Canal baby!” has been the catch phrase since we pulled away from our last Costa Rican port. The cruising has smooth, thanks to a lack of wind, but not without its moments. Almost right off the dock we were confronted by a veritable mine field of fishing net buoys, which we discovered shortly after were really just a floating pile of garbage, but our evasive maneuvers were inspiring none the less. As we entered new waters things began changing. We entered a new country, and along with it came a new time zone and a new flag, but the same old fish. Mackerel for everyone! It seemed as if there weren’t any other fish out there, that is, until the schools of flying fish began taking off. If there is a fish to be jealous of it’s certainly the flying ones. Talk about the best of both worlds.
Mainland faded away as we headed for Isla Parida, our first stop in Panamanian waters, and then mainland faded back in. Panama has a dynamic coastline we’ve discovered. We passed the time cleaning, and subsequently oiling the pilot house, giving meaning to the term, “ship shape”. As we neared our anchorage islands began popping up all over the place and we admired each in turn. They’re quite impressive, appearing as if they haven’t been touched in thousands of years. Weaving to and fro amongst the rocks and bays we dropped anchor in what seemed a pleasant spot, only to pick up and move around the corner twenty minutes later due to a cross swell. Why sit in the rollers if we have options? We settled in for the night with a bit of fishing, Dan caught a little white fish of unknown title, a fantastic dinner, some meat that could be the distant, Mexican cousin of ribs, a bit of star gazing, and several games of Uno. With yawns all around we headed for bed although it was, at best, an optimistic attempt. Roll, turn, toss, and tumble any way you please, you can’t escape the heat. I heard it was most bearable on deck, shame I tried to stick it out in my birth all night.
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