Pitufa.at

We spent a rolly and uncomfortable night south of Isla Viveros, so first thing in the morning we lifted the anchor to find a better spot. We had noticed a group of tiny islands just south of the anchorage mentioned in the guide book, so we motored there, searched very carefully around (it’s not a recommended anchorage and the charts are only sketchy) and anchored… Continue reading »

Yesterday we decided to do some “animation” for Roswitha (Christian’s sister) and persuaded Sue and Andy (Spruce) to take the dinghies around the island for a Picknick and some snorkeling. A simple enough plan, but in tidal waters nothing’s that simple. The beach where we decided to have our Picknick on turned quite rocky as the tide receded and we had to splash quite a… Continue reading »

This morning we sailed a few miles further south and are now anchored off Isla Casaya. It’s a pretty anchorage with little islands and islets all around us, it almost looks like a lake and the sea’s completely calm. When we arrived we were the only boat here, now our friends on Spruce have arrived as well–unfortunately we both didn’t manage to catch a fish,… Continue reading »

The Las Perlas Archipelago lies about 40 nm southeast of Panama City. These emerald green islands are fringed with golden beaches, but rocks and tidal currents make navigation a bit tricky. On the Pacific coast of Panama the tidal range is about 5 metres–we have to get used to that after spending a while in the Caribbean with hardly any tides… Most of the islands… Continue reading »

We had an initially slow then slightly rough sail from Taboga to Contadora yesterday (strong trade winds and a current between 1 and 2 knots against us), but we caught two Bonitos and had a BBQ on Spruce in the evening. We won’t stay long here in Contadora–the anchorage is full with powerboats (20-30) and jetskis race by ruthlessly. At times Pitufa pitches violently–not because… Continue reading »

After 2 months in the San Blas Islands we sailed with a decent wind to mainland Panama. After spending so much time away from civilisation (the last car we saw was in Cartagena…) we’ll have to adjust and then start organising: we have to arrange a transit through the canal, get spare parts, repair things, etc. in order to prepare for the Pacific!

Today, for the first time since we’ve arrived in Panama, we sailed again, i.e., that kind of sailing with sails hoisted and wind to fill them The trip was not very long though, but including the difficulties we had in the morning with our chain fouled at the bottom and the two anchering manoeuvres at Isla Porvenir (the first spot was too tight) it was… Continue reading »

The rain stopped, the sun is out again, and we moved to another anchorage a few miles further to the West. We didn’t like the actual anchorage here since is was filled already with 17 (!) other yachts so we simply dropped anchor south of the bigger island of the Chichime Cays. We don’t like to imagine what it’s like in high season in these… Continue reading »

The weather turned beautiful again yesterday. It’s not just back to normal, which used to mean nice, sunny mornings but then rainy and squally afternoons, no, it’s really beautiful now. It seems Hurricane Sandy sucked away all the humid air and disposed of it further north. After almost a week in Nargana we are now at the outer San Blas Islands again. We wanted to… Continue reading »