We were beginning to believe we would be stuck in Panama City forever but today we finally set sail for Las Perlas, a series of islands lying about 30 miles south east. We plan to spend a few days exploring this area before heading off to the Galapagos.
The winches eventually arrived by courier on Wednesday night. After such a long wait for them, we were devastated to find they needed modification and servicing. Nic and I took the parts off to a turners shop braving a rather unsavoury area of the city where armed police and military were out in force. The turners did an incredible job while we waited and by the end of the day Spiip once again had her full complement of working winches.
With a series of things breaking down or needing repair and attention (watermaker, generator, steering cables, etc) I was beginning to feel we were back on Irony! It doesn’t seem to matter how expensive the boat is, the problems are the same. Fortunately all parts required arrived by Saturday evening so we refuelled and were able move on this morning. On our way to Isla Contadora the mainsail was re-attached and we sailed for the first time in about a month. It was a fantastic feeling to be doing 11 knots and see Spiip fully back in action. We even managed to catch 2 fish on the journey - first an albacore tuna and then a beautiful mahi mahi which was a real treat for dinner tonight. It was sad to kill such a magnificent fish which was a vibrant green as it came out of the water, paled to silver as it died and then blushed back to a jewel-like blue.
