We made the passage from Cabo Pasado in Ecuador to the south end of Isla del Rey in the Perlas Islands of Panama in five days. The first two days were wonderful sailing with westerly winds of 12-15 knots and since we were heading almost due north it made for a wonderful reach. Then the wind failed us, probably as we entered the ITCZ. We motored most of the third day although the winds did pick up for a few hours of sailing several times during the day. The next day, Monday, we had no wind at all but come evening we encountered many squalls some with winds above 35 and LOTS of rain. Lanikai finally got her much needed bath! Mud flew out of all the lines and down the stays and finally washed off the deck with the many downpours that we passed thru. Tuesday, our last day out, was mostly calm but the seas were lumpy from the night’s storms so going was slow. Tuesday night we encountered a few more squalls but nothing like the night before. We dropped the hook Wednesday morning off Rio Cacique at the south end of Isla del Rey.
On Wednesday afternoon the Immigration Officials arrived – rather late – but we did get all the paperwork done for our 3PM departure time. We followed Passages out of the bay as they had the pilot on board, but it did us little good as we touched bottom after rounding the first point! Bill managed to get us back into the channel and we continued out. Carlos the pilot came back to us in the panga and guided us thru the last turn out toward the deeper water. It was very slow going as we then had the wind right on our nose and it was up to 20 knots over the boat. Soon after the water started to deepen out Lanikai’s engine quit! We made quick work of getting two sails up and tacked the rest of the way out of the bay. five hours later we dropped the hook, under sail as we could not get the engine going again, behind Cabo Pasado in the dark. Bill spend the next morning replacing the fuel pump, cleaning out clogged fuel lines and changing the engine oil. He also dove on the bottom to see if we did any damage to the rudder when we bounced off the sand bar the day before. All was well.
Friday morning we finally got underway toward Panama and soon had enough wind to sail.
Our last port on the Cruise was in Bonaire.
We spent most of our time ashore under the water enjoying the spectacularly clear Caribbean water. We took a launch over to Island Klein Bonaire, a small island just offshore of the city. The whole island is a National Park and its white sand beaches fall off steeply underwater. Where they fall off the underwater life is spectacular for snorkeling.
Bill had a great time with his underwater camera, taking photos of the colorful sea life.
We were in the water for over 2 hours, so upon returning to the ship we ate lunch and relaxed the rest of the afternoon.
Aruba was the next stop on our cruise. It is another Dutch settlement and the wharf is protected by a shallow reef of sandbar and small islands.
There was a small area of anchored boats near where the ship docked and this photo also shows part of the offshore reef.
Bill and I signed up for a “sail, snorkel, and swing” activity. We were transported by a well decorated bus to the dock where the schooner awaited us just offshore. We were transported out to the schooner on a small barge along with a group of about 20 people. The schooner upped anchor and we sailed off to the first snorkel spot.
The first snorkel spot was above a World War 2 German wreck. Bill took his first underwater photos there after having spent some time with the camera instructions ahead of time.
The second snorkel spot was over a sandy area that contained many rounded rocks. On the rocks grew several types of sea live.
After snorkeling we had a nice sail back, complete with drinks from an open bar onboard. We made one more stop for the “swing” part of the adventure. They had a halyard fixed with a handle and the passengers took turns swinging out over the water and dropping off. I gave it a shot and discovered that it takes quite strong arms to hang on for a long swing.
We returned to the ship via another highly decorated bus and showered before going to the restaurant for a late lunch.
We arrived off Willemstad, Curaçao in the late morning. There was another cruise ship docked at an outer dock but we passed thru into the inner harbor past the open floating bridge.
As we approached the city the pilot boat came out to drop off the pilot to guide us in. As the pilot boat approached we could see how rough the seas really were. The trade winds blow pretty steady from the east all year but in the winter they are much stronger.
Santa Marta was a coal exporting port and Willemstad appeared to be exporting oil. There were lots of stacks around and many had occasional flames out the top.
Willemstad is a Dutch city and the buildings and waterways reminded of our visit to the Netherlands several years ago. It has a very different look and feel than the rest of Latin America with its Spanish influence.
The old fort is just inside the harbor entrance. The buildings now seem to be used as government offices.
Even the church shows no Spanish influence even though it is constructed of concrete. The decoration and shape is Dutch.
One of the interesting sites in the city is the floating market. Small boats arrive each day with fresh produce and tie up to the wall to sell their products.
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