Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

On Tuesday the weather began to improve. We had a mixture of sunny and overcast skies. This was probably for the best as Annie and John are looking a little red at the moment and even Sam, who normally totally immune to sunburn, was feeling it a bit on his face.

We had a rummage through all our snorkeling gear and managed to put gear together for all of us. I didn’t think we’d have enough but we managed it. In the morning, four of us (Helen staying behind) went for a snorkel from the boat – I took my spear gun for a try out. The animal life was sparse but interesting when we found things. Nearby was a submerged log and under it was a lion fish which I’ve never seen before and a couple of crayfish – mini lobsters.

We swam around some more. I tried a shot at a small barracuda but it was too far away. I had a good shot on a couple of jacks but left the safety catch on. All part of the learning curve I guess. On the way back I shot one of the crayfish under the log. The spear hit it straight in the face and came out it’s tail travelling all the way through. I brought my prize back to the boat and boiled it up. I shared it around which meant everyone got a tiny sliver as it was not a large beastie.

After lunch and a rest we took off in the dinghy to a little island with a single palm to try the snorkeling there. John took his new underwater camera and managed some decent shots. The sea life was a lot more abundant there. I even saw a nurse shark – my first of our entire trip. Sadly noone else saw it. I practiced some more with my spear gun. I managed to wing three fish with one staying on the spear for a while. All three got away albeit with chunks missing. I’m learning you need to shoot at very close range, which is difficult enough, but I also think only the larger fish will have enough flesh to stay on. The real reason for getting the spear gun is to catch lobster. Not seen any of those yet but hopefully we will soon.

Back on the boat it was curry night. Sam and John had been looking forward to this and Annie was keen to try. Just before we sat down we heard from Whiskers on the radio letting us know where we are. Chances are we’ll rendezvous for Christmas as they’re in a very nice part of the San Blas.

After dinner Sam, Annie and I went out in the dinghy to explore the nearby reef in the dark. I’d heard that the crayfish come out at night and can be plucked off the reef by hand. It turned out to be too choppy to see much and the dinghy was impossible to handle without the motor running. Without it, the wind and current was pushing us onto the reef which was not good. For a while Annie was leaning over the bow of the dinghy using her facemask to peer into the water. The next thing Sam and I saw were her legs pointing straight up as she disappeared under the dinghy. I stopped and pulled the motor out of the water to prevent a nasty accident and Annie popped up the side. She’d fallen in. Fortunately she only got a slight scratch from the coral. All fun but it was time to go back in.

The evening movie was the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Helen soon had to crash and I followed not long after. We’ll find out later if anyone made it to the end.

Today we’ll definitely move on. Chances are it will be to eastern Holandes Cays. It is a popular spot but apparently for good reason. I have the GPS coordinates (from Louis/Sympatica) of a coral ‘tunnel’ which is supposed to be a lot of fun to explore. Perhaps we’ll be doing that later today.

After surviving drives through snow, passports left at home, skin of the teeth catching trains, chaotic checkins, delayed flights, delayed take-offs, starvation menus, lost luggage, luggage found on wrong carousel, taxi with punctured tire and a taxi driver without a jack the kids finally made it to the boat. Given all of the above I guess it was not too bad that they were only about 4 hours late. They arrived in the dark so they haven’t really seen where we are. We did go ashore and take a walk to the same restaurant we went to a couple of nights earlier. Back on the boat we stayed up a little before retiring.

Today we’re off to the San Blas. The winds are light but still from the north west which will help us get there even though it’s likely we’ll have to motor all the way there.

We have heard from Sam’s girlfriend’s mum that they all boarded the plane safely and that the pilot was preparing to take off. We also also, via my parents, that the plane is flying but nearly two hours late. If you knew my families history on travel this is a relief.

We spent our last full day doing odds and sods around the boat. We didn’t go ashore to Isla Grande but we did pop over to La Guarya to gas up the dinghy and one last bag of ice. Helen spent part of the morning doing some more cleaning. Being below in the gentle swell made her queasy so we ended up moving the boat a couple of hundred feet nearer to shore where the swell was more gentle. I did a few bits and pieces including cleaning the water maker strainer. It looked like a small urchin had been in there as the inside of the strainer was full of little spines.

We learned that there was snow in New Jersey and that flights may be delayed. I called the agent to make sure the taxi driver knew to check flight times rather than hang around if the kids flight is delayed. On the call I learned our sail material for the Code Zero is already in the country. Next week the agent will drop it off at the sail maker. With a bit of luck we’ll collect the repaired sail one end of our canal transit or the other.

The rest of the day we read.

That’s about it. Fingers crossed the kids will arrive on time and can spend a few hours on the island. I’m keen on moving on to the San Blas tomorrow. The beaches and sea will be much better than here so I don’t want to linger. If, somehow, we get bored of the San Blas we can stop by here on the way back to Colon in January.