Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Just stopped by San Miguel the largest town in Las Perlas. Interesting experience. Staying for lunch then moving on.

In the morning we prepped the boat then motored round to the channel between Isla Chapera and Isla Mogo Mogo. There was little wind so there was no point raising the sails. On the way over I noticed that we were drifting off course. We’d done the same on the way over to Isla Contadora. It dawned me there is a downside to having the chart plotter fully connected to the other instruments. For our first year they were disconnected. This meant that the chart plotter derived the boat heading from the course over the ground, ie. the changes in position over time. This meant that regardless of the effects of wind/current, if you lined up the course projection on the chart plotter with wherever you wanted to go, that’s the way you were going (assuming the charts were correct). Now the chart plotter obtains its heading information from the autopilot’s digital compass. This is great when raising the anchor as I can more easily point the boat towards where we dropped the anchor. However, when on the move, the course projection is based on the digital compass. Current and wind will cause the actual course to deviate from this. Normally the effect is so slight it doesn’t matter. But round here with the strong currents arising from the tides is does make a difference. Now we’ll have to learn to compensate. At least I now know what was causing our drift from desired course.

Contadora, where we’d just left, was getting busy as it was the weekend and folks were heading over from Panama City by plane and boat. We hoped this new location would be free of the crowds. There were a couple of sport fishing boats anchored here but we found a secluded spot.

Shortly after arriving Helen and I went for a snorkel to the shore. I went in first and swam for a little reporting to Helen that I was not being stung by the jellies. Due to the current we’d planned our trip to land at the down current end of the beach, walk up it then swum back down current to the boat. Once away from the boat the situation with the jellies changed and we were both stung. I am learning there different types of sting. There are those that sting and go away and there are those that itch for days leaving great welts on the sing. I’m collecting a few of those.

I’d taken my spear gun in the hope of finding lobsters but there were none to be found. I shot a fish to bring back to the boat. Helen had left for the boat a little earlier. As I was swimming back to the boat, being stung of course, I was watching the rays on the sea floor and fish swimming around me when all of a sudden I was nearly knocked on the head by a speeding boat. When I raised my head I was almost in the center of the wake, it must have been really close. I don’t think they even saw me. The boat wasn’t even heading to the beach we were close to so it was fairly reckless to be motoring so fast between the shore and an anchored vessel.

Back on Dignity I put the speared fish into a net cage we have to see if it would attract any other fish. What did attract were the rays. I was concerned about the cage at first but it seemed the rays were somehow sucking the flesh of the fish through the netting so we left it in the water. At one point we saw five rays around the cage and a large eel. Later we discovered something had chewed a hole in the net – something else to repair soon.

By now the anchored was full of sport fishers – our hope for isolation were dashed.

After lunch we dinghied over to Mogo Mogo to walk the beaches there. We had the place to ourselves. A narrow isthmus had back to back beaches which we were able to roam. Sadly the ever present plastic trash littered the waterline.

That was about it. I spent a little time working on the airlock that forms in the A/C in our cabin. Not exactly a priority job as we never use it but it’s a puzzle I want to solve. We finished the day with a curry. Helen and John had cooked up sevaral pots of chili during the day which really spiced things up. Today we’ll move on. We have a few possibilities in mind. We’ll probably make our minds up on arrival.

After all this time since transiting, yesterday marked our first swim in the Pacific.

The day started with a bit of boat work. I raised a shelf in our outside lockers so we could put the spare gasoline cans in there. We used to have them in a bow locker but fumes used to make their way into the boat from time to time.

After this we headed ashore. We knew it was just past high tide so we left the dinghy on the beach close to the water and headed off for a walk around the island. We walked over to the north side and headed over towards the airport. Near there we found a few shops and some fancy hotels near the beach. We walked the beach for a while before heading back. By now our dinghy was far from the surf but it was an easy affair to drag it into the water.

Back on the boat I completed the job of wiring up the chart plotter to our Omega TV Link hiding the new video cable out of the way. Then came lunch, a snooze and then John and I were off snorkeling.

What is immediately apparent is the difference in fish. For the last year we’ve become used to the denizens of the Caribbean. While there is much variety, the same crew dominate. Now, there are quite new species to be found. Even the fish that we’ve seen before are different. The flow of salt water fish from one side of the isthmus to the other must be quite rare – perhaps via bird, or separation by land mass movement so the populations have probably had millions of years to diverge from their common ancestors. The sergeant majors are clearly different as are the parrot fish.

The only downside to the swim was the water being a little murky, being stung by jelly fish larvae and there being no lobsters to take home for dinner.

It’s funny being right here. I mentioned earlier we’re near the islands where the three Panama Survivor shows were filmed. We can see the beach where the challenges took place. That means the contestants could quite easily see where we are with all the fancy island mansions, hotels and boats. Perhaps on a clear day they would get to see Panama City 40 miles away. Hardly that remote. In a day or two we’ll head south and see the place a little closer, perhaps anchoring there for the evening.

Today I hope to rest a little as I’ve had a pain in my shoulder building up over the last couple of days. Probably a pulled muscle or something but it needs to calm down. The winds remain calm at present so we wont be moving today.