9:30AM up anchor, 2800 rpm 4.8kts no wind.

1Pmish anchor down in Isla Linton Anchorage.

OK, not much of a log, so I feel in the gaps. After leaving Portobello there was very light winds at best, I was able to fill the Genoa only barely as I motored sailed half of the way, but basically I was motoring the whole way. About 2 miles outside of the anchorage as I began to make my approach I had a fish on the hand line! Turns out it was some kind of a mackerel, totally guessing it was about 3 ft’ long, and around 10lbs, just perfect! The fish book didn’t have an exact picture but it had a very similar fish labeled as the ‘tuna-mackerel’ family. I didn’t have time to deal with the fish as I was approaching a reef at the entrance of the harbor, so I just tied the gaff off to the side of the boat, squirted some alcohol into his mouth to calm him down quickly and then continued in to anchor. Almost as soon I had had the hook down Mike and Sue anchored next to me on Infini stopped by to say hi. I had seen them leaving Portobello shortly after I arrived but didn’t have a chance to chat with them. Mike mentioned that he wanted to try some fishing since there are fish schooling and jumping all over the anchorage. I told them I had enough for all of us and pulled up the gaff to show the fish, they actually got excited and offered to cook dinner after I filleted the fish. Mike came back while I was still busy cutting out four very nice fillets and we poured some soy sauce on the fish (as fresh as you can possibly get it) and enjoyed some VERY good sashimi! For dinner they grilled some, fried some, and rolled up some sushi, for a very satisfying dinner aboard Infini. Cuba Libres filled the rest of the evening and day two here consisted of snorkeling around the island with my dinghy tethered to me so I didn’t get run over by Jet skis that were flying back and forth through the anchorage, luckily that only goes on during the weekend. The snorkeling wasn’t bad with several tropical fish (small ones mostly) and some interesting coral. So far I’ve been here five days and the additional highlights were an inexpensive ($5) dinner at a small restaurant on the beach in the cove here. I also got to know the monkeys on Isla Linton while I was scavenging for coconuts. The guide book says that they appear friendly and will sit in your lap and eat out of your hand until you try to leave the island at which point they might become aggressive. I had one of the monkeys follow me to the dinghy dock, where I went in my bag, and just happened to have an apple that I left in the middle of the pier and sat near the dinghy so I could make a quick escape. The monkey followed me to pick up the apple and stared at my making strange monkey noised while she ate it slowly, skipping the seeds and some of the peel. Then she kept sliding towards me on the pier. Funny, she didn’t stand up and walk over, but sort of slid her butt over a foot or so at a time until she was within lunging distance of me. That’s when I moved into the dinghy and held onto the pier so I could make a quick getaway if I needed to. She just sat there right in my face staring at me only a few feet a way asking me for more food. Then her boyfriend showed up and walked out the pier on two feet like a human with his huge tail curled up even over his head. He hugged her (weird) and then ate the rest of the apple and then showed me his intimidating teeth so I shoved off the pier but just sat there watching them for another 15 minutes before heading back to the boat. If I see them again I’ll get some pictures but now I’m even more nervous since another cruiser here said that there had been several recent ‘attacks’ and that the monkeys even like to jump in your dinghy while your on the island presumably so you can’t leave. Apparently they have been fed enough to have a strong association between people and food / feeding! Two more adventures, one was a dinghy ride to Panamarina through a mangrove forest, in a channel only a few feet deep and too narrow to even row without your oars hitting the mangrove on the sides of the trail. The mangrove was so thick it even forms a canopy over the water so you completely surrounded, was kind of eerie as well hearing the howler monkeys in the jungle as I paddled through, I assume the monkeys on Isla linton I fed earlier were not howler monkeys but I really don’t know. After cutting through the mangrove you pop out at another cover where Panamarina has moorings for sailboats. They also have a very small office and restaurant where you can access the internet for $2.00 and hour (that’s where I sent this and the last update). The last little adventure here was the 30 minute dinghy ride to Isla Grande next door. A big tourist destination in Panama, but not much there really, at least a dozen beech bars but only a few had any appeal to me. The best part was that you can walk half way around the island on a path, and then you can continue if your willing to climb rocks witch I did until I got to a very steep rock wall that I figured I could save for another day. On the walk back I stopped at a tiki-bar restaurant on the beach (no shirt or shoes required here, its right on the sand 5 ft’ from the water) so I indulged in three $1.00 beers (I love that part of Panama) to re-hydrate myself before coming back to the boat last night. I think I’ll be here one or two more days and then maybe one day anchored off of Isla Grande to check out the nightlife, if not I’ll head off non-stop to the San Blas Islands. So if there are no more updates other than the spot-checks it just means that there is no internet! Hope everyone is doing well. –Kirk

Filed under: sailing

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