4/19/2010 MONDAY SHELTER BAY MARINA TO ISLA ESCUDO DE VERAGUAS

”Rise and shine, boys. Were outta here!” We pulled out of Shelter Bay Marina by 6:30 AM, received permission to enter the Canal Zone and proceed to the marked channel, and headed west (and slightly south too). Seems so bizarre to me that we could possibly be going in either of those directions!! We are really in the Caribbean now and enjoyed the azure seas and anticipated our first swim.

”Fishing off the boat” took on a whole new meaning today. “Tzing” went the line. Dan grabbed the pole and “Holy Shit! We have a Marlin” was the cry. Dan held his ground, allowing the beautiful Stripped Marlin to strip off line against the brake of the small 500 series reel. We were sorely under equipped for this battle but patience and perseverance (and a lot of sweat) paid off and we retrieved the lure from the Marlin’s mouth before biding him a fond farewell. Talk about excitement!! (Sorry Jan, that you weren’t here!)

HOLY SHIT!!!

FIGHT THAT BABY, DAN!

WHAT A BEAUTY!

Ok, now that we were stopped, it was time for our first dip on the Caribbean side. How refreshing!! No time to dally, off we go again.

The seas were extremely calm, almost eerie at times. You could almost hear the butterfly wings of the flying fish as the skimmed the surface of the sea before plunging in. At times there were dozens of them in sight.

Shortly before the end of our day’s journey, Reuben reeled in a nice Wahoo. Great news. Dinner tonight!!

We approached our anchorage at Isla Escudo de Veragus (09d05’N 81d34W) just before sunset. The waters were so clear that you could see our anchor resting 17 feet below us. We all enjoyed an evening of swimming and a fish barbeque.

Our travels have taken us 4,702 nautical miles with an average speed of 6.7 knots. As impressive as those statistics are, they don’t begin to exemplify the magnitude of our experience gained. We are truly blessed!