Wednesday April 9th 2008. Cristobal Harbor, Colon Panama, Panama Yacht club.

Ok, well overdue for a real update, so I suppose I start where I left off in the Exuma sound on March 16th. Didn’t take long for a little breeze to set it, and I was back under sail at 4+ knots, I suppose that’s the advantage of a small boat, some of the cruisers on 45′ steal boats that are happy doing 7.5kts in 25kts of wind tell me that below 10kts of wind they are nearly stuck to the water with no way at all. So the breeze filled in, and was eventually steady enough for me to take a few 10 minute power naps, with only a few boats within sight to keep an eye on and land a few miles off there were not too many hazards. I arrived at the entrance to Elizabeth harbor (Georgetown Exumas Bahamas) a few hours before dawn, and the front had caught up to me so the wind was 15 to 20 kts and building. This left me a little troubled since the entrance to the harbor involves a narrow cut with reefs on two sides and it is highly recommended to enter with good visibility (to avoid the reef) and in settled weather (to avoid breaking waves near the reefs). Either way the sun was not up yet so I had to tack away to kill time and at the same time the wind was picking up creating a slight swell on the reef. This same wind eventually created huge 15ft swells in the atlantic and parts of the Caribbean but that was a few days after I was through the cut and safely anchored in Georgetown. So the cut through the reef seemed like it would be manageable around 9AMish and I made my approach, watching the handheld GPS very closely since I don’t have a proper chart plotter. I have to admit I was pretty intimidated considering the guide books kept going on about how boats had been lost here and how so many people dread this little cut from the Exuma Sound into Elizabeth harbour, not to mention by now the winds were strong enough to push me along at 4kts with no jib and a second reef in the main. I started the motor incase I needed help manuvering but turned out I Didn’t need it and never even put it into gear, everything went as smooth as it possibly could. Then I entered the field of Yachts, Well over 100, quite possibly 200+. I began trying to Spot Captain Kal on Serenity since I knew she would be there and ironically, I think she spotted me first! As I was halfway through the anchorage she was waving me down from her boat like she somehow knew I would be arriving even though I didn’t radio ahead since I wanted to surprise her. I squeezed between her and a few other boats and by the time I had the anchor down she was aboard and we cracked a few beers open as seems to be the tradtion after all my passages (that is assuming that I have beers left upon arrival :-).

Filed under: sailing

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