Pitufa.at

Yesterday afternoon we left the Rio Sucio at a rising tide and the plan was to spend the night at Isla Iguana as on the way in. The conditions at the anchorage were so rough, though, so we decided to sail out the Golfo de San Miguel to reach our next destination in a nightsail. The sail started slow and tranquil under a incredibly starlit sky and a setting crescent moon. A group of dolfins approached Pitufa, their bodies shimmering like green torpedoes and each trailing a wake like fireworks due to the many flourescent tiny creatures in the sea. Simple organisms, but what a spectacular result. Further south of the gulf we saw the high silhouettes of the mighty coastal mountain range and soon after we really felt their proximity: frequent gusts came down the steep slopes and suddenly sailing was no longer as peaceful as it started in the evening. Instead of the usual nightwatch routine of scanning the horizon for ships, occasional checking the course, reading and attending to Leeloo’ wishes, we were suddenly reefing whenever gusts slammed into Pitufas side, unreefing in the calmer periods inbetween, running constantly back and forth to our wind vane to adjust the course. In the morning we were rewarded with the beauty of these high, lush mountains and we entered the Bahia Pinas to drop our anchor. The bay immediately reminded us of the bay in Sapzurro on the Caribbean side of the Darien. Just like Sapzurro reminded us of Pirate Bay in Tobago, both among our favourite places we have visited. There’s a famous game fishing lodge here, the ‘tropic star lodge’ where the rich and beautiful apparently converge to catch fish for 10,000 USD a week–well, of course we’re beautiful, but not exactly rich and we didn’t manage to catch a fish on the way here, but then we’re here for free In the afternoon two indio women came along in a canoe to sell their goods. They invited us to come over to their village, which is supposedly “muy grande” (they all are) and boasts a shop and a cantina. We’ll check it out tomorrow