Las Perlas Islands

We knew our spare parts were not being shipped from Los Angeles until January 4 at the earliest, so we took off with some other cruising boats for the Las Perlas Islands, about 38 nautical miles south east of Panama; a bit like going to Catalina from Marina del Rey!  We have been told about them, and now we have to see them.  We were not disappointed.  The following photographs will give you an idea of what a perfect cruising area it is.  

  



We spent two days at Contadora Island, a tiny island with a few private homes and hotels,  but then took off on our own to visit other islands in the archipelago.   After the hustle and bustle of Panama City, and the heat, it was a great relief to get off the mooring at Balboa Yacht Club and get out into almost clear waters.

There are a great number of islands, some are inhabited, mostly not, and we really had a wonderful time navigating through the shallows and stopping for the night or two before moving on to explore another island.  We had found a beautiful tiny island called Platania, 08º77N, 079º00.34W, and decided to stay there for the New Year.  We swam, Dave walked right round it on the rocks and swimming where he could not walk, and we explored the beautiful woodland behind the beach.  The hermit crabs were hilarious, all over the beach, but only moving when you stood still.  

We walked through the woods, up the hill, knowing the other side was a gorgeous beach, when Dave suddenly exclaimed "ohmygodyouwontbelievethisdinahcomehere!" and there, in and over a fallen tree trunk was some kind of boa constrictor, as big round as a man's thigh, but with a small head.  It looked directly at Dave, but did not move, there were a couple of big lumps in its body, no doubt its last meal!!   We backed away slowly, returning to the beach. 

    
          Polka Dot Man

Poor Dave got bitten at one beach by noseeums - he had no idea until the next day when he woke itching all over!  He was so resentful that they had no effect on me!!

On the way back to Contadora we managed to go aground in sand luckily in a flooding tide up a channel between islands.  Within minutes we were floating again, but it was a good lesson, and a reminder that the cruising books must be used only as a guide - there is nothing like a chart and tide tables!!  As a point of interest, the tides on this side of Panama can be huge, although while we have been here they have ranged between 10ft and 15ft.  At Isla San Jose, in Las Perlas, we anchored off one end of Playa Grande in a sheltered spot, only to wake in the morning and find a reef right in front of us!!  We had arrived at a fairly high tide, and the rocks were not marked in the cruising guide book we had bought for the islands!  At low tide they were sticking up out of the water!!  In fact we had plenty of room, but moved the anchor  to a sandy bottom away from the reef.

Amazingly there was little wind for our return trip to Balboa on Monday January 6th.  We trolled a fishing line, but had no luck catching a fish - only managed to lose the entire leader and lure!!

It is now Wednesday, January 8th, we are back at Balboa Yacht Club.  Yesterday we went to the YMCA and sent emails, hopefully family and friends are now up to date!!