Pitufa.at

After a night of fast sailing with Pitufa storming down the waves and having a good time (if she could sing she’d sing the Ride of the Valkyries at those times), the wind has slowed down and the current left us stumbling along with merely 4 knots. Hopefully we’ll pick up both wind and current again. We don’t have luck with our fishing: three lures lost, no fish caught.+++++++++++++++ Nach einer Nacht schnellen Segelns in der Pitufa in Hochstimmung die Wellen hinunterstuermte (wenn sie singen koennte, wuerde sie in solchen Momenten den Ritt der Walkueren anstimmen) ist jetzt weniger Wind und die Stroemung hat uns auch verlassen. Wir torkeln mit nur mehr 4 Knoten dahin und hoffen, dass wir bald wieder Wind und Stroemung finden. Mit der Angelei haben wir kein Glueck: drei Koeder sind schon weg, aber wir haben noch keinen Fisch gefangen.

We still have a steady northerly wind between 15 and 20 knots, just the sort of stiff breeze our overloaded Smurfette needs. Yesterday noon we were able to go on a downwind course and put out the twin headsails, that’s our favourite kind of sailing. No main up, just the two genoas on poles–one to the left and one two the right Pitufa looks like an angel gliding along. We make about 6 knots through the water this way, but the current adds another 2 to 3 which makes for a speed over ground of 8 to 9 knots–faster than we’ve ever been. The waves are quite high, but the boat’s movements are so steady and calm that Leeloo came out to have a sunbath on deck last evening, holding her belly into the warming sun…++++++++++++++++ Wir haben immer noch stetigen Nordwind zwischen 15 und 20 Knoten, genau die steife Brise, die unsere ueberladene Schlumpfine braucht. Gestern Mittag konnten wir auf einen Vorwindkurs gehen und die Zwillingsvorsegel herauslassen, das ist unsere Lieblingsart zu segeln. Kein Grosssegel, nur die zwei Genuas auf zwei Baeumen – einer links und einer rechts, dann gleitet Pitufa dahin wie ein Engelchen. Wir sind 6 Knoten schnell, aber die Stroemung legt noch 2 bis 3 Knoten drauf und das ergibt ein Tempo ueber Grund von 8 bis 9 Knoten – schneller als je zuvor. Die Wellen sind relativ hoch, aber die Bootsbewegungen sind so stetig und ruhig, dass Leeloo gestern Abend sogar auf Deck ein Sonnenbad genommen hat, ihr Baeuchlein in die waermenden Sonne gestreckt…

Steady winds and a friendly current are carrying us swiftly southwards.++++++++++ Stetige Winde und eine freundliche Stroemung tragen uns geschwind suedwaerts.

Yesterday we got the boat into passage-mode–that takes a whole day. We have to take down the mobile solar panel, tidy the deck, declatter all cupboards, tidy up the forecabin, tie down all bits that could go flying through the boat in heavy weather. We decided on rigging the second genoa (in case of downwind), putting the inner foresail on deck (in case of strong winds) and getting the gennacker ready (in case of light winds)–on the way to the Galapagos islands we can encounter all kinds of conditions. In the afternoon we took the dinghy ashore in the hope of trading some veggies with indios, but the hut we had seen from afar was empty and even though the fertile valley with a freshwater stream is a big garden (bananas, platanos, sugarcane, etc.) we couldn’t find a village. While preparing dinner Bertie the Bertschi Kerosene Cooker suddenly went out. Ok, nothing new, in that case we have to let the pressure off the kerosene tank, get funnel and jerry can, refill the tank, p ump 180 times to get the pressure up again, preheat with alcohol and then light the oven, but: nothing. We ate our almost-cooked dinner and instead of setting up this morning, we had to dissamble the cooker to check all kerosene lines. After two hours we found the blockage, removed it with a fine brush (still from our aquarium equipment) and an airpump and voila: Bertie’s back on duty. By noon we had both anchors up and set out towards the Galapagos, prepared to motor for the first few miles (the grib file predicted calm weather along the coast). Instead we got a fresh northerly breeze right from the start and are now sailing 5 knots with wind on the beam. Unfortunately we haven’t caught a fish yet, but it seems that a really big one bit on our brand new lure. Goodbye lure and goodbye fishy.++++++++++++++++ Gestern haben wir das Boot in Segelmodus gebracht – das dauert mittlerweile einen ganzen Tag. Wir muessen das mobile Solarpanel abnehmen und verstauen, das Deck klarieren, alle Kasteln entklempern, die Bugkabine aufraeumen, alle potentiellen Flugobjekte niederzurren… Wir haben uns entschlossen die zweite Genua aufzuziehen (fuer einen Vorwindkurs), das Kuttersegel liegt auf Deck (fuer den Fall von Starkwind), der Gennaker liegt bereit (falls wir Leichtwind bekommen) – auf dem Weg zu den Galapagos muss man auf alles vorbereitet sein. Am Nachmittag fuhren wir mit dem Dinghi zum Strand, aber die aus der Ferne erspaehte Huette war leer und obwohl in dem fruchtbaren Tal mit einem Suesswasserbach viele Gaerten mit Bananen, Platanos, Zuckerrohr, etc. liegen, haben wir kein Dorf gefunden. Beim Abendessen kochen ist der Bertschi Kerosinkocher ploetzlich ausgegangen. Nix neues, das heisst Druck ablassen, Trichter und Kanister suchen, Kerosin nachfuellen, 180 Mal pumpen zum Druckaufbau , vorheizen und dann neu anzuenden, aber: NIX. Wir haben das fast fertige Abendessen trotzdem gegessen und heute morgen, anstatt loszusegeln, den Ofen auseinandergenommen und die Kerosinleitungen geprueft. Nach zwei Stunden war die Blockade mit Hilfe eines kleinen Buerstchens (noch aus Aquarientagen) und einer Luftpumpe behoben und voila: Bertie ist wieder im Dienst. Mittag hatten wir beide Anker oben und konnten Richtung Galapagos los, in Erwartung erst einmal motoren zu muessen (das grib file sagte Windstille entlang der Kueste voraus). Stattdessen bekamen wir eine steife Brise aus Nord und konnten gleich segeln. Jetzt gehts mit 5 Knoten und Wind von der Seite schoen dahin. Leider wir haben wir noch keinen Fisch gefangen, aber scheinbar hat ein Grosser an unserem brandneuen Koeder angebissen. Servus Koeder, servus Fischi.

This morning we motored a few miles down the coast to the southernmost bay of Panama only 14 miles from the Colombian border. Some small, spotted dolphins accompanied us for a while. Even though we trolled two lures and the waters here are famous for the abundance of fish, we weren’t lucky enough to catch dinner. The coast is fringed by high mountains that rise steeply from the sea. No roads lead into this area, but there are indigenous villages along the coast and rivers. Even though there hasn’t been much wind for the past week there’s a mighty southerly swell breaking spectacularly on the black, volcanic rocks and the dark beach at the end of the bay. We’ve found some shelter behind an island and rocks within the huge bay, but the swell still gets bent in, so we’ve brought out a stern anchor to keep Pitufa’s bow into the waves and are quite comfortable.++++++++++++++++++++++++ Heute morgen sind wir ein Stueck die Kueste hinunter motort zur suedlichsten Bucht in Panama, nur 14 Meilen von der kolumbianischen Grenze entfernt. Ein paar kleine, getupfte Delfine begleiteten uns eine Weile. Obwohl die Gewaesser hier fuer ihren Fischreichtum bekannt sind und wir zwei Schleppangeln draussen hatten, biss kein Abendessen an. Gleich hinter der Kueste steigen steile, gruene Berge an. Keine Strasse fuehrt hierher, aber es gibt indigene Doerfer entlang der Kueste und an den Fluessen. Obwohl letzte Woche kaum Wind war, bricht sich eine maechtige Duenung aus Sueden spektakulaer an den schwarzen, vulkanischen Felsen und am Strand im Inneren der Bucht. Wir haben hinter einer kleinen Insel und einigen Felsen innerhalb der riesigen Bucht ganz guten Schutz gefunden, aber der Schwell wird um die Insel gedrueckt und wir haben deshalb einen Heckanker ausgebracht, um Pitufas Bug in die Wellen zu halten. So ist es ganz gemuetlich hier.

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

We weren’t really comfortable in the Rio Cucunati. When strong winds meet an opposing tidal current in such a broad stream, the result are confused seas that turn the anchorage into a witches cauldron. Therefore we motored into a neighbouring river on a rising current yesterday. According to the chart the Rio Sucio has a reef and a sandbank with only 2 metres depth at low tide, so we were quite nervous while approaching. We were only motoring along with less than 2 knots, but the current added another 2-3 knots and it would be very unwise to hit anything at such a total speed. Everything went smooth though and the Rio Sucio turned out to be a pretty river, despite its unattractive name–”sucio” means “dirty” in Spanish… The shores are fringed with mangroves, we hear much more jungle sounds than in the Cucunati and even though 2 knots of current are pulling on the chain the river’s as smooth as a mirror.

Our plan was to relax for a few days once we reached the first river, but who can rest, when the leaking dinghy needs a patch, the zipper of the lazy bag (bag on the boom where the mainsail falls into and is stored inside) decides to tear off just when we’ve left the shops of Panama City, the new BBQ needs a mounting, the forecabin has to be reorganised, and many things more need to be done? After finishing all these projects we took the dinghy to a nearby Finca (hut with farmland). The people who live there had come by in their canoe the day before to invite us to take a walk there. One of their daughters showed us around (she looked like 13, but turned out to be 19–eager to go to university next year and was very proud of all the “cleaned” (meaning burnt off) land. An entire hill is necessary for 5 cows–not exactly sustainable agriculture. We were rather sad to find that there’s not much rainforest left here. There are hardly any mosquitoes around here (at least now in the dry season). However, in the evening back on Pitufa we discovered that each of us had collected about 15 tiny ticks. Today we anchored a few miles further south in another big basin. Spring tide is approaching and it was quite a challenge to find a spot, where Pitufa wouldn’t sit on the ground at low tide. Quite surreal: circling around with 3 metres under the keel and knowing that this lake would turn into a sandbank a few hours later… We found a spot with adequate depth, anchored and then took the dinghy into a nearby system of little rivers. On the way we saw two little bears (some members of the raccoon family, but slimmer and darker than the well-known Northamerican ones), lots of birds, but not the crocodiles we had hoped for. Unfortunately also in this vicinity there’s landclearing going on, brownish hills and fires.

We sailed down to the Golfo de San Miguel the day before yesterday, spent a night at Isla Iguana inside the Golfo and then entered the Rio Cucunati on a rising tide. The Cucunati is a wide, mangrove fringed stream, there are lots of parrots (always flying in pairs, chatting loudly) and egrets around. This morning we’ve taken Pitufa further up, beyond the chart that only shows a few miles of the river. Navigating without a chart is quite exciting, watching out for sandbanks or rocks, one eye always on the depthsounder… We’re now anchored in a wide basin. Before we dare going further, we’ll explore by dinghy, trying to find a safe canal for Pitufa.