Stuck in Curacao

The San Blas Islands are really lovely small cays with LOTS of reefs and very nice Kuna Indians. I arrived yesterday and am resting up in a pretty reef anchorage WO any other boats. The mountains on the Panama mainland are visible through haze and seem to grab and hold thunderclouds off in the distance. At sunrise and set the cloud formations would have you burning up the pixels, fantastic!

11.1-.2008

Winkmeister,

I left a pretty bay called Cienaga de Chalon this morning (near Cartagena) and am bound for the San Blas Islands of Panama, about a 190 mile passage. The sea is pretty quiet though there is a bit of swell from the hurricane that is somewhere around Cuba. Speaking of passages, I found a quote you may like vis navigation

"It is far better not to know where one is, and realize one does not know, than to be certain one is in a place where one is not". Lt Barral from Digressions sur la Navigation du Cape Horn, 1827.

It is possible I am sailing over a spot where Sir Francis Drake sailed in 1583+ going from Cartagena to raid Porto Bello. Or maybe it was that charming Henry Morgan heading to raid the same and do the hike to take Panama City in the late 1600s. This is muy cool.

I will be doing around 3 weeks in the San Blas Islands plus a stop at Porto Bello before mooring up at a marina in Colon, Canal Zone. I am flying out of Panama to Seattle on 12-16. Look out Seattle, pirate on the way--aaarrg!

Love, Denny

Hi,

I am underway again and thought to bring you up to date. A back injury kept me in Curicau longer than I would have liked, but I seem to be restored.

I am on the way to Carthagena (about a 450 miler) and stopped for the night at Cabo de La Vela ater a breezy 220 mile overnighter. Most of the trip was dead downwind causing me to do a few pole gibes. I HATE those when I am single hand sailing. This is a safe but windy spot with a village somewhere over the hill. A few Indian fishermen have passed by smiling shyly. Next is the 5 bay area after a short 120 mile night and a lovely anchorage at Bahia Guayracha for a couple of days, then Cartagena. I expect to absorb some history and culture there for three weeks before dropping down to the San Blas Islands to cruise until arriving the Canal Zone just before 12-15 at Shelter Bay Marina where I have a reservation for 5 weeks.

I am expecting you will catch up with the boat about the 3rd week of January, earlier if you want, so we can get through the Canal and go sailing. Should you be hot to go, waste some dough on a ticket to Cartagena and do the San Blas Islands with me.

Denny

Capt. Koo,

I have been stuck on Curicau since Sept. 11. It is a nice place to be stuck and Spanish Waters a bulletproof anchorage. The first 10 days or so there were a lot of spectacular dives and I was ready to leave for Cartagena, Columbia. Then I managed to hurt my back badly enough that single handed sailing for 450 miles looked to be a bad idea. Next I got to know a chiropractor pretty well through 6 visits over a couple of weeks. So now I seem to be perfect, or close to it. I was ready 6 days ago to
leave.

We started to get reports of some big thunderstorms moving this way from the east and while waiting for those to pass (really just a bunch of rain) we learned of a tropical low forming down by Panama that might be a little spooky. Next it got a number, then a name "omar" and it was causing light westerly winds to blow the wrong way, while Omar moved east toward us, then northeast. When he passed within 92 miles of Jubilant he became a category one hurricane. We had two exciting days and nights. I don´t think the wind strength in the anchorage much exceeded 50 on gusts, but things got pretty spooky non the less. There was little sleep for two nights, mostly because the anchorage is pretty crowded; maybe 25 boats upwind of me. Luckily none of those broke loose to become intimate with Jubilant. Yesterday and last night I slept. Today checked out to sail tomorrow--finally.

Somehow, during all that I couldn´t get in the mood to write a web site update. Sorry to be delinquent. The pictures are ready and the works will get mailed from Cartagena. It should be a very nifty historic city. It was the headquarters of the "Spanish Main" starting in the early 1500s, a rapid growth period. It was a fortified city of around 10,000 when raided by Sir Francis Drake in 1530. All that history and Columbian ladies. Oh boy!

Love, Denny